Let it be known right up front: LeBron James is the MVP. He will win and should win, the Maurice Podoloff Trophy. End of discussion, end of story, end of debate. Well, I guess not end of discussion because I’m going to try and start one. (Or I guess you could look at this as a case for why Kevin Durant should finish as the runner-up. Either way.)
Regardless of LeBron’s fantastic year, it is my duty as a Thunder fan, and even more importantly as Kevin Durant fan, to make a strong case for him as this year’s Most Valuable Player. And honestly, I won’t have to try that hard to make one. Because KD’s resume is pretty darn strong. In a word for the 21-year-old’s season, he’s been outstanding. Read more…
Berry Tramel on the game: ”This was a game given away. With a chance to avoid the Lakers in the first round, the Thunder instead resorted to the kind of team you expected OKC to be a season after going 23-59. A team that appeared to be trying to have fun while a wayward season trickles down. Maybe the Thunder will learn from this. Maybe the Thunder will realize that with simple, fundamental basketball in the second and third quarters, it would have led Golden State by 30 points and the regulars could have sat the final 12 minutes, awaiting tonight’s showdown in Portland. Instead, the Thunder lost an embarrassing game that shows sometimes kids act like kids.” Read more…
At this stage in the season, meaning three games left, I could see how it might be easy to lose a little focus when playing a team 30 under .500. Especially when you jump out to a 20-point lead early in the first half and drop 42 first quarter points. I could see how maybe you coast a bit, letting the other team go on a 16-5 run and get back in the game. Heck, I could even see the game tightening in the third going into the fourth. It’s the NBA. It happens all the time.
But losing this game? That’s just ridiculous. Read more…
It’s a good thing the Thunder remembered how to play defense on Friday. Otherwise, I’d be a little anxious about this one. You know, with playing the Warriors and everything. But here’s something neat about this game: After winning 23 games last year and losing 30 in just 34 games, the Thunder have a shot to win their 50th this year. Mind. Blown.Read more…
(Good morning friends, family and… friends. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. OMG did you know Tiger Woods is playing golf today?)
Last Sunday, before the game against Minnesota, Kevin Durant addressed the crowd for a short little speech. It wasn’t much, but it was definitely appreciated. Especially since the night before, a hundred or so of you crazy people showed up at the airport to greet him and his teammates after their playoff clinching triumph in Dallas. But as KD said, this is only the beginning. And you better believe we’ll be there every step of the way.
With five minutes left, I thought we were about to watch the same movie we just saw. And the ending wasn’t a very fun one. Oklahoma City closed the third quarter on a big run, built a double-digit lead and had a ton of momentum. But it all fell flat in the fourth. The offensive execution went flying out the door, passes got sloppy and worst of all, they missed open looks.
And honestly, nothing changed for the entire fourth quarter. The Thunder’s offensive execution stayed poor and they missed more shots. Spoiler alert: the Thunder ended up winning. But it wasn’t by snapping out of the funk. They grinded out possessions, went three minutes at a time without scoring and shot just 39 percent for the game, but did what needed to be done to just win. It was the type of game that you kind of wonder how your team finished on top, but despite only scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter, the Thunder had just enough to edge Phoenix, 96-91. Read more…
Who’s tired? I’m tired. These past two games have worn me out and the worst part is, it’s not getting any easier. I don’t think I’m cut out for the playoffs. My inexperience is and youth is really showing. And now we’ve got another huge game coming off a tough loss. I just hope my heart doesn’t explode tonight. Read more…
(Want to make your Internet voice heard? Whatever it is, send it in to dailythunder@gmail.com. Today’s fan piece comes from reader Girlballer.)
Greetings DT’ers!! I wanted to share with you my recent fan “experience” at the hallowed halls of the Boston Garden. If baseball stadiums are cathedrals of sports religion, then hardwood floors are the altars, and no altar is more holy than the parquet of the Garden, (and in Boston it is “the GAAAAAHDEN!!!” taking at least a full three count to pronounce it correctly). Sorry to break it to you CP3 but the truth is, the Celtics were my first NBA love.
Without going into a long, boring, (anonymity destroying) bio here, I do need to confess that I have only been to a total of two NBA arenas in my life. So my experience is obviously limited, but I think I gained some worthwhile tips from the good people of Boston for us as Thunder fans, and it confirmed (at least to me) what we are doing RIGHT, and what the rest of the league might learn from us! (side note* after I started writing this, I caught a segment on NBATV titled, “Who will be the NEXT OKC?!?!” blew my mind that we might already be old news…but I digress, I was telling you guys about Boston) Read more…
Kobe Bryant giving some random love to the Thunder: ”Teams candidly admit they are jockeying for position to avoid playing the Lakers. So which team concerns the Lakers? “I’m concerned with everybody right now, the way we’re playing,” Bryant said. Then, unprompted, he began praising the Oklahoma City Thunder. “I love what Oklahoma’s doing,” Bryant said. “It’s a young team. Everybody, including myself, is kind of sitting around saying, ‘Eventually they’re going to fall off. Eventually.’ And then they don’t. They just keep going.”
Eddie Sefko talks a little about his awards ballot: ”Most Improved: I have had a running argument with Mavs’ radio voice Chuck Cooperstein about this. He’s dead certain Kevin Durant deserves this. But I’m not even sure he’s most improved on his own team, considering Russell Westbrook’s rise.” Read more…
Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post wasn’t happy with our distaste over Carmelo Anthony’s “injury” last night. He writes today:
With all that said – here’s what I couldn’t believe. When Melo first hit the floor, the Oklahoma City fans started booing (Anthony said the booing was the last thing he remembered before going unconscious). As fans realized Melo was actually down-for-the-count, the held their breath, and then when he finally got up, the fans applauded his bravery and gave him well-wishes via the claps. BUT, Melo came back from the locker room like 5-10 minutes later, and when he re-entered the game, so the OKC fans started BOOING. They continued to boo every time he touched the basketball. I was confused what was going on. There was a fan behind me – sitting with what appeared to be his two young daughters – viciously booing. I asked him why he was doing that, and he said of Melo: “Why did he do that? Lay on the court and then come back just two minutes later?”
What? Were the fans thinking that because Melo was able to come back in the game, that he had duped them into giving him that ovation? Did they think he was faking the injury?
1. Folks, he was laying motionless for minutes. Motionless.
2. If he was faking, why wouldn’t he have given up on the “faking” when Smith came soaring toward his jugular with some size 14s?
3. Would these fans have felt better if he was terribly hurt and couldn’t come back in the game? Like he duped them into thinking his getting-knocked-the-heck-out wasn’t a “standing-o-worthy” injury?
4. If he was faking, why would he risk a 4-on-5 in a crucial point of a crucial game? And then, if he was faking, why wouldn’t he have popped up when he saw Denver got the ball – so the Nuggets could have the advantage on the offensive end after the Smith steal?
Maybe I’m missing something here, but I thought the booing was tacky and distasteful. Read more…
When the Thunder have only one shot to take, obviously they look for Kevin Durant to take that shot. He’s, at minimum, the second best player in the NBA right now, and according to the rankings the league’s best scorer. Unfortunately, every team the Thunder plays knows he’s option 1 and 1A and therefore do everything in their power to deny him the ball. In the end, he either gets the ball somewhere close to half court where he still has to take the shot with a hand in his face. And if that doesn’t work, Russell Westbrook or Thabo Sefolosha, who aren’t exactly snipers in the easiest of circumstances, wind up taking the games biggest shot.
Not surprisingly, the Thunder are 7-10 in games decided by three points or less.
Maybe Scott Brooks should be drawing up plays to put the game in the hands of option #22…mainly because Jeff Green has actually proved he will come through. Last season, he banked home a win against Golden State. This season, with bigger stakes, he has had even bigger moments. Who can forget Green’s performance against the Hawks on Martin Luther King Day? His clutch dunk and incredible block sealed the victory over one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams on their home floor. Soon after, it was another huge defensive play by Green that saved the Thunder from an embarrassing defeat against Minnesota.
When the pressure is on, Uncle Jeff is the man you can count on. That was never clearer than Tuesday night in Utah. Even after Kevin Durant shot the team back into the game, it was Green who drilled the three pointer that tied it in regulation. Then, with five seconds left in OT, Green banked home a runner to give the team a (brief) one point lead. I was so pumped I re-wrote a classic song in his honor. Check it out after the jump.
The NBA has said, “My bad” about the Jazz game: ”The NBA announced Wednesday officials missed a foul in the final seconds of Utah’s overtime victory over Oklahoma City the previous night. “On the final play of last night’s Oklahoma City-Utah game, the officials missed a foul committed by the Jazz’s C.J. Miles on the Thunder’s Kevin Durant during a 3-point shot attempt,” NBA president of league and basketball operations Joel Litvin said in a statement.”
Perhaps the nicest thing I can write about tonight’s game was that it really looked like the Thunder had learned a lesson from last night’s game and about midway through the fourth quarter seemed to be holding Denver to limited looks on offense by clamping down on the defensive end, while executing on the other end of the court without Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant in the game.
Unfortunately there was still the other half of the fourth quarter left to play and the Thunder’s offense pretty much vanished, not scoring a basket for the final 9 minutes of the game, which meant that the Nuggets ended the game on a staggering 22-5 run to kill the Thunder’s hopes for a division title and, realistically, home court advantage in the playoffs. Just what we needed after last night’s crushing loss in overtime. A horrible, gut-wrenching, choking collapse down the stretch! Awesome!
And now the 8th seed looms large on the playoff horizon. Read more…
(First, let’s do a small giveaway: Closest to guess Kevin Durant’s total points, plus Russell Westbrook’s total assists, plus Jeff Green’s total rebounds, plus Nick Collison’s total charges drawn gets a free, advanced copy of David Berri’s new book, Stumbling on Wins. Leave your guesses in the comments. Berri authors The Wages of Wins Journal. You can read more about Stumbling on Wins here.)
This isn’t going to be an easy game to get ready for. I know this because I’m not even ready to watch it, much less if I were a player having prepare it. I’m still worn out from last night. So with the team arriving back in OKC around 1 or 2 AM, then having to get over playing 53 minutes of basketball, plus the heartbreak, there’s a pretty giant excuse for some early flatness. Read more…
Not to hang on this game any longer, but KD was a virtuoso in the fourth last night. He just owned the game. He did something I’ve been dying to see more of – with his team hanging on the ropes, he shot them back in it. Even despite the loss, Durant’s performance was something to behold. Seventeen in the fourth with 15 coming in the final three minutes, punctuated by four 3s. So here’s this video so you can appreciate Durant’s supernova explosion once again.
Larry W. Smith/NBAE/Getty Images
