Thunder at Grizzlies: Preseason pre-game primer (and chat)
vs. 
Oklahoma City Thunder at Memphis Grizzlies
TV: None : (
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)
Time: 7:00 CST
View from the enemy: 3 Shades of Blue
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. /satisfiedsigh
We have basketball again. Granted, it is the preseason and it doesn’t really matter, but alas, it’s nice to at least have something. Knowing I have a box score to look at makes me warm and fuzzy on the inside. Shame we don’t get to watch, but we’ll make do.
No sense in deconstructing anything that has to do with anything about this game because 1) It doesn’t matter 2) We don’t really know anything about these two squads yet 3) We don’t know who will be seeing most the playing time and 4) It doesn’t matter.
Injury update: Thabo Sefolosha didn’t travel with the team as he’s sitting out tonight’s game with a mild concussion. Allen Iverson isn’t playing because of a hamstring injury. We probably won’t see any Nick Collison. But good news, James Harden is set to play.
What to watch listen for:
I’ve got my eye ear on the rookies. I’m really interested to see how Harden flows within the offense and also how Scott Brooks uses Byron Mullens and Serge Ibaka. I bet we see a lot of Harden, Mullens, Ibaka and White and not a ton of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green. I actually think Russell Westbrook plays 30 minutes or so because the more time he gets at point, the better he gets. I definitely will have a keen ear turned to what Hasheem Thabeet does. Has any No. 2 overall pick been this looked over even before he played his first game?
So settle in and get ready to let the sweet sounds of Matt Pinto take you home. You know, when your dad was a kid, this was the only way they followed their teams. There was no TV…
Go basketball season.
Something to keep in mind about Durant is that most guys take years to develop good defense (See Wade and Lebron). Not to mention, none of those guys guard the opposing best player for 90% of the game. Lebron gets sweet blocks in transition, and Wade gets the calls to do what he wants with pushing and hammering, but both don’t do much overall until crunch time. The defense will come for Durant with time and coaching. But if he’s still a bit below average this year, it’s not a death sentence for our overall defense.
what happen to the perimeter D
I can’t see the game, please tell me Brooks is just playing the bench guys in the 4th and they gave up the game because Brooks cares more about the experience than the win (it IS just preseason).
@Keith
Yeah, I think the last lineup I heard was Mullens, Thomas, Livingston, Weaver and Harden.
I’ve never heard so many fouls in a game called in my life and i’m 29yrs old!
@Keith
yeah… and they are playing Ryan Bowen… so yeah… scrubs
I defintely hope Bowen doesn’t play for the Thunder in any upcoming games at all.
Despite playing almost 40 minutes combined, our starting power forward and centre pairing have not managed a single free throw attempt (NBA.com box). Does our front line consist of 3 wing small forwards?!?
I know its pre-season but…I’m just sayin’.
Shocked that they gave minutes to Mullin over Ibaka. From what I heard, DJ White sounded mighty good out there. No biggie.
My point exactly, I think krstic and Green aren’t good on the floor together at all. Plus if the NBA.com stats are correct (which I think that to be true) 3 of 10 in almost 26mins mostly jumpers from green is not what we need at the PF spot, but maybe thats just me.
Does anyone else think this who “replacement ref” thing is a huge ploy by the league? These scrub refs come in for the preseason, call an unwatchable, completely ridiculous game, and the fans hate it. Now, when the NBA brings back the same shady and ultimately bad refs they normally have (I think I read somewhere there is almost no turnover in NBA refs for the past 20 years), everyone will be happy again and claim how clean the whistles are.
It’s all a crock, since Stern could care less about a well officiated game, but god knows he has to pretend to care and placate the masses somehow.
Does anyone know who was guarding Sam Young at the end of the game? Was it Bowen?
@GAP
It’s not just you GAP.
Why (for the love of God why?) have we not yet managed to snag an NBA starting quality 4 or 5 with something even resembling a LOW POST GAME?
(sigh)
Green did log some minutes behind Durant at the 3 spot tonight… I like Green a lot, but he is not a natural 4 and he has to compete with Durant for minutes a the 3.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this team will be playoff bound when someone takes Green’s start PF spot and he settles into a role as the sixth man, playing 25 to 30 minutes a game at the 3 and 4. I think the Brooks could also do some good to make for time for Green at the 3 by shifting Durant to the 2 spot for short spells, with some combo of Kirstic/White/Collison/Ibaka at the 4 and 5.
Either that, or he would make a really nice sf for a team that does not have Kevin Durant…. and he could probably fetch a nice 4 or 5 in return.
@Walter
And fans wonder why we can’t get and offensive rebound after an miss,, maybe it’s the fact that our PF and C are atleast 20 feet out shooting jumpers, when the rest of our team are 22 to 25 feet out waiting for the ball so they can do their job and work the perimeter.