Daily Thunder.com

vs.

Memphis Grizzlies (17-19. 6-13 road) vs. OKC Thunder (24-13, 13-6 home)

TV: FSOK (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 754)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 108.8 (9th), Grizzlies – 105.7 (18th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 107.1 (16th), Grizzlies – 105.0 (12th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.2 (12th), Grizzlies – 93.4 (9th)

View from the enemy: 3 Shades of Blue

A chance at redemption. For a lot of parties involved. Jeff Green, for not grabbing a rebound and getting abused by Zach Randolph. Kevin Durant, for six turnovers and a questionable shot with time ticking out. And really the entire team for playing what felt like a lackadaisical game that didn’t include much focus. Read more…

Preview

(Happy weekend Thunder inclined readers of the Internet. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. Whomp, there it is.)

Kenyon Martin told Yahoo! Sports recently that he wasn’t excited about the dunk contest participants. He said, ““Serge Ibaka, Brandon Jennings, JaVale McGee? C’mon man. For real? Ibaka, really? You couldn’t find nobody else to be in the dunk contest? C’mon man.” Other than the fact Martin is a bit of a blowhard and you should probably ignore him any time he opens his mouth, there’s a pretty good amount of video proof that Serge Ibaka has dunking ability. A lot of dunking ability in fact. I’m sure Martin will find this out soon enough. In fact, Air Congo might be using him as a landing strip next Thursday when OKC plays the Nuggets. Fingers crossed.

Video

(You’re welcome for the picture. –ed)

Is it just me, or does the Thunder have a habit of coasting through the first half or even the first three quarters and then play with purpose in the latter stages of the game?

Numbers-based evidence is inconclusive. Perhaps the best indicator would be how many of Oklahoma City’s 24 wins featured comebacks from a halftime deficit, and the answer is eight. Exactly a third. That doesn’t strike me as a particularly high or low percentage, though two of those comebacks have come in the last four Thunder wins, and six have come in the last 14.

A look at the halftime numbers in Oklahoma City’s 13 losses is similarly inconclusive. The Thunder has been trailing at the break in eight of them and was tied twice. OKC narrowed the gap between halftime and the final horn in only three of the 13 L’s.

But … it certainly feels like the Thunder plays completely differently in the second half, doesn’t it? Especially in recent weeks. That almost half of the last 14 wins were come-from-behind affairs probably helps.

The last two Thunder-Mavericks contests are good examples of why it feels like Oklahoma City has a Jekyll-Hide routine early and late. In both games, the Thunder spotted the Mavs a double-digit lead before half of the rich “too cool to get to the game on time” crowd found its seats. (This happened in the Memphis and San Antonio games too, to cite other recent examples.) Then the Thunder clawed back to take a lead.

But that also shows why, if the Thunder really is playing with an on/off switch, that doing so is living dangerously. In the first of those two games, a home loss, Oklahoma City couldn’t hang on. Jason Terry killed the Thunder down the stretch. On Thursday night, it worked fine. OKC locked down on the defensive end, moved ahead in the third quarter and never relinquished the lead. But, like with the first Mavs game, that doesn’t always happen. I doubt anyone would argue it’s a good idea to spot someone a big early lead.

So what kinds of ills could the Thunder be suffering from that would lead them to play like this? Read more…

Commentary

Last season the Thunder won 50 games based almost entirely great defense. You didn’t even have to look at the numbers to see it. Game by game, Oklahoma City was just playing really sound, fundamental team defense.

This season, not so good. The numbers have all dropped way off as well as the eye test. You can just see the Thunder’s not defending as well. And Sebastian Pruiti writing for Basketball Prospectus gives an excellent — and very accurate — look at it. (To read the full article you need to be a BP Insider.)

The two main areas where the Thunder is struggling on the defensive end this year are isolation situations and spot-up situations, according to Synergy Sports Technology. The Thunder is giving up .87 points per possession on isos (20th in the NBA) and 1.01 points per possession on spot-up opportunities (21st in the NBA). The most interesting thing is that the Thunder did really well in both of those instances last year, holding teams to .78 points per possession in iso situations (first in the NBA) and .94 points per possession in spot-up situations (fourth in the NBA). Sine the Thunder did not lose any rotation players this past offseason, it is interesting to see such a drop, and this leads to the question, “Is the Thunder’s team defense worse, or are the individuals playing worse?”

When looking at the individual Defensive Ratings of the Thunder’s top seven players, six of them (Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Thabo Sefolosha, Nenad Krstic) have seen their defensive rating improve. The one who didn’t, is Jeff Green, who is posting a Defensive Rating of 105.8 this year after posting a 104.8 Defensive Rating last year.

Interestingly enough, Green is really struggling in the two areas that the Thunder as a whole struggle with. Green allows 1.11 PPP in iso situations (ranking him 215th in the NBA) while allowing 1.16 PPP in spot-up situations (ranking him 247th in the NBA). Green’s problem in iso situations is that he is a tweener, playing in between the three and four positions. While this creates mismatches on the offensive end, it leads to problems on the defensive end. Green isn’t quick enough to stay with threes, and he is too small to cover fours effectively.

Commentary

At the end of last night’s game, a weird thing happened. With time running out, Rick Carlisle came up, patting Kevin Durant on the back to say good game and for some reason, Durant handed the ball the Carlisle.

(I love Carlisle’s face after he flips the ball back. He’s like, “I dunno he just handed it to me.”)

After a moment of everyone being extremely confused, referee Steve Javie called it a turnover on Durant and gave the ball to Dallas. A lot of people thought this should’ve been a technical foul on Carlisle. And technically it should’ve been before KD even handed him the ball.

The rules state pretty clearly that a player and a coach can’t make contact while the player is on the floor with the ball in play. For example, Scott Skiles was hit with a T against the Heat for bumping Carlos Arroyo inadvertently and Jason Kidd has his famous “run into Mike Woodson” play against the Hawks a couple years ago. Read more…

Commentary

Hickory High looks at Nick Collison’s impact since he returned from injury: “Since Collison returned from injury the Thunder have gone 18 – 9. If you’re keeping track at home the Thunder’s winning percentage went from 0.556 without him to 0.667 when Collison rejoined the team. He’s not solely responsible for that improvement but as I asserted before, he’s a big part of it. In November, after nine games, the Thunder had an ORtg. of 104.8 and a DRtg. of 107.7. In the 27 games since Collison returned the team has posted an ORtg. of 107.0 and a DRtg. of 103.4. This has brought their season ratings to 106.1 and 104.0 respectively.”

Berry Tramel is really trying to push this Thunder-Maverick rivalry thing: “No one south of Thackerville considers Thunder-Mavericks an NBA rivalry. But that doesn’t mean those of us on the north side of the Red can’t hope. Big Brother Dallas. Maverick Mark Cuban, one of only two owners to vote against bringing the franchise to Oklahoma City. A ballteam that is a thorn in Thunder flesh. All the ingredients are there, except for Dallas interest.” Hope? Hope for what? This isn’t college football. We don’t HAVE to have a rival, you know. Read more…

Bolts

Danny Bollinger/NBAE/Getty Images

(Why this picture? Because KD does this before every game — home or road — and it’s just so awesome.)

BOX SCORE

I have no way to actually know this, but I bet Scott Brooks walked into the locker room at the half, looked at his team, didn’t say a word and simply flipped on a TV. Everyone knew after the poor defensive first half with pathetic rebounding mixed in that Sir Charles Barkley was going to be on the warpath beating on the Thunder. All Brooks really needed to do to motivate and get the attention of his guys was let them listen to Barkley say how bad they were.

I don’t know if that’s what happened, but whatever Brooks did or said, it worked. He got the attention of his team as the Thunder allowed just 40 points in the second half and held the Mavericks to under 40 percent shooting en route to a nice 99-95 win.

And that’s what it was. A nice win. Not a great win. Not a statement win. Just nice. Because let’s be honest here. While this was the very good Mavs, this wasn’t the Mavs. A win is a win and stopping a losing streak at two is terrific, but this was against a wounded dog. It was clear in the second half that Dallas just didn’t really have options while OKC could look to Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green and Serge Ibaka for points. Read more…

Recap

vs.

OKC Thunder (23-13, 10-7 road) at Dallas Mavericks (26-8, 14-6 home)

TV: TNT (Cox 31, HD 730)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 108.8 (9th), Mavericks – 107.9 (10th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 107.1 (17th), Mavericks – 102.7 (7th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.4 (9th), Mavericks – 90.7 (23rd)

View from the enemy: The Two Man Game

Another shot. For real this time guys, right? No more bad fourth quarters, okay?

The Thunder gets the hurting Mavericks again, just a little over a week after the disappointing loss at home where Dirk Nowitzki was hurt. Dirk is still out and won’t play tonight, plus Caron Butler is out for the season after knee surgery. So this right here is what you’d call a prime opportunity to get a nice road win over a good team. Read more…

Preview

Tom Haberstroh makes a case for Steve Nash in OKC: “The league is chock full of build-around point guards, which has cut down the pool of potential suitors to only a few candidates. But Oklahoma City’s situation is unique, because what makes Russell Westbrook an elite point guard is his elite scoring ability. And one league source believes that’s exactly why the Thunder would be the scariest team in the Nash sweepstakes. “They would be unbelievable with Nash,” the source said. “What they really need is a center, but if Nash walks onto the court, he makes them better than any piece that Oklahoma City could add. It would take Westbrook to a whole new place as a player, since he can create at the 2.” The Thunder are flush with assets, including the Clippers’ 2012 first-rounder (top-10-protected), Morris Peterson and Nenad Krstic’s expiring contracts as well as a promising young player in James Harden.”

Let me go ahead and tell you A) why it won’t ever happen and B) why it’s a silly idea to start with. It’s not as simple as just sliding Westbrook over. Russ has worked his butt off for three years to try and become a point guard and right now, he’s getting pretty darn good at it. Presti passed on Ricky Rubio for this exact reason. And give up James Harden for something that doesn’t fit in long-term? How does that make any sense? Read more…

Bolts

Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images

Here are some of the eye-opening stats from the Thunder’s 2010-2011 season thus far. This isn’t an all encompassing list but more so the numbers that have captured my attention and even somewhat surprised me on which players seem to hurt and help the Thunder the most win it comes to trying to put a ‘W’ in the win column.

And yes, this is going to cause “discussion.” Believe me.

• The Thunder are 11-2 when Serge Ibaka plays 30 or more minutes a game (which means they’re only 12-11 when Serge plays less than 30; oh yeah, did I mention he’s averaging only 26 minutes a game right now over the season?). In the games Serge has played more than 30 minutes, he is averaging 11.46 points, 8.69 rebounds and 2.62 blocks in those games

• Oh, and the Thunder are 16-5 when Serge scores in double digits as well

• The Thunder are 10-2 when Durant scores 30 or more points; 18-8 if he scores 25 points or more

• The Thunder are 9-3 when Westbrook notches double digit assists. If he dishes out 8 or more assists, the Thunder are 12-5. You can guess what happens if he dishes out less and less assists

• Yet, Westbrook’s scoring seems just as critical to the Thunder’s chance at a victory, as the team is 15-5 when Westbrook scores 20 or more points (and are only 8-8 when he doesn’t)

And since he’s such a hot button issue (and rightfully so after last night’s debacle of a performance/indefensible amount of playing time with a visibly on fire James Harden just wasting away on the bench)… Read more…

Commentary

Kevin Love told SI he talked to Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose about playing together someday: “We all talk about playing together,” Love said. “It’s fun to talk about. When the time comes, we’ll assess the situation and figure it out.” Naturally, I ponder if that would even work at CBS Sports.

Shoals on Serge Ibaka’s dunk contesting: “So what’s the answer? More to the point, why would the league even recruit Ibaka for the event? Presumably, it has something to do with his being on Thunder. He would willingly and enthusiastically go along with it, unlike some past selections, because that’s how things work around those parts. It also never hurts to draw attention to a team that’s darn hard to dislike. Ibaka, like the rest of his Thunder brethren, is also all about having when appropriate. It would be strange for him to take this opportunity to show the growth he has made as a player. Rather, he should try and show off his lighter side, since his comedic gifts far outstrip those of cyborg Griffin or unusual Mr. McGee.” Read more…

Bolts

According to the Los Angeles Times, Serge Ibaka will be a participant in this year’s dunk contest during All-Star Weekend. He’ll be joining Blake Griffin, JaVale McGee and Brandon Jennings.

I’m as shocked as you are? Ibaka? Seriously? If anyone was going to dunk from this team, I think we all expected Russell Westbrook.

Ibaka certainly has hops, but he’s more of a direct, straight line power finisher. There’s not a ton of sizzle to his dunks. He jumps high and throws down hard. I just can’t picture him getting overly creative and coming up with something that really wows people. I’m sure he’ll bring Westbrook or KD out as a helper at some point which will be cool though.

Actually here’s an idea: Russell Westbrook throws a pass to Ibaka and he finishes it, then Westbrook holds up a sign that says “TRIPLE-DOUBLE.” Good one, right?

Ibaka won a dunk contest in Europe a few years ago with a pretty sweet free throw line dunk. (Here’s a link to the video of that contest.)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m fired up about seeing the Air Congo as part of the dunk contest. I just didn’t see it coming. At all.

An official announcement is to be made Thursday on TNT.

News

Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images

BOX SCORE

If you’re frustrated after this one, I absolutely don’t blame you. If you threw a few things across your living room and are regretting it right now as you look at a broken lamp, I’m sure your wife/husband will understand. Just show them the tape of this game.

If you didn’t have time for that, you could just show them a few choice possessions. How about:

• Kevin Durant’s ridiculous game-tying attempt from outside of the arena

• One of the Grizzlies 600 offensive rebounds

• One of the 600 times a Thunder player had his hands on the ball only to lose it

• One of Jeff Green’s rebounds — wait a second, that’s not possible because he didn’t get one

Really, I could go on. When the Thunder needed a stop, they fouled late in the clock. (Or Tony Allen, who couldn’t make a freaking layup, knocked down a lucky 3 at the buzzer.) When the Thunder needed a bucket, it was a scrambled possession most times resulting in a long jumper. When the Thunder needed a rebound, they tipped it all over the place but never got it. Read more…

Recap

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OKC Thunder (23-12, 10-6 road) at Memphis Grizzlies (15-19, 9-6 home)

TV: FSOK (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 754)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 108.8 (9th), Grizzlies – 105.2 (18th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 106.9 (17th), Grizzlies – 104.9 (11th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.3 (9th), Grizzlies – 93.2 (11th)

View from the enemy: 3 Shades of Blue

Here’s our first look at the Grizzlies, a team that’s in the middle class of the league, but someone that Oklahoma City always seems to struggle a bit with. Memphis has a good amount of talent and is absolutely worthy of the Thunder’s full attention tonight. Read more…

Preview

Stein’s power rankings: “You knew this season couldn’t possibly go as smoothly as last season for the Thunder. And here’s more proof: Scotty Brooks has used five starting lineups already after needing just three different combinations in 2009-10.”

Hollinger’s playoff odds. OKC has an 88 percent chance of making it, a 31 percent chance at the division title and a five percent chance at The Finals. Hollinger on the Northwest Division: “The Northwest Division champ also retains a chance of outlasting the Lakers for the No. 3 seed. Although subjectively, most see L.A. eventually pulling out of its recent doldrums, the Lakers currently are projected to finish tied with Utah at 50 wins and just ahead of Oklahoma City (49) and Denver (48). The one nice thing for the Lakers is that it’s virtually impossible for them to be seeded lower than fourth, as they’re likely to win the miserable Pacific Division and probably will be the division’s only playoff team.” Read more…

Bolts