Darnell Mayberry gives his thoughts on the Thunder’s stomping: ”The stat of the night? Three Thunder players with at least five assists. Russell Westbrook had a game-high 10. Kevin Durant and James Harden had five apiece. Ball movement was the name of the game Sunday against Orlando and the key to the Thunder’s 102-74 victory inside the Ford Center. Oklahoma City had 27 assists on 40 made baskets and 14 assists on their first 17 made field goals. This, just three games after the Thunder recorded only six assists in a nine-point loss to Portland.
The Thunder didn’t win the Fan Night vote this week, losing to the Bulls-Nuggets matchup 31 percent to 28 percent. HOWEVA, the Thunder’s on the list for next week, so go vote again for OKC’s game against the Heat.
This is a week late, but for some reason Carmelo Anthony was giving love to OKC last week: Shouts out to the whole okc. i had a wonderful time last time i was there. look forward to goin back soon. they showed me a great time.holla … Nothing but love to the whole oklahoma. real talk.”
I’m kind of sort of shell-shocked. A lot of times last year and even in a game this year, I had no idea what I watched. And I mean that in a bad way.
But tonight, I really don’t know what I just saw, in a great, grand, wonderful way. Holy smokes what a beatdown. Oklahoma City pounded the defending Eastern Conference champs 102-74 in front of a third sellout crowd at the Ford Center. And I’m not even sure it was that close.
I know what some are going to jump up and say. Harumph! The Magic only suited eight players and were shorthanded! Harumph! If you want to use that as an excuse, fine by me. All I know is that the Thunder absolutely smacked one of the league’s best teams with one of the most dominating players in the league. So excuses or not, the scoreboard cares not.
It’s funny, because I couldn’t have been more wrong about this game. I thought the Magic had a major matchup advantage coming in. But I guess I had Dwight Howard’s triple-double emblazoned in my brain from last year in a game the Magic beat OKC just as a bad. But this was worse. I thought the Magic would torch the Thunder from the outside. Nope. Orlando went just 3-16 from 3 and shot 36 percent overall. I thought Howard would have his way in the post. Wrong again. Superman had just 20 points and seven boards, but he wasn’t as good as the numbers seem. OKC frustrated Howard in every way on the post. And I had just a bad feeling in general. Well, that appears to have been incorrect as well. I like being wrong. Read more…
The Thunder’s lost three in a row and staring a fourth straight in the face. Let’s be honest, I don’t think many of us have aspirations of winning this one. The Magic aren’t necessarily better than the Lakers, but it’s just a far worse matchup for Oklahoma City. And the thing about playing Orlando is that they can physically dominate you. Dwight Howard can and absolutely will own the paint tonight, but with their 3-point proficiency and inside-out ability, this is just bad match all around. I mean, how could you forget Howard’s triple-double last year in Oklahoma City? Read more…
(Good morning faithful friends. Thanks for reading Daily Thunder. Have a bagel.)
If you’re at all bummed from last night’s lackluster performance, have no fear. I have your cure. I’ve watched this six times already. I can’t get enough of it. I love seeing players acting like themselves. And their age too. I keep laughing to myself thinking of these three choreographing the routine though. Did they practice? Did they script it out? Was it really just an improvisation? Whatever the case, I freaking love it. Enjoy.
Tonight’s game was kind of a sad let down from the first four games. In all four of the previous games we either won nicely or were in a position to win but just didn’t execute. Tonight we really didn’t ever get a good foothold and lost to a scrappy Houston team. How often can you look at a lineup comparison and see that you are at least as talented if not more talented at every position and yet somehow you know you may be the underdog?
Rick Adelmen teams are always very well coached. Dude can put some D-League talent, a beer vendor and the Houston mascot on the floor together and have them competitive. You have to give credit where credit is due. Our team is dripping with top 5 talent and Adelmen has a bunch of 2nd round picks (Landry, Ariza), an undrafted, undersized center (Hayes) and some role players out there making the Thunder wonder what just happened. Truly, the Houston roster is full of very good, effective players, they just don’t have the pedigree. Yet, the box score says it all.
In our first four games we sort of were getting used to the idea of our team keeping us in the game with stout team defense. Tonight….not so much. Granted, this team is much improved defensively from last year’s squad, but tonight’s defensive effort was sub par for the season so far. Read more…
I think this is where we all thought we’d be. Sitting at 2-2 headed to Houston for a matchup with the enigmatic Rockets. But with the way the last two games went, I think a lot of Thunder fans had dreams of 4-0 in their heads. Some are complaining about their star’s shot selection. Some are blaming the 20-year-old point guard already. Some don’t like the coaching.
What does it mean? That we care now. It’s important enough for us to care. While I don’t agree with basically any of it, just the fact that folks are criticizing means we’ve moved past the “I hope they just play hard” phase and now we care about wins. It’s a good step to take with a team. Of course, expectations can’t swell and get unreasonable, but I think we all see the talent on this team. It can win some games, youth or not. Read more…
NBA history was made last night as the Tulsa 66ers selected power forward Latavious Williams with the 16th overall pick in the NBA’s Developmental League Draft, as Williams will become the first player to ever go straight from high school to the D-League (Dan Shanoff was kind enough to write a post for TrueHoop about just how historical the Latavious Williams jump from high school to D-League is.)
History-making aside, what are the chances that Williams can develop into a legitimate NBA player who can challenge for a roster spot when he’s taken in the NBA Draft in June 2010? Wait, what? Oh, that’s right, there is a little issue with the rules of this history-making event because a player can’t be taken in the NBA draft unless he is 19 years old and, unless he is an international player, he must be one year past his high school class graduation (remember Brandon Jennings?), thus, the 66ers (and thereby the Thunder) could get to watch Williams develop and stun the D-League with his talent, only to watch him get drafted by another team.
But is Latavious Williams a legitimate NBA prospect? Well he was one of the most highly touted recruits from two recruiting classes (you’ll understand that after the jump), let’s have a look… Read more…
Throughout the week some of you drop some brilliant or at least somewhat thoughtful comments and so this is a try at highlighting some of them. Disclaimer: It’s not that I necessarily agree with all of them, but they were interesting and for the most part, well put. Consider everything [sic’d].
I asked Berry Tramel if people (as in The Ultimate) were serious about wanting to give up on Russell Westbrook as a point guard. He gave an outstanding answer. (Berry Tramel): Yes, they’re serious. They’re also silly. Here’s the problem. None of us knew anything about the NBA when it came. Some people want to be experts, though, so they say something, then they cling to that to prove their mettle. Russell Westbrook is a four-year project at least. All 20-year-old point guards are. That’s the price you pay when you decide you’re going nowhere with Luke Ridnour. Read more…
Let’s take another bite into some film, shall we? This time, we’re going to look at what changed for Kevin Durant between the first half (where he scored 20 points) and the second half and overtime (where he scored just eight) Wednesday night against the Lakers. Roll the video! (As always, big props to Johnny for the video. Check out the shiny arrows and commentary he added!)
Shaun Livingston could see time tonight: ”Point guard Shaun Livingston could soon make his season debut, Brooks said Thursday. “I like what he’s done the last two practices,” Brooks said. “I can’t predict the future, but I’m confident if I put him in he’s going to be ready. I believe in what he brings to our team. But he has to be ready to play when his number is called and it definitely will happen.”
The Tulsa 66ers took Latavious Williams with their first round pick, making him the first high schooler ever to enter the D-League instead of going overseas or to college. Also, Tulsa took Mustafa Shakur, a former point guard from Arizona. For a full rundown, click here. (Cowboys JamesOn Curry and Marcus Dove were also picked, as well as former Sooners Lawrence Mckenzie and Deangelo Alexander.)
The Thunder set some TV records: “Fox Sports Oklahoma’s Lakers-Thunder telecast on Tuesday earned a 3.9 rating, the network’s best Thunder rating and three times last season’s average. Last season’s high was a 2.8 for a Celtics game on Nov. 5. KSBI-52’s record is a 4.3 for last season’s opener against Milwaukee.” Read more…
My wife loves basketball. She enjoys the tempo of the game and the fact that all players have to play both offense and defense. She recognizes when a player is getting out of control and complains about poor shot selection as much as I do. On the other hand, she is not so good with distinguishing players apart.
It started when we were in college and she constantly cheered for Joe Adkins when Desmond Mason had the ball and vice versa. Me explaining that Joe was wearing #35 while Mason wore #34 fell on deaf ears. What we learned is that she could differentiate the players by their hair style.
This also led to her creating her opinions of said players based more on the way they styled their hair than on their skill on the floor. For instance, her favorite OSU player was Andre Williams because his afro made him stand out. The player she hated as much as I dislike Kobe Bryant was the point guard from Missouri (Wesley Stokes) because she thought his rastafarian hairdo meant he was a thug who clotheslined grandmothers as they crossed the street for fun.
Anyway, the point of this story is that basketball player hair has always been a topic of discussion around Matthews Manor. Because of that, I’ve noticed a recent trend going on among the roster of the Thunder.
Vote for the Thunder! Oklahoma City won a Fan Night vote to be featured on NBA TV against the Lakers this week and can you believe it, the Thunder’s leading again. And this is for next Tuesday’s game against the Kings. The people are being heard - they want to see more Thunder. I find this very cool.
A little blurb from NBA.com: ”The kids put a serious scare into the champs Tuesday night in Oklahoma City. The Lakers needed overtime and an extra push late from an ailing Kobe Bryant to beat the Thunder in overtime. As much as the loss stung — Kevin Durant was as down as he’s ever been after the loss — the Thunder’s 2-2 start is turning some heads. Even in Oklahoma City’s two losses, the league’s second-youngest team took a pair of Western Conference heavyweights (Portland was the other) to the wire.”
Blake Griffin: “thunder gave the lakers all they wanted last night (pause). Kevin Durant is gonna lead the league in scoring one day… watch.” Read more…
Not very many actually saw Etan Thomas being a real impact player when Sam Presti traded for him this summer. He was just going to be trade bait at the deadline with that expiring deal. But one reader has liked what he’s seen from Thomas so much, that he feels like he’s earned a spot in the first five.
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
By Casey Womack
Special to Daily Thunder
After wanting to punch the wall after the game last night, I started to do some thinking. The Thunder just came three points from beating the world champions. They played the best defense I’ve seen them play since they’ve been here. They out rebounded the Lakers on the offensive side. They blocked shots when they needed them. They even drew fouls down in the paint.
And it was all thanks to a man that uses a wrist band to tie his hair.
After thinking of everything, I thought to myself, why not start Etan Thomas? He brings a mean, physical attribute that Nenad Krstic doesn’t have in his bag. Thomas throws elbows every single time he comes down (even if there’s not a single person within 10 feet) from a rebound then gets in your face and lets you know about it. He gets the tough rebounds and outworks his opponents for a bucket. He’ll get in the other team’s head right from tip-off and will do everything in his power to make he sure he stays there. Read more…
Happy birthday to my little brother. He turns 18 today. Go buy a pack of cigs today little bro. I won’t tell mom. And also, yesterday was my wonderful father-in-law’s birthday. Thank you for being born so that you could create the person that is now my beautiful wife.
Kevin Durant didn’t take the loss so well: “Played tough…I missed key shots… I apologize to my teammates, back to work tomorrow..thanks for the love and hateful comments.”
Ball Don’t Lie, Behind the Box Score: OKC’s star was Thabo Sefolosha. Kevin Durant may have dropped 28, but he needed 24 shots to get there and turned the ball over seven times, to say nothing of some iffy shots down the stretch. Thabo harassed Kobe Bryant into a slightly-less-than-awesome game, which is accomplishment enough. Kobe’s been jawing with Thabo for years, and usually he lets these sorts of things get to him. Actually, tonight he let Thabo get to him. But he didn’t let his anger completely take over, as it has in the past, which led to losses. Not even after Kobe was jobbed on a couple of calls.” Read more…
After a game like that, you tell yourself not to be sad. You tell yourself to look at the improvement. You tell yourself to look at a young, evolving team hanging with the NBA champs and taking them to the brink. You tell yourself that your team played its heart out and gave everything it had.
You tell yourself these things. But it doesn’t make you feel any better. In the end, it just sucks to lose. Especially when you’re that close to a big time win.
The Thunder took the Lakers to overtime, but came up just short, 101-98. And it’s not like the chances weren’t there. They were right there. The ball in your possession with 25 seconds left in a tie game. That’s what you want. Down one with 30 seconds left and a stud scorer waiting to take the shot. You want that. But both times, it didn’t work out for Oklahoma City.
The ball went to Kevin Durant both times and both times, KD came up with all air. It’s not like Durant was having an off night again – he scored 28 points on 10-24 shooting. He had a good night. Without him, OKC isn’t in the position it was. But what’s weird, is that Durant went 0-8 from 3. He’s actually 2-20 from deep on the season and has missed his last 13. I don’t know what the deal is, but it’s clearly a mental thing. Like I wrote in the last postgame, sometimes you just want the ball to go in so bad, that it just won’t. All you need to break out of it is to see it go through one time. Don’t worry about KD. He’ll be fine. And think about this: The Thunder’s hanging tough with their super-stud player not playing up to his potential. And we all know he will soon. So in a backwards way, this is encouraging. Read more…
at least five assists. Russell Westbrook had a game-high 10. Kevin Durant and James Harden had five apiece. Ball movement was the name of the game Sunday against Orlando and the key to the Thunder’s 102-74 victory inside the Ford Center. Oklahoma City had 27 assists on 40 made baskets and 14 assists on their first 17 made field goals. This, just three games after the Thunder recorded only six assists in a nine-point loss to Portland.
Tonight’s game was kind of a sad let down from the first four games. In all four of the previous games we either won nicely or were in a position to win but just didn’t execute. Tonight we really didn’t ever get a good foothold and lost to a scrappy Houston team. How often can you look at a lineup comparison and see that you are at least as talented if not more talented at every position and yet somehow you know you may be the underdog?
