Mustafa Shakur was the only Tulsa 66er selected to the NBA D-League All-Star Game that was played Saturday afternoon. Shakur represented well, with 10 points (shooting 4-for-6 from the field), four rebounds, four assists, and a game-high four steals.
I had the chance to talk to Shakur before All-Star weekend and asked him about what he expected in Dallas, as well as his thoughts on the 66ers’ season so far. Tulsa entered the All-Star break at 16-14 and 6.5 games behind West Conference leader Rio Grande Valley. Read more…
Yeah, the dunk contest was kind of not awesome. But what was awesome, was James Harden’s attire. He was most certainly swaggin’ Saturday night. I think it’s pretty clear that Harden leads the Thunder in swag, and probably by a large margin. The letterjacket, Harry Caray glasses combo is definitely a look Jimbo Slice is able to pull off. It must be the beard, amirite?
But I love this picture. Everyone is sitting down, watching DeMar DeRozan skywalk. But there is Harden, alone on his feet, mouth agape. Meanwhile, Kevin Durant looks on in earnest and Kevin Garnett appears to be napping on Rajon Rondo’s shoulder. I think this picture really sums up the contest well.
It came down to Rajon Rondo and Kevin Durant and for time’s sake, it turned into a 3-point, jumpshooting contest. I have no idea what got into Rondo, but he was sinking jays with KD. Back and forth they went, Rondo matching every Durant jumper. They traded six straight makes. But finally Durant made eight of nine to win it. CELEBRATE OKLAHOMA CITY.
I don’t know if anyone can make a 30-foot jumper look so silky. Durant’s first shot was literally feathered in. I’ve never been that close to his jumper, but you really have to admire the rotation on his shot. It’s absolutely textbook. It couldn’t be more perfect. I know everyone watches HORSE for trick shots and crazy attempts, but honestly, I don’t know if anything is more entertaining than watching Durant chuck jumpers. It’s just pure. There’s really no other word to describe it.
I know a lot of people had issues with HORSE and yes, it dragged. But I enjoyed it. It was fun, it was light and I thought the participants did a good job. Part of the reason I liked it so much is probably because I’d be excited about watching Kevin Durant read Howard Taft’s Wikipedia page. So maybe I’m not the best judge of it.
Also, Russell Westbrook filled in for Derrick Rose in the Skillzzzz Challenge. He finished last at 44 seconds. But the fact he was there was pretty darn cool. The Thunder has basically completely taken over the weekend, which is awesome.
A quick little video of Durant talking with the media. The whole session was 30 minutes but a lot of it was the same questions over and over. “Do you think you can win the scoring title?” “Twenty-five straight games with 25… cool right?” “Is it cool to be at the All-Star Game?” And yada, yada, yada.
KD talks a little here about defenders that give him trouble and a few other things. (Forgive me if the sound is bad. It was LOUD in there.)
(Good morning from Dallas DTers. Thanks for your support. Be sure to follow on Twitter as I’ll have pictures and videos on there later.)
It’s simple: Kevin Durant is playing HORSE today and will be defending his title. He won last year by shooting a bunch of 3s. Some called it boring. Most people wanted trick shots and over-the-top attempts. But here’s the thing: These guys are completely wired to compete. So while yeah, it’d be fun to try one behind the back, or attempt to kick one in, the reality is, if your opponent is playing for real, he’s going to beat you. And when these guys compete in anything, they’d prefer to win. So they try and please the fans a bit but when it gets to brass tacks, it’s about winning. And hopefully, that’s what KD does again today.
Here’s some video of James Harden talking after the game. Below are some quotes from Russell Westbrook, Patrick Ewing and Kevin Durant.
WESTBROOK
On how he played: “It was a fun game, unfortunately they came out with the victory but a fine team effort for us. We just tried to come out and have some fun.” Read more…
The Rookie Challenge isn’t always the most fun thing from All-Star Weekend. A lot of times, the players try to hard to be fancy and flashy and forgo anything that resembles basketball. But last year’s game was a ton of fun. But that probably has something to do with Kevin Durant going nova during it and dropping an All-Star Weekend record 46 points.
Last year, I did a live diary for the game. I’ll actually be in the building computer in hand this year, so no witty commentary on commercials or announcers. I know you’re bummed. I’ll just comment on the crazy vendor behind me that keep yelling “POPCORN” in a high pitch voice. So follow along and refresh this page for some live updates from the American Airlines Center. Sunday I’ll actually live diary the thing for real, but I’ll definitely have some updates from the arena tonight.
So hang around, talk a little and enjoy All-Star Weekend.
7:59 PM CST: And we’re like ready to start. The screaming children are everywhere and it’s deafening even though the arena is two-thirds empty. Read more…
It’s time for three days of fun and games. Three days to celebrate the NBA, kick back and relax and just soak up the awesomeness of NBA All-Star Weekend. It’s time to let your guard down, lose a little focus and just have fun. Players and fans both.
And for Thunder fans, this break is extra fun. I don’t think this could have gone any better. I know I’ve said that like five times, but seriously. Nobody thought at the All-Star break that this team would be nine games over, have 30 wins (half on the road) and be sitting sixth in the West. Nearly every prediction we saw had OKC winning 35 games. And the Thunder can eclipse that in a little over a week. Plus, riding a wave of momentum into the break is excellent. Nothing quite like piling up six straight wins to carry over into the stretch run of the season.
But, this also concerns me. There are still five days until OKC’s next game. Five days to hear about how great they are. Five days to feel proud of their first half accomplishment. Five days to maybe lose a little of that hunger that has fueled them through the first 51. 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].
Who? Who says we won’t win 50 games? (Will): Who’s to say we wont have 50 wins this season. If you break the past two seasons down into trimesters (just over 25 games) we have staedily improved over every time period. and the last 25 games we have gone 16-9 (.640 win percentage). Apply that percentage to the next 32 games (thats the rest of this season) and we come out at about 20 wins (20.48 really), which puts us with 49 wins. Couple that with the previously mentioned improvement and…… 50+ wins…
Also, last game Russ had a steal and clear breakaway in which he turned around and gave the ball to an ICE COLD Kevin Durant, which truly got him going. Without that, KD ends the 25 point streak with a very underwhelming game. Read more…
I’ll be heading to Dallas a little later this afternoon, so I’ll be a bit out of touch. But I’ve got you covered for the weekend. I’ll be your eyes and ears (and nose, if you like smell descriptions) with live blogs, tweets and other updates from the All-Star Game. Tonight is the Rookie/Sophomore game so do join us for it.
Berry Tramel on Russell Westbrook: ”Do you detect a pattern? Westbrook keeps showing up on lists with the likes of Magic Johnson, Chris Paul, Isiah Thomas, Allen Iverson and Derrick Rose. Doing remarkable things at a remarkably young age. I have no idea what kind of player Westbrook will become. I do know what kind of player he is. Among NBA point guards, Westbrook is second in rebounding, seventh in assists, 12th in assist/turnover ratio and 15th in scoring. And he’s 21 years old. Something special has come our way.” Read more…
That is what this prospect is because, honestly, I’ve never been able to see him play and all of what I know about him is what other people tell me. But I can say this, those individuals are usually pretty accurate in their scouting reports so that is why this player has to go AT LEAST #4 since he could potentially be one of the answers for the Thunder’s low post need.
ESPN’s Chad Ford lists Hassan White side as a Marcus Camby type of talent if he reaches his potential. A long, athletic forward who is an explosive leaper, is very quick for his size, a terror on the defensive end, a dominating shot-blocker and a very solid rebounder. Read more…
I hate the Lakers. And despite the number of times I’ve been told that Christians should not hate, I can’t find another word to describe how much I loathe “The Lake Show.” The same goes for the Yankees and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pretty much anytime a powerful team is playing, I am probably going to root for the underdog.
On Monday night, I found myself cheering for the Lakers to win.
I felt dirty (though, the lack of Kobe made it a little less bile inducing), but it was important that I offer my karmic will to the defending champs. It was good for the Thunder. You see, they were playing the Spurs who are fighting for one of those coveted (and difficult to earn) Western Conference playoff spots.
Now, as the All Star Break signifies the end of the first half of the season, the last portion is going to be all about the playoffs. If Oklahoma City continues to play wonderfully, the discussion may even turn to how good the team’s seed will be and whether the team can challenge to play in the Finals. (Okay, think about that for a second…awesome, huh?)
First things first, though. John Hollinger may have them as a virtual lock for the “real” season, but there is still a lot of basketball to play and a plethora of teams with better than decent hopes of making it in. So, after the jump, I offer a primer for Thunder fans preparing for the final stretch of season.
Chris Sheridan looks at the top non-playing trade assets. And OKC has two of them: ”Phoenix’s unprotected pick: This piece of property belongs to the Oklahoma City Thunder, though it is losing value with each passing day as the Suns have recovered from their mini-slump to win five in a row to rise to fifth place in the West. When you consider that Oklahoma City also has an expendable $7.9 million expiring contract (Etan Thomas) which can be combined with Matt Harpring’s insurance-covered $6.5 million deal, and if you postulate that the Thunder would also be willing to give up their own pick or the Suns’ pick to acquire a stud, they could be sneaky big-time players a week from Thursday.”
Up to six in Fanhouse’s power rankings: “Kevin Durant continues to impress, and trails LeBron James by only a tenth of a point for the league lead in scoring. The Thunder were the story last week, and with a couple more wins in the books and no more games until after the All-Star break, they can enjoy the weekend by looking back on a more-successful-than-expected first half of the season.” Read more…
It’s at this point in the prospectus that we’ll start to see some redundancies, both in the prospects themselves but in what these prospects might bring to the Thunder that is already there but maybe just not in the way or package that the Thunder need.
For example, you could argue that the next two prospects to come are more or less Ibaka clones. And if you said that, I would not argue at all. The difference though is in play style and skill-set more than physical stature. And by no means do I want this to come across like these players would replace Ibaka in any way. They would ONLY be taken if the Thunder brass thought they could complement what was already on the team for the future, i.e. Ibaka and Green in the paint (I’d add Collison off the bench but Krstic and Collison have contracts ending soon so I’m not going to presume to say that I know what the Thunder front office will do with them).
But we still come back to the Thunder’s need of a low post scoring threat, a defensive rebounding fiend and a rim protecting shot-blocker (who combined with Ibaka would make for quite a nice “think twice before attacking the rim” tandem, no?). Read more…
Kenny Mayne teams up with Pearl Jam bass guitarist Jeff Ament to make a knee-slapping video about some hicks from Oklahoma (yeehaw) stealing their goshdarndadgum Space Needle. What them there See-at-tul folks need with that cotton pickin’ thing anyhow? Whatsit fer? I don’t think we need it by and large by the by and by. (Roll video)
We’re close to being past all this, I think. At least much closer than a year ago. For some, they will boil over with rage and let the Okie inferority complex take over as they curse the heavens at Oklahomans being stereotyped as wagon riding idiots, but I honestly don’t care. It’s clearly supposed to be a funny little video and I’m not so uptight that I’m going to flip my crap over it. But some certainly will.
And I don’t mean to stir a ruckus, especially since we’re all basking in the big win over Portland last night and I prefer to keep things focused on basketball (and headbands). But I try and also relay things I think there fair readers here at DT would be interested in and I think this is one of those things. Don’t type angry comments at the messenger.
