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@Skeletor
Every player has weaknesses - not a crime to point them out. We called Aldrige "LeMarshmellow" for years. Finally its got to him, and he improved the physicallity of his game. Maybe calling KD a chucker now and then will help him find the open man! :-)

RW and Serge* KD pass to himself. LOL.

PDXJer :
LeMarcus Aldrige IS just a jump shooter. That’s what we’ve been complaining about! He’s got much better and much more aggressive in the last few months. We hope it stays that way.
“Hatred of KD”? I don’t hate the guy! He’s one of the classiest guys in the league. His handling of his extension was the Gold Standard as how to act like a pro. Plus, he’s a great player, just a little one dimensional. All I was saying if he became a better passer, your team would be taken to the next level. Chill out.

Sorry a little hang over from the ESPN message boards. Nevertheless, by saying his game is one-dimensional and calling KD just a chucker, how am I supposed to take it. He is not one-dimensional. On the offensive end alone he's been incorporating more post-moves, passing better, etc. Then I brought up how much better he is on the defensive end this year, and his rebounding ability. All of these things make him far more than "one-dimensional" and more than "just a chucker." So he needs to learn to pass more. Again, let me call you Portland fans to numerous games this year where he's gotten 5 assists. I don't think you can ask anymore than that at this point. Since he starts a lot with Thabo and Perk, his pass out options are usually RW and himself. He's not going to be getting 10-12 assists a night. If I need to chill out, you need to be more objective

@PDXJer

no need to try to get under people's skin by calling him a chucker. he usually does a great job of getting to his spots for high percentage shots. that was why his game last night was so strange and very uncharacteristic.

LeMarcus Aldrige IS just a jump shooter. That's what we've been complaining about! He's got much better and much more aggressive in the last few months. We hope it stays that way.

"Hatred of KD"? I don't hate the guy! He's one of the classiest guys in the league. His handling of his extension was the Gold Standard as how to act like a pro. Plus, he's a great player, just a little one dimensional. All I was saying if he became a better passer, your team would be taken to the next level. Chill out.

Hey guys, let's go to the Blazer's fan sites and let them all know that Lamarus Aldridge is just a jump shooter. That seem about as equivalent as the trash they keep posting about KD.

If Matt Pinto complains about the refs, I believe it. That guy is as fair as they come sports announcers wise. Nevertheless, the Thunder were able to overcome lots of questionable calls in Miami. Last night they played good enough on D to make a come back in the 4th, but couldn't get any shots to fall. That is why they lost. They hits 3 shots during that stretch in the 4th and we're probably looking at an OT game.

KD was wide open on most of the 3's they just weren't falling. You honestly tell me that your best scorer is wide open, and you don't want him to "chuck" it. Oh, how you Portland fans forget KD's 8-0 run to close you out in game 2 of our series or his dominance of several other teams throughout the year. Sure if KD played every game like he played the last two Portland games he would be "chucker", but those are called statistical outliers for a reason. They are two of the worst games he's had as a pro, shooting wise.

Great Chucker? Again, with your Portland fans hatred of KD and trying to minimize him into just a shooter. We all know he should pass more, but in the second half of the season his assists have gotten much better. He's also been getting tons of boards lately and plays pretty solid D. KD is much more than just a "chucker" It depends upon who you talk to about Seattle. I have family there so I try to be more objective though I hate it when Seattle pundits just rip OKC as a city and its fans as a fan base just to make themselves feel better. I think most of us would gladly give Seattle their stats, trophy, and hope Seattle gets another team soon, if nothing else, just so Seattle fans will leave us alone and let us enjoy the Thunder in peace.

@j-mo
So the refs causes the Blazers to go on a 15-0 run - and caused KD to shoot 9 for 24 and start chucking up 3's? Come on, the refs had very little to do with the Thunder losing this game. They got outhustled and their bench got beat badly.

Here's my Tim Donaghey theory: Sweeping a 4-game season series against anyone is very, very difficult. I've not seen the percentages on it, but I'm guessing that the percentage chance of sweeping the series is very low. Sub 25% (total guess). The conspiracy theorist in me thinks the refs, or people they know, put large sums of money on the games where a team could sweep the series because of that low % chance to actually sweep a team regular season (when it's 4 games because 2 games is totally different). So the refs needed to keep it close and get the Blazers a win.

The other side is that refs are human too and make mistakes. These refs could have been off their game the way KD was off his. I did find it interesting that after McMillan complained to one of the refs that that ref should have called the foul because the ref was in position, the very next trip down, that ref called a foul on Portland when Russ was just left of the top of the key and drove towards the right elbow and the ref called a foul on Miller (might have been Fernandez). It wasn't much of a foul and it seemed to me like the ref was saying, "See, I do call fouls."

I also hated the Portland announcers after McMillan was complaining. They said something like "Yeah, Coach I hear you but I only call 4 fouls a game and my quota is used up." Stupid, stupid, stupid. Makes me really appreciate BD and GL.

Few things to add from a Blazer fan. First - the iventiable Oden issue. I really don't regret Oden/KD. Honestly. Every dynasty has been built around a great big man. The Blazers took a swing and missed - oh well. Besides, its not hard to find a guard who is willing to chuck up 25 shots a game. Every single Blazer, including the bench, had a higher +/- than KD, and he scored 25! Granted, KD will be one of the All Time Great Chuckers, he's still a chucker. The Thunder have some great assets, and would be so much better if KD had some floor vision and made an extra pass once and a while. If he could do that, he would be a lock for MVP.

Also, one other thing. It seems that you guys could have a litte bit more compassion for Seattle. They had their hearts ripped out by a guy who promised would not move their team, and that promptly moved their team. I'm not passing judgement on the move, your fans had nothing to do with it and should not be blamed for it- but it could happen to you someday. And it would hurt. Maybe an olive branch from the organization would be nice, such as letting Seattle keep their franchise stats.

Good luck against Denver - Thunder in 5, I think.

cdub00 :
And Harden was leaving his man so open on the 3 pt line, it was absurd. Dude isn’t even in Sef’s stratosphere defensively. Period.

Blazers only made 4 three pointers while Harden was on the court, and only two of them were by his defensive assignment. Portland was 5-17 overall from 3PT range. I don't know what you are complaining about.

cdub00 :@kfmsooner@justin
got their wish, Sef was reduced to barely a role player’s minutes with only 15 minutes last night and we had one of our ugliest offensive games of the season. Coincidence?

This game was far from the ugliest offensive games of the season. Harden was fine and carried the offense for half the game. Wasn't Harden's fault he got only 1FGA in the third quarter aside from the last second shot at the end.

Also, @Royce I enjoyed the playoff picture column on sportsline. "The Thunder are storming." I see what you did there; I like it. But I am scared of the Nuggets, who struck gold (see that?) in the Melo deal, and are as hot as any team right now. Aside from the Hornets, teams 4-8 have youthful fresh legs and of the veteran teams only the Lakers don't appear to be sucking wind down the stretch. Can't wait for the playoffs.

And Harden was leaving his man so open on the 3 pt line, it was absurd. Dude isn't even in Sef's stratosphere defensively. Period.

I can't beleive nobody has mentioned this: @kfmsooner and @justin got their wish, Sef was reduced to barely a role player's minutes with only 15 minutes last night and we had one of our ugliest offensive games of the season. Coincidence?

The main problem, as stated in the post and comments section, was complete neglect of the teams offensive sets. The Thunder were prolific in the first have offensively: KD was getting good shots, Serge was involved, and the ball movement as a whole was great. Then came iso-offense, bad shots, and they died from the three. Serge was playing great ball and he was getting himself in a position to hit the open jumpers. Down the stretch he didn't even get shot attempts because the ball handlers kept swinging it around the 3point line or using him only as a screening body. These deficiencies lead to offensive predictability--I am sure every fan who watched the game noticed how exactly what we thought would happen did--and we completely fell apart for it. Sure, KD's 13 three attempts is ridiculous but I would put this one more on Scotty; he needed to take control, settle the team and give better direction. In no circumstances should this team struggle to score 30 points in a half.

@MastrMatt
Home cooking influencing a game against a pseudo rival after we were in position to sweep them? That sounds familiar. Like the final Jazz game last year.

Perk wouldn't have been in foul trouble had the refs allowedus to play as physical as Portland. It was just obscene.

Terrible shooting night but this game shows the Thunder fans what a great job Presti did in acquiring Kendrick Perkins. Looking at the box score with Perkins in the Thunder were +15. Not blaming it on Perk but if he wasn't in foul trouble, the thunder would have won the game even with the offense struggling.

Similar to Royce, I don't want KD passing up open shots. However, as many of you have written in the past, he needs to exercise caution in where he takes them. He loves shooting the three in transition, but I'm guessing he averages less than 20 percent on those.

@ATH

Darnell from Thunder Rumblings:

Here’s Thunder coach Scott Brooks‘ take on the third period: “They were playing good defense, challenging us, making us take tough shots. And we were missing the easy ones when we did get them. We got 3-point happy, I thought. We were taking too many 3s. We’ve improved our 3-point shooting as the season’s gone along. But I thought we settled for too many outside shots tonight.”

So at least Brooks recognized that they were taking too many jumpers. That said, it's beyond me why he didn't take a time out - or if he did, I missed it - when the wheels fell off.

You guys should cut those Blazer fans some slack, how bitter would we be if we drafted Oden over Durant. *snicker*

Brooks needs to hire an offensive coordinator or else our eventual exit from the playoffs is going to rest squarely on his shoulders. And Presti is smart enough to recognize that.

After sleeping on it I don't think this loss means much other than that Kevin Durant is human after all. Royce basically said it, do you want KD not shooting when he's more or less open?

Sure the offense as a scheme devolved into a garbled mess last night and we really, really need to work on ball movement with that starting unit. But even so on a normal night our offense would have been good enough to win if KD plays a regular KD game.

on the site on ESPN that has the boxscore, when you click on conversation. It is a debate we had with two Portland fans, one who kept saying Durant's not a real superstar, and that the Blazers are deep and scary

Skeletor :
Not only are they better than us, they are 8 deep and have one of the deepest teams in the league. These guys think they’re the Spurs. Whereas we are only 3 deep at best.

we're are you reading this bullsh't?

I would get the trash talking if it came from Memphis, 1-3 against them, but not Portland

the scum of the earth, those people on the the espn boards. not worth it imo.

When I watch Portland, I see a team that's LA or bust, but I would love to meet them in the second round to find out who will win a series. That would mean we get home court advantage.

Skeletor :
I’m arguing as well. I go by Skelecherib83 on the ESPN boards

im on the ESPN Boards but on the teams boards, not the generals. They're calling Durant a choke, i guess that 8-0 run he had against the Blazers to close it out, before this game was erased from their mind.

Not only are they better than us, they are 8 deep and have one of the deepest teams in the league. These guys think they're the Spurs. Whereas we are only 3 deep at best.

can't wait to win a championship and rub it in the Blazers face, im all about good sportsmanship, but the Lakers, Blazers, and Heat fans are my only exception.

Haha I know... Just watching him on the bench your like man I want to hang out with that dude for a day... Did you read the write up about him loving sonic haha... Hey anybody hear anything at all for what the personal reason Westbrook was excused... Wonder if that was in his head tonight a bit... Not to make excuses... And not that he played atrocious but def didn't play well

I'm arguing as well. I go by Skelecherib83 on the ESPN boards

@thunderstruck4life

I watched him with the celtics last year, it always warmed my heart to see someone my size playing in the NBA. He's a hard character not to love.

Is there a point where we will start to get concerned about Durant's recent shooting woes? It feels like to only good game hes had in a while is the Golden State game. I have no doubt he'll snap out of it, but as we get closer to the playoffs is there a date when we'll get concerned? Probably not until Game 1.

not that anyone here should care, but i'm raging a one man war for the Thunder over on the ESPN boards.. more so because i just like getting underneath the skin of all the Seattle haters that flood the boards post game.. i'm not sure when they will realize that Thunder fans didn't actually car pool up to Washington and pile the team into a 15 passenger van while throwing their city the finger and making out like bandits.. i said it before and i'll say it again, i honestly believe that a Supersonics fan would drop the bomb on OKC if given the opportunity.. just for the hell of it

I understand its not a personnel thing... I just like Nate ha

So guys you might not know this, but Durant isn't a superstar because he doesn't play defense and doesn't average 10 boards a game like he should with his length and athleticism. The Portland fans have spoken, and being a team who's only had a franchise for three years we are too incompetent to speak about basketball. Sorry to burst your bubble, but Durant is simply a scorer who creates space.

Brooks is the type of coach who never blames a loss on Xs and Os. Postgame he chalked up the dismal third quarter to "just missing shots," and he's always blamed bad defense on poor effort rather than glaring personnel problems or overhelping. Presti took care of the personnel problems, yet overhelping continues.

Maybe this is all coachspeak, but I hear other coaches talk about offensive execution and defensive principles in a way that communicates their system. Brooks rarely references problems with the players' execution of a system. He doesn't seem to have expectations for them beyond playing hard.

Brooks is also the type of coach who never just blames the players for a loss. I like that. And I think he's been a key part of the stars' development. He's a good personality for this team. But he is routinely out-coached, or maybe more accurately, out-systemed.

Thunder had an 8 point lead three minutes in the third quarter (four of the six points scored by Thabo / Serge). Here is the shot selection for the following five minutes:

RW 23 foot miss
shot clock
KD 25 foot 3pt miss
KD 25 foot 3pt miss
KD 23 foot 3pt miss
KD turnover
RW 22 foot miss
JH 25 foot 3pt miss
KD 19 foot miss

Believe me, I watched this as it happened. There was little off ball movement, some of these possessions did not even involve high screens, just isolations into long jumpers or ball pounding into one pass / long jumper.

If you think the Thunder are going to be productive offensively with that kind of shot selection, you're crazy.

The Thunder scored 20 points in 7.5 minutes in the first quarter with the starters in there.

KD 16 foot jumper made
KD 18 foot jumper made
RW FTA on drive
RW Dunk on KD assist off post up
SI 20 foot jumper made
KD 20 foot jumper made
KD rip move
SI 18 foot jumper made
TS 14 foot jumper made
TS 24 foot jumper miss
KD 20 foot jumper miss
SI 10 foot jumper made
RW 17 foot jumper miss

What's the difference? There was some movement, some ball sharing. Still mostly all jump shots. It was hot shooting. The only difference in the start of the third quarter was that the jump shots got longer (due to poor / non existent play calling and ball movement / the defense that PDX started play).

You really do have to b somewhat happy in seeing that this isn't just a fluke thing now for harden playing a few good games ( Atleast in my opinion) he really is looking promising for the future if he is added into the rotation right... Not that I'm upset with how he is now completely but would love for them to start utilizing him a bit more often... I feel so confident when I see him driving in... Would much rather him with the ball as many times as jeff green would get it... I do agree with the Nate Robinson thing to does anybody else? I mean it's one of those " how much worse could it get, let's give it a try."

im just pissed, nuff said..

@justin
I also love the word dynamic to describe Harden. Just perfect.

@justin
+100, said perfectly about the offense and Harden.

No mention of Harden's good night? He did have 22 off of 15 shots and was really the only reason this one was not a blow out by the fourth.

It's not a bad loss in the scheme of things, but the way the team lost was frustrating. They had an opportunity to build up a big lead and blew that, and any semblance of a cohesive, intelligent offense in the second half would have kept the game close enough to maybe close out. But they were happy going to the Durant and Westbrook show, and throwing up 27 three pointers.

Harden must be integrated into the starting unit eventually (next year hopefully) so he can be a secondary ball handler and alleviate some of Russ' responsibility handling the ball. I think this style of offense is way too easy to defend, and Harden's too dynamic to not involve with the first unit. It killed me to see Harden subbed in with the starters and stuck in the corner, only touching the ball to get a 3PA on a short shot clock in the second half.