This play from Game 2 really tells you everything you ever needed to know about Russell Westbrook. He’s out of control, nearly loses the ball about four times and yet gets to the rim with two beautiful moves and a brilliant scoop to finish it. Near disaster, but in the end, two terrific points. That’s sort of the Russell Westbrook experience in a nutshell right there.
John Hollinger of ESPN.com: “The Thunder won’t be planning any championship parades just yet, not when this group has yet to win a single playoff series. But it was hard to watch Oklahoma City’s onslaught in the first 15 minutes of its 106-89 win over the Nuggets on Wednesday without thinking the words “championship caliber.” The Thunder’s domination was so complete that they were up by 26 points with 8:44 left in the second quarter, 43-17, and from there cruised home to victory.”
Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports on how much the Nuggets are missing Melo: “While Karl believes his team was shell-shocked by the no-call goaltending in the Game 1 defeat, the bigger issue for Denver was the inability to score in the fourth quarter, when it mustered only 21 points. On Wednesday, the Nuggets’ scoring deficiency showed up early, leading to a rout. Committee basketball got the Nuggets into the playoffs and somehow heightened expectations. Not having a star they can depend on offensively, like ‘Melo, will make it a short visit.” Read more…
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George Karl got his wish. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook most definitely did not combine for 72 points in this game. Far from it, in fact.
Don’t think he’s going to call it a success though.
Despite holding Oklahoma City’s dynamite tandem to just 44 points, the Nuggets still lost 106-89. Reason being? There are, in fact, eight other players on the team that can, in fact, do things. James Harden led the way with 18 off the bench, Serge Ibaka had 12, Nick Collison 10 and Daequan Cook six. In Game 1, Durant and Westbrook scored 67 of the Thudner’s total points. Tonight, just 41 percent.
It’s pretty clear to me that when Durant and Westbrook play really well, the Thunder are good. When two, even just one, other players show up, the Thunder are really good. One reason being, Oklahoma City is playing some defense. Other than the first six minutes of Game 1, the Thunder’s defense has been good. Tonight, it was terrific. The Nuggets shot just 39.1 percent from the field and scored only 89 points. We’re talking about the top one or two offense in the league here. And not only did the Thunder defend, but check the glass: 54-31 in favor of OKC. With 17 offensive boards. Read more…
vs. 
TV: TNT (Cox 31, HD 730); 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
Series: OKC leads 1-0
View from the enemy: Roundball Mining Company
Getting that first game out of the way was big. Having a 1-0 cushion and a little pressure off I think will help the Thunder more than you think. But here’s the thing: Denver only came to OKC really looking for a split. And that’s still very much on the table. Read more…
An absolute must-read piece from Deadspin today about how Kendrick Perkins built a friendship with a couple fans. Drop everything you’re doing — even if it’s something important — and read it.
An excerpt:
Perk began to treat Justin as a sort of little brother. Every so often, he’d take Justin out to dinner after games. They’d go to Strega in Boston’s North End. The first time, Justin was afraid to order too much — or too little. “Just get what I get,” Perk told him. That turned out to be a two-pound lobster, fettuccine alfredo, and a whole chicken. Justin ate leftovers for days.
He looked up to Perk. They got their hair cut together. (“Give him the Pat Riley,” Perk told the barber when his protégé sat down in the chair. The first thing Justin’s mother said when she saw him afterward was, “Oh my god.”) They talked about women. Once Perk invited Justin to sleep over. Justin had been away at college, and Perk just wanted to catch up. Still, Justin was shocked.
“Why not?” Perk said. “You’re family.”
Yeah, probably only gonna start writing exclusively about Perk now.
AP Photo
Denver’s Raymond Felton had five attempted field goals and a trip to the free throw line in the fourth quarter Sunday before the 11 second mark, when the game devolved into fouling and Thunder free throws. J.R. Smith had three shots, Nene had two shots and a trip to the free throw line, and the other Nuggets had fewer looks than that.
By contrast, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook had six field goal attempts each in that same time period, and other than Eric Maynor’s two shots, no other Thunder player had more than one shot in the quarter.
That’s what happens when one team has two established stars and the other has an offense-by-committee mentality. And at least through one game, having the two stars worked out in Oklahoma City’s favor. It gives credence to the long-established belief that it takes a star or two to advance in the NBA playoffs. Read more…
Totally Tickets is back with another contest for you. Same game as last time. Predict the final score with the tiebreaker being KD’s points for the game. (If a tie needs to be broken after that, it’ll just be whoever posted first.)
Tickets are upper level. They are for Game 5 and if there is no Game 5 (let’s hope!) then they will be for the first home game of the next series.
And remember, try Totally Tickets if you’re looking for a pair for tonight’s game.
John Hollinger writing on how defenders like to hold KD: “That seems terribly puzzling at first, unless you watched what took place off the ball. Oklahoma City had plays designed for Durant to get the ball from Westbrook, but he never get anywhere near it thanks to opponents’ strategy of walling him off the ball in those situations, using superior strength to prevent Durant from breaking free. “At the end of the game they like to hug Kevin,” said Westbrook, “and grab and hold him, so sometimes I have to be able to create a shot for myself if Kevin can’t get the ball. I definitely try to get it to him but when I can’t I have to get a shot myself.” Durant, for all his offensive skills, is one of the weaker players at his position physically, and that’s something opponents try to take advantage of by muscling him away from the play.”
Chris Tomasson for NBA.com: “Not if Martin’s advice continues to work for Nene. Martin, who arrived in Denver in 2004, and Nene, who showed up as a rookie in 2002, are by far the two Nuggets with the longest continuous tenures. “They can’t guard him,” Martin said of Nene. “He’s too quick, too strong. They might try to body him up. But he can go around them. But I don’t feel they can guard him. So the only thing they can do is frustrate him.” At least the “Beast” didn’t have that problem in Game 1.” Read more…
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images
It was pretty clear before the series that the Nuggets were going to have trouble with one specific Thunder player. He happens to be very good. He happens to be a two-time scoring champions, two-time All-Star and the kind of gifted basketball player that can be impossible to guard no matter what you do.
But it was obvious that the Nuggets were going to have a lot of problems checking Kevin Durant. There’s really not a single guy on the roster that’s an ideal defender for him and it showed in Game 1 as George Karl tried Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Kenyon Martin and even Raymond Felton for a stretch.
It didn’t work.
Durant dropped 41 points on 13-22 shooting which included a second half explosion where he scored 25 on 9-13. In other words, Denver had some issues with KD. Read more…
Today is the 16th anniversary of the Alfred P. Murrah building bombing. In 1995 in downtown Oklahoma City, 168 people were killed. Send a thought or two to those people’s families and friends today. I remember being in third grade and my teacher being called out of the room only to come back in a couple minutes later crying. I’ll never forget what that day felt like.
Really interesting research from Darnell Mayberry: “This is George Karl’s 20th appearance as a coach in the NBA playoffs. He’s taken five teams this far. But the Denver skipper isn’t so successful when staring at an 0-1 hole. Karl-coached teams are 2-13 when losing the first game of a series. The Thunder currently has a 1-0 lead on Karl’s Denver Nuggets. Game 2 is Wednesday night inside Oklahoma City Arena.” Read more…
The league issued a statement telling us something we all already knew: Kendrick Perkins’ basket with 1:05 remaining should not have counted. The statement reads:
“Kendrick Perkins was improperly credited with a basket that should have been ruled offensive basket interference with 1:05 remaining in last night’s game. Although a player is permitted to touch the net while the ball is in the cylinder above the rim, Perkins also touched the ball while it was still in the cylinder which is a violation and constitutes goaltending.”
Of course that doesn’t change anything as the Thunder went on to win 107-103, but it certainly does add a bit of flavor to Oklahoma City’s win. The tip put the Thunder up a point with a minute left. It was a critical play in the game and I don’t think even the most homertastic Thunder fan could deny that OKC caught a break there.
However, watching live in the arena, I actually thought Russell Westbrook’s shot had dropped through on its own. Most of the other writers around me thought the same thing. So you can imagine the position the officials were in during that situation. They got it wrong. They know and the league knows it. We all figured out what happened on the tip after watching the replay three or four times. The officials didn’t have that luxury. Maybe that’s the real question though: Why didn’t the officials have that luxury?
I’ve really enjoyed not only the way Scott Brooks has found minutes for Daequan Cook by virtue of expanding to a 10-man rotation but even more so, how Cook has totally taken advantage of it.
Cook only sees 8-12 minutes a game typically (only five last night), but as OKC’s 3-point specialist, he’s ready to step on the floor and knock down shots when called upon. We could argue as to if Cook probably deserves a few more minutes a night, but point is, having a weapon like Cook in your second unit is pretty valuable.
Thing is, you’ve got to figure out exactly how to use him. Last night for example, Cook took two shots and went 2-2 (1-1) from 3. Exactly what you want from him. Underrated minutes. If he’s only going to sees four or five minutes, you’ve got to make sure he gets his shots. It’s very easy when you’re the third or fourth option on the floor to go those five minutes without getting a look. And Cook’s not on the floor just to stand around and play defense.
So Scott Brooks has developed a subtle play for Cook. I first noticed it about three weeks ago and now it looks like a set the Thunder runs routinely only with Cook in the game. Read more…
There were a lot of highlights from last night’s game. Pick any of Serge Ibaka’s blocks. Russell Westbrook’s steal and dunk to end the first half. For Nuggets’ fans, the goaltending no-call…
But the best play of the night was Kevin Durant’s baseline finger roll. Live, I had no idea what to think about it. It was just beautiful. Like a perfect painting. The way he was under the backboard and rolled the ball back around instead of going up-and-under — unreal.
My favorite thing about the play though is, watch how KD sprints back on defense. Instead of staying down, he popped up and hauled butt back down the floor to check Ty Lawson. Impressive KD. Most impressive.
John Hollinger of ESPN.com: “For all those shortcomings, however, Denver can walk away feeling good in a lot of other ways. Durant and Westbrook combined for 72 points, the Nuggets missed 12 foul shots and shot 4-of-16 on 3s, and defensive ace Arron Afflalo — who might prove even more useful against Westbrook than against Durant — didn’t play; despite that, Denver lost by four on the road. That’s a pretty respectable result.”
Rob Mahoney for SI: “As good as Durant and Russell Westbrook were in this game (and they were brilliant), Oklahoma City’s victory relied heavily on contributions both obvious and subtle from three of the Thunder’s lesser-known players. Nick Collison finished with just two points and a single rebound, but he registered the game’s highest plus-minus rating and was a crucial part of three separate Thunder runs. His defense, screen-setting, and passing continue to be important commodities for Oklahoma City, and yet his impact will forever be eclipsed by the more obvious contributions of Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins.” Read more…
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images
It really just sort of felt like it was time for Kevin Durant. After the way he carried Team USA in Turkey, he was ready for this.
His Thunder didn’t start the way they wanted. I don’t think they played the way they wanted. But behind his playoff career-high 41 points, they certainly finished the way they wanted. KD was up to the the moment. He was ready for the challenge. During one stretch spanning between the third and fourth quarters, Durant had a hand in 22 of 25 OKC points. He had 16 at the half on 4-9, but 9-13 in the second, including 3-4 from 3.
“I’ve been preparing and putting in a lot of work,” he said. “Last year in the playoffs I didn’t shoot the ball the way I wanted to. But it’s a new season. My teammates always encourage me and put me in good positions to score and tonight they did that.”
But that’s just Durant. You know a guy played wonderfully when his teammate goes for 31 on 12-23 shooting and he gets a bit overshadowed. But not only did Russell Westbrook combine with Durant for 72 of OKC’s 107, but he hit the biggest shot of the game, pretty much icing the Nuggets with 30 seconds left. Well, I guess that depends on who you ask. Maybe the biggest shot of the game was one that probably shouldn’t have counted. Read more…
