Maybe it wasn’t pretty all the way through, but that’s three straight for OKC
BOX SCORE
– ADVANCED BOX SCORE
You know how you know your team is getting better? Wins aren’t good enough anymore. You want to play well AND win.
And I’m not so sure Oklahoma City played all that great. No matter though, they won, 105-89 over the now 2-29 Nets. And that’s sometimes what it takes. Do enough to win on the road and then move on with your life. But still, it wasn’t pretty and I like pretty. If you really wanted to be, you could be a little bummed with this win.
But I don’t think we’re to that point with this team yet. I feared a loss heading to New Jersey tonight. But the Thunder took care of their business and won the game. That’s what is important.
If you just check the final line, you assume OKC played a nice defensive game. And in the second half, the Thunder certainly did. But that first half. The Nets, who by efficiency standards are the worst offensive team in the league, scored 55 points and shot 51 percent in the first two quarters. Now in the second, OKC allowed the Nets to just 34 points and held them to just two points over a 10 minute stretch. That’s something a good team does. Coast for a bit, then turn it on. And when the game looked to be in danger, much like the Charlotte game, the Thunder locked down.
I know Kevin Durant had a sexy 40 points and Russell Westbrook dropped another double-double with 16 and 10, but I think Nick Collison gets the gold star tonight. He had 11 points and 10 rebounds, was a plus-25 and took three charges. I feel like Collison is owed a Michael Lewis New York Times piece soon. You simply can’t quantify his value sometimes. On a night Jeff Green got in foul trouble and had six points and two rebounds in 16 minutes, Collison was huge. He may not affect the outcome every night like a guy like Durant, but he’s definitely a factor in winning games more often than not.
But one thing I loved about Durant’s 40 points. He could have gone for 50. Some guys in this league would have definitely tried. But Durant consistently plays within the offense and scores in the flow of the game. He only took 22 shots to get his 40 (15-22). I’m not going to list out who those “Some Guys” are, but it just shows Durant’s team-first mentality. He scores because it helps his team. Not because it helps his stature.
Notes:
- The Thunder looked a little flat early on, but I don’t know if I was getting their energy confused with the deadness of the arena.
- Thabo’s help defense block on Lopez is a good example of why he’s an elite defensive player. He’s always making plays on that end. He had six assists and while wasn’t a factor offensively, he was excellent in help defense in the second half.
- James Harden, eek. Another 0-10 from the field for just three points. He did have six rebounds though. One thing I’m not liking so much is it seems like he’s looking for his own more than he did two weeks ago. What happened to James the Creator? Now he’s beating his man off the dribble and looking for his own shot instead of looking for a teammate. But remember, he’s a rookie.
- Oh, and the two EASY layups Harden missed. Yikes.
- Byron Mullens! What an exciting night for him. He came in, tried to block a shot from Brook Lopez and then got to walk up the court. I must say, I’d give him an A+ for the night. I mean, he didn’t mess it up, right?
- Forty free throw attempts for the Thunder. That’s your difference in the game.
- Nenad Krstic was excellent in his New Jersey return. A strong 19 points on 7-12 shooting, seven rebounds and two blocks. He played solid defense on Brook Lopez and helped get him in foul trouble.
- Serge Ibaka brought some nice production off the bench. In 17 minutes six points and nine rebounds. I don’t know what everyone else thought, but I want him to take that open 15-footer. He needs to take it. He has the ability to hit and it he can’t be shy about it. Unless of course Scott Brooks told him not to…
- That’s four straight excellent games from Russell Westbrook. Just two turns to 10 assists and another quality offensive game. He finished 4-12, but he missed his last eight shots, including a bunch of tough ones in traffic. His 18-foot jumper is tasty right now. With that shot, his confidence rises in all areas. Again, he’s capable of making it. And the fact he didn’t shy from it when he wasn’t says something about his mental makeup.
- KD had four first quarter turnovers, but just one after that. Seems like he does that a lot. A bunch of turnovers in a bundle and then he refocuses and cleans it up.
- Trenton Hassell must have seen me ripping on him. He had 14 points (10 in the first half) on 6-8 shooting.
- Grant Long mentioned it, but Westbrook’s play right before halftime really showcases how he’s learning. Instead of hoisting a prayer, he was aware of the situation and found Durant for a much high percentage shot. That’s what point guards do. Set teammates up for makeable shots.
- Yi Jianlian looked like an offensive force. But Nets blogger Sebastian Pruiti said tonight’s game was something of an anamoly. Yi hasn’t been that aggressive both inside and out yet this year. From what I saw, Yi has the talent to be a serious scorer in this league. I bet Byron Mullens watched Yi and said, “Yeah, THAT’S what I want to be.” Which makes me want to punch a hard surface.
- OKC outrebounded New Jersey 43-33 on the night and held Lopez to just seven. Six guys had five-plus rebounds for the Thunder.
- The Thunder went 0-12 from 3 tonight. Durant 0-2, Harden 0-4, Green 0-2, Westbrook 0-2, Maynor 0-1, Collison 0-1.
The bottom line is yes, you can complain about some aspects of this game. The first half defense most notably. You can point out some lackluster individual performances. Jeff Green’s most notably. But the important thing is Oklahoma City won the game, went to 16-14 and has a three-game streak in hand. Isn’t that what we all want? I guess things could have been better, but in the end, does it really matter when you have more points than the other guy?
Next up: OKC moves down the road to Washington D.C. to take on the Wizards Tuesday night. And that’s a chance for (gasp) four straight.
Kings with no Martin or Evans beat the Nuggets, Celts lose to GSW (game after losing to clips), and Lakers lose to Suns in Pheonix. What an odd night in the NBA.
@justin
The other thing that is seperating Melo and KD is turnovers. In his early years Melo always had a TO rate very similar to what Durant has done so far, but this year Melo has really cut his turnover rate down to 8.8 (Durant is at 11.6). As much as hitting his 3s again, I feel like that is the next step for Durant to become an MVP caliber player.
Looks like Melo ended up with 35 FG attempts tonight, but keep in mind that Billups is out, so that may account for some of the extra attempts. Also, Denver plays at a much faster pace than OKC, when you take that into account I’d guess that even the 1 extra FG attempt that Melo averages pretty much drops out and they’d be about dead even.
What I do find a bit interesting is how even KD’s distribution of shot attempts is relative to Melo (and I’m guess other high volume scorers like Kobe, LeBron, Wade). KD seems to get his 17-22 attempts per game with very little over under. Part of that probably has to do with the fact that OKC isn’t blowing as many teams out as LA, Denver, Cleveland, etc.
@Josh
Sorry…blowing as many teams out. Not blowing them.
@Josh
Crap. It looks like I said it right the first time. Oops again.
Last season to this season they’ve made progress on the other 3 offensive Factors, slipping only on offensive rebounding,sometimes considered the least important.
On defense they only made improvement on 2 of the 4 factors but they did it on the most important- shot defense and turnovers forced.
If you could keep doing what you are doing well and add better rebounding that would be something. To do that you might try 5 minutes more of Ibaka and 5 minutes less of Green, though even something that small has risks and might not be net positive. Still I’d tinker with it and see how it feels / works. By the stats Ibaka is more power forward than center to me.
@Josh
I noticed the difference in turnovers as well. That’s really the difference in their games at this point, Carmelo is taking care of the ball a lot better.
I think Kevin Durant’s defining characteristic compared to Carmelo will be defense. Carmelo’s turned into an adequate defender, but KD is just beginning to really tap into his length. He already blocks a lot more shots (and probably alters many more) and gets more steals than Carmelo ever did, and his team defense is improving rapidly. Like Carmelo, he’s starting to assert himself physically, we’re seeing a lot more posting up and physical play near the rim from Kevin Durant this year and even though it doesn’t look it, it seems like he’s getting stronger.
I don’t think much will separate the two as scorers as the years go by unless Kevin Durant finds a way to consistently shoot that three ball at 40%+. Carmelo might have a slight advantage through their careers in play making and taking care of the ball. But defense is where Kevin Durant can really take the lead and become the second best SF in the NBA.
@Crow
Jeff Green has to play better, play less, or be replaced. He’s too inconsistent and it seems like most of the team’s short comings start and end with him. He doesn’t really help the offense or defense, IMO. He’s just kind of there a lot of the time.
@justin
Yeah, I agree regarding Durant’s D, I think with the improvements KD made toward the end of last year and so far this year his defensive development is already on a different trajectory than Melo’s. On offense I really think Melo is the best comparison, but on D I’m not really sure who Durant’s game will end up resembling most.
Green isn’t really a strong #2. That’s really the issue. If he was #4 I wouldn’t give him as much grief. Westbrook and Harden might take that spot. I’d rather Harden did. Or a guy to be named later.
I have touted Noah over Green but you’d have to know Noah up close to decide really. As much I’ve knocked the Green pick you could have done worse. In fact almost all the other guys behind him aren’t clearly better. If you could re-run that draft, I would now probably trade down or out for the right vet or a future pick or pack or some kind. And if I’d known more first hand I would have hoped I could have seen the potential of Marc Gasol.
pack “of” some kind
Anybody who went to scout Marc Gasol games and had a 100+ page binder what did you see that made you say no? I guess the weight / conditioning issue was out there but did it really look bad / unlikely to be remedied? I thought he had already made pretty good progress by draft-time.
Imagine if they had him.
I haven’t figure how to control it all yet but check this stat grapher out: http://www.red94.net/?p=400
Pretty high tech.
It doesn’t load for me. I think I am missing the latest Flash or Java.
about the switching . . .
Thabo, Maynor, and Harden do it every once in a while – I havent counted, but I bet that Westbrook does it more than the other three combined . . . it’s comical to see him get stuck on Utah’s Okur, the Mavericks’ Nowitzki, or on the Nets’ Yi. What happens? The opponent goes in the post, and he has to front or overplay his man. Then they either lob the ball over Russ, or we have to send a double to help. If you watch, a lot of times Russ gets behind the screener before the pick actually happens . . .
I honestly think it’s an effort thing – the coaches allow it, and Russell takes advantage of it WAY MORE than he should. Why do I think it’s an effort thing? Look at the rest of his defensive game – even though he’s improved, he’d rather take a swipe in the backcourt vs speeding back to get his man. Most of the time when he gambles and misses, he watches (halfcourt) or trots back (fullcourt). I wouldnt be so bad if he didn’t have the athleticism, but for a guy consistently lauded about his freaksish athleticism, it would be nice to see him use it on a regular basis (defensively).
not really that strange . . .
Denver (as usual) is overhyped – they have been slumping and are on a losing skid as of late . . .
Phoenix was 11-2 at home before tonight and they have Barbosa back
That’s was Golden State’s SIXTH win in a row vs Boston at home . . .
Let me tell you something about the Kings. People may not realize it right this second just yet, but that team is our #1 direct rival just because they are the best young up and coming team in the league other than us. When we come into our own, so will they, and they will be our big time rivals. Book that.
The Kings are actually on a faster pace towards competitiveness and contention than us. Tyreke Evans is having a far better rookie year than KD did (both came out after their freshman year), and he might very well be as good as KD in due time. On top of him they have their frontcourt rotation set already with Thompson and Hawes (while ours can be classified right now as “under construction” or “to be determined”) which is huge. They have ridiculous depth on top of hawes, thompson, evans too, with players like Caspi, Greene, Garcia.
Us Thunder fans better keep our eye on that team.
I’m from Jersey and I saw the Thunder in person for the first time ever last night. Obviously I was more than pleased to see a Thunder win and 40 from KD, but it was an odd night overall. I am impressed with the way the team survives on nights like this where they play far from great basketball. Especially Durant who had 30 before you even realized he was part of the offense despite the fact that he was basically starting Nets fastbreaks in the first half.
I’m also impressed with the way the team does things right now just in the game, but before it and during time outs. The Thunder came out and were all business from warm-ups to the final whistle. Not too much goofing off, just guys seriously preparing for the game and listening attentively in the huddles. Conversely, the Nets were making jokes and playing around during warm-ups. Also, I don’t think they spent one time out drawing plays or talking match-ups. The team just hung out on the bench and/or watched the dance team. Not surprising to see why a team like the Thunder is soaring and the Nets are flopping (well that and the serious talent differential…)
truly an outstanding post . . .
I love the “wired” segments they have on national NBA telecasts – this , of course, is similar (albeit more detailed) . . .
thanks for the inside view!
On the Harden thing… it seems to me that the addition of Maynor might have something to do with the change in his game.
Before Maynor joined the squad, Harden was the second best (maybe even first) distributor on the floor. And he was definitely doing a lot of point duty for the second unit.
With Harden’s ability to distribute the ball being less of a team need now, I think that Brooks is allowing him to find another role as a go-to type of player.
It may take a little time for him to adjust and remember that he still has to create shots for others, but I think it will come.
Thanks for the love Kev. I don’t know if you’re from OKC or not, but I’m jealous of all you guys who get to go see them on a regular basis. I’m definitely going on March 30th when they come to Philly.
Some other game notes since the others were well received: It’s incredible to see how much Durant goes through to get the ball in the offense. Running through screen after screen and jostling for position it makes me wonder just how he manages to play 40+ minutes a game. Then again there are so many stoppages, he didn’t even look winded at the end of the game.
Seeing Thabo work in the flow of the defense was also a treat. Courtney managed to find a number of opportunities on loose balls and strange situations, but seeing Thabo rotate, collapse, and contest displayed a lot of the things he understands and if capable of defensively that others aren’t.
One final note, Collison is the perfect player for his role. He constantly looked to help and take charges on D, defering shots offensively that Nenad jacks up every time to find a better look for Russ or KD. Unselfish and pleasant to watch all-around.
Brooks has obviously instructed Harden to look for his offense first and foremost, and that is the reason his approach has changed the past few games. He didn’t all of a sudden change his offensive approach and start looking for his shot out of the blue on his own whim after being a distributor all his life, including the first portion of this season. He obviously himself is trying to adjust to this new role that has been forced on him by Brooks. And I am not against this decision by Brooks at all because the logic is crystal clear:
1) they are grooming RW as the distributor
2) now we got Maynor to do the same thing as well
3) we already get absolutely no offensive production from the SG spot due to Thabo
^^^ so with these factors in mind, Brooks is correct in making Harden understand that we need offense from him more than anything, and he will get it soon
Withe denvers skid we are only 3 games out of 1st place in the division, if we beat utah and win tonight, we will be tied with them for 3rd in the division, portland has a tough january schedule, we could conceivably be 2nd in the division in 2 weeks
@The DON
This. I look for Harden to continue to be aggressive while he figures out justhow to do it. Then at some point, he’ll learn when to drive and when to dish, and he’ll be an amazing all around wing player.
@f5alcon
Just thinking about that possibility has me….
http://i994.photobucket.com/albums/af61/mogklav2/2cf7ezd.gif
@The DON
I love it when you come up with those…ROFL!
Joe, it took a long time to load that stat charter for me but it eventually did. It is kinda busy, probably overkill but it is an interesting way to display the movement of data.
Turning the quality to low on the Flash might have helped.