It’s no gold medal, but at least the United States beat Canada in something today.
It was a very business-like performance by the Thunder at home tonight, disposing of a Chris Bosh-less Toronto Raptor squad 119-99, to get back to 12 games over .500. Oklahoma City was efficient offensively (52 percent from the floor), played excellent defense against a great offensive team (43 percent, 99 points for a team averaging 107) and came out with great energy to start and sustained it through the game. If this recap is reminding you of the Minnesota one, it’s because the games were pretty similar. OKC led by as many as 26, never let it get close and just kind of ran away and hid in this one. Read more…
Chris Bosh is not coming to Oklahoma City. Not ever, just tonight. The Thunder’s catching a break as Bosh sat out Friday’s game with an ankle injury and didn’t travel with the team to OKC. The main difference between someone like Bosh not playing and Steve Nash is that Nash’s backup was the capable Goran Dragic. Bosh’s is Rasho Nesterovic. So yeah, that’s a little different. Read more…
(Good Saturday Daily Thunderites. Thanks so very much for your support. Enjoy your day.)
YudeProductions is back with another stellar video, this time taking you back through Kevin Durant’s 29-game 25-point streak. Though I must say, as awesome as the scoring streak was, KD’s Eazy E dance at the beginning was my favorite part. Who says Kevin Durant has no personality? When YudeProductions sent me the video, he said, “It’s quite boring, yet completes its goal of reliving the impressive run.” Watching KD score is never boring. For me at least.
Now that’s exactly what you would hope to see from a playoff contender after two straight losses. Oklahoma City came out with a frantic energy and sustained it for a full 48 minutes, as the Thunder jumped out to a lead, stretched it out and then held on to it to win by 17, 109-92.
This was one of the cleanest, most focused and most well executed games this year by the Thunder, and that’s even with 17 turnovers. They shot 54 percent from the field, never scored less than 25 in a quarter and defensively was extremely sharp, holding Minnesota to 40 percent shooting. And what was a little weird about it, was for once it didn’t feel like Kevin Durant was the focus. He kind of felt like a secondary player. And I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. The entire team was sharp. There was excellent ball movement, a ton of cutting and a bunch of great passing. Durant played well, but this game was the first time in a long time where he wasn’t the offensive star. It really was a total team effort and he was one of the guys. And I think that’s a great, great sign. Read more…
Why am I so nervous about this one? Is it because the Thunder’s lost two straight and it feels like we’ll never win again? Is it because OKC is playing the Timberwolves a second time in just four days? Is it because the other two games have been unnecessarily close? Is it because I’m a slightly paranoid Thunder fan that isn’t totally used to winning? Yeah, it’s probably that last one. Read more…
Where: Tapwerks in Bricktown (121 East Sheridan Avenue) What: Daily Thunder Pregame Party When: 5:00 PM – 6:30ish (or however late you want to stay) Why: ‘Cause Who: Hopefully you
There will be FREE parking to the first 50 arrivals at Bricktown Main Street Parking and that includes game parking. You enter this lot off of Main Street by the Ceramic Buffalo lot. Just tell the attendant you’re with Daily Thunder and that’s that. Once you pull in, you can go East in the parking lot and park by the Walnut Street Bridge. Once you park, you will walk about a block south to Tapwerks.
ALSO, there will be half price appetizers, $2 domestics and $3 the local brew Coop Native Amber for anyone that says they’re with Daily Thunder. There will be door prizes and they will be good too.
It’s worth coming for that, but even moreso, you can see me, tell me you love me and then we’ll awkwardly hug. It’ll all be very fantastic. Again, if this goes pretty well, we’ll try and do these sort of things more often, including Draft watch parties, away game watch parties and the like. More than anything, this is an effort to develop a real sense of community within the Thunder fan base, meet some fellow fans, make friends and talk basketball. It should be fun.
UPDATE: From Dusty at T&L: “Tree & Leaf will be in the house representin’ and selling tees for $20 flat. Consider this a tax holiday… pay in cash and Royce and I get to pretend the transaction never happened… We’ll have a “booth” at the front of the pub.”
I mentioned this the other night in the Spurs recap, so of course I had to look it up: How much better does Nenad Krstic play in the third quarter compared to the other three? The answer? Much, much better.
QUARTER
MPQ
RBDS
PPQ
FG%
First
7.4
1.9
2.4
38.9
Second
4.8
0.8
1.3
40.0
Third
8.5
1.8
3.9
63.8
Fourth
5.6
1.1
1.2
35.5
The biggest increase comes in his field goal percentage. He goes from shooting 38.1 percent in the other three quarters to 63.8 percent in the third. I liked reader Girlballer’s theory for the better play from Krstic: “Euros don’t eat dinner till like 10 o’clock or something. I think Nenad doesn’t even WAKE UP until 8:30 or so…” That makes perfect sense to me. So I went and looked at Krstic’s numbers for West Coast games. In those 7 PM starts Pacific time, it would be like starting at 9 PM here. And wouldn’t you know it, his shooting numbers, scoring and rebounding all stayed basically the same as his season averages. Theory debunked. Darn it. Read more…
Remeber DT NIGHT TONIGHT. I’ll have all your info here shortly. Even if you hate me, I think it’s worth coming by.
Steve Aschburner writes about KD and July 1: ”I told Durant that I covered another talented Kevin, Garnett, during his stay in Minnesota. Garnett was pestered constantly — at least whenever he was in the final season or two of a contract — with questions about his future whereabouts. But he brushed them aside (“I’m ‘Sota” was a familiar refrain), re-signed twice and stuck with the Timberwolves for 12 years. The guys who openly wonder about playing here, there and everywhere are the ones who find those questions multiplying. “All I’ve ever said is, I like to be here,” Durant said. “I like being here with these guys and I don’t picture myself being anywhere else. That’s how I field those questions: I don’t picture myself playing anywhere else.” Read more…
Kevin Durant’s awesome, amazing, incredible streak of scoring 25 or more points in a game wrapped up last night with *just* 21 points against San Antonio. It was 29 games of unbelievable offensive efficiency. And probably 29 of my favorite games ever in my short time as a Thunder fan. The team played great, Durant was unreal and we saw some of the most inspiring individual efforts of the season. The best part is, KD is just 21 years old and this is probably just one of many, many incredible streaks. But let us reflect on this one, by the numbers:
There was a time when Oklahoma City residents would feel disappointed if a visiting team’s best player had to sit out a game at the Ford Center. That was because so much of the decision for buying a ticket to the game hinged upon what star players would be coming through town. To be fair, once the game started, the fans in attendance usually rooted for the hometown team, but what got them out of the house was the potential to see Kobe or LeBron or Tracy McGrady have a big night.
These days things have changed. On January 13th, Tim Duncan was a late scratch for the San Antonio Spurs, and when the starting line ups were announced there was an audible sigh of relief that “The Big Fundamental’s” name wasn’t called. This past Tuesday, Steve Nash’s back was giving him enough trouble that he didn’t even fly to Oklahoma City for an important Western Conference match up with playoff implications. There was much rejoicing among the Thunder fanbase.
Remember, DT Night Friday at TapWerks downtown. I will have more info shortly about where to park, what kind of drink specials there are and a few other things. I really hope you come, if only to tell me I suck.
John Hollinger sizes up the Western Conference playoff picture: ”Finally, there are the Okies. Nobody expects much from them because they haven’t been here before, and we’d all be a little disappointed if they got in the way of an epic Mavs-Suns Stein Bowl in the first round. Nonetheless, few teams have taken care of business like this one: Oklahoma City hasn’t lost to a team outside playoff contention since a Nov. 15 defeat to the Clippers. Unfortunately for the Thunder, only eight such games remain on their schedule; the other 19 are against playoff contenders. The fortunate part is that they control their own destiny as much as any team — Oklahoma City still has 27 games left on its schedule, the most of any team going forward, compared to 25 for Dallas and 24 for Phoenix.” Read more…
Two nights, two streaks ended. After all the fun and joy we had the past week and half, these last two days were a bit of a buzzkill.
This was the dreaded fourth in five nights game and it showed for Oklahoma City. Call it running out of gas, call it playing shorthanded, but the Thunder just didn’t have enough against the rested, veteran Spurs, dropping a second straight, 95-87.
First, let’s get the Durant streak stuff out of the way. Twenty-nine straight games of 25 points or more is just unreal. We all had visions of this thing lasting forever because KD just scores with ease. It’s almost effortless. Some guys labor for points. Durant puts up 31 on 12-17 shooting like it’s nothing.
I definitely never thought KD’s streak was distracting to himself or teammates. But it was DEFINITELY distracting to me. It’s all I thought about. I’d be staring at the box score constantly worrying about it. Cripes, just 17 with 6:50 left in the third. PICK IT UP KD! I always hoped he’d gets his 25th point in the third quarter because then I wouldn’t have to worry about that AND the actual game during the fourth. Just too much for this Thunder fan’s heart. I kind of feel like Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive after he catches Dr. Richard Kimble. Harrison Ford says, “But it’s over now” and Jones replies, “You know I’m glad. I need the rest.” I wanted the streak to last forever and ever. But now I don’t have look at the box score ever 15 seconds. I need the rest. Read more…
So what happens after you lose? Do you play again? Do you have to go home for the rest of the season? It’s just been so long since it happened that I’ve forgotten. It’s funny though thinking about it. Last year, it was a strange feeling if we won. Now, it’s getting odd if we lose. I think I like it better this way. Read more…
With just two games over the span of two weeks, it’s been a time of rest and recovery for the Tulsa 66ers. Now the schedule goes from low-key to fast-paced.
Starting with a home game on Springfield on Thursday night, Tulsa will play eight games in a 12-day span. It’s a stretch that will test a 17-14 Tulsa team that currently sits six games out of first place in the West Conference. Two of those games are against the Austin Toros, a team that sits ahead of Tulsa in the standings.
“Every game is important, but home games are extremely critical right now,” said Tulsa head coach Nate Tibbetts, who will watch his team play five of the upcoming eight games at the Tulsa Convention Center, including a home-and-home with Austin. “The break has been good for us. It’s given us a chance to focus on film and work in the weight room. It’s also given us time to really work on the basics and get healthier.” Read more…
Dime lists the top five franchise players to build around: “Kevin Durant: 6-9, clearly gets better every season, and is more than three full years younger than LeBron. It’s been said before, but it’s 100 percent true: Kevin Durant has been put on this planet get buckets. He’s averaging a career-best 29.8 ppg this season – is it out of the question that a few years down the road that he’s scoring 35, 36, 40 points a game? I don’t think so. Throw in his increasing rebounding totals (almost eight boards per game this season) and you have a guy who is clearly moving beyond one-dimensional-scorer territory. When it’s all said and done, he could make the Blazers’ selection of THIS GUY one of the greatest blunders in NBA history.”
AP Photo/Alonzo Adams
