One (calendar) month down for the Thunder. And it’s been a weird one.
They sit at 12-6 after a month of oddly inconsistent basketball. They’re 4-0 on the second night of back-to-backs, have beat teams like Utah, Portland (twice) and Boston, but lost to the Clippers and Rockets. While some aren’t thrilled with the way the team is playing, I don’t think anyone is upset with the current results.
But we’ve got 18 games in the book and a month down. So let’s review, shall we? We shall.
BEST PLAYER
No doubt, it’s Russell Westbrook. He’s completely taken charge of the team and without his efforts, who knows where we’d be right now. Statistically, he’s outplaying LeBron right now. The thing that’s taken Westbrook to another level is his development of a consistent mid-range jumper plus his incredibly improved ability to finish at the rim. Even last season where Westbrook started to break out, he’d do everything but finish. This season, if he can get to the rim, it’s almost a done deal that he’s finishing the play.
Kevin Durant is still the team’s most talented player and a lot of Westbrook’s open lanes are helped from defenses leaning KD’s way. But after one month, Russ has definitely been OKC’s best player. Read more…
Kurt Helin of PBT: “One final thought: There was a lot of talk Monday about the Heat and how they are not meshing, how they seem to be standing around on offense, how there is no chemistry. How leadership from their big stars is lacking. Kevin Durant did not have a good scoring night Monday, but Durant is busting it, figuring out how he can help on the defense, taking a side role if that is best for the team. That, gentlemen is the opposite of Miami right now.”
Stein’s new batch of power rankings: “We’re down to two players averaging at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists: LeBron and Westbrook. Which means Durant, amazingly, wouldn’t even be voted the first-month MVP on his own team. Right?” Read more…
I think it’s time we all just accept something. It might be hard for some. Might not be for others. The Thunder doesn’t play good offense. Their defense is inconsistent. But they win. This is just how it’s going to be. They’re going to look average and sometimes bad, but in the end, they’re going to win or get darn close to it.
That means we all might be dead by mid-March or at least have very little hair remaining, but if you can live with winning, you’ll survive. Because despite shooting under 40 percent again, with Kevin Durant having another off night and Jeff Green going 4-14 from the floor, the Thunder topped one of the best teams in the West.
It’s kind of hard to deal with at times, watching bad basketball. It makes you want to yell into the face of a small child. Five minutes straight of bricked jumpers, isolation sets that lead to contested shots and an offense that’s really pretty elementary. I can understand someone hating and being frustrated with that. But let me tell you, I love winning. And this team wins. I guess we’ve just got to deal with it. Read more…
Measuring bar game. That’s what this one is to me. Against the West, the Thunder’s just 5-4. Against some of the better teams (San Antonio, Dallas and Utah), OKC is only 1-3. So with the Hornets, who are surprisingly legit as one of the West’s best teams, the Thunder has a chance to measure themselves. Read more…
James Harden was the third overall pick. He was an All-American at Arizona State, all Pac-10 both years there and won Pac-10 Player of the Year as a sophomore. He averaged over 20 points a game, was one of the best one-on-one scorers in the country and at the time, appeared to be the perfect pick for the Thunder at No. 3.
I’m not saying he isn’t or won’t be. But right now, Oklahoma City isn’t getting the kind of production it had in mind from Harden. He’s averaging more minutes than last year (25.3), but fewer points (8.2), assists (1.4) and his field goal percentage is way down (36.4). His PER is an anemic 10.5.
Look at what he did late last season, in summer league and in the preseason. He appeared ready to breakout. But he’s struggled some early, much like the rest of the team. So, what’s up? Read more…
How is Cole Aldrich doing in Tulsa? He’s played two games and is averaging 21 minutes a night, with nine points, six rebounds and one block per game. But he also has 11 fouls total in the two games. Pretty underwhelming stuff thus far, but this is his first look at extended playing time. Patience.
Russell Westbrook is approaching All-Star territory says Darnell Mayberry: “Russell Westbrook recently was asked by the NBA if he would like to compete in this year’s slam dunk contest at All-Star Weekend. The Oklahoma City Thunder’s point guard told the league thanks but no thanks. But Westbrook said he could change his mind and participate in his first-ever dunk contest. “One of these years I’m going to be in it,” Westbrook said. “I just don’t know if it’s going to be this year.” It might as well be. Read more…
Winning on the road in the NBA is hard. No matter the opponent. Against a good or bad team, winning away from home takes focus, energy, execution and sometimes, a little luck.
Sunday in Houston, the Thunder came up pretty much empty on all of the above.
An example of how the Thunder just weren’t themselves tonight: they went 15-23 from the free throw line. Not only is the percentage way off their league-leading number, but the attempts are low.
Yet, there they were with the ball in the hands of their best player with a chance to win the game. If Kevin Durant’s jumper as the buzzer drops, we’re all talking about how resilient, tough and gritty this Thunder team is. Instead, it came up just short and so did the Thunder, losing by a point. Read more…
At some point, this terrific road success has to come to an end, right? The Thunder have won five straight and are 6-1 overall away from Oklahoma City, with the one loss being to the lowly Clippers. But the Thunder goes south to Houston tonight to play a Rockets team desperate to turn things around after a baffling slow start. In other words, DANGER DANGER DANGER. Read more…
Home town fans are often the worst judge of the talent on their team. Because of that, we are joined by Marc Narducci of Hoopshype.com who will help us evaluate our players from a general NBA view. We also recap the past week of Thunder games with our new segment, “DEEP THOUGHTS”. Finally, we give out our weekly awards with a new name. All this and more can be yours by simply downloading the episode.
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(Good Saturday Thunder people. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. On a day of Bedlam, let’s remember we’re all friends under the colors of Thunder, OK?)
Russell Westbrook played kind of good last night against the Pacers. He notched a career-high 43 points and was darn close to a triple-double with eight assists and eight rebounds. So if you missed it, take heed and watch this here video show.
I don’t think there’s any argument against the fact that Oklahoma City had no business winning this game. The Thunder shot under 39 percent, went down by 14 in the third quarter, Kevin Durant didn’t shoot the ball well and Roy Hibbert kind of looked like Patrick Ewing against OKC.
But that was all in the first 42 minutes or so. Because the last 11 (overtime included), the Thunder played like they HAD to win this game. They got the big stops. They got the big rebounds. They hit the big shots. I feel like it’s becoming a strange theme to say, “I have no clue how the Thunder won this game” but, I have no clue how the Thunder won this game.
Oh here’s one way: Russell Freaking Westbrook. (That’s actually his real middle name if you didn’t know.) A career-high 43 points on 13-24 shooting, eight assists, eight rebounds, three steals and one massively massive play after another. Pick your word to describe OKC’s point guard. Beast. Monster. Fire breathing dragon. Death Star (OK, that one didn’t really make sense). Westbrook was all of that and more in this one. Read more…
Time for a nice little bounce-back win against the Pacers. That’s what you’re thinking. That’s what I’m thinking. Problem is, these Pacers aren’t that bad. In fact, they have a better winning percentage than the Miami Heat. Read more…
It’s shopping day in America, so why don’t you head on over to Tree and Leaf and pick up a DT-Shirt today? The Thunder U shirts are re-stocked, plus everything is available online at T&L’s website. BUY BUY BUY.
Huge thanks to my lovely wife, Patrick James and anyone else that chipped in for keeping this place afloat in my absence. Because I’m thankful, here’s a special Thanksgiving edition of the Bolts for you fine people, complete with my thoughts on Collison’s extension and Aldrich’s D-League demotion.
Darnell Mayberry on last night’s game: “If I’m a Thunder fan, I’m worried about the attitude Thunder coach Scott Brooks and his players took after this one. Those 3-point bombs provided a convenient excuse for how this one got away. Players and coaches explained this loss by Dallas getting hot from 3 at the right time. And that, of course, makes it easy to overlook what the team didn’t do right at the other end. The offense was again dismal in the fourth quarter. The Thunder shot 9-for-23 (39.1 percent) in the final frame, and had it not been for a few early Serge Ibaka buckets (one being a putback) and a few garbage time scores, this one would have looked much worse.” Read more…
Not in the sense that losing to the Mavericks should garner shame. Dallas has a pretty excellent squad and is absolutely a legit contender in the West. Losing at home is never good, but dropping a game to the 9-4 Mavericks isn’t something you should break living room furniture over.
HOWEVER. The way the Thunder lost this game is what’s so souring. The Mavericks closed the game on a 31-13 run that included a 13-0 spurt that turned a seven-point Thunder lead into a three-point deficit. But that’s not where OKC blew this one. The Thunder lost with seven minutes left in the third quarter. Read more…
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