Put Game 1 completely out of your mind. When I say “Game 1″ you should say, “What happened Game 1?” Because it’s over. It’s done with. It was a wonderful 48 minutes of basketball and fun vengeance against Metta World Peace, but dwelling on it and thinking it’s a given for Game 2 is dangerous. Read more…
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Thunder center Kendrick Perkins was shooting free throws when reporters were allowed out onto the practice area at the INTEGRIS Thunder Development Center. When asked how his big man was doing Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said, “better, he participated in most of the shoot-around. We’ll see how he feels when he comes back to the arena tonight. He’ll be a game time decision.”
That was Perkins’ status Monday too and after warming up on the floor at Chesapeake Energy Arena he told his coach he was good to go. Perkins aggravated his right hip muscle strain in the third quarter of Monday’s win over the Lakers but could have played in the fourth quarter if the Thunder had needed him. Read more…
Game 1 went pretty much perfectly. But that’s over with and done. On to the next one, which unfortunately doesn’t start with the Thunder ahead 29-0. Still, did Game 1 show something? Did it reveal there’s a substantial gap between the Thunder and Lakers? Things can change, teams can adjust, but it’s still going to be the same two teams on the floor that met in Game 1. Should Thunder fans allow themselves to start thinking ahead already?
1. True or False: The Thunder are double-digits better than the Lakers.
Royce Young, Daily Thunder: True. That obviously doesn’t mean the Thunder are going to win every game by double-digits, but in terms of the separation between the two teams, Oklahoma City has a pretty clear advantage. The two regular season wins were fairly convincing, and the loss came without James Harden. Clearly, the Thunder aren’t 29 points better, but they are 8-10 points better. Read more…
George Karl: “I think all season long everybody in basketball thought Oklahoma City was the best team in the west, but were they mature enough to show that? I think last night, I think everybody right now, I think it’s going to be a San Antonio-Oklahoma City thing. San Antonio is playing with so much flow and rhythm and rhythmatic offense and their defense is not great but it is solid. It’s still a pretty good defensive team. Their offense is so in flow right now I love watching San Antonio play. And this is the time of year where there’s a separation and I’m not ready to sign the contract but I’m pretty sure Oklahoma City is a higher degree than everybody else right now, along with, probably, San Antonio. … I’m very prejudiced toward the west. I’ll be honest with you, I think there’s four or five teams in the West that can beat Miami.”
Brian Kamenetzky of ESPN LA on adjustments: “Cohesion for the pick and roll defense. Too often Russell Westbrook was able to turn the corner and step into a mid-range jumper without being bothered. Same with Kevin Durant. The Lakers have to apply more pressure higher on the floor, and more importantly need to make sure everyone is on the same page in his coverages. Clearly that wasn’t the case Monday night. Westbrook, Durant, and particularly James Harden are all elite level scorers handling the ball on the pick and roll, and will require elite level defense in response. It’s not simply a question of playing the Kobe Bryant-on-Westbrook card. They tried that in Game 1, and it wasn’t effective because the overall coverages weren’t good.” Read more…
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Thunder head coach Scotty Brooks told us after the game last night Kendrick Perkins was good to go and could have gone back in the game after aggravating his strained right hip muscle.
Things changed a little bit overnight.
“He came in today and was just a little sore so we’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”
Perkins did not practice today, instead getting treatments from the Thunder medical staff. He’ll get more of that later today and then again tomorrow. Read more…
Chris Mannix of SI.com: “Kevin Durant’s third quarter three-pointer wasn’t even through the net when Russell Westbrook started sprinting toward the Thunder bench, neck arched, a primal scream cutting through the deafening crowd. Timeout, Lakers, and there was no coming back. Two years ago, Westbrook walked off this same floor, against this same team, a loser. He played well in that series, but that Thunder group was too raw, too green to go up against an experienced Lakers team that ultimately went on to win the NBA title. This time around the hunted has become the hunter, and this Oklahoma City team isn’t just out to beat the Lakers; they want to destroy them.”
Kelly Dwyer of BDL: “For the Thunder to come out this sharp after over a week off is quite the accomplishment. The rust vs. rest argument is a tired one, it really does come down to the individual situation, but it was remarkable to see the Thunder peeling out from the beginning. Twenty points and 14 rebounds for Andrew Bynum, and it didn’t matter. Metta World Peace and Matt Barnes think defense-first, and it didn’t matter. Nobody really has to guard Kendrick Perkins or Nazr Mohammed after they set screens for their mates on the perimeter, and it didn’t matter. Overreacting? Perhaps. But the Thunder looked scary. Playing at a fever pitch, after eight days off. Not a lot of playoff precedent for that.” Read more…
It was evident pretty quickly that the Thunder weren’t focusing whatsoever on any of that extracurricular noise. Forget all the storylines and angles leading into this thing. It was basketball, and basketball only in Game 1. It was about executing a plan, playing your game and handling business. And they did that to the tune of a 29-point hammering of the Lakers to take a 1-0 lead.
“There’s no question we have a team full of gym rats,” Scott Brooks said. “They want to play basketball. That’s all they want to do. They want to play basketball. They’re basketball players. They probably don’t have much of a life off the court. You’re concerned, you’re a little worried that rust would be there, but we did a lot of scrimmaging, we did a lot of drills, we did a lot of things we did in training camp that prepared us. But I wasn’t anticipating this type of game.” Read more…
There storylines are aplenty. Elbows, trash talk, revenge, vendettas, old vs. new, Derek Fisher vs. the Lakers, legacies and on and on and on. But forget the angles, the hooks, the sidebars. All of that is just noise to what really matters — winning.
The Thunder have been sitting and waiting for the second round for some time while their opponent had to scratch its way here. What that means? Who knows. But the Thunder are where they need to be, well rested and (hopefully) healthy. They dispatched the Mavericks as planned, looked to restore some of their former power in doing so and should roll well into the second round to face the very formidable Lakers.
What scares me most is how good I feel. I hate that. The Thunder have been in the postseason three times now and this is far and away the best I’ve felt about a playoff series. That could be irrational overconfidence. That could just be delusion built up over nine days of over-thinking and boredom. But from everything I can see, the Thunder have a clear edge against the Lakers. Though again, that type of feeling is what scares me. Then again, it’s the playoffs and virtually anything scares me. Nothing feels right at this point. Read more…
Chris Palmer of ESPN.com on the Lakers defending Westbrook: “If Westbrook torches Sessions and Blake, the blame cannot lie solely on their shoulders. One individual defender — no matter how tenacious — just can’t handle the speed of today’s elite guards. The Lakers must employ a total team approach and throw as many long-armed defenders at Westbrook as possible. No less than their survival in these playoffs depends on it.”
David Stern: “I think it’s time to look at (flopping) in a more serious way,” Stern said, “because it’s only designed to fool the referee. It’s not a legitimate play in my judgment. I recognize if there’s contact (you) move a little bit, but some of this is acting. We should give out Oscars rather than MVP trophies.” Read more…
As if there wasn’t already enough drama built around the Thunder and Lakers second round matchup, Metta World Peace is throwing a little gas on a burning bonfire.
Clearly, the atmosphere in Oklahoma City will be intense, largely focused around getting some kind of revenge on World Peace for his devastating elbow on James Harden. But instead of staying low key about it, World Peace seems to be relishing this, trying to incite and escalate things.
He almost proudly declared a week ago on Conan that he had not spoken to Harden since the elbow and defiantly defended himself for the act. He said he deserved the suspension, but then mentioned Kevin Love stepping Luis Scola as if to try and draw a comparison. Read more…
It’s official: Lakers versus Thunder in the second round.
It took seven games, but the Lakers finally finished off the Nuggets 96-87 to move on. And now they have to take on the waiting Thunder just two days later, after Oklahoma City has been resting for nine days.
Obviously the fact that the older Lakers had to press so much to advance should benefit the Thunder, but then again, I remember OKC waiting on a Memphis team last season that didn’t have much time off and the Thunder dropping a clunker in Game 1 while the Grizzlies didn’t miss a beat. Read more…
The Thunder find out their second round opponent tonight. Either the dysfunctional but talented Lakers, or the scrappy but overmatched Nuggets. Both present difficulties in their own, very different ways. At this point, I don’t even know who the preferred opponent is, but feel free to talk about that and the game here.
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On finishing runner-up to LeBron: “LeBron, that’s like unheard of for a guy to get three out of four MVPs the last four years. He’s a good friend of mine. I’m happy for him. Of course I would’ve loved to have the MVP but at the same time I’ve just got to keep improving, keep getting better and hopefully I have one soon.”
On any competition with LeBron: “I’m always motivated. Me not winning MVP doesn’t make me more motivated than I already was. It’s a great opportunity for us to have a chance to compete for a world championship, I just want to go out there an be me. I can’t think about it too much because I didn’t win it. Just go out there and be me and live with the results.” Read more…
Happy weekend. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. Who’s next?
Reader Shawn sent me this video of a beer pong table he built and I must say, wow. That’s some real craftsmanship and handiwork right there. As for the inspiration behind it, here’s what Shawn said: “I few months ago Sports Illustrated Hot Clicks featured a video of a different table called “Chi Pledge Class Beer Pong Table” and once I looked at the write up that was on their site, the wheels in my head started turning.” Turning enough to make an incredibly elaborate beer pong table. Good job?
vs. 
