Daily Thunder.com

Another great show, guys! TTFU! Go Thunder!

the 3sob guy thinks this is going to be a rivalry for a long. He acts like the whole team is extremely young. Dont forget that their best player (arguably) Z-Bo is 29 years old. Just sayin' Our star is 22years old. There is a significant distinction there.

Woke up to the sound of Thunder this morning, gentleman. That's a damn good sign.

Thunder Up! 3 Down!

Everyone head out early. Marathon was delayed due to lightning, so all those folks may still be around. Since OKC's infrastructure isn't built for a ton of people, it will make parking ridiculous. Bright spot: maybe all the marathoners and car noises at 5am will have woken up the Memphis players and they will be tired.

@osano-whoa
Well said, and I completely agree! Glad to see some other Thunder fans up early with me this morning....I'm worried about the early start and the rain though. KD (and most 22 year olds) aren't typically morning people, and we have a long history of being slow to warm up anyway. My fear is that the Grizzlies jump out to an early lead, and we have to play catch-up the whole game. That's not necessarily bad, since historically we are GREAT at closing out close games at the end, but still, I would much prefer a Thunder 20-pt thrashing to a nail-biter today. Not sure my nerves can take it, and noon on Sunday is a bit early for the "stress tolerance juice"!

I don't think RW was pouting. He was hesitant and wasn't as confident. He was affected by the criticism but he wasn't acting out.

osano-whoa :While Westbrook’s behavior might technically fit into the definition of pouting in that he was “exhibiting displeasure or disappointment”, I don’t think the connotations associated with the word pouting are appropriate for the way Westbrook behaves. Westbrook is one of the more demonstrative players in the NBA. It’s easy to see how Westbrook’s emotional state affects his play and vice-versa. We’ve all seen good Westbrook and bad Westbrook, and because he wears his heart on his sleeve it’s easy to see the difference in emotional state for him between a good and bad performance. Everything about the way Westbrook was behaving during game 4 says to me that he was frustrated primarily with himself, that he wasn’t playing better, and that he was making poor decisions as a result of that frustration. Westbrook’s play during game 4 has widely been described as selfish, but I think a more accurate description of his play would be frantic.When Westbrook is having a good night shooting, when he’s relaxed and confident, he actually passes the ball more, not less. That isn’t the behavior of a selfish player. It’s when Westbrook is nervous, when his shot isn’t falling, or when he’s otherwise failing to execute well that we see him stop passing and stop making good decisions. I don’t think he stops passing during bad games because he wants to be the hero, but rather because he doesn’t want to let his team down and in his agitated state he reverts to his shooting guard instincts.Westbrook has shown tremendous improvement in his decision making ability since entering the NBA, and I think he’ll continue to show improvement as his career goes on. As he matures and becomes more sure of him self I think we’ll see that frantic mindset less and less. As he gets more minutes with Harden and Ibaka I think he’ll learn to pass to them more often.So give Westbrook a pass for now. Maybe I’m wrong, but if I am we’ll all know for sure soon enough.

Exactly! Don't be fair weather fans, support the honey badger.

While Westbrook's behavior might technically fit into the definition of pouting in that he was "exhibiting displeasure or disappointment", I don't think the connotations associated with the word pouting are appropriate for the way Westbrook behaves. Westbrook is one of the more demonstrative players in the NBA. It's easy to see how Westbrook's emotional state affects his play and vice-versa. We've all seen good Westbrook and bad Westbrook, and because he wears his heart on his sleeve it's easy to see the difference in emotional state for him between a good and bad performance. Everything about the way Westbrook was behaving during game 4 says to me that he was frustrated primarily with himself, that he wasn't playing better, and that he was making poor decisions as a result of that frustration. Westbrook's play during game 4 has widely been described as selfish, but I think a more accurate description of his play would be frantic.

When Westbrook is having a good night shooting, when he's relaxed and confident, he actually passes the ball more, not less. That isn't the behavior of a selfish player. It's when Westbrook is nervous, when his shot isn't falling, or when he's otherwise failing to execute well that we see him stop passing and stop making good decisions. I don't think he stops passing during bad games because he wants to be the hero, but rather because he doesn't want to let his team down and in his agitated state he reverts to his shooting guard instincts.

Westbrook has shown tremendous improvement in his decision making ability since entering the NBA, and I think he'll continue to show improvement as his career goes on. As he matures and becomes more sure of him self I think we'll see that frantic mindset less and less. As he gets more minutes with Harden and Ibaka I think he'll learn to pass to them more often.

So give Westbrook a pass for now. Maybe I'm wrong, but if I am we'll all know for sure soon enough.

@DJ 7
Go back and read how i responded to that comment in the other thread. Gotta remember he's only 22 too much negativity could permanently destroy a young players confidence

Skeletor is hyped! I'm with u man it's gameday and i'm ready to hunt some grizzlies! We will shut up the over confident fans in exactly 9 hours. Thunder up dammit!

Grizz fans over at the ESPN board are being just as annoying as the Nuggets fans. "Z-Bo > Durant, Battier and Allen make Durant a wash, Z-Bo will own Ibaka, Gasol will destroy Perkins. Our defense is the best in the bus, OKC's defense is average at best." Why can we not just get respectful fan bases. I'll be at the game. Last game I went to was 15 pt blowout. I hope tomorrow is as well. I really want to shut the Grizz fans up now. Stupid, disrespectful fans, who treat KD like he's just some average player, really tick me off.

I'de like to disagree, and say Honey Badger was pouting. His facial and body language give ALL i mean ALL the hints that he was upset. What does he expect. You can't do that and not get burned by the media, and ect for it. It wasn't about his shot not falling, how many times this season have we seen him continue to drive, or still take his free throw line jumper? He was pouting, and trying to be the PG that he believes the world wants him to be. Like i said in another thread, Westbrook thinks he should be the PG the world wants him to be, but enjoys being the PG he wants to be. Where as to he should be the PG his team needs him to be.

Other than that i agreed with you all the way!
I don't see us being out rebounded in most of the games against Memphis.

What will be instresting is to see if Brooks will use Harden properly. If he, or Cook aren't not on the floor and they have Allen/Battier. Then they will put Battier on Durant, and Allen on Westbrook. That will be a hard fought match up. If he starts or plays Harden 32-35 minutes a game then Harden will overmatch Conley consistently, or Westbrook will. They could run Tony at the 1. He's a ball handler, and he showed it at Boston, let Mayo be at the 2, and Battier at the 3. That line up seems good but offensively they'll get nothing.

Luckily for us we don't have to mess around with our rotations much, and ect.. There really won't be a need to play a Collison/Ibaka duo much since we now have a taller Nazr who will play better against a less athletic Gasol/Randolph. As far as perimeter goes, keep Thabo at 8-10, and Cook 8 minutes a game. Give Harden the most because it'll be crucial for mismatches.

Excellent podcast. Both parts were well done.

It's gameday!!! I'm on east time.