The Beard played with purpose and without fear in what was, along with his 23-point outing Nov. 20 in Milwaukee with Kevin Durant on the bench, one of his signature performances of the season for him thus far. Harden played decisively on both ends of the floor, moved the ball, maintained a good energy level in a blowout and provided the scoring punch off the bench that Oklahoma City sorely needs.
In short, Harden played like the guy the Thunder thought it was getting at the No. 3 spot in the 2009 NBA Draft, and he did it within the current role he has on the team. And, perhaps not coincidentally, Oklahoma City finally had the laugher win over a bad team that contending squads are supposed to have often.
Harden’s stat line stands out: 6-8 shooting, including 2-3 from behind the arc. Three assists against one turnover. Twenty-one minutes. Three dimes and three boards for good measure. He can’t be expected to shoot percentages quite that high on a nightly basis, but the way he played, and the way Oklahoma City played with him, makes you think that the player everyone hopes he can be could be a little closer to appearing on a more regular basis. Read more…
Marc Stein in his Weekend Dime getting a scout take: “Their team’s pretty well-defined around Durant and [Westbrook]. That team’s been built around those two guys and not a lot of other guys who need the ball. If Westbrook was playing with a Ray Allen-type, it would be a problem because he’s not going to distribute the ball very well. If they added another scorer in there, he’d probably get frozen out. But Westbrook is such a great talent. How do you reel him in? He’s similar to LeBron in some ways. In the open floor, when he puts his head down, he’s as explosive a player as there is in this league. If you’re the other team you have to hope he’s not having a good shooting night.”
John Hollinger examining MVP candidates: “And then there’s Kevin Durant. After finishing third in PER a year ago at the tender age of 21, many expected him to ascend to the top of the MVP throne. Instead, he’s not even the top candidate on his own team right now; while he is leading the league in scoring, he is only 19th in PER. In fact, Durant’s league-leading scoring total is another convincing data point for the relative lack of superstardom this season. His 27.3 points per game would be the lowest league-leading total since Allen Iverson’s 26.3 in 1998-99; if you’re looking at non-lockout years, it’s the least since George Gervin’s 27.2 in 1977-78.” Read more…
Thunder fans have kind of been waiting for a night off. Pretty much every game Oklahoma City has played this season has been one where you’re gnawing manically on your fingernails in the fourth quarter.
But even in a dominant 106-77 win over the Cavaliers Sunday, it was unwise to take your eyes off the action for a second. So even when the Thunder gives their fans’ hearts a night off, they don’t really give them the night off.
It was a night full of highlights. Dunks. BIG dunks. Great passes. Buzzer-beating 3-pointers. Defense. Halfcourt shots by fans for $20,000. Read more…
If you’ve ever been to a home game in Oklahoma City, you know all about the MidFirst Bank halfcourt shot. It’s undergone a small change this season with two people competing for the opportunity to even take the shot by having a free throw shooting contest.
But to my knowledge, I don’t know of anyone that’s made the halfcourter in the three years the Thunder’s been here. Maybe one other time, but I feel like that might’ve been with the Hornets. My memory fails me.
Tonight though, there was a big winner. Mr. Robert Yanders is his name and he’s now $20,000 richer.
(You’ve got to love the freakout reaction from Barry Switzer. Hilarious.)
The story on Yanders though is a little crazy. He’s actually a three-time high school basketball champion, played in college at Missouri State University West Plains where he’s actually in their Hall of Fame. He even played professionally overseas and on the British national team with Luol Deng. Oh and one more – he was actually even invited to the Milwaukee Bucks’ training camp one year.
I used to always feel like MidFirst had some kind of deal with the Thunder to make sure they picked small children and/or people that have clearly only seen a basketball and not touched one. Typically, the halfcourt effort is something that makes you feel bad for the person taking it.
But clearly, Robert Yanders doesn’t fall into that category. He was as qualified a shot-taker as there probably was in the arena not wearing a uniform. And as a result, MidFirst paid big for it.
(Hat tip to Ben of BlazersEdge for the video and the tip on Yanders’ bio.)
The Cavaliers come in as one of the worst teams the Thunder’s seen this season. OKC has played bad teams this season though and the game has been close. But they had some talent. With the Cavs, that’s a bit debatable. Read more…
The guys from TGR get their groove on with DJ Boom. We give him some tips on how he can spice up Thunder games in the New Year. It makes for a pretty stupid conversation, but a must listen.
We go over our deep thoughts from the Thunder’s 3-1 week and finish it off by handing out the coveted Thundie Awards. If you’re looking to get into the Christmas spirit, this is a must listen!!
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(Good day Thunder peeps. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. Enjoy the day.)
One thing Thunder fans are pretty much totally ready for is an alternate set of jerseys. Plenty of ideas have been tossed out there for them, but there’s no timetable set on when they can come out. The league doesn’t have a rule per say, but more of a thing about a team establishing a brand before unveiling alternates. So it could be two years, five years or 10 years. No telling. But that doesn’t mean people can’t play around with ideas and that’s what this video does. I don’t know, how about those pink ones?
Ugly. Nasty. Sloppy. You pick the word and it totally fits. But to me, it looks like another beautiful, lovely, gorgeous.
Oklahoma City turned it over 20 times and the Hornets had 20 as well. Players were dribbling it off their feet, throwing it away, mis-handling passes and just playing halfway stupid for most of the game. But really, the Thunder’s going to play however you want them to. And win most of the time.
These guys step up. From the first guy to the last, they just elevate when they’ve got to, no matter what’s happened previously in the game. It’s really an uncanny mentality.
Consider Russell Westbrook who was hawked by Chris Paul all night and had seven turnovers heading into the fourth quarter. Guess how many turns Russ had in the fourth? Zero. Read more…
UPDATE: Nenad Krstic has a lower back strain and is out. Serge Ibaka will start.
If you have any clue as to what to expect with this Thunder team, then a tip of the hat to you. Because I’ve been thinking about this game all afternoon and I can’t decide if I feel good or absolutely horrible about it. Read more…
Shaun Powell of NBA.com on the Hornets: “The Hornets are the exact opposite of the Thunder in Oklahoma City, which interestingly enough was the Hornets’ temporary home during the Katrina crisis. It all comes back to Shinn and his refusal to sell for the good of the league and the Hornets, until he had no choice. He had opportunities before his franchise tanked. His best chance was in Charlotte, where there was still strong support for the team; the city would’ve built a new arena for a new owner, and there never would’ve been the need for the Bobcats. Instead, the Hornets went to New Orleans, where pro basketball failed before, where there never were any firm plans for an upgraded arena, where corporate dollars were scarce even before Katrina.”
It’s pretty much regarded as the best face curtain in the league. James Harden’s beard has pretty much taken over the NBA. Baron Davis used to sit atop the Beard Rankings, but Harden has stayed consistent with his face fur.
When the Thunder was in Canada playing the Raptors, The Basketball Jones talked to Harden about his scruff and also about the rise of the beard.
Tracy Graven of HoopsHype: “Coming together was a process. Keeping together is progress. And the Thunder have proven that working together is almost always a success. There are those that would argue that conflict is inevitable when egos are involved. But the coaching staff and the players have a unified mindset that helps them complement one another’s strengths and weaknesses… and, most importantly, there aren’t any egos. Merely one team identity, one that embraces the simplicity and humility of the fans that support it.”
What you really saw tonight in Minnesota was how one team completely understands how to win and another that’s gotten pretty good at figuring out how to lose. The Timberwolves thought they had the Thunder on the ropes. After a 40-22 edge in the first quarter, another run late in the second quarter that pushed the halftime lead to 11 and even stretched out to a 13-point margin in the third.
But the Thunder kept at their game, pieced together a 6-0 run, then a 7-2 one and then another 8-2 one and before you knew it, a Kevin Durant dunk plus the foul gave OKC a one-point edge.
No doubt, the Thunder played a pretty poor first half. But they absolutely deserve some credit for the second and most importantly, for the win. The Wolves had a lot to do with it. Again, one team knows how to win, another knows how to lose. And the Wolves did everything they could to give it away. They went 17-26 from the line in the game and split every single trip to the stripe in the fourth quarter. The scored just 17 points in the fourth. They got outworked and outhustled. The Thunder made winning plays, Minnesota made losing ones. Read more…
You’ve got to love after playing a stinker of a game where your two captains get benched that you get to travel to Minnesota. If all goes according to plan, the Thunder should have a nice little bounce-back night against the Wolves. Read more…
Could New York be a destination for Jeff Green if he doesn’t stay with the Thunder?: “Green isn’t a star but could be on the verge and I remember a player who the Knicks signed as a venerable bargain back in 96 who worked out very well for them for the rest of the decade. Not my call, but you can bet that the Knicks, just like last summer, are prepared to go all in, with several buy-ins locked in a big fat briefcase as insurance.”
Forbes says KD is the second most underpaid player in the NBA: “Durant, an explosive forward who played more minutes and scored more points than any player in the league while grabbing seven rebounds a game last season, contributed 19.7 wins (worth $33.7 million in salary by the league-wide average) to the Thunder. His 2009-’10 salary: $4.8 million.” Read more…
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