Why this video? Because I’m pretending that happened again tonight.
I guess it’s better than nothing. The Lakers beat the Thunder 103-97 on opening night of the NBA season which of course, didn’t actually happen.
Computer simulation Strat-O-Matic, which is a producer of stats-based sports games, plans to simulate every game during the lockout and did so Tuesday in conjunction with ESPN.com. John Hollinger “coached” the Thunder.
Oklahoma City, who opened on the road in Los Angeles in a make-believe world, fell to the Lakers behind 22 virtual points and eight fake assists from Kobe. Kevin Durant finished with 36 pretend points, Russell Westbrook had 19, but no other Thunderer scored more than eight. Serge Ibaka did have four make-believe blocks though.
The Thunder led at the half 46-45 but the Lakers started the third quarter on a 9-0 run. But Oklahoma City came charging bac— ah, who am I kidding. This sucks.
Kendrick Perkins has been quite the mystery during the offseason. In between bar fights and dehydration, nobody really has a good idea what Perk’s been up to or how he’s coming along in his effort to lose weight and get back to 100 percent.
Well, according to this four and a half minute video of him working out, I’d say he’s looking pretty fit and trim.
Perk talked about losing some 30 pounds after the season ended and admitted he was only around 60 percent when he was in Oklahoma City. I’ve tried to pass along that the Perk Thunder fans saw wasn’t what a healthy Perk looks like. He was recovering from a fairly devastating knee injury and finally looks to be getting his legs back under him.
I mean, he could barely dunk last season. And in that video, he throws down with ease. Read more…
Two economists for Grantland: “Does the players’ line in the sand over 2.5 percent of BRI make economic sense? No, not if they miss many games to achieve it. Is the owners’ offer fair? Not really. Should the players take it? Yes. Will the owners give in and up the ante? Very unlikely. Will the players be rational and take what is on the plate? We can only hope so.”
Chad Ford and Marc Stein using the amnesty clause for each team: “Robinson is the only Thunder player that you could even conceive of them ushering through the amnesty exit door. But then you remember who we’re talking about here. OKC paying someone not to play? Laughable. Based on our latest info, Team Presti prefers to keep Robinson’s $4.5 million expiring contract around for potential trades. Otherwise? The Thunder’s next bad contract will be their first.” Read more…
How did Kevin Durant, two-time scoring champ, NBA All-Star and global superstar in general choose to spend his Halloween? On campus at Oklahoma State playing some flag football.
Seriously. File another story under “KD is just about the coolest dude ever.” I think he’s just showing off now.
Early Monday, KD tweeted he was one bored basketballer and was in the mood for some flag football. “This lockout is really boring..anybody playing flag football in Okc..I need to run around or something!”
An OSU student, George Overbey, tweeted him back saying his team played at 10 p.m. KD responded, “Can I play?” (which is hilarious to me). He told KD to bring his “A” game. And here’s the crazy part: KD actually showed up. I would say I can’t believe it, but I totally can. Read more…
vs. 
