Daily Thunder.com

• New ESPN Power Rankings are out and OKC is up two spots at No. 26:  ”Halfway through the schedule, OKC can finally look at the standings without cringing. The Thunder rolled into 2009 with a mere four victories, but check out the L10 column now: 5-5 in the past 10 games is no misprint.” Also, the fans have the Thunder No. 25 and John Hollinger puts OKC at No. 26 as well.

• 48 Minutes of Hell talks about the rumored Nick Collison to the Spurs deal: “Right now, it looks as if only Memphis is likely to be in the same cap space neighborhood as OKC. But how much money is Michael Heisley willing to spend in a bad economy? In other words, would Sam Presti want cash to spend in a buyer’s market? And in a year when the competition for talent is scarce? More specifically, does Presti want to add a Carlos Boozer or David Lee–with money enough left for, say, Zaza Pachulia–to his core of Durant, Green and Westbrook? This might be the perfect storm of opportunity for the ambitious young GM. Turning Nick Collison into Carlos Boozer would be a neat party trick. On the court Collison is an ideal fit for San Antonio, but is he worth jeopardizing their 2010 cap space? I’m not sure. Perhaps, there is a different way to ask the question. Are the Spurs playing for championships now or later? Collison is not a bit player. His presence would immediately shore up the frontline.”

• Joe Smith prefers to stay with the Thunder: “I like the young fellas and what they bring to the table,” Smith said of the Thunder. “A lot of people want to chase that ring and things like that. But when you have a group of guys like this giving it their all every night, I don’t get involved in stuff like that. We dug this hole together. We have to fight out of this hole together.”

• OKC is trying to get over the nine-win hump and that means the players only take days off when Scott Brooks makes them: “Interim coach Scott Brooks, who took over when P.J. Carlesimo was fired after a 1-13 start, believes his team is “still learning how to win” but has improved because of an unwillingness to quit despite a hopeless 3-29 start. After the team returned from a recent overtime loss at New Jersey at 3 a.m., he decided not to hold practice later that day. When he showed up hours later, there were nine players at the practice gym. “I needed a day off. I’m like, `Get out of here,”‘ Brooks said. “We have a team full of that. They’re young guys that want to get better,” he added. “They’re thirsty, they’re hungry, they want to enjoy this league, but they enjoy it by working hard.”

• Ian Thompson on OKC’s chances of re-signing Kevin Durant: “The timing here is interesting. The owners will seek a new collective bargaining agreement with the players in 2011. Under the current terms, Durant will be, at most, a restricted free agent, enabling the Thunder to match any offer he receives. Unless he has an unexpected falling-out with team management, he won’t be going anywhere. It could be in his best interests to sign an extension with Oklahoma City under the terms of the current agreement, because the new CBA (to be negotiated in 2011-12) is expected to be less accommodating to the players, who are likely to face shorter contracts with smaller annual raises.”

Other

Box Score

What else can I say about this game that is more to the point than “too much Dwayne Wade”?

Forty eight minutes of deep shooting brilliance by the Heat, offset by mini runs and mini slumps by the Thunder. This game never really seemed like a game that the Thunder were going to win. It was close for most of the first quarter until the Heat took the lead at 22-19 late in the first, and never relinquished the lead.

The Thunder did many of the things that they’ve done successfully in the last 9 games, like getting to the line quite a bit, and win the battle of the boards, yet still the Thunder turned the ball over too much, and couldn’t seem to do anything about guarding the perimeter. The Heat just let fly from deep all night long, and the Thunder could only seem to counter that with average field goal shooting and a lot of free throws. The Heat launched 21 three pointers and hit 11 of them (52%). It’s tough to win countering that with one point free throws.

Tonight’s game was a bit unusual even for the the Heat. The Heat go to the line an average of 23 times per night. Against the Thunder, they didn’t bother with attacking the rim too often and only got to the line 14 times. Dwayne Wade averages 10 free throws alone, yet only got 2. He had twice as many three point attempts as he did free throw attempts. He also averages 21 field goal attempts, but tonight had 28. Why attack the basket? That’s a lot of work, and you get knocked around when you get there. It’s much easier to jack up shots if you can make them like Wade does. Read more…

Other

vs.

Miami Heat (21-18) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (8-33)
Sunday, Jan. 18
Ford Center
Oklahoma City, OK
6:00 PM CST

TV: KSBI-52 (Cox 9)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

View from the other side: Peninsula is Mightier

We all know what’s on the line tonight. And we all know it’s more than possible. Over the past two and half weeks, Oklahoma City has played its best basketball of the season and beaten two pretty good teams.

Much like the last two solid teams the Thunder has beat (the Jazz and the Pistons, if you somehow inexcusably forgot), the Heat struggle away from home. On the road, Miami is 9-12 compared to 12-6 at home. And the Thunder are pretty stingy at home, winning four of six at the Ford and six of their eight wins have come at home.

Obviously, what OKC needs to do tonight is rebound, take care of the ball and continue to play tough defense. The Thunder have a +73 rebounding margin over the last five and in seven of their eight wins, have outrebounded their opponent. And the Heat aren’t really a great rebounding squad, ranking 23rd in the league in boards.

OKC matches the Heat really well, with Desmond Mason getting the unenviable assignment of Dwayne Wade. But other than that, you got to like Russell Westbrook on Mario Chalmers, Kevin Durant on Shawn Marion, Jeff Green on Udonis Haslem and Nenad Krstic/Nick Collison on Joel Anthony.

Let’s get No. 9 tonight and move on with our lives. And you look at the upcoming schedule, and there’s winnable games against Golden State, the Clippers, the Nets and Memphis coming up. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but if the Thunder continue to play as my dad would say, “Want-t,” they can keep winning.

Other

What wins basketball games?

I could ramble on and on, but smarter men than I have addressed this question, so why reinvent the wheel. Dean Oliver, author of “Basketball on Paper”, and a former consultant to the Sonics and current consultant with the Denver Nuggets has done all the statistical work and he breaks down what wins games to four factors, with their relative weights in parenthesis:

1. Shoot a high field goal percentage (10).
2. Do not commit turnovers (5-6).
3. Get offensive rebounds (4-5).
4. Get to the foul line frequently (2-3).

Teams that consistently win basketball games do at least three of these things well. If you don’t shoot well, you better do the other three.  Oliver says these factors should be considered on the basis of the number of a team’s possessions compared to its opponent, not in absolute terms. Read more…

Other

Since Dec. 31st, the Oklahoma City Thunder are playing better than .500 basketball. After an 89-79 win over Detroit, OKC (8-33) now has won two in a row. That’s right, TWO IN A ROW. Digest that for a minute. Swish it around, let it marinate.

How about more — when Oklahoma City left Detroit after a tough last-second loss three weeks ago, the Thunder was 3-27. Now? Eight and thirty-three. One off the 1972-73 Sixers. Think anyone’s checking ESPN’s little tracker anymore? The Thunder are 5-5 in their last 10 and have won three out of four. And also, not the worst team in the league anymore in terms of wins — OKC is now tied with Washington and the Clippers. One more: After starting 0-20 against plus .500 teams, OKC’s first winning streak came against two teams a combined 13 games over.

The first seven minutes of the fourth sealed the deal. How? Because OKC started the last frame on a 15-0 run and Detroit (22-16) didn’t score until there was 6:13 left. The Pistons were ice cold, missing their first eight shots of the fourth. Detroit was outworked all night, evidenced by the 52-35 rebounding edge in favor of the Thunder. Here’s a crazy stat: Detroit didn’t grab an offensive rebound until there was under four minutes left in the third quarter. Overall, OKC pulled down 14 offensive boards to the Pistons’ five. Over the Thunder’s last five games, they’re a +73 on the glass. As Brian Davis would say, wow.

And think about this one — the Pistons missed five straight free throws at one point in the third, but get this: Detroit was 3-8 from the line overall. That’s it. Three for eight. And it wasn’t like Detroit just shot the ball poorly or turned it over a ridiculous amount. The Pistons hit 46 percent and only gave it up nine times. No Piston scored more than 18 points. The pace wasn’t even that slow tonight, but OKC’s defense was great, giving up a season-low 79 points. In the second half, Detroit scored just 33 points. Wow, again.

You look at the box score and you see Jeff Green’s miserable shooting night going an awful 2-16 from the field and you’d think he didn’t have the best game. But as far as I’m concerned, he’s the player of the night. He was huge on the glass, grabbing 14 rebounds, he dished five assists and he was an absolute force defensively. Look at Green’s +/- tonight, an awesome +17. And he wasn’t visibly frustrated with his poor shooting night. He kept working, kept driving and kept playing hard. That’s a wonderful thing.

Speaking of the +/-, the bench guys were great as Earl Watson had a +12, Chris Wilcox had a +13 and Kyle Weaver a +10. Great production from the pine tonight, especially from Wilcox who had 17 and 11. And Desmond Mason had 11 and 11 from his shooting guard position and played excellent defense on Rip Hamilton.

Russell Westbrook finally had a rookie night. About dang time. He was 2-10, scored five, had six assists and played just 27 minutes, but he was actually really good. Because the Pistons’ offensive catalyst, Rodney Stuckey, didn’t score until there was under a minute left in the third and just had three points overall. But how about that little head-fake, fake pass, up-and-under he pulled on Rasheed Wallace in the third quarter? Or that near monster dunk over the entire Pistons team toward the end of the game? Two sweet moves from RW, even on a bad offensive night.

Here’s how good OKC was as a team tonight – it’s been six paragraphs and I haven’t even mentioned Kevin Durant and his electric 32-point offensive showcase. He scored 12 in the first, four in the second, 10 in the third and six in the fourth. He was 14-21 from the field and 2-3 from downtown. He grabbed six rebounds and only turned it over three times. In other words, maybe his most complete line of the season. But one thing that impressed me more than anything was a sequence late in the second quarter. Westbrook drove and kicked out to Durant who was at the top of the key wide open for three. Tayshaun Prince was closing on him and instead of taking a good look, Durant swung the ball to Green in the corner who was open and knocked down the triple. KD has got it — he’s a superstar and an elite scorer, but he understands being a teammate first. He had his entire game working, but he didn’t force anything. It came to him and he made it look easy. I don’t care what he says — he deserves to be an All-Star.

This is the team we thought we were going to see. Competitive, gritty and a group of youngsters that are talented, but raw. The NBA season is definitely a marathon — these types of games happen for contenders. The Pistons were flat and got outplayed and outworked. But that doesn’t make it any less awesome. Especially when at one point we were looking at a 1-16 team, then 2-24, then 3-29. Now they’ve won two in a row and have another winnable home game against Miami — another plus .500 team. And one more gives OKC, (deep breath), win No. 9. That’s right.

OKC gets the Heat Sunday night at 6 p.m. at the Ford.

Other

vs.

Detroit Pistons (22-15) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (7-33)
Friday, Jan. 16
Ford Center
Oklahoma City, OK
7:00 PM CST

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

View from the other side: Piston Powered

Another chance at revenge. I’m not even going to say anything about starting a win-streak, uh, nevermind.

Everybody knows it, but I’ll say it: The Pistons better come into the Ford Center ready to play. The record says 7-33, but you better treat the Thunder like a 33-7 team or you’re going to walk out with your tail between your legs and your beat writers will be saying things like, “Embarrassing loss for Detroit to the worst team in the history of man,” and “If there’s one thing Detroit can take with them, besides a humiliating loss to a bunch of kindergartners, it’s the dust and cow poop that’s all over Oklahoma.” But seriously, the point is there — bring your lunch pale to Loud City or be prepared to get rolled.

You’d assume the Thunder’s confidence would be off the charts and tonight they’ll come in fired up and clicking. But I actually fear that the opposite may happen. I could see a flat team, feeling some sort of weird sense of entitlement coming out and playing bad ball. The thing about OKC is that while confidence is one of the best things in all of sport, second to that is playing with a chip on your shoulder. The Thunder need to realize they haven’t earned anything yet and haven’t won anything yet. They need to add confidence to the disrespect they’ve felt and play their hearts out for 48 minutes and see what happens.

But while I worry about that, I trust Scott Brooks will have them ready and will explain this to them. After all, he is an NBA coach. I’m sure he’s been over that little theory before. But as for matchups, OKC matches Detroit well. As we know, the last time the two teams played it took a buzzer beater to down the Thunder in Detroit. The Thunder has been playing well, and especially well at home. Russell Westbrook, well, no need to talk about what he’s doing well. He’s just been awesome. He can handle anything Allen Iverson/Rodney Stuckey has and more than likely, Westbrook will be able to get to the rim and get his shot whenever he wants it.

Such a huge key is how the three Thunder stars play. Against the Jazz, Westbrook had 22, Jeff Green 23 and Kevin Durant 21. Add in Nick Collison and Nenad Krsitc’s solid play and there’s a formula to get a win. But against a good team loaded with good players, you can’t have just a couple parts functioning. Things need to be clicking for the role players and the stars.

Depending on how you view sports trends, you can look at this game two ways:
1) The Pistons have an eight-game winning streak over the Thunder franchise.
2) The Pistons have lost three straight, with the last two being against Charlotte (six-game winning streak over the Bobcats snapped) and Indiana (eight-game winning streak snapped).

It’s been four years since Detroit has lost four in a row, which leads one to believe the Pistons would play well tonight. They’ve lost two games against sub-par opponents and obviously don’t want to continue that against the Thunder. But then again, maybe the Pistons are in a lull and this is a good time to catch them. Like the Jazz, the Pistons are mediocre on the road, winning just 10 of 19 away from Detroit. Two wins in a row (crap, I said it) would be nice, but two wins in a row against a couple of playoff teams would be really nice.

UPDATE: Just came out that Nick Collison is questionable for tonight because of a stomach virus and Rasheed Wallace missed the Pistons’ shootaround today because of illness.

Other

As you know, I’ve lived in Oklahoma all 23 years of my life. I love this state. It’s as much a part of me as my last name. So that’s why this type of stuff kind of bothers me. In the Salt Lake City Tribune’s gamer, written by Ross Siler, here’s his lead (hat tip: Doug):

“Because there’s nothing to do in Oklahoma City, the Jazz had no excuse for not showing up Wednesday night against the Thunder and suffering a 114-93 humiliation at the hands of the NBA’s worst team.”

So funny. I bet Ross had to pause and clean his computer screen because he probably spit his coffee all over it after he wrote it due to a wild burst of laughter. Look, I’ve heard all the stereotypes and all the put-downs. I know people think we all live in tepees, hang our clothes outside to dry them, haven’t discovered the “Internet” yet and the only things that ever happened here was a bombing in 1995 and the Dustbowl. I get it. But geez, trying to toss a little zinger out there in your lead is just unnecessary, especially when you live in SALT LAKE FREAKING CITY. It’s not like this was a New York or Miami writer. This guy lives in a city famous for Mormons and snow. Ooooh. Ahhhh.

All the disrespect toward the team doesn’t bother me one bit. They’re 7-33. They better be disrespected. They brought it upon themselves. But enough about Oklahoma. And people laugh when we all made a big deal about getting professional basketball here. We wanted to change our image and we feel pro hoops can go a long way in helping that. But here’s something I wonder: People often say, “There’s nothing to do in Oklahoma City.” Well, explain to me how much more there is to do in Chicago, San Antonio, Houston or Dallas? I’ve been to those cities. Spent a lot of time in a couple of them. What more is there to “do” there than here? Go to Navy Pier? Go to the Alamo? You really think residents are making weekly trips to the Sears Tower? Oh, in Dallas they have a movie theater. What’s that? Oklahoma City has one too? Oklahoma City has 15?!?

Seriously, someone explain how one of those so-called big cities are so much different than OKC. Sure, they may have an underground live music scene or something, but what normal person really wants to make their way down to some gross coffee shop to hear some band called Two Trips to Hell sing their emo hearts out and make you want stick your face in the coffee grinder.

From my various trips to big towns, the main differences from Oklahoma City are:

A. More traffic
B. More crime
C. More jerks
D. More expensive parking
E. In fact, no where to park
F. Higher gas prices
G. More expensive houses

Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore Chicago. I spent part of my honeymoon there. It’s my favorite city. It has things Oklahoma City does not. Houston has some unreal qualities. San Antonio has a wonderful charm that OKC doesn’t have. But these pot-shots at OKC are lame. This stuff about the only things to do are “read your Bible” and “take your lady on a horseback ride” are really ignorant. I’ve always said, if people knew what Oklahoma City was really like, they’d be packing their bags and moving here right away. So maybe I better shut up.

Commentary

As some may have noticed, I haven’t been doing the daily bolts due to the fact I’ve gotten kind of busy lately and also the fact that I’ll be moving sites soon (really, really soon) and those have kind of fallen by the wayside. But I intend to return to scouring the net finding anything and everything about the Thunder and bringing them here so you don’t have to spend the time searching. But here’s a few quick things to point out:

• Ball Don’t Lie, Behind the Box Score: “But even up against Utah’s best, I’m not sure the Thunder take the loss. These guys just had it tonight, shots were falling, and Scott Brooks has these guys playing so damn hard. Boston, and I mean the team that beat New Jersey by 32 points on Wednesday, would have had trouble against the Thunder. Oklahoma City crushed Utah on the glass, absolutely destroyed them. The Jazz were without Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap, which helps, but that doesn’t excuse Andrei Kirilenko from pulling in just one board in 39 minutes. I don’t care who he had to guard. A 48-26 rebounding advantage for the Thunder. Nenad Krstic had 14 and 11 off the bench, Kevin Durant (5-12) and Jeff Green (8-13) had the turnarounds rolling, and Russell Westbrook just has it. You could see it back in November, even when he was tossing out miserable contributions and making mistakes all over the place. He looks like Devin Harris, with a tailback’s build. I don’t know what happens from here on out, but what looked like a reach from Thunder brass last June now looks like a coup. Kudos.”

• Be The Three says we should have seen last night coming (and if you’re a reader of The Thunderworld, you would have seen it coming, because I said it was coming!): “If you weren’t paying attention you’d be shocked that the Oklahoma City Thunder, currently sitting at 7-33, just spanked the Jazz, 114-93. But it’s actually not that surprising. After 25 games or so where their offense was a disaster on wheels, the Thunder had actually been playing solid basketball for about three weeks. In fact, the Thundies shot a higher field-goal percentage than their opponents in eight of 10 games going into the Jazz game Wednesday night. They shot at least 48 percent six times in that span. And yet, they they managed to go only 3-7–good for the Thunder, but not a record you’d expect from a team regularly out-shooting its opponents. Why were they still losing? Because even when they shot well, they made the dumb mistakes young teams make.”

• Henry Abbott of TrueHoop agrees, but cautiously: “I’d also add that in any one regular season NBA game … anything can happen. The opposition can have a bad night. Real surprises come in the playoffs. But nonetheless, you have to be loving this if you’re an Oklahoma City fan. Blowout wins can do wonders for your confidence.”

Bolts

Three sets of numbers: 48-26, 54.9-42.2 and 38-27. That’s the difference in rebounding, field goal percentage and free throw attempts for tonight’s game against Utah, all in favor of Oklahoma City. In other words, that’s the difference in the game.

The Thunder still turned the ball over 19 times to the Jazz’s nine, but OKC (7-33) made up for it on the glass, at the free throw line and by shooting extremely well. Kevin Durant had *just* 21 points, and 10 of it came from the free throw line. On top of getting to the line 38 times, the Thunder hit 33 free shots for a clip of about 87 percent. That’s huge. KD also had nine rebounds, continuing this very good trend of scoring and rebounding. But he did turn it over six more times himself, which is still an area of concern.

Though the Jazz (23-16) scored 25 points off the 19 OKC turns, I think some turnovers are necessary for this team to be successful on the offensive end. And what I mean by that is that there are a lot of risk takers and instead of playing tight, half-court offense, the Thunder likes to run, make tight passes and score on the fly. So obviously while you want to cut down on the freebies, you don’t want to lose what’s making you a solid offensive team, if that makes sense.

There’s nice things to take out of this one. First, this is Oklahoma City’s biggest win of the year in two ways: 1) In terms of margin, 21 points is the most OKC has won by and 2) This is the first plus-.500 team the Thunder has beaten this year. Second, that makes the Thunder 4-4 in its last eight and 3) OKC outscored Utah 64-45 in the second half after leading by just two at the break. That’s the way to beat up a division rival at home.

But look at the +/- for OKC’s starters: +21, +17, +22, +20, +21. The three did their work. Russell Westbrook had 22, KD had the previously mentioned 21 and Jeff Green had 23. Chip in with Nenad Krstic playing his best game with 14 and 11 and Nick Collison continuing to play well with 13 and 11 and you’ve got a certain recipe for a win. And again, Westbrook played an excellent game, showcasing why he may actually win Rookie of the Year — on top of a solid scoring game, he dished seven assists and picked up three steals. He’s totally under control and looks like everything has slowed down for him. He runs the break and instead of driving hell-bent to the bucket, he pulls up and hits a jumper or drops a beautiful pass to Collison. He’s really getting it and it’s really making a difference.

Of course, it has to be acknowledged that this Utah team was missing Paul Milsap, Carlos Boozer and C.J. Miles, but still a win over a potential playoff team is still a big win. OKC has been getting closer and closer to this type of win and tonight, got over the hump. For whatever reason, the Jazz are awesome at home and not so awesome on the road. This win is going to do big things for the Thunder’s confidence. The Jazz may have been without some of their best players but they were still 23-15 and this is still the best win OKC has. I just wish this was the Thunder team that tipped off at the Ford Center Oct. 29. I truly think we’d be looking at a near .500 club if they had played like this to start with.

I haven’t said anything about Brian Davis in a while, but I have to point this out. During the second quarter, the camera flashed over to Desmond Mason and Kyle Weaver sitting by each other on the bench and Davis said confidently, “The Master and the Pupil.” Huh? Who’s the Master? Dez? And what exactly is he a master of? Bad shooting? That was just a weird moment among many nightly weird moments when Brian Davis is involved. If we give him 30 more years of this, he’ll probably reach “lovable, crazy-man” status like Bob Barry, where he can say anything and we all just say, “That’s Brian for you.” But he hasn’t been here 30 years so right now it’s kind of not so lovable.

One note to point out: Chucky Atkins was an official Trillionaire tonight. He played one minute and didn’t notch anything — no points, no fouls, no assists, no nothing. So his stat line looks like: 1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0. Congrats Chucky. You earned it.

Game one of the three-game stand is down and next up is the Pistons Friday night. Of course, we all remember how Allen Iverson nipped OKC with a runner beating the Thunder 90-88 a few weeks ago. It would be nice to get a little revenge against a second straight opponent, start a winning streak and get to .500 for 2009.

Recap

vs.

Utah Jazz (23-15) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (6-33)
Wednesday, Jan. 14
Ford Center
Oklahoma City, OK
7:00 PM CST

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

Well, it’s time to celebrate. Not a single Sooner underclassman is going to make the jump pro this year. Sam Bradford, Trent Williams, Gerald McCoy and Jermaine Gresham will all return for another run at No. 8. What’s that? This blog is about basketball?

After the New Jersey loss, I said I had a feeling a big home win was coming. And I think it is. Utah is another plus .500 club, but they’re very average on the road. The Jazz are 16-4 at home and 7-11 on the road. Though the Jazz are suffering from injuries, they’re still a really good team. No Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams still isn’t totally 100 percent, but Mehmet Okur has played huge. He’s a guy I really wanted OKC to go after because I love his inside/outside game. Nenad Krstic has a bit of the same game, but Okur is really a good three point shooter. He’ll make for a tough matchup for Nick Collison and Krstic.

The last time the two teams met, Utah had a 29 point lead, laid off and the Thunder stormed back to within a few points before losing 104-97. But this group is different. They’re in (pretty much) every game and they’re competing throughout. Kevin Durant is rounding into a complete player and we all know what Russell Westbrook is doing. Add in what Kyle Weaver has started to add and it’s just a matter of time until these guys start winning these close ones instead of coming up one shot, one turnover, one free throw short. Just for perspective: The Thunder have lost 14 games this year by six or less. That’s pretty incredible. Just turn half those into wins and you’re looking at a 13-27 record, which would be huge for this young of a team. But that’s the point — they’re young and they’re learning.

If there’s anything to really focus on, it has to be turnovers. Ron Adams spoke about it after last game, but you just can’t turn it over 22 times and expect to win. There’s enough talent and enough desire to keep it close, but those little things need to be tightened. Free throw shooting has been corrected pretty much, but turnovers need to be cut down. Granted, with a rookie playing point and two second year guys playing the three and four, it’s understandable the ball’s getting turned over.

I fully expect this to be close deep into the fourth quarter. The Jazz have some star power and some really good players, but again, they’re not great on the road and the Thunder’s gaining a little momentum. OKC has won three of its last seven and has lost three in that stretch by a total of eight points.

One other note: David Thorpe’s Rookie Watch is out today and Russell Westbrook is No. 2. That’s pretty awesome. He says this about RW: “Westbrook is rapidly improving, and we can project him to be capable of running a terrific team one day. He also has the potential to be an All-Star. He has a long way to go as a shooter, but give credit to head coach Scott Brooks for letting Westbrook do what he does best on offense: Rebound. Westbrook reminds me of a young Dwyane Wade, relentless on the glass with his effort, long arms, great timing and big hops. He’s a rebounding difference-maker, something point guards usually aren’t. Teams already tweak their game plan when preparing to face him, and he just turned 20 years old. Westbrook is basically tied with power forward Nick Collison for the team lead in offensive rebounds per game. The Thunder may sit last in the NBA standings, but they rank 11th in offensive rebound rate.”

Thorpe also tosses Kyle Weaver into the mix: “Weaver has appeared in 15 games this season, and the Thunder lost every one of those games except for their win over the Bulls on Saturday. That’s ironic because Weaver is the kind of player whom winning teams almost always have — a player who takes good shots (and makes half of them) and can defend multiple positions. With Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Westbrook, and now Nenad Krstic, the Thunder appear to have a set of talented core players. Weaver could be one of the glue guys who helps make the team special.”

Preview

As the trade deadline starts nearing (about a month away), Oklahoma City is the talk of the town. With a roster full of savvy veterans with expiring contracts, contending teams have their eyes on the Thunder. One thing that I can’t help but wonder: How does OKC have so many players that other teams desperately want, but yet the Thunder are 6-33? Does that make sense to anyone? If the roster is full of coveted players, shouldn’t that mean the team shouldn’t be six and thirty-three? I digress…

Most recently, Chris Sheridan wrote a piece for ESPN.com talking Earl Watson trades. One interesting thing he said (among many interesting things he said): “Well, if you are playing GM the same way I am, the best option seems to be to wait another five weeks, wait for a better offer and let Watson keep doing what he’s doing. Eventually, someone will get him on the cheap. But the guess here is that the selling price will be a little higher than it was when the Thunder were ready to let the trade to Charlotte go through, especially if Watson keeps averaging 10 assists as he has the past two games.”

You have to give it up to Earl. He was a big time stinker for the first two months, but now he’s playing well and becoming a more attractive pick-up for a contender. So thanks Earl for upgrading your value from a late second-rounder and an aged, out-of-his-prime veteran with a huge contract to maybe a late first with that crusty veteran.

But I’m not even sure if trading Watson is the best move. I realize now the Thunder have Chucky Atkins and Kyle Weaver’s also playing a little back-up at point, but in this league, you need a solid back-up point man. Watson has two years left on his deal and while I realize Russell Westbrook is playing very well, he is still 20 and is still learning a new position. If this is the Earl Watson we could see playing second fiddle to RW, why not keep him around for another year? He’s averaging close to 10 points and 10 assists the past week and while I realize he won’t keep that up, now that he’s evidently healthy, his game has improved drastically.

Is what Earl can give back to the Thunder via trade worth more than what he can give potentially on the court? I never thought I’d say that especially with how Earl made me want to leap out of Loud City at a few times earlier in the year, but if he can continue to play consistently, I’m not sure I wouldn’t like to keep him.

But it seems Presti might be hell-bent on shipping Watson. So what can OKC get? As Sheridan said, both Boston and the Lakers would love to get Watson, but they don’t have players that can match up salary-wise. With some playing on the ESPN Trade Machine, here’s the deals I came up with. Keep in mind, if Bill Simmons is the Picasso of the Trade Machine, I’m Homer Simpson with a barbecue pit .

A. Boston. Boston really doesn’t have anything to offer because anyone with a contract that could line up is untouchable. The guys the Celtics would be willing to deal (Eddie House, J.R. Giddens, Brian Scalabrine) don’t make enough to match Earl’s $6.2 million. The Machine does allow a trade of House, Giddens and Scalabrine go through for Watson but come on, is that going to happen? So cancel out Boston. Nothing happening there.

B. Los Angeles. Honestly, there’s not too much that’s attractive on their roster other than Trevor Ariza and Jordan Farmar. But no way the Lakers let Ariza go for Earl Freaking Watson. I would assume Farmar would be part of the deal because he’s the guy getting replaced if Watson comes to town. And also the fact it’s been about three weeks since Farmar has stepped on the court. Everyone assumes both Boston and L.A. would attempt to use draft picks, but how many late first round picks can Sam Presti use over the next three years? He’s already got about 200 stockpiled and obviously he’s not going to use them otherwise we’d see a roster full of Earl Watson’s, if that makes sense. I don’t think anything is working out here.

C. A three-way trade. This little diddy could make something possible. Here’s one I worked up (though there’s probably as much chance of it happening as me playing power forward next year): Oklahoma City sends Earl Watson to Los Angeles, the Lakers send Vladamir Radmonivic to San Antonio and the Spurs send Roger Mason Jr. and Jacque Vaughn’s expiring deal to Oklahoma City. The Lakers get the backup point guard they so desperately need, the Spurs get a solid three-point shooting small/power forward to replace the shaky Matt Bonner and OKC gets the three-point threat it clearly needs. Everybody’s a winner right? Well, the hitch is whether or not San Antonio would want Radmonovic. I think the Lakers would part with him because he’s only getting about 18 minutes a game, but I don’t know if he fits into the Spur game plan, plus Bonner has done a pretty good job thus far. And also, I’m not even sure San Antonio would be alright with giving up a promising three-point threat for a streaky veteran tweener. Maybe the Thunder could toss one of its picks in to sweeten the pot. I’m just thinking out loud here.

Basically, you can spend hours swinging three-way deals the Trade Machine will accept, but who knows if Presti could actually pull one off. Joe Smith is likely to be dealt, Chris Wilcox will probably be on the move and even Damien Wilkins or Chucky Atkins could be packing bags. Something’s going to happen, but we’re just not sure what. Hopefully, it’s something tangible that we can say, “Yep, this improved the team NOW,” instead of another, “Well, we got a second-rounder from Charlotte and cash, but I’m sure we’ll deal that pick later for something good.” Shooting guard is the position that’s the most glaring weakness so Presti should focus there and flip one of these players to help the team get better today. I’m sure he has big plans for the offseason as well, but why not take a step today?

On another note, you’ve got to love this quote from Kevin Durant on whether or not he’d like to play in New Jersey when his contract is up in 2010: “I want to stay in Oklahoma as long as possible. I do, that’s the honest truth. I love it there.”

Commentary

And Russell Westbrook gives you even more reason to vote for him — by rapping. Poorly.

So he’s not exactly Jay-Z or Method Man or Coolio or whoever is a popular rapper today. (I don’t listen to rap, if you couldn’t tell.)

But I think he had something going there…

This is Westbrook
Not your normal rook
You vote me to dunk and I’ll show you something… OFF THE HOOK

I think that’s what you were looking for Russell. But speaking of Hook, I actually just watched it for the first time in like eight years today on AMC. Great freaking movie. You lewd, crude, rude, bag of pre-chewed food, dude! It made me think if OKC were to draft Ricky Rubio, we should all call him Rufio or at least we he scores we all either crow, yell Bang-a-rang or chant Ru-bi-oooooo!!!!

What was this about again? Oh yeah. Vote for Russell. He deserves it.

News

In the Thunder’s second straight overtime game on the road, Oklahoma City came up short. In OT tonight, the difference was a slow start. The Nets jumped out 7-0 in the extra period while the Thunder missed two shots and turned it over twice before scoring. It all ended up leading to a 103-99 loss to New Jersey.

But they did show some solid resiliency getting back to within two, but the team was gassed. Jeff Green and Kevin Durant both went 48 tonight. Nenad Krstic played a season-high 23. Russell Westbrook played 37 and Earl Watson 38. It was a long, hard-fought night for OKC.

Two things stick out as reasons OKC lost — turnovers and rebounding. The Nets piled up 18 offensive boards on the Thunder and OKC turned it over 22 times. That’s a total of 40 extra, free possessions New Jersey got tonight. Plus the Nets scored 26 points off the 22 turns. That’s bad.

If I were to second guess anything tonight, it has to be the final play of regulation. I understand what Scott Brooks is trying to do there. You’ve got Russell Westbrook who is an elite leaper and the Nets have their seven-footer, Brook Lopez, pulled out of the lane guarding the inbounds pass. So OKC tried to go up top to RW for a tip-in to win. But there was 0.5 seconds left in the game which is enough for a catch and shoot. And Kevin Durant is maybe the toughest man in the world to guard on a catch and shoot. He’s so long that he can get his shot over basically anyone. I’d rather see KD hoist a 29-footer than an oop attempt at the buzzer. That sort of oop is like the equivalent of a Hail Mary in football — high risk, high reward. Oh well. If it goes in then I don’t make a peep.

Since it seems I have to spend at least one paragraph per recap heaping praise upon Russell Westbrook, let me just say this about RW — I’ve been saying he’s got that little jumper coming along nicely, but now he’s expanding on it. Tonight, he used a great baseline dribble-drive, floated out toward the three-point line, took one hard faux step in and bounced back for a sweet 15-footer. That’s the move that can make him absolutely lethal. He’s so freaking lightning quick that every opposing guard is doing to fear his drive. But now with a fake push and a step-back jay, he’s deadly. It opens up his drive even more and he could see more points, more assists and more everything from that. Oh, and he only turned it over two times in 37 minutes, scored 17 and dished four assists.

And Earl Watson has played very well the last two. I’ve been very frustrated over the first two and half months with his play, but he’s been extremely productive the last few. And evidently, it’s because he’s healthy. He had 11 and nine assists and does an excellent job throwing opposing teams a changeup when he steps on the floor. Westbrook creates, Watson distributes. It works pretty well.

One thing about the Nets: Brook Lopez is going to be a very solid big man in this league. He’s got freakishly sweet hands, his footwork is great and he’s seven-feet tall. He torched OKC scoring 31 and grabbing 13 rebounds — five of them being offensive. Nick Collison did all he could to hang with the bigger Lopez and Krispy has never been known as a great defender and plus he’s rusty. It was a perfect recipe for a career night for Lopez.

But I have to give it up to the Thunder for showing up tonight on the road and taking a .500 team to overtime. And on top of that, OKC got the TWO stops it had to have at the end of regulation. And on top of that, the big 11-3 run to tie the game at 88-88 to even give the Thunder a chance. Those a more baby steps in the thousand mile march to respectability. But look at it this way — since Dec. 31, OKC is 3-4 with two two-point losses and one overtime loss. I know it’s easy to coulda, shoulda, but geez, the Thunder’s just 11 measely points away from away from being 6-1 in that stretch.

One quick travel day back home and OKC gets ready to take on the Jazz Wednesday night at the Ford Center. I don’t know — I feel a big home win coming. Just like Marc Stein said in today’s power rankings, it’s strange to feel this much optimism for a 6-33 team, but it’s there.

Recap

vs.

Oklahoma City Thunder (6-32) vs. New Jersey Nets (18-19)
Big Monday, Jan. 12
Izod Center
East Rutherford, New Jersey
6:30 PM CST

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

Since Dec. 31, OKC is 3-3. That’s .500. That’s awesome. Throw in a very nice road win against a sluggish Bulls team and I’m feeling strangely good about a 6-32 team. Oh and also, 10 minus six is… let’s see… four. That means four more wins and nobody says anything about Worst Team Ever anymore. And better yet, there’s 44 games left! In order to tie the 1972-73 Sixers, OKC would have to go 3-41 the rest of the way. No way that’s happening. Especially because I think the Thunder’s going to notch No. 7 tonight. That’s right.

The Nets are a two man scoring team. Devin Harris and Vince Carter. That’s really it. Brook Lopez is a nice rookie averaging about 10 a game. YI Jianlian is an ALL-STAR!?? that’s getting about 10 a game (seriously, no more fan vote for All-Star games anymore. I bet Penny Hardaway still gets a couple thousand votes still just because people don’t know). Jarvis Hayes hits some threes, Bobby Simmons is a good role player and Ryan Anderson is a decent big, but there’s not a lot to the Nets. But there will be an Eduardo Najera sighting which makes me happy. I love Eddie Naj.

But OKC matches the Nets well. And add in the fact that New Jersey is worse at home (8-12) than they are on the road (10-7) and that leads me to lean OKC. More than likely there will be 45 people there tonight and that’s including the two teams’ entire rosters. So if the Thunder come out with energy and excitement, they could jump on top of the Nets. Because empty arenas typically tend to lead to unexcited home teams. Throw in the fact that Yi won’t be playing and Devin Harris is still hurting and is questionable.

A couple good storylines to pay attention to within the game:
Nenad Krstic versus his former franchise. Is it a big deal? Does this even register on the Revenge Scale? I don’t think Krstic holds any grudge against the Nets, but I’m sure he is a little miffed they didn’t sign him to an extension regardless of a busted knee. Each game Krstic plays, the more acclimated and less rusty he gets. Tonight would be a good game to break out with.

Russell Westbrook vs. Devin Harris (assuming Harris plays). Quick on quick. Speed on speed. Both players attack the rim with reckless abandon, except Harris has a more consistent jumper. Both are very good defenders and both are catching more and more attention. Westbrook finally had a “bad” game against the Bulls but now his bad ones are a 3-16, six points, five turnovers showing but rather a 5-20, 14 point, 12 rebound performance. A major, major key will be Russell staying in front of Harris and limiting his penetration.

Helllooo Nick Collison! Finally. Seriously, finally. In Collison’s last three games since returning from injury, he’s averaged 15.3 ppg and 9.7 rpg. That’s what I’m taking about.

Kevin Durant’s turnovers. KD has been so awesome lately scoring 28 and grabbing 12 boards against Chicago. But he turned it over six times. And that’s on top of the seven he had against Houston. I wrote about his carelessness with the rock about a week ago and I’ve talked about his struggles in ball-handling too (I actually have a theory for this), but he’s got to do better here. Right now, that’s what is holding his PER down and is keeping him from being an elite player.

A road trip can wear on a young team especially when that team will being playing its fifth game in seven days. But like I said, energy is key tonight. The crowd will be non-existent and the Nets won’t be at full strentgh. If OKC can play with confidence early, I think I smell a winning streak.

Preview

vs.

Oklahoma City Thunder (5-32) vs. Chicago Bulls (16-20)
Saturday, Jan. 10
United Center
Chicago, Illinois
7:30 PM CST

TV: KSBI-52 (Cox 9)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

I’ve been looking forward to this game for about three weeks. Why? Well, obviously not because I think it’s going to be a great matchup between contenders, but for an individual matchup.

I want to see Russell Westbrook versus Derrick Rose. We all do. And this isn’t a “gauge where Russell’s at” type of matchup — he’s played against much, much better point guards than Rose. But it’s more just to watch the rookie with all the hype take on the one that’s gaining steam. John Hollinger wrote about Westbrook probably being the best rookie guard when it’s all said and done. Tonight’s a big chance for Westbrook to prove it.

The thing about Westbrook — early in the season when he had a nice game, he usually followed it up with a stinker. After he scored a then-career high 30 against Miami, he came back with just six on 3-13 shooting. After 19 solid points against the Mavs, he scored just two against the Spurs. But since that two point game against San Antonio, Westbrook has scored in double figures every game since (12 straight). And Russell, I apologize in advance for the jinx. I’m sorry.

The point I’m making is every game it kind of seems like he’s due for a typical random rookie stinkpot. But he hasn’t done it in three weeks. Compare that to Rose who had games with just three and eight in two of his last four. It’s completely plausible and highly possible Russell may not play well tonight. Because I’ve been waiting for it to happen for a week. But he’s got that little pull-up elbow jumper working for him and he’s playing totally under control and staying within himself. He looks awesome right now. And he’s just 20 and he’s learning a new position. Can you tell I’m excited?

The last time Rose and Westbrook hooked up, it was in the 2008 Final Four in San Antonio. Rose outscored Westbrook 25-22 and the Tigers beat the Bruins 78-63. It should be another really good matchup between the two guards.

As for the actual game and not the game-within-the-game, OKC will keep this one close down the stretch. Nenad Krstic is figuring things out and playing back-to-back games should help him acclimate himself to the flow a lot better and I actually expect a solid game from him. I’m curious as to if Krstic will start over Robert Swift tonight and also curious to see what the starting five will look like. Last night it was Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Nick Collison and Robert Swift, a throwback to P.J.’s type lineups with Durant at the two and Green at the three. I could see that lineup working well tonight but I could also see it creating mismatches in the Bulls favor. So I really don’t know. That’s why I sit in my underwear and write previews and Scott Brooks actually makes the decision.

I’ll toss out another prediction because I was relatively close last night and say I like the Bulls, but not by much. I’m going with 104-101 win for Chicago. The Bulls are 12-5 at home and OKC hasn’t won on the road in a month. It makes for a pretty easy decision, but my OKC optimism keeps me thinking it will be close.

Preview