Closeout game a new experience for Thunder

A win might eventually come. But let's beware of one thing before we break out the brooms.

This is a closeout game. And in the NBA, closeout games are notoriously known to be the most difficult of any game in a playoff series.

“It's always the toughest game,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. “You don't want to go home. You want to keep extended the series because you never know what can happen if another game goes by.”

Denver is desperate. And desperate teams are dangerous.

“Denver's going to come in with a lot of pride,” warned Thunder center Kendrick Perkins. “No team wants to get beat 4-0.”

Here's what makes tonight's game iffy. The Thunder, for the most part, has no clue about closeout games. This young bunch, by and large, has never been here.

The Thunder's 15-man roster has played in a combined 46 closeout games in which their teams had a chance to move on. Kendrick Perkins accounts for 20 of those games. Nazr Mohammed (13) and Nate Robinson (eight) combine to account for 21 others. Royal Ivey has appeared in two, and Nick Collison, Daequan Cook, and Thabo Sefolosha each have one experience of a closeout game in which their teams had a chance to move on.

Perkins is 9-11 in closeout opportunities in which his team has had a chance to win. Mohammed is 8-5. In this league, those are more than respectable records.

That illustrates how tough these games are.

“A closeout game, I think, is all mental,” Perkins said. “It's going to have to be a mental game for us; mental toughness. It's not going to be easy. We're just going to have to stick together and play position by position and make sure we make the extra effort.”