As soon as the final horn sounded in Oklahoma City’s 133-123 Game 3 triple-overtime win, I had emails and tweets pouring in. When does the team arrive home? Can we meet them at the airport?
At that time, it was still about 1 a.m. CT and the team’s flight home from Memphis wouldn’t be in for a few more hours. Still, Thunder fans persisted. They were resilient with their support. Kind of like the team.
I did some checking and got the team’s arrival time and passed it along on Twitter. That arrival time — 3:30 a.m. That didn’t stop roughly 40-50 Thunder fans from still showing up and welcoming the team back early Tuesday morning. That’s impressive, insane and a whole lot of other things but most of all, just shows you how dedicated and committed to these guys Thunder fans are. People love this team. It’s just… real.
Every player sort of hobbled over to the chainlink fence that separates the runway and parking lot and high-fived each and every fan. Kendrick Perkins even said according to one person there, “We are going to bring a title home to you,” as he grinned ear to ear. Win it on the road and there will be quite the crowd there to greet you I’m sure.
Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus: “This is all at least as much a credit to the Memphis defense as it is criticism of Durant, but to ignore this factors in comparing Westbrook’s shot attempts to Durant’s is folly. Scott Brooks did a much better job of mixing in some other offense down the stretch, using Daequan Cook’s shooting ability and giving the ball to Harden to run pick-and-rolls at times, but often the Thunder’s offense came down to Westbrook improvising after the play broke down. Given the circumstances, he did more than a credible job.”
John Hollinger of ESPN.com: “It also marked one of the first times the Thunder had dictated the match-ups, and while it didn’t work quite as well in the fourth quarter against the Grizzlies’ starters, it afforded Oklahoma City a series-saving advantage in the second quarter against the Memphis bench. One presumes they’ll go back to the well in the second quarter of Game 5 unless the Grizzlies can adjust.” Read more…
The Thunder beat the Grizzlies 133-123 in triple-overtime to even the series 2-2. Russell Westbrook scored 40. Kevin Durant had 35. It was a very good game.
That’s it. That’s all I got. After that four-hour marathon, prize fight or whatever cliche you want to plug in, I feel like I just went through about 250 stages of emotions.
I thought the game was over about 40 different times. Once as early as about four minutes in. The Grizzlies started the game 8-0 and pushed out to an 18-point first half lead. That seems so, so long ago. But for the first quarter or so, the Thunder just didn’t look ready. The Grizzlies came out swinging and Oklahoma City wasn’t ready to respond.
Funny to think about all that happened later on. I mean seriously, how does one go about accurately describing this game? The Thunder made a great push to get within four going to halftime, played a terrific second half and held a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. They failed to close out the final four minutes and after Kendrick Perkins missed two crucial free throws, Mike Conley dropped an impossible 3. Russell Westbrook had a decent look with 3.5 seconds left to send the game to overtime but came up short.
And that’s when things started to get crazy. Read more…
The natural career progression goes something like this: Mr. Basketball → McDonald’s All-American → NCAA All-American → NBA Lottery Pick → setting screens off the bench. What? Thunder forward Nick Collison boasts an All-Star pedigree, but his traditional box score numbers are rather pedestrian. Consider these numbers from the 2010-2011 regular season:
He scored more than 10 points only five times
He never recorded more than 10 rebounds in a game
The former Kansas Jayhawk averaged just 4.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game this year, but his incredible impact is captured by other measures
Who was Oklahoma City’s best player according to adjusted +/- and rating data? It wasn’t the NBA’s scoring champion. It wasn’t the All-Star point guard, and it wasn’t Serge Iblocka. It was Nick Collison, who recorded just one double-double in the regular season. Heck, his foul total matched or exceeded his point total in 30 regular season games. Find a more ridiculous stat than that for a terrific NBA player. Read more…
NBA Playbook breaks down the Thunder last several possessions as well: “Tony Allen gets into Durant’s body, so when the screen comes he is able to fit between the screener and Durant. This allows him to stay attached to Durant and keep him from making the catch initially and puts him in a good position to defend the pick and pop. Eventually, Durant gets the basketball and is forced to take a tough step-back jumper. In addition to letting himself get pushed around a little too much, Durant has a tendency not to cut sharply off of screens. Normally this doesn’t hurt him because his size allows him to shoot over defenders, but when he is trying to curl off for a three, he is making it harder on himself.”
Darnell Mayberry on if the Thunder’s been rattled: “Kevin Durant scoffed at the suggestion. Really, it wasn’t even a suggestion. It was a question. Clearly, though, Durant was stunned and perhaps even annoyed that it was even being asked. Has the Oklahoma City Thunder’s confidence, swagger or belief been shaken? That’s right. That was a point-blank question posed to Durant, the Thunder’s co-captain, at Sunday’s practice. It seemed a little premature.” Read more…
You know how some TV shows get disclaimers on them? Well, this post needs one too. This post may not be suitable for emotional Thunder fans still not over yesterday’s loss. Reader discretion is advised.
Following the Thunder’s incredible fourth quarter meltdown in Game 3 which gave away a big swing game, a lot of focus was on Russell Westbrook and his now infamous “hero mode.” I saw it differently. I didn’t think Westbrook had a whole lot to do with it. I saw it more as a product of bad team offense, no James Harden and predictable, elementary offensive sets. Westbrook was a part of it, but it’s not on him exclusively.
I don’t think me just saying it convinced everyone — not even myself necessarily — so I re-watched the Thunder’s fourth quarter again, specifically those last seven minutes. The video of every Thunder offensive possession the last seven minutes of the game is above. If you’re one of the many pinning this on Westbrook, you’re probably going to see what you want to see and I’m not going to change your mind. But going through it, I just don’t see how Westbrook went “hero” or tried to subvert Durant here. Read more…
I’ll be right back. I’m going to be outside hitting myself in the face with a claw hammer.
(…..)
So the Thunder blew a 16-point second half lead in a pivotal Game 3 to lose in overtime to the Grizzlies in overtime 101-93 and go down two games to one. Also of note: The Thunder scored just 10 points in the fourth quarter and actually — you won’t believe this — went over eight minutes without a basket. They missed 11 straight shots. Hang on, I’m going to need that claw hammer again.
It’s a shame for a lot of reasons, but mainly because the Thunder looked like a dominant, well-oiled championship contender for about the first 42 minutes. The interior defense was awesome. The offense was executing. Shots were going in. The Thunder were basically just whipping the Grizzlies. There was a real, palpable edge to the team and it just looked like they were going to walk to an excellent Game 3 win. Read more…
I can’t decide who this game is more important for, big picture. The Thunder have to win once in Memphis, so it has to either come today, in Game 4 or in Game 6. But going down 2-1 and relinquishing momentum and confidence back to the Grizzlies would be bad. Read more…
Good Game 3 Thunderers. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. Up the Thunder.
Don’t really know how to accurately describe this video, nor do I understand the motivation behind it. Regardless, it’s awesome. Russell Westbrook dunking on Osama bin Laden, the Durantula tears off the roof of the Staples Center and Kendrick Perkins rides a motorcycle. Basically everything you could ever want in the most random Thunder video I’ve found yet. You ready for Game 3 now?
This week we got Chris Vernon from 730 Fox Sports in Memphis. This is the guy that interviewed Micheal Heisley when he went on his yelling rant.
We talked about the series with the Grizzlies, the history of the team in Memphis and some of the best moves coming out that all the nerds should get up for.
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Ronald Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images – (That blurry guy in the bottom left is handsome – ed)
Between Games 2 and 3 of the Thunder’s Western Conference semifinal series against the Grizzlies, the Bulls, Hawks, Lakers and Mavericks all play twice. The Heat and Celtics share the same three-day layoff as Oklahoma City and Memphis. Three excruciatingly long days without Thunder basketball, and one day without any NBA basketball at all, is too much. And ridiculous.
The Oklahoman offered the NBA’s reasoning for the three-day layoff in its notebook Thursday, but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. There was no game Thursday because the Spurs-Grizzlies series might have gone the full seven games? Well, what’s the excuse for Heat-Celtics then? In the NHL, where men are men and hockey players, like honey badgers, just don’t give a snot, the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins played Games 6 and 7 of their first-round series on back-to-back nights in different cities. That may be a little much, but the point remains the same. There’s no need for such a long layoff.
So seriously, NBA decision-makers: Enough is enough. This is all the more ridiculous when you consider that there’s only one day off in between games during the rest of the series. Sure, Thunder fans are a little bit more OK with this in light of Serge Ibaka’s ankle injury, but still. In any case, the layoff got me thinking about what else can take place in the 91 1/2 hours between the start of Games 2 and 3 of this series. Read more…
ESPN.com 5-on-5 on where the Thunder-Grizzlies series is headed: “I don’t expect Zach Randolph to miss every field goal in three out of four quarters again, but Oklahoma City figured out how to be physical against the bully in the yard. Now it’s up to Memphis to figure out how to keep up with Kevin Durant and his immense scoring help.”
Deadspin has to put together a 16-man one-on-one tournament and KD is the third-seed: “My only caveat about including Durant is that a lot of what makes him such a force in the NBA — that rip-through-and-jump-shot combination, for instance, which seems to put him on the foul line six times a game by itself — would render him completely insufferable in our hypothetical one-on-one tournament. Dwyane Wade and Paul Pierce would call cheapies all game long; Durant would draw real ones. It’d be unwatchable.” Read more…
Serge Ibaka sat out today’s practice for the Thunder today, resting the ankle he sprain at the end of Game 2′s win over the Grizzlies. Scott Brooks said Ibaka is day-to-day and the team has officially listed him as “probable” for Saturday’s Game 3 in Memphis.
Ibaka bumped knees earlier in the game and missed the start of the second half, but there wasn’t any kind of lingering effect from that.
Obviously Ibaka’s health is absolutely vital to the Thunder’s chances. He’s leading the playoffs with 4.4 blocks per game. He’s averaging a double-double in the postseason with 10.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.
Ibaka said after Game 2 that he was fine and with the multiple days off that he should be good for Saturday’s game.
Adrian Peterson, the Sooner legend and current NFL superstar, recently compared his plight to that of the early-American slave. Slated to make $10.72 million if the 2011 season occurs, just about everyone who can complain about “A.D.’s” bold pronouncement has done so. The thing is, he might have had a point, even though he did a poor job of making one. If NBA owners get their way, basketball players will be next in line to talk about “modern day slavery.”
The hang up for most who gripe about Peterson’s lack of tact is that he will make more for one game than a vast majority of un-enslaved Americans hope to make in a lifetime. However, it was not the poor wages and fringe benefits that made the slaves slaves. Freedom, or more accurately, the lack thereof, was the foremost issue. By the system that is being negotiated currently, the NFL restricts the ability of their players to control their own destiny worse than any other sport. Read more…
