Jemele Hill of ESPN.com: “Westbrook’s development is obviously key because it impacts the Thunder’s quest for an NBA title this season. But given how erratic he’s been, it’s opened up a larger discussion about whether Westbrook is the best long-term fit for Durant. Of course, Durant is far too classy to voice any concerns about Westbrook to the media, but Durant had a heated exchange with Westbrook in the huddle during a timeout in the first half of Game 4. Also of note was Durant after shutting down the Nuggets with a terrific Game 5 performance: He beat his chest and used a colorful adjective to shout to the masses that the Thunder were his team. A message perhaps?”
Ticket scalpers got busted before Game 2 writes Michael Kimball of NewsOK.com: “Members of the Oklahoma City police vice squad made the arrests before the game, which ended in a Thunder victory that tied their Western Conference semifinal series with the Grizzlies at one game apiece. Some undercover officers posed as buyers, and other arrests were made when the officers observed sales taking place, Knight said. The price Tuesday of scalped tickets sold by the arrested men varied, but some were being sold at more than $200 over face value, Knight said. He wouldn’t say how often officers enforce the scalping ordinance at Thunder games, but said there is a police presence at every game. There is no state law against scalping tickets in Oklahoma, but Oklahoma City has an ordinance that makes it illegal to sell tickets for more than a 50 cent profit, Knight said.” Read more…
Other
Via Darnell Mayberry of NewsOK.com, Scott Brooks spoke out earlier today about all the negative critiquing and criticizing going on with Russell Westbrook lately. Basically, Brooks summed up what I’ve wasted about 3,000 words on the past couple weeks in just a couple paragraphs.
With Russell, we analyze every possession. I do that myself when we break down the films. But it seems like everybody’s breaking down the film. They’re like in my meetings or in my head. It’s not fair to him. It’s really not fair to him. He’s developed into an All-Star in three years. Not a lot of guys you can say that played the 2-guard spot in college and only for two years and can come in and lead a team that had a bad record three years ago and become an All-Star and make the playoffs twice.
He gets criticized for every bad game. He’s not the only player that has a bad game. He’s not going to be the only player in the future that has bad games. But the only thing I can say about that is Russell knows what he needs to do. And we talk to him and he’s coachable and he wants to get better. He controls his improvement, and he has done that. He doesn’t listen to the critics because you can’t. You have to be hard on yourself and he is. And I’m hard on him. And we have an understanding that we only get better when he continues to improve and he has improved for three straight years. And that’s all I ask for.
[...]
He tries, he cares, he wants to get better and those are the issues I look at with Russell. He’s not a traditional point guard but who is now? I mean, Derrick Rose is the MVP of the league and he leads their team in scoring. He takes the most shots. He’s good. That’s how they play and that’s how they win, but that’s point guards now. Point guards are like that now.
Commentary
Doug Pensinger/NBAE/Getty Images
There has been a whole lot of talk about the Thunder recently and it hasn’t been about how strangely good Cole Aldrich looks in a suit. It’s largely been about the man that runs the show, Russell Westbrook. He bounced back in a good way Tuesday night, putting up 24 points and six assists.
The big criticism stemming from most has been how Westbrook dominates the ball. His usage numbers are up in the postseason and the thing people point at is how he’s taking more shots than Kevin Durant. In Oklahoma City’s seven playoff games, Westbrook has taken 144 shots to KD’s 143. Westbrook has taken more shots in five of OKC’s seven games.
(However, do consider this: Westbrook has had 50 free throw attempts to Durant’s 78. Of course when you’re fouled on a shot, it doesn’t count as an attempt. So while those attempt numbers do say something they don’t say everything.) Read more…
Commentary
Bill Simmons wrote about the playoffs yesterday and had this to say about Serge Ibaka: “For Serge Ibaka, the 24th pick of the 2008 draft who’s suddenly lurking as … A. The third-best player on a potential title team. B. The answer to the trivia question, “Just out of curiosity, what would it be like if Bill Russell fathered a kid in the Congo who didn’t play basketball until he was 16, then came over to the States at age 19 and learned basketball and the English language on the fly, and also, we gave him a 15-footer?” C. The league’s single most frightening/intimidating/menacing athlete if the crowd is charged up and you need someone to cover two-thirds of a basketball court in three seconds and block someone’s layup from 10 feet behind him.”
Zach Lowe of SI on Russell Westbrook’s turnovers: “The Grizzlies know Westbrook is going to get into the middle of the paint against Mike Conley, and they are OK with that. They appear to have even planned for that. Over and over, you see Westbrook drive into the paint, only to have at least one help defender (and more often two) meet him somewhere between the foul line and the dotted line at the bottom of the semicircle. The goal is clearly to have Westbrook pick up his dribble there and force him into a split-second decision — preferably one he has to make while he’s in the air. That slice of space is far enough from the rim that any shot is going to be a difficult floater instead of a layup; if he gets much deeper than that, the Grizzlies understand they are in trouble.” Read more…
Bolts
Ronald Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images
BOX SCORE
Who those guys were Sunday, I have no idea. Because the team that showed up in white tonight was pretty much the exact opposite. In the day off, Scott Brooks did some coaching and the team did some soul searching. Backs to it Tuesday night, they were ready. Really ready.
It’s simple: Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol were complete non-factors. Combined, they went just 5-22 for 28 points. Kevin Durant had 25 points, Russell Westbrook was solid, James Harden and Eric Maynor combined for 36 off the bench. But the guys that won this game for Oklahoma City were Nick Collison, Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins.
Reason being, it was a completely revamped attack on Randolph. It was obvious on Memphis’s opening possession as Randolph caught the ball on the block and went into his jab-step, pump-fake arsenal, but Ibaka was right up on Randolph. No room to breathe. No room to shoot over the top. The Thunder played Randolph entirely more physical and took him out of the positions he likes to score. This was what we expected in Game 1. This is what we expected from the Thunder’s new and improved front line. The interior was locked down. That’s the way the Thunder are supposed to play. Read more…
Commentary
vs. 
Memphis Grizzlies (5-2, 2-2 road) vs. OKC Thunder (4-2, 3-1 home)
TV: TNT (Cox 31, HD 730);
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:30 CT
Series: Grizzlies lead 1-0
View from the enemy: 3 Shades of Blue
I hate calling games a “must-win” when in reality, they aren’t must-win at all. I mean, the Thunder aren’t eliminated if they lose Tuesday.
But really, they might as well be. Lose Tuesday at home again to the Grizzlies and winning this series is near impossible. It’s not the end of the world to drop Game 1 and give away homecourt advantage. Teams survive that sort of thing. The Lakers did this season against the Hornets. Though with the way the Grizzlies seemed to dominate, Thunder fans have to be a bit anxious. Read more…
Preview
Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images
Seeing Chicago and the Lakers lose their first games at home had to make you feel at least a little better, didn’t it? No way the Bulls, Lakers and Thunder ALL lose their second-round series, right?
But it seems likely that at least one of the three will go down. Let’s just hope the Thunder isn’t that team.
In the first round, only the Lakers won their series after losing the first game at home while the Spurs and Magic couldn’t recover. That’s not a great recent sign for Oklahoma City, especially because it was Memphis that did in San Antonio. But it shows, as if you didn’t know already, that an opening loss at home is not necessarily a death knell.
If the Thunder has shown us anything this year, it’s that the team is resilient. The few back-to-back losses on the year provide some evidence, as does the stellar record in close games, the ability to go on a tear following a trade that sent away a popular teammate, late-season road wins in Miami and Los Angeles and particularly the Game 5 comeback. With the proper mindset, the Game 1 loss in this series could simply be viewed as an opportunity to rise (together … couldn’t help myself) to another challenge. Read more…
Commentary
Memphis Grizzlies, Playoffs
Ronald Tillery of the Commercial Appeal writes that Memphis has other options other than Z-Bo: “The Griz spent the second half of the regular season proving they are hardly a one-hit wonder. And their Plan B when the opponent crowds Randolph has been increasingly effective in the playoffs. Just ask the San Antonio Spurs, who sent two and three players at Randolph only to get stung by the Grizzlies’ other weapons in the first round. Memphis is confident it can also punish Oklahoma City for double-teaming because Randolph is a willing passer and his supporting cast is conditioned to attack.”
Berry Tramel on if Game 2 is must-win: “But how about teams that go up 2-0 by winning twice on the road? That gives a team a 2-0 lead with three home games left, if needed. Seems like that would be an even more sure shot for the team in front. Not so. In NBA history, 14 teams have won on the road the first two games of a seven-game series. Eleven have gone on to win the series. That’s a 78.6 percent rate.” Read more…
Recap
Ron Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images
So the Thunder lost Game 1. As a result, everyone promptly freaked. More silly discussions about Russell Westbrook, people wondering if the series is over and on and on.
It happens. When you lose a game in the playoffs, especially Game 1 at home, it happens. Everything is maginified and amplified in the postseason. Questionable shots become horrible shots, forced passes become disastrous turnovers and small critiques and questions become massive doubts and overreactions.
Again, it happens. One loss puts you closer to four, which means you’re out. The playoffs present scary, tense moments. And this fanbase is largely unfamiliar with all this. Thunder fans have only had one previous playoff venture and that one was all gravy. Didn’t matter if OKC was swept, it was party and everyone was happy. This trip is different.
The Thunder did three very important things badly yesterday: They didn’t protect the paint, they didn’t rebound and they didn’t take care of the ball. Adding a fourth, they didn’t take the ball either. Read more…
Commentary
A pretty amazing story about the special unit that found and killed Osama bin Laden: “After bursts of fire over 40 minutes, 22 people were killed or captured. One of the dead was Osama bin Laden, done in by a double tap — boom, boom — to the left side of his face. His body was aboard the choppers that made the trip back.” U-S-A, U-S-A, amirite?
Terrific piece by Ben Golliver of CBSSports.com on how turnovers were a problem for the Thunder, but not how you think: “Bigger than Westbrook’s struggles with his ball-handling in Game 1 was the fact that the Grizzlies did an excellent job of taking care of the ball. As a team, Memphis turned the ball over just eight times, giving them a +10 differential against the Thunder in Game 1. That’s an excellent recipe for success: Memphis was 10-1 during the regular season when they committed fewer than 10 turnovers. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City was 5-9 in games in which they didn’t force at least 10 turnovers.” Read more…
Bolts
Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images
BOX SCORE
A one-game elimination tournament, the NBA playoffs are not.
But boy, that did not go well.
One team looked like the superior group and it wasn’t the one in the home whites. The Grizzlies walked into Oklahoma City and basically just took it to the Thunder in every way. They led early, and they led throughout. They led by as many as 17 and finished it off with a 114-101 win in OKC, snatching homecourt advantage.
The three things I couldn’t stop thinking about the last 48 hours really hurt the Thunder in this one: turnovers, rebounding and Zach Randolph. The Thunder turned it over 18 times, the Grizzlies rebounded 17 of their 45 misses and Randolph finished with 34 and 10. Three strikes and the Thunder’s out.
The first half was fairly miserable, but one of those where it felt like the Thunder could seize an opportunity by just being down 10 going to the break. And they roared out in the second half cutting the Grizzlies’ lead to just three twice. It really had the feel that the Thunder were going to right the wrongs and issues from the first 24 minutes and assert themselves for a good second half battle. But one play really summed it up. After the Thunder got a big stop, Serge Ibaka turned and wildly threw the ball to Russell Westbrook. Memphis picked it off, scored on the next possession and just like that, momentum zapped once again. Despite all the effort and energy out of the gates to start the third, Memphis actually extended its lead to 13 heading into the fourth. Read more…
Recap
vs. 
Memphis Grizzlies (4-2, 1-2 road) vs. OKC Thunder (4-1, 3-0 home)
TV: ABC (Cox 8, HD 705);
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 12:00 CT
Series: Tied 0-0
View from the enemy: 3 Shades of Blue
(As you know, downtown Oklahoma City is going to be crazy with the Memorial Marathon today and the game. So be thinking about that if you’re going.)
Game 1 is pretty important for about a billion reasons, but also because the Thunder should have a big edge. The Grizzlies are only two days removed from their emotional win over the Spurs and with a noon start, may not be completely over it.
Then again, with the marathon, the early start in OKC and the rain (and thunder!) in town today, I’m worried the fans and team might be a bit sluggish as well. I’m playing mindgames with myself here. I’m nervous, OK?
Tip at 12:00 CT: Go Semifinals.
Preview
