Isaiah Hartenstein isn’t sugarcoating the Oklahoma City Thunder’s situation, and after another loss to Portland, he made it clear the injuries are real - but not an excuse.
The Thunder dropped Wednesday’s 118-108 game in Portland with Ajay Mitchell joining the growing list of unavailable players. Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace, Nikola Topic, Thomas Sorber, and Chet Holmgren are already out, and Holmgren is still working his way back toward a return. Even with that kind of hit to the rotation, Hartenstein said Oklahoma City has to keep pushing forward.
“We know what the reality is: we have a lot of guys out, but we don't want to make excuses,” Hartenstein said. “Throughout the game, we had a chance to win those games.
We're just a team that doesn't want to make excuses if calls don't go our way, if shots don't go our way, if guys are out; we just want to do the best we can. It was still a winnable game.
“I think we can still get better at stuff. It shows a lot of what our group is.
A lot of teams - I think - would go into this game and act like it's over, and I don't think we ever go in with that mindset. If you look at the roster right now, Chet's out, Caso's out, Dub, Ajay; that's a lot of buckets on the board, and a lot of impact players.
But guys have been stepping up this whole process, and we just want to keep building.”
Hartenstein backed that up with his own production, finishing with 20 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 31 points on 9-for-20 shooting, along with four rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
Portland controlled the game for long stretches, staying ahead through most of the first three quarters before putting the Thunder away with a 23-point final period. That late push sealed a 10-point Blazers win.
With Holmgren sidelined, rookie Aday Mara drew the start, and Hartenstein said the Thunder’s frontcourt is still in the process of figuring out how to mesh. He believes that pairing has real upside, even if the reps are coming on the fly.
“We're in a situation where I have to be versatile,” Hartenstein added. “Trying to figure out how we can make me and Aday work at the same time.
I think that's going to be big for us. We don't have much practice.
So, we're really just figuring it out during the game. We're talking through the game.
We're trying to get better through the game. He's a very talented player, and I think I'm a great big in the league.
So, I think trying to get us as many minutes as possible, I think, playing together is one of those ways you can do that.”
He also pointed back to his early days alongside Holmgren, when the fit didn’t look obvious at first but eventually turned into one of Oklahoma City’s best combinations.
“Looking back, when me and Chet first went on the court, the first four games I was like, ‘There's no way this is going to work,’ and it became one of our best lineups,” Hartenstein said. “We're just going to have to keep figuring out ways of how to make it work. That's just the situation that we're in right now.”
The Thunder’s road trip rolls on Friday, when they face the LA Clippers in an NBA Cup matchup.
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