One thing that could doom Thunder come playoff time

As the great Pat Riley once famously said, "No rebounds, no rings."

If the second-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder (42-19) intend to make a run at the NBA championship, they better start grabbing their boards. 

A night after allowing Suns center Jusuf Nurkic to grab a whopping 31 rebounds, the Suns were out-rebounded 55-38 by the Lakers Monday night in a 116-104 loss in Los Angeles. A game before that, against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, the Thunder were out-rebounded 45-37.

While the alarming trend hasn't precluded OKC from maintaining its winning ways, it could cost the team dearly in the playoffs where the game slows down and every possession matters more. The Thunder are last in the league in offensive rebounds allowed at 12.5 per game. In other words, they allow opponents more than a dozen tries to punish them for not completing a defensive possession. 

That would explain why Mark Daigneault's squad allows 15.8 second-chance points per game, which ranks No. 29 in the league. Conversely, since they grab only 8.7 offensive rebounds per game, the Thunder are aggregating a mere 10.9 second-chance points per game, which also ranks No. 29 in the league. 

At the tail end of the season, the Thunder are who they are. They probably missed the boat by not adding size and rebounding ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline. Sure, the acquisition of an experienced hand such as Gordon Hayward could bode well in the playoffs, but the veteran swingman is averaging 2.5 points and 3.7 rebounds through his six outings as a member of the Thunder.

The Thunder's lack of size is best highlighted by the fact that rookie Chet Holmgren is the only big receiving considerable minutes. After Monday's loss to the Lakers, Daigneault was asked if he could resort to playing reserve bigs Bismack Biyombo and Mike Muscala a little more to offset the size advantage of bigger teams.  

"It's an evaluation process right now, and just getting the roster ready," Daigneault said. "It's my responsibility to make sure everybody's ready for a situation if their number gets called, or it's most appropriate to use them. J Will [Jaylin Williams] is out right now, and that opens up front-court minutes. We don't know what we're gonna need. We just have to keep everyone in rhythm and ready."

Even if OKC were to make a deep postseason run this spring, GM Sam Presti must hunt for a true big man to pair with Holmgren next year. Size does matter. The small-ball Warriors were an anomaly.