Players-only meeting unites Thunder

After watching the Memphis Grizzlies batter his Oklahoma City Thunder in the opener of the teams’ second-round series, Kendrick Perkins knew something needed to change. So he encouraged Kevin Durant to gather the team together … and watch the game again.

Durant took Perkins’ suggestion and arranged for a players-only dinner at his house on Monday night. The team dined on a Thanksgiving-worthy spread prepared by Durant’s personal chef and watched every minute of OKC’s disheartening loss to the Grizzlies. The players stopped the video at times to discuss specific breakdowns. By the end of the evening, they were in agreement on what needed to be done to improve.

“Perk did it,” Durant told Yahoo! Sports. “He wanted us to do it, and everybody listens to Perk.

“We talked about how we didn’t come out with any energy. We wanted to see it over again to see that we never wanted to play like that again. That’s the kind of feeling we had coming into this game, and it helped us.

“Guys spoke up on what other guys should have done better. We made sure that we helped each other out. That’s the biggest thing.”

The Thunder also have encountered little adversity this season – at least anything that would compare to losing the opener of their second-round series at home. OKC’s longest losing streak this season has been just three games. The most trying moment of its season was watching forward Jeff Green get traded to the Boston Celtics for Perkins.

“We haven’t had a lot of major issues,” Thunder coach Scottie Brooks said.

Perkins thought the Thunder were too relaxed in the loss and that there was some confusion over players’ roles. Since coming from Boston, Perkins has commanded a leadership presence in the locker room, yet he also understands the Thunder belong to Durant. That’s why he thought it best for Durant to set up the players-only meeting. It took just one call from Perkins to convince Durant to do so.

“We had to get a reminder and watch the film without the coaches telling us anything. We had to correct each other,” Perkins told Y! Sports.

Not wanting to go to Memphis for the next two games already down 2-0, Durant said he hadn’t faced a game as important as Tuesday’s.

“We live to see another day,” he said.

“It means we are really dedicated to this,” Durant said, “and we really want to be good.”