UPDATE:Darnell Mayberry tweeted that it’s “unlikely” we see Perkins Friday. “It’s unlikely he plays tomorrow against the Pistons. Today was his first practice with the Thunder. The team will ease him in.”
Normally it’s not news when Byron Mullens is assigned to the Tulsa 66ers or recalled back to the Thunder. Because it happens like 200 times a season.
But this time, there potentially could be something to it.
Kendrick Perkins participated in his first full practice Thursday, telling reporters, “It went OK. I’d probably give myself a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. I was a little rusty in some spots but it went real well.”
Friday will mark almost two weeks exactly since Perkins was ruled out for two-to-three weeks by the Thunder to rest a sprained right knee.
Mullens has been active the past few games after Nate Robinson underwent arthroscopic knee surgery. An NBA team can have 12 active players in uniform, and if Perkins were to return, Mullens would go back to sitting in a suit. So the reasoning here is, like all the other times, the Thunder wants Mullens at least playing in a uniform rather than sitting, which would mean someone would be activated to take his spot.
Enter Perkins.
We’ll have to wait and see until after shootaround Friday morning and then leading up to the game. But I’m sure the Thunder would like for Perkins first appearance to come in Oklahoma City so he can be properly welcomed to the floor. And after Friday, the Thunder doesn’t return home for another week.
If he’s ready, he could certainly see a little time. Brooks never committed to saying Perkins would start right away, but 10-15 minutes of burn could be in the cards for Friday.
When Kevin Durant’s game-tying 3-pointer dropped through the net with six seconds left in Philadelphia last night, a lot of people thought finally. Finally Scott Brooks drew up a play that worked at the end of the game. Finally Oklahoma City executed said play.
There has been lots of talk about the Thunder in these situations — not as much as the Heat, though — and a lot has centered around the plays Brooks’ clipboard. A lot of the criticism has been that there’s no creativity, that everything is too straightforward and simple.
But upon closer examination of Durant’s big 3, I wouldn’t say it was an ingenious playcall or anything. I wouldn’t say it even close to one of Brooks’ finer sets. Fact is, it worked and that’s what makes it good. I’ve always said about these last second shot situations is how when the ball goes through the net, it suddenly makes a set look really great. And when one clangs long, the play is crap. Read more…
Kevin Durant is the No. 1 Oklahoma sports figure according to The Lost Ogle: “Since arriving in Oklahoma City less than 3 years ago, Durant has made Oklahoma City NBA crazy. He is one of the great young talents in all of sports. He is a scoring champ. He is a National Team star. He is an MVP candidate. And he is the leader of the NBA squad best in line for future success. All this coupled with an attitude that I am sure Heat fans wish a few of their players possessed.”
The 76ers want to be like the Thunder: “That’s who we want to be,” said Collins, obviously disappointed after his team let a five-point lead with a less than 40 seconds left in regulation slip away. “They built through the draft, their younger players have gotten better. They’ve got a dynamite point guard, they’ve got a tremendous player in Durant, they’ve got a young big guy in [Serge] Ibaka and [James] Harden. We think we’ve got some nice, young pieces. The difference they have right now is they’ve got that big shot-blocking in the lane. It’s tough to finish in the lane.” Read more…
Down five with two minutes left, it wasn’t looking good for the Thunder. Down five with 40 seconds left, it really wasn’t looking good for the Thunder.
Oklahoma City put itself in a position to lose with horrible halfcourt execution during pretty much the entire fourth quarter. The defense was good enough, the work on the boards sufficed. But OKC couldn’t run a clean set to save its life.
So down five, needed two baskets and a stop, it just did not look good for the Thunder. Read more…
Before the season, you probably looked at the schedule and saw consecutive games against the Grizzlies and Sixers and thought, “Oh, there are two wins.” Nope. The Grizzlies are good as we just saw and the Sixers, they can play too. Read more…
ESPN.com’s award watch: “Last season, at the age of 21, he became the youngest player to win the scoring title. He’s on pace to win the scoring title again for the Thunder, who are fourth in the West.”
John Rohde writes that KD cried tears of joy after the playoffs: “Kevin Durant said the last time he cried was after the Game 6 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs last season, but explained it happened because he was in a reflective mood. ‘It was kind of like tears of joy,’ Durant said. ‘It was tough to see a good season like that end.’ Many in the league agree Erik Spoelstra’s misstep was taking a private locker room moment and making it public. ‘I’m a guy who rarely gets mad over stuff like that,’ Durant said, ‘but as a player, you like to leave that type of stuff in the locker room.’” Read more…
College could have taught these guys some humility.
Kobe Bryant never played a college basketball game.
Kevin Garnett never attended a college class.
LeBron James never even considered going the college route.
Prior to the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, high school players were allowed the option of declaring for the NBA instead of playing college basketball. As a result, many of the best regarded teenagers in the sport chose the big money instead of the traditional progression represented by walking on a college campus. It is undeniable that many of those players made perfectly rational decisions. Just as easily as one can chastise the Gerald Green’s and Ndudi Ebi’s for wasting their potential by getting under the big lights too early, someone can defend them by saying they got paid when they could just have easily flamed out as NCAA indentured servants.
All of that discussion is completely and totally irrelevant.
Basketball players will generally all argue that there should be no age restriction—but even then they aren’t being totally forthcoming. It is doubtful anyone is truly suggesting that that the NBA transition to a European-style philosophy of allowing youth players to sign with teams. (For instance, Ricky Rubio signed with DKV Joventut when he was 14 years old.) What they really mean is that they want to return to the old status quo that said players could enter the draft when they had exhausted their high school eligibility. They only take issue that the NBA says they have to go to college first. Read more…
Jeff Green in an interview with WEEI: “If he feels the goals are different going from the Thunder to the Celtics: “It’s no different. The ultimate goal is winning. Your quest is a championship and the only thing that has changed is we’re fighting for a championship instead of fighting for a playoff spot. It’s a different attitude and I’m more excited than ever.”
Marc Stein’s power rankings: “Perhaps Perk delivers everything OKC theoretically lost when it rescinded the Chandler trade two years ago. Yet you can’t help wonder here if he’s really going to be healthy enough to be a game-changer this season.” Read more…
If I’m Scott Brooks, I’m telling my team to avoid making a push to the No. 1 seed at all costs. Because Oklahoma City doesn’t want to see the Grizzlies in a seven-game series.
Luckily, that’s not realistic because OKC isn’t catching San Antonio. But with the way Memphis is playing — and without Rudy Gay, mind you — there absolutely is a chance of the Grizzlies climbing to No. 5 in the West. And I bet that’s something that keeps Brooks up at night.
For whatever reason, the Thunder just has a lot, and I mean a lot, of trouble with the Grizzlies. OKC went 1-3 against the Grizzlies this season, two of those with the Grizzlies being shorthanded without Gay. Dating back a couple years, the Thunder and Grizzlies have now played 12 straight games decided by single digits or in overtime. There’s not a lot separating these two teams.
Monday, with both teams coming off a game the night before, the Grizzlies took down the Thunder 107-101 behind 20 points each from Mike Conley and Tony Allen. (In the four games, Allen, who is averaging 7.6 points per game on the season, is averaging 18.7 ppg against OKC. Everyone is confused by this.) Read more…
Winning in Memphis is just a hard thing for the Thunder. But that was the old Thunder. This is the kind of new Thunder. It’s not the completely revamped version with Kendrick Perkins, but it’s Nazr Mohammed and Serge Ibaka on the front line now, which means OKC matches up much, much better with the Grizzlies. Read more…
The reasoning is there. If you do it for the other 47 minutes and 50 seconds, why not do it for the last 10? If your offense is good, your sets work, why go away from them to run a low percentage isolation play with your best player? The numbers have never disagreed. Except most coaches do. Watch most any NBA game that’s tied or within a possession late and you’ll see the same thing. Maybe there’s a little weakside screen to free up The Star, but in the end, it’s all about isolation and that player making a play.
Now, I might be wrong, but I’ve watched a lot of basketball this season. And the one team I’ve seen go consistently away from any iso play and instead run an actual set is Oklahoma City. Ironic, seeing as the Thunder has gained a lot of ire for their late game execution.
I asked Scott Brooks about doing exactly that and he said, “There are some times where I feel that the game can give us a better shot with a set. I like the way our bigs set screens. We just have to continue to work on it. It’s not an easy play and we all need to improve on it, including myself.”
I wondered if it had anything to do with the fact Durant struggles handling the ball, especially when the defense sends an extra defender. Based on KD’s skillset, it seems easier for him to get a look off a catch-and-shoot rather than dribble to the elbow like Paul Pierce would. Read more…
If you paid any attention to the Twitter accounts of Kevin Love, Kevin Durant, James Harden or Russell Westbrook during All-Star Weekend, you noticed a theme. They were always together.
Westbrook of course is already good friends with Love, having played with him at UCLA. But it was obvious that Love bonded well with the Thunder guys, as he was pretty much with them everywhere. They sat together, arrived together, ate together and in general, were all best friends the entire weekend. It got a lot of people talking and thinking, especially after the comment Love made after the World Championships.
NBA.com’s MVP watch: “Durant scored scored 21 points in just 26 minutes against Indiana, but a sprained left ankle had him listed as doubtful to face the Hawks at Atlanta Friday. OKC isn’t doomed when he’s out (3-1 when Durant doesn’t start), but the Thunder is better when he’s on (18-5 when Durant scores 30).”
Darnell Mayberry’s post-game: “Durant grew a bit defensive when asked about the last-second plays. When asked if coming off a curl wouldn’t work better than what we typically see, Durant responded “I wish you guys knew more about the game of basketball.” It was only the second time I’ve seen Durant get chippy with reporters. The other time was in L.A. during last year’s playoffs. And the amazing thing this time was KD delivered his line tonight with a wide smile, looking as friendly as ever as he dressed down a reporter.” Read more…
With 15 seconds left, it looked like the Thunder were basically a defensive rebound away from sealing a tough win at home over the always difficult Suns. Then Vince Carter hit a pretty much insane 3.
With 1:25 seconds left in overtime, it looked like the Thunder were basically sunk, as Carter drilled another impossible trey, putting Phoenix up two. The Thunder clawed back with a James Harden and-1 dunk and then a Russell Westbrook free throw had Oklahoma City up two with 17 seconds remaining. And Carter had another chance to break the Thunder’s hearts.
A, ahem, questionable call on Thabo Sefolosha gave Carter three free throws with the Suns down 118-116. Carter swishes the first, but missed the next two. Westbrook knocked down a pair of free throws and after a failed Steve Nash chuck, Kevin Durant iced away a wild, crazy 122-118 win for the Thunder.
What’s kind of great about this victory is that the Thunder scored 122 points, shot 49 percent from the field and won despite KD going just 3-14 from the floor. That’s not going to happen often. Why the Thunder got away with it this time was because of huge efforts from Harden (tied his career-high with 26 on just 12 shots) and Westbrook (32 points, 11 assists). It’s becoming pretty obvious that Harden is sort of OKC’s x-factor player. He’s scored in double-figures in eight consecutive games and during that stretch is averaging 17.5 points per game. OKC envisioned Harden being that third scorer to give the Thunder a boost when Durant has a game like this one. Without Harden, OKC loses this game, and it’s probably not close. Read more…
A return home against a team that the Thunder has seemed to always have issues with. And not because of unfavorable matchups. Just for whatever reason, the Suns always seem to have someone play big. Last time is was Grant Hill throwing back to 1997 against Oklahoma City. But with the Thunder looking to make a solid push and gain some momentum, you’ve got to think this game is a big priority. Read more…
