Daily Thunder.com

@Zach NBA League Pass Broadband is an online option. Worth it if you split it with a friend.

Tied for the 6th spot in the West playoff race. Way too early to think much of that. But it's interesting that the Jazz, Spurs & Hornets are faltering. And I think we get better & more consistent as the year goes along.

I would be interested in seeing an historical analysis (past 2-3 seasons) of how Western Conference playoff teams started the season. My thought is that the playoff teams tend to be reasonably defined after 20 games or so.

When I compared last season to this season defense by position it showed improvement. But at PF though the improvement is mainly because of Collison (and Durant), not Green. Green is giving up a higher FG% allowed than last season at PF. He holds the opponent to an average FG% allowed at SF then and now.

Thabo got fouled twice as much last season when not on the court with Westbrook or Durant. Maybe their drives packed the lane for others or they just had the ball for drive opportunities?

Thabo is at career low rate at getting to the line per minute. Has been up to 2.5 times as much. He needs to add more of that back.

Sellout, really? I want to find the hundreds of people with good seats who didn't use them and Robin Hood their ass!

westbrook was second in David Thorpe's sophomore rankings that came out yesterday just to let you know

@Vince

Hahahahahaha that is MY favorite part too!

MartzMimic :
Maybe he was referring to the My Pretty Pony that KD won in the H-O-R-S-E competition during All-Star weekend b

Ha ha!!!!! :o)

Maybe he was referring to the My Pretty Pony that KD won in the H-O-R-S-E competition during All-Star weekend b

Hah, it was the proverbial horse, not KD.

@Floppy Punch!

Brian Davis has an arsenal of colorful phrases, but calling KD a horse? Really?

@Kev

@Crow

I appreciate your insights. What I've noticed last night was a few unnecessary double teams leading to a wide open shooter. I feel the Thunder should not double team unless they are attempting to force a turn over with a strong trap. Especially last night when nearly everyone can knock down a long shot.

As someone mentioned earlier, I noticed last year that Westbrook does tend to play off of his assignment. RW0 doesn't seem to have a lock-down mentality. I think he sees himself more as a disrupter that causes havoc in the passing lanes.

One of the biggest liabilities offensively is when Westbrook or Durant tries to force a foul by driving hard to the basket. Half of the time this leads to a turnover or a charging foul.

Heh. I just turned on the 8am Sportscenter that I had set to record and the opening clip right before "This is Sportscenter" (after a brief live shot of College Gameday) was Harden's dunk followed by Durant celebrating and the voice of Brian Davis saying "Oh. My. Goodness!" "Better check the barn door Flip, I think the horse has gotten out!" I'm still smiling over that play last night.

@Joe

thanks Joe - I appreciate it . . .

------------

and breaking down the defense has made me appreciate Ollie more than I otherwise would - I agree anout him being a great backup this year . . .

*** add - Weaver also shares the same mindset as Thabo - his insticnts are not quite as good as Thabo's (and he is obviusly shorter and isnt as long) . . .

I thought it was interesting - and I was pleased - that the first thing Scott Brooks did in his post-game comments was complain about the pace and how the Thunder let the Wizards dictate the flow of the game. Just looking at athleticism and age, it would suggest that the Thunder should be able to wear teams out. But as Joe and others have repeatedly pointed out, the Thunder is a much better team when they slow things down.

justin :RE: Russell Westbrook shooting threes, he’s now at 37.5% for the year and is (gulp) our second best three point shooter at the moment. I don’t think I have a problem with him shooting threes when he is open, he’s looked good shooting them when he has time to get his feet set, so long as his % stays around or about that 37-38% region.
There was a play in the Orlando game where there was an offensive rebound and the Magic swung the ball around to find an open man while the defense was resetting. Thabo was moving from man to man seemingly challenging everyone while Green, Durant etc. were just milling around looking lost. Ended up being an open Ryan Anderson three.
The defense is still a work in progress.

excellent point, and I alluded to this earlier - this happens WAY more than it should - and it SHOWS you that Thabo does NOT want anyone to get off a good shot, Harden is getting there - the big three (at times) don't have the same mindset . . .

RE: Russell Westbrook shooting threes, he's now at 37.5% for the year and is (gulp) our second best three point shooter at the moment. I don't think I have a problem with him shooting threes when he is open, he's looked good shooting them when he has time to get his feet set, so long as his % stays around or about that 37-38% region.

There was a play in the Orlando game where there was an offensive rebound and the Magic swung the ball around to find an open man while the defense was resetting. Thabo was moving from man to man seemingly challenging everyone while Green, Durant etc. were just milling around looking lost. Ended up being an open Ryan Anderson three.

The defense is still a work in progress.

Joe :@CrowActually yes, I do think Thabo is a very good ball handler.@KevI
agree with Crow, thanks for the defensive breakdown. I noticed in the fourth the ball got swung around the perimeter and when it came back to Arenas he sort of faked a three. Harden ran over (it was Westbrooks man)to help contest. Arenas swung it to Caron for a wide open three. Harden looked over to Thabo and held his arms out like “what did I do wrong”?
Thabo is definitely the defensive leader on the floor. He is always talking to the guys after plays and between plays.
I also think if you look up “veteran leadership” on Wikipedia you would see a picture of Kevin Ollie. He has been wonderful this year.

@thunder

I remember that - Harden is getting to be like Thabo, where you see them guarding multiple men on rotations, while (at times) Westbrook, Durant, and Green get stuck not guarding anyone - it's all about effort, and the fact that Harden even questioned Thabo reinforces the notion that he wants to be a great defensive player . . .

Crow :Kev in your opinion who are the Thunder’s best / worst shot defenders overall and to split it into 2 parts- best at contesting / preventing guys from getting shots up from certain spots at all and best and worst at actually contesting the shot?

easy answer - Thabo doesn't want you to take a shot - he wants you to pass off - that's his mindset . . . he is proactive . .

Westbrook is probably the worst - he is reactive . . . he has a tendency to trot around unless his man hasa the ball - if the ball is swung multiple times, then RW has probably lost his man . . .

Weaver is very good, but he has only seen the floor in one game (basically) . . .

-----------

This year they are using the shell defense (which is popular), but great shooting and passing teams can pick it apart (of course great shooting and passing teams will give almost any defensive scheme fits) . . .

Man, at one point I had to do a double take and make sure we weren't playing the Washington Generals.

Thunder looked like the freakin' Globetrotters, and the game featured about as much defense as one of those games as well.

I'm surprised nobody's complained about Westbrook's 2 forced 3 pointers with 22-seconds on the shot clock. Stuff like that still bothers me, he needs to stop doing that!

@Crow
Actually yes, I do think Thabo is a very good ball handler.

@Kev
I agree with Crow, thanks for the defensive breakdown. I noticed in the fourth the ball got swung around the perimeter and when it came back to Arenas he sort of faked a three. Harden ran over (it was Westbrooks man)to help contest. Arenas swung it to Caron for a wide open three. Harden looked over to Thabo and held his arms out like "what did I do wrong"?

Thabo is definitely the defensive leader on the floor. He is always talking to the guys after plays and between plays.

I also think if you look up "veteran leadership" on Wikipedia you would see a picture of Kevin Ollie. He has been wonderful this year.

man i love the pic.
3 defenders contesting the shot.
LOVE IT!!.
although the game was hardly a defense oriented. still a W is a W.

Are you drunk?

Anyone that wants to share their view-

Which plays or moves do the most to open other things up and do you think the players are fully aware of that?

Any defense principles or strategies you see them using consistently this year that you didn't see sign of last season or at least near as much?

How often would you say Thabo takes Durant's man if he is tougher?

To the extent that Thabo and Durant have to defend on the same play do they work well together or is it an "odd couple"?

Kev in your opinion who are the Thunder's best / worst shot defenders overall and to split it into 2 parts- best at contesting / preventing guys from getting shots up from certain spots at all and best and worst at actually contesting the shot?

Anybody have an opinion of whether tonight's offensive performance was a product of the offensive "system" working better than usual or was it just shots going down?

Joe would you say Thabo's handles are good, ok or needs work?

I know the time it takes Kev, albeit from doing it for only a few games some years ago.

Of course the scouts do it and nowadays teams also have the Synergy system to review the offense and defense it whatever order they want. But is nice for fans to be able to get their version of a summary from you.

Crow :The detail on the defensive analysis is impressive and useful Kev. Probably as much as I’ve seen from anybody / anywhere on the net on a sustained basis. An asset for Daily Thunder.

thanks for the compliment, Crow. It took four and a half hours (I took a nap and started watching the game with Tivo at around 8:30) but it was a labor of love. I am glad someone appreciates it.

------------

For you and other readers of my analysis, I am going out of town as well, so I won't be able to do the Lakers game. I will be back for the Utah game on Tuesday night. However, I will Tivo the game and probably go back and do the Lakers game on either Wednesday or Thurday.

The detail on the defensive analysis is impressive and useful Kev. Probably as much as I've seen from anybody / anywhere on the net on a sustained basis. An asset for Daily Thunder.

Defensive Details

Despite the blowout, it was a slightly under average defensive output. Even though the pace was higher than normal (102 possessions tonight – season average is 95), the eFG was three percentage points higher than normal. My ratings show a similar comparison. On my defensive scoresheet, the Thunder scored a (+29). The season average is 31.7. I will go into detail in the players section below.

Defensive Leader – James Harden (+10)

First and most important, this was a game filled with a slew of defensive errors. Note that Harden only committed two in twenty-six minutes (that was a gamble on an overplay which led to points being scored by Randy Foye). Besides that, it was all gold. Harden is doing great on the weakside. He loves to anticipate the pass and overplay to get deflections and steals. He is playing the passing lanes very well. And the coup de grace? At the end of the game, the Wizards are done, but seven footer JaVale McGee is inserted into the game to get exercise. He attempts a turnaround shot, and Harden goes over to force him to double-clutch it and miss. That shows that Harden has a great defensive mindet.

Thabo Sefolosha (+10)

Thabo would’ve gotten MVP here but there was a slight speed bump: Gilbert Arenas. In the 3rd quarter, with the game still in doubt, Brooks switched Thabo onto Gilbert. Arenas proceeded to abuse Thabo. Thabo gave up penetration to Arenas three times (without a pick) in the last half of the 3rd quarter (part of which Thabo missed due to a slight injury). When the 4th quarter started, Earl Boykins subbed in for Arenas. I am sure Thabo breathed a sigh of relief.

Of course, I didn’t overlook the fact that Thabo excelled in the rest of the contest. He is great at forcing turnovers that don’t show in the steals or block column. Once, he hit the ball off Mike Miller’s leg that went out of bounds. On another occasion he helped forced a three second violation on Caron Butler. Even later, his tight defense forced Mike Miller to travel. In my rating system, Thabo (and all players for that matter) accumulated points for these actions.

I also need to add that I had Thabo down for a steal, two deflections, three contests (forcing tough jumpshots) two blocks, and stop (forcing a tough shot inside).

Kevin Ollie (+8)

Kevin had a great game – no mistakes. He also had one of those hidden defensive scores – in the 2nd half, his tight defense on the point guard forced Antawn Jamison to set an illegal screen.

Nenad Krstic (+5)

Russell Westbrook (+4)

Russell had an okay game. His two strips buoyed his score, which was peppered with the usual mistakes. He was active, as he also picked up three loose balls.

Kevin Durant (+2)

Up and down game for Kevin. He was active, and he recorded a deflection, a steal, a block, and a forced turnover. He also scooped up three loose balls. Conversely, he committed a litany of mistakes. I counted NINE. He still has a serious problem in watching the ball when on the weakside. He loses sight of his man time after time. When he doesn’t lose sight of his man, he is doing much better at contesting and using his length. But he has to get this corrected, or this will kill us against better teams. Durant has made strides since last year, but he still has a ways to go.

Etan Thomas (+1)

Kyle Weaver (zero)

Nick Collison (-2)

Nick Collison was forced out of the game QUICKLY. He is a very good defender, but quick fours and shooting fours give him trouble. Antawn Jamison is a nightmare of a matchup. He can obviously hit the three. When Nick was in the game, he attempted to closeout on AJ, fearing the three point shot. Jamison went around him easily. Brooks saw enough and brought Thabo back in to play the three. This moved Durant to the four to guard Jamison (or his sub, 6-11 Blatche, who also plays outside). Kudos to Brooks for deviating from his normal rotation, as he also did the same thing in the second half. Collison only saw two minutes of action – with good reason.

Jeff Green (-11)

Count eleven mistakes for Green. I will call Jeff Green out on his rebounding. Wait, before you say “Kev, are you crazy? He pulled down fourteen!” I know that, but I have him down for FOUR blown block outs – most of which were against Jamison (both players are listed at 6-9 235 by Basketball Prospectus). All four mistakes led to Wizards second chance points. Green has a bad habit of not blocking out. I always bring up his (slightly) undersized frame for a four, but he would do a better job of rebounding if he would block out. (I did a quick survey of all Western Conference starting power forwards last year – Green was dead last in rebound rate).

By my math, he had seven other mistakes. He was just as bad as Durant in getting lost on the weakside. Also, it was clear what the Thunder’s gameplan was regarding the pick and roll. Usually, Brooks wants a hedge out top to slow the guard and to prevent the three. Tonight, the hedge rarely came. The “hedge guy”, usually Green or Krstic, stayed well behind the pick, evidently to stop penetration. It didn’t work; Arenas and Boykins were driving the lane with ease.

Keith, on consistency, on average they are smack in the middle. But as I mentioned before at home they are the 4th most consistent this season. On the road the 5th least consistent. Give the hometown fans some credit I'd say.

Finally all the small flashes that Harden has shown are finally coming together. I'll probably get bashed for this, but I don't think there was a better player for the Thunder. Harden's B-ball IQ is so high, just think how young he is and yet he plays with more maturity and patience than anyone else on the team, I think Harden is going to see a lot of 4th quarter minutes if he can play some decent defense. That small lineup was interesting, they are feisty, and will get a lot of steals, definitely our best offensive lineup, although that group would get killed by a big, slow, defensive oriented lineup, but its a lot of fun to see them run. Our next game, at the Lakers, is expected to be a loss, so we can get our loss after a big win, when we expect and not against the clippers or kings, or maybe they will just surprise us.... If Harden shoots the 3 like he has the last 2 games, we could be hard to beat, of Durant/Westbrook/Green/Kristic/Harden, I think 3 have to have good games, we just don't get enough scoring from thabo or the other guys on the bench.

I see now Joe was on top of the shifting Offensive and defensive efficiency.

Offense probably pops up to 21st after tonight.

Miller decided to be a role player, a more all-around one. Kinda weird. I thought it might work on Washington but they aren't what I expected, at least yet.

If Thabo would drive when the opportunity is there that would help. Has the lowest FT/FGA ratio among the rotation.

Joe --

Good recap, but you forgot Royce's favorite part:

Tonight we won our 7th game on November 20. Last year we won our 7th game on January 14th.

Now, for the love of 6 lb. 3 oz. baby jesus, can we please play well in our next game? We shots lights out and got away with pretty shoddy defense. It's great that our offense got on track, since that was in fact a bigger problem than our defense, but it would be better if we could play consistently in some way for more than a day.

@Crow
Really a glorified version of H-O-R-S-E, eh? Though, in that case, we should have known we would win.

They sure needed the shots to fall tonight.

After this game the defensive rank will probably move down to 8th, still very good, but throw out the first Orlando game and it would be about 11th.

A very strong defense was compensating for a weak offense. If the defense slides some, the offense will have to slide up or the results could slide.

One other point, it was noted that KD's jersey number was in tribute to an influence (coach?) who died at age 35; his high school number was 3, when you add to the fact that although he only was at Texas for 1 year, yet he goes back and supports the school/team like he spent 4 years there, makes you want to commend him for the integrity of the person that is Kevin Durant. It also tells me the he supports those who support him.

Get out to the games to support the team!

Jax Raging Bile Duct :
Fun game. Definitely a change of pace for us. I love seeing James play with confidence.

That confidence was built through the Orlando loss. It gave Harden the time to build confidence. Although he didn't play, I bet Weaver could have contributed.

While I understand the need for additional players, right now is a pivotal role in letting this team ferment and grow and see what they are capable of. Even with the losses, if they build confidence; James Harden, the loss is worth it.

That behind the back pass from Harden should have been worth the price of admission... Win or lose!!!

I may just pull an old school move and record the game on a VHS for later =D

Zach :
There has got to be a website SOMEWHERE to watch the entire game online. I had to work tonight and was too busy to even sit and watch. Sounds like I missed one hell of a flashy offensive game! Thunder up!

I know it's a lot of jack but you can get NBA broadband league pass for just 99 bucks I believe. You get all the games and you can watch them live or archived on demand.

Yonik :
Im a Thunder fan all the way in Israel and im enjoying a strong start to the season.Great to beat the Wizards but even better to be over 500 again!!!

Thanks for checking in Yonik.

Great game. I thought the thunder lacked size.....the wizards are really small they even have a midget on their team

NBA.com has the behind the back Harden to Westbrook, back to Harden slam highlight uploaded right now.

There has got to be a website SOMEWHERE to watch the entire game online. I had to work tonight and was too busy to even sit and watch. Sounds like I missed one hell of a flashy offensive game! Thunder up!

Fun game. Definitely a change of pace for us. I love seeing James play with confidence.

You took the words right out of my mouth on that save from going outta bounds with Harden! Hands down one of, if not THE best plays of the short season and I was sitting a few seats from the whole thing!

Fun game. We got a complimentary up-grade from our usual loud city seats to floor level behind the Wizards bench. I'm used to sitting behind some guy I wish would sit down so I could see better- I'm not used to it being Flip Saunders.

Im a Thunder fan all the way in Israel and im enjoying a strong start to the season.Great to beat the Wizards but even better to be over 500 again!!!