Wednesday Bolts – 11.18.09
A little announcement: In production is a series of wildly awesome Daily Thunder T-Shirts or as my wife likes to 
say, “DT-Shirts.” It’s a collaboration project between mwah and Tree and Leaf Clothing, who does awesome work. I’m just kind of putting this out there to hopefully get people excited and when they drop in the near future, you feel comfortable about laying your cash money on the table for one. So far, we’ve got five or six designs and are probably doing more. It’s all very exciting.
Livingston’s surgery a success: “Thunder guard Shaun Livingston underwent a successful minor arthroscopic procedure today to resolve swelling in his left knee. During the procedure, which was performed by Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Bill Clancy, a loose anchor was removed from Livingston’s left knee. The anchor was originally placed during a previous surgery. “Shaun Livingston had successful minor arthroscopic surgery on his left knee,” said Dr. James Andrews. “His knee surfaces and previously repaired ligaments look excellent. He should be back to 100% in a few weeks.” It is estimated that Livingston will be out 3-4 weeks.”
Darnell Mayberry: “Good teams win on the road, and Tuesday’s win proves the Thunder is blossoming into a good team. This 6-5 start is no fluke. Oklahoma City has a better road record than it does at home (2-3). Granted, Miami is far from the toughest place to win in the league. Heat officials were so desperate for fans that two entire sections in the upper deck were allowed to move down to the lower bowl. But the Thunder has also gone into Detroit, San Antonio and Los Angeles and won, holding off talented Pistons, Spurs and Clippers teams in the fourth quarter with solid late-game execution and exceptional defense.”
Hot Hot Hoops: “A quick take on Oklahoma City. I think they’re going to become what everyone’s been waiting on from the Portland Trailblazers. They’re really young and growing around each other. And how symbolic that it will be Kevin Durant and the Thunder flying up the Western Conference as Greg Oden and the Trailblazers have another year of almost. Do not sleep on Oklahoma City.”
Miami Herald: “Through nine games this season, the Heat found a way to become one of the league’s biggest surprises thanks to consistent defense, a stunning superstar and a more productive supporting cast. No one ever called the Heat physically intimidating, however. The Oklahoma City Thunder can be exactly that. With 6-11 Kevin Durant leading a long, athletic and talented group, the Thunder dismantled the Heat 100-87 on Tuesday in a relatively empty AmericanAirlines Arena.”
The Orlando Sentinal is asking who the best player is under 23. Kevin Durant of course is running away with it.
ESPN’s award watch came out yesterday. Now I know it’s early, but no Scott Brooks for Coach of the Year? This team was 1-10 at this point last year. And I didn’t expect Thabo to get any love for Defensive Player of the Year, but I really hope he starts getting more and more attention. He’s earning it.
John Hollinger’s power rankings have OKC at eight. They are purely statistical and update automatically throughout the year.
A roundtable discussion on SI.com asking if the Nets, Wolves, Knicks or Grizzlies could be one of the worst ever. Let me tell you, it’s nice to not be in that discussion.
From Elias: “Kevin Durant scored 32 points to lead the Thunder to a victory over the Heat. Durant has now scored 25 or more points in each of his last eight games. That is the longest current streak in the league and the longest such streak of Durant’s career. Over the last 20 years, only one other member of the Seattle/Oklahoma City franchise has scored 25 or more points in eight consecutive games: Ray Allen (10 straight in 2007).”
Darnell Mayberry hit it on the head about successful late game execution. The Spurs win was nice, but SAS repeatedly shot themselves in the foot missing shots and played uncharacteristically bad basketball down the stretch. Miami was actually putting up a fight, hit a few big shots, and their defense wasn’t really that bad to end the game. To still come out with a comfortable win is encouraging, something that definitely wouldn’t have happened last season. If these guys can play that way consistently it’ll be a pretty good team.
@justin
Right on.
Just thinking: Two wins OKC should have certainly had: At Sacto and home against the Clips. Take care of those two and we’re looking at 8-3. Now wouldn’t THAT be something?
Watching last night the place looked 1/2 full. I was shocked. I don’t know what their regular attendance, etc is, but seeing as how ‘everyone’ is all OKC can’t put fans in the seats and fans in front of the TVs is pure blastphemy now.
And a random thought..Westbrook and Oneal last night…I haven’t seen that at all from a Thunder player, I liked it.
@Royce
Heck, even just the Clippers game and we’re 7-4 and probably in most people’s top ten. Not just Hollinger’s. That would be pretty cool.
@Lefty
Losses happen and I realize all this. It’s the NBA and you lose close games. BUT, really only one game has OKC been totally outplayed and that was Houston. I kind of think this team might even be better than its 6-5 record suggests, which is very exciting.
i kinda wanna point out how crazy the westbrook oneal situation couldve been, it was a good thing it was a home game for jermaine, can u imagine what wouldve happend if he did that on the road…reminds me of another occurance a few years ago…oh wait he was involved in that, it couldve gotten ugly, but good for both sides that was the end of it oneal knows better since hes been there before, but westbrook handled it very maturely for his age
also oneal is a bit of a coward picking on someone have his size
half not have in above
@Andy Sweeter than Candy
Yea i thought Wade handled the situation correctly.. kinda “Okay you made your point.. lets take a lil walk”
yea I don’t like the big dounut a.k.a. O’Neil…
Anyone else thinking that we can take the game in Orlando tonight? I know its second day of back to back but with the way we have been playing the upper teir of the league + Jamier Nelson is out I think we have a decent shot.
@Royce
Any idea on T-shirt prices? We should plan on having everyone wear them to a game, show our support against certain ‘outside’ elements.
So Kevin Durant is up to 6-11 now (per Miami Herald)? Is he growing or are people exaggerating?
Just 3-4 weeks for Livingston! Good news.
@Brett
I don’t know if that’s been settled, but I’d guess around $20. They’ll be soft, and on American Apparell, so it’s not like they’ll be crappy hard cotton shirts.
@za
I heard Yao Ming was actually 6’2″ playing PG before getting into the league. The great ones just grow exponentially over their time in the NBA. By the end of the season, Durant could be 7’4″ and be the answer to out center problem.
@za
They’ve been saying either 6’10″ or 6’11″ with him the whole time. It kind of depends.
@za
I thought everybody knew this…. As the hype around Kevin Durant grows… so does Kevin Durant, finally catastrophically ending with the beast known as the Durantula!
He’s listed at 6’9 on Thunder website.
Is Durant actually taller than Green? I always assumed they were about the same (with a slight edge to Green, maybe).
KD’s lankiness does make him appear taller than he might actually be however–I really doubt that he is 6’10.
@Danny
All I knoew is that Uncle Jeff IS 6’9″… he was huge! well not huge but did make me feel small… and i’m 6′. I think KD and he are about the same size
Durant is about an inch taller than Jeff Green, and about half a foot longer. KD, structurally, is about the same as LaMarcus Aldridge, Aldridge is just heavier.
so will you ship the DT-shirt overseas?
I love how RW would not back down and how he handled himself afterwards.
I am glad his swing did not land though, it could have been more than one T.
@Bernard
I think they can go anywhere.
Kevin Durant was 6’9″ without shoes when he was measured pre-draft, it’s conceivable that he has grown close to an inch since then.
@Bernard
I wouldn’t classify what RW did as an actual “swing” if he had done that, even w/o landing it, he would have been ejected. What I saw happen was russel swat at someones arm that was infront of him (granted for only a second or less)
The shirt designs are a-maz-ing. Seriously.
Oh god I hope we win tonight!!!!
If we do, we will really start generating (in al gore’s south park voice)SUPER CEREAL national buzz….if we haven’t already
I’m sooo excited!!!! I’m soooo excited!!!!…I’m so…SCARED!
Steve Smith on NBATV mentioned during the clips/thunder broadcast (ugh, I’d like to foget all about that game) that last year when he interviewed KD during all-star break he had to look up at him, eventhough he himself is 6’8. So that tells me that when a 6’8 person has to look up at you during an interview, you must betaller than 6’9
I was surprised to see D Wade being the one to hold Westbrook back and pull him away from the situation. That actually made me have a higher respect for D Wade. Also, when he was pulling him away it looked like he was giving him “keep it up” taps on the head and talking to him in an encouraging way. I wonder what Wade said to him.
With shoes Durant was 6’10.25 and you play ball with shoes at 19 it is possible that he grew .75″ in two years.
@Robert
Ya Wade seems to be a real pro in the sense that he encourages younger players, helps them out, you NEVER hear of Wade having issues(other than injury).
@Robert
I was wondering the same thing. Hopefully he wasn’t cleverly talking smack.
Can we maybe get a sneak-peak of the t-shirts Royce?
I’m excited!
Great article on nba.com quoting KD on the whole “retire MJ’s number” stuff. KD’s got it right.
http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/art_garcia/11/18/insider/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1
@Mark
Ah! Good find. Can’t believe I missed it.
@Zach
Soon. Soon this will happen.
I like that the Miami Herald blamed the crowd…
I think when you are 6′ 10″ and a guy shoots over you like you were 6’5″ you are going to say that he must be at least 6′ 11″. I expect Durant to become 7′ soon.
If we go 2-1 or 3-0 this week i think we can move up further in power rankings, just need to not have the letdown game tonight or play poorly against a bad team in the wizards.
@f5alcon
As long as we don’t have a letdown game against the wiz we should move up.
HAHA signs of progress… We, at least in my head, qualify as being good enough for letdown games
so much different from last year.
3-0 this week would be amazing… even I might put them in my top ten (that I don’t officially have).
All I know is if the Thunder manage to hold off a vengeful Orlando Magic squad tonight, they had better get the the job done here at home against the Wiz… or people will start to wonder.
@Bryan
well if thats the case someone would have to do an analysis of Thunder games in Loud arena’s vs quite ones. OKC brings the noise
Hopefully we win tonight and gain more attention and not have a let-down against Washington..
tonight will be tough – you don’t think the coach isn’t talking to them about the beatdown they received last week??
@Casey
Thinking longterm, hopefully the players are really learning from these early experiences. I’ve said before that this team has to learn to win and they are definitely doing it. If they can take these lessons and apply them later in the year, we could be in for an even stronger finish. That would be a great way to finish this year (even if we don’t make the playoffs). Unless something happens to drastically change our outlook, playoffs next year should be the only expectation we have.
As someone who has kept a close eye on the Thunder, I can honestly say that this team now legitimately scares me. Actually, scratch that last statement. They scare the S**t out of me. I knew they were going to be good, but this soon? Honestly, the goal for this team should be the playoffs. They will be a 7th/8th seed. Next year…. I wouldn’t be shocked to see them finish in the top 3.
The Jekyll and Hyde results this team has posted is exactly what you would expect to see. Last year, they were just too young to win against the elite teams. I assumed they would need at least another year, probably two, to get that part down… boy was I wrong. They have the talent to beat anyone on any given night (this is probably something you guys already knew, but I feel compelled to let you know the rest of the league did not see this coming). However, they also have the inexperience to lose to anyone on any given night. All that being said, Thunder fans need to enjoy what is going on in OKC. They are seeing a championship contender grow up right before their eyes.
(I just hope the Cavs can win one before this team takes over the league in 2-3 years).
@Colin
I wondered where you’ve been lately. Nice to see you post again.
I’ve followed the NBA for a long time now, and I can’t help but wonder how many casual Thunder fans really understand what’s happening before their eyes.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
*raises hand*
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
I’ve been around. Haven’t posted in a while because all of my basketball watching/analyzing has been 100% focused on the Cavs and the blog I’m running.
Plus, with the Thunder not being on national tv (a travesty if you ask me, I’m actually going to make a post on that topic eventually), I really haven’t seen enough to make an intelligent comment on this team. Box scores and highlights can only tell you so much…..
@Colin
If Bron Bron and D Wade join forces I think it is safe to assume they would take over.
@Robert
Yeah, I actually told someone the other day that if those two teamed up that I would stop watching the NBA.