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OKLAHOMA CITY -- Earlier Friday, Nets coach Kiki Vandeweghe noted that this Nets season had been a valuable learning experience for a lot of the younger players. Thunder coach Scott Brooks can empathize.
"You respect the league and their teams," Brooks said, "and you have to play extremely hard to get a win. There's a fine line, such a fine line, to win by a point or lose by a point.
"It's the little things that we came in this year really focusing on."
Brooks rattled them off: "We had to be a better defensive team. And to be a better defensive team, we had to do the little things that make a team better: helping on the weakside, blocking your man out, winning the loose balls, getting the long rebounds.
"You appreciate the hard work it takes to turn it around. And our guys worked all summer long and during training camp, and it's made this season much better than last [season]."
As for the losses, yes, they pile up, but for a young team, that's part of the job description.
"You have to be, as a player or a coach, to go through tough times," Brooks said. "Rarely does a guy go to a team where everything's great and championships are abundant.
"With our record last year, it was difficult going through it, but it was a humbling experience going through it because you knew that you were working extremely hard, as other teams do, but you weren't winning games. We were putting ourselves in a position to win and learning a lot about ourselves with the close losses."
HARDEN OUT: Oklahoma City guard James Harden will miss two-to-four weeks with a strained hamstring.
"One thing I love about our team is we don't make excuses," Brooks said. "A lot of teams go out and don't have their full roster. But guys are going to come in and play well. I don't see it not happening now."
Guard Kyle Weaver, who was called up from the Tulsa 66ers on March 12, could see some of Harden's minutes.
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