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It’s the sports fan’s mirage. The oasis in the desert. You’re upper level, looking down on the action just wondering, “What would this game look like from down there?”

If you do make the decision to move down, prepare yourself for an evening filled with anxiety. For some reason it’s mildly terrifying sitting in seats that are not your own. Every single person that comes walking toward your section looks like they’re The One. You can’t really enjoy the game because you’re constantly scanning for the seat’s rightful owners. In reality, it’s no big deal. It’s not like you’re in their shower. You’re just sitting in a seat at a game. But it feels like you’re doing something horrible.

And when it finally happens and someone comes up and does the whole pull-their-ticket-out-and-look-confused thing, you have to play it off like you didn’t know. Oh, look at this. This is section 103. I thought it was 303!

We’ve all moved down at some point in our lives. Or at least thought about it. That’s me. Any game I show up to and am sitting upper level, I always say, “Oh, we’ll just move down.” And I never do. Except one time. But it didn’t go so well. Here’s what happened. Read more…

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Kevin Durant did an interview with Complex Magazine and in it, was asked about his comments on Chris Bosh. You know, where he called him a “fake tough guy.” Here’s what Durant had to say:

You know, I let it get to me a little bit. I’m not the type of person that lets stuff like that get to me. Maybe I shouldn’t have said it, but it is what it is. It’s over, I gotta live with it, it’s something I can’t change. So I stand behind it. Don’t get it confused, I respect him as a player and everything like that, but I’m just standing up for myself and my team.

I think that’s absolutely the right approach. As someone standing there when he said it, it was very obvious at the time that KD was frustrated with the loss. He was a bit more emotional than usual. We’re talking about a guy that HATES to lose, and his team just dropped a really big game on national TV at home. He was bummed.

And that Chris Bosh incident was fresh on his mind. I think KD is acknowledging that maybe he let his emotions get the best of him with his comments, but he’s not pulling a LeBron and backing off. He’s not saying he didn’t know what “fake tough guy” meant. He’s standing behind what he said while also understanding he may have been a bit rash in saying it.

I think that shows off KD’s maturation a lot. Remember, the dude’s only 22 years old. He’s still totally a kid. But the best part about him, is that he really never acts that way.

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Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images

With this season’s edition of the Thunder, we all can’t stop talking about one thing. It’s the one thing that keeps us all from feeling like this team is truly a contender.

Deee-fense. Clap clap.

It’s been mediocre all season and downright awful in stretches. With what the team did last season defensively, watching them give up 60 points in a half, allow 46 percent shooting nightly and nearly 40 percent from 3, it’s easy to be frustrated. Something is missing defensively. Whether it’s Ron Adams or just an overall commitment to that end by the players, there’s been a big step taken backward.

But the same thing keeps getting repeated. Despite that, the team is 33-17. The team is still first in the Northwest and fourth in the West. The team is winning. It’s almost like nobody understands how. Without great defense, how are these guys doing it? IT MAKES NO SENSE.

Offense. Scary excellent offense.

Consider this: Since Dec. 1, the Thunder have the league’s best offense in terms of efficiency. Overall, the Thunder’s scoring 110.8 points per 100 possessions, good for fifth overall in the league. If you want a traditional measure, Oklahoma City is averaging 104.6 points per game, also fifth in the league. Read more…

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A lot was made of Kevin Durant’s seemingly slow start where he still led the NBA in scoring, but his percentages were a little lower than the ridiculous numbers we’re accustomed to seeing. I tried to make the point that his start to this season was very similar to last season’s first month and that there’s no reason to fret.

And really, if you look back to last year where KD was absolutely amazing, you’ll notice he’s on a pretty similar path this season.

I remember Durant saying during the first HORSE competition he won in 2009 after heating up late that he’s a slow cooker. Judging by the numbers, that’s true in real basketball too. Read more…

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(Click here to embiggen)

Please note: the comparisons were generated using stats through Friday’s games. I don’t think they would have changed much over the weekend, but keep it in mind.

In my last article, I used statistical similarities to look at how this season’s Thunder and other NBA teams compared to past NBA teams, and used those comparisons to look at how the 2011 teams may fair in the second half and playoffs. A lot has changed in the NBA since I posted that article, with the Thunder going on a bit of a hot streak before cooling off recently, so I wanted to take a renewed look at the comparisons, using network diagrams to help illustrate my points. Read more…

Commentary ThunderNumbers

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He’s expecting it. He hears it every arena he walks in, except the one he calls home. But when he comes to Oklahoma City, I say we do something different.

Don’t boo LeBron James.

Not because we’re trying to be classy or show just how wonderful we are as people. But because there’s really no reason to. You may think LeBron is an evil, villainous person that eats babies and kills puppies, but all this animosity that’s built up with him has kind of gotten ridiculous.

Following LeBron’s decision, every player in the league was asked what they thought about it. Kevin Durant was one of them. And KD said, “A lot of people really don’t get to see what kind of person he is. He was trying to look out for himself, his family and trying to make the right decision for his family. You can’t blame a man for that, no matter what you do, (whether it’s) playing basketball or being a teacher. People with different professions leave their jobs all the time for better places. So you can’t judge him for what he did. He’s just looking out for himself.”

Durant was one of the few players that never questioned what LeBron did and never said something negative about it. So I think Thunder fans should fall in step behind their leader. Leave LeBron alone when he comes to Oklahoma City Sunday. Read more…

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Sorry, Minnesota Timberwolves and Washington Wizards. I know the Thunder plays you this week, but I couldn’t care less. It’s Heat Week.

Oh, sure, I’ll be watching the T-Wolves game and attending the Wizards game, just like always. I want the Thunder to win both, and it will be embarrassing if they drop either. But ultimately, as I’m sure many Thunder fans would agree, I’m focused on the Miami game at noon Sunday.

All of the “Thunder is the anti-Heat” talk was so abundant and repetitive last summer that I got tired of hearing it before the season even started. But that doesn’t mean there’s not at least a hint of truth to it, and it doesn’t mean that I don’t crave a home win over any team more than I want one over the Heat (with the possible, and I do mean possible, exception of the Lakers). It’s been circled on my calendar since the day the schedule came out. It’s on ABC. The arena will be rocking unlike any other regular season game since the team arrived in Oklahoma City. In short, this may be the most anticipated regular season game in OKC’s brief NBA history.

It is a battle of contender-building methods. There’s no hope of assembling a Heat-like collection of free-agent talent in Oklahoma City. Sorry, but it’s going to be hard to sign anybody other than a middling free agent if another team in a more desirable city is able to dangle similar dollars. I’m not saying any free agent who regards central Oklahoma with disdain would be right in doing so, but it’s reality. The only way OKC is going to be successful someday after the Kevin Durant era ends (hopefully in another 15 years…) is through more luck in the draft and resourceful front office moves. There will never be an easy-bake juggernaut here like the one assembled in Miami. So it’s easy to think 0f this as a one-game test of whether the Oklahoma City strategy is a big-time winning one, especially if you’re viewing it with blue-tinted glasses. And it will be easy to think that of all the other Thunder-Heat games in the coming seasons. Read more…

Commentary Miami Heat

You might have noticed in the game against the Knicks on Saturday that the Thunder were playing from behind most of the game and really only pushed through at the end of the game with some alternate lineups. Quite a few teams in the NBA feel that their Starters are their best players (or at least the best mix of players) and so while they eventually have to sub them out for rest during games, they usually come back to them in crunch time. Not so with the Thunder as evidenced by the Knicks game and many others. Royce made note of it in his post game wrap: 

Scott Brooks talked after the game about adjustments and probably the biggest and most important one he made was going with one of the Thunder’s best lineups down the home stretch. He had Westbrook, Harden, Durant, Ibaka and Collison on the floor to defend New York’s pick-and-roll game. It worked well, forcing the Knicks into long jumpers and also meant that the Thunder crushed the glass.

True words. That particular lineup has long been one of my favorites going back to last season, but the question in my mind is if it is so effective (and it is as I will show) why aren’t we seeing more of it? Read more…

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BOX SCORE

With about two minutes left, the confetti person accidentally jumped the gun. With the Thunder trailing, blue and orange paper came down from the rafters and play was held up as the floor was cleared. Everybody was thinking the same thing: Nice jinx confetti guy.

Instead, it was just foreshadowing. He had it right all along.

Of course he got some help from Kevin Durant, who knocked down a fading 3-pointer as time expired. Thunder 101, New York 98. Celebrate good times, come on.

Durant said he went up behind Scott Brooks during the last timeout and tapped him on the shoulder. Despite being 10-24 before that which included missing a good amount of good, open looks, Durant wanted the ball. Brooks said Durant wanted to be the man, regardless of struggles “KD said, ‘Give me the ball.’ Not that I wasn’t going to give him the ball though.”

And KD got it. The play wasn’t perfect, but Durant got single coverage, moved to his right and used his ridiculous length to launch a jumper over Danilo Gallinari. There are just a few players that can knock that down and KD is one of them. Durant said it was a relief to see it go down. And something that can build confidence too. Read more…

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Stephen Dunn/Getty Images Sports

(Kyle Porter is the author of an excellent new Oklahoma State Cowboys blog called Pistols Firing. He’s taking over this installment of some random NBA Power Rankings. So have a read here and then skip on over to Pistols Firing if you’re orange inclined. You can follow him on Twitter at @pistolsguy.)

I won’t be breaking down Evan Turner’s PER vs. the Western Conference, but rather dropping a sampling of what’s hot in the basketball world today. Here we go:

1. UCLA – This year has been a coming out party for Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook. Throw in the fact that Jrue Holliday and Darren Collison are having a coming out social get-together and UCLA is leaving quite the mark on this 2010-2011 NBA season. By the way is it just me or does it seem like Kevin Love is posting a 28-18 every other night? Seriously, every time I log on to check NBA scores it seems like he’s putting up high double figures in each category.

If you had “Kevin Love, NBA rebounding champ” at 15-1 odds before the season started I’m standing up and applauding you. Also, while we’re here, how good was the 2007-2008 UCLA team that had Love, Westbrok and Collison? That team wins a three on three tournament against any other trio of current NBA guys who played on the same team in college, right? Read more…

Commentary Power Rankings

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We’re half way through this season. Seems like it was September just a few months ago, doesn’t it? Well, I guess that’s true. But you get the point.

And you know what halfway through means. It means the Thunder’s played 41 games. It also means it’s time to do one of those cliche review the season posts.

But after 41, I think we’d all agree that we’re happy with the Thunder’s 27-14 record. Right now it has OKC sitting third in the West, meaning the Thunder would have home court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. In fact, it would mean if the Thunder advanced, it’s possible they’d have home court in the SECOND round too.

If the season ended right this second, OKC would be taking on the Hornets in the opening round of the playoffs. That’d be fun, right? I think our dislike for Chris Paul might reach atmospheric heights if the Thunder played the Hornets in a seven-game series. I might have to go to counseling.

FIRST HALF MVP

I maintain that Kevin Durant still is the MVP of this team. He’s the leader. He’s The Man. But I think it’s also clear that the Thunder wouldn’t be 27-14 without the outstanding play of Russell Westbrook. Not to say KD has been bad or even not excellent, but Westbrook has played big in so many big ways.

Durant is still the team’s best player and I think when the season comes to a close he’ll be in the top three in the MVP voting, but to this point, Westbrook has been the Thunder’s MVP. Over the past months, it’s been Durant. But Westbrook is what got OKC through November and some of December with its head above water. Read more…

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This week’s issue of Sports Illustrated has a rather interesting excerpt on home court/home field advantage from the soon-to-be-released book “Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won,” by Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim.

The authors take a numbers-based look at what actually creates the advantage at home across most of the major sports worldwide at the professional and, sometimes, the collegiate level. The findings are interesting not only because of the apparent limited scope of home field/court advantage, but also because of the astounding level of consistency that teams in a particular sport enjoy the benefits of home.

First of all, the authors’ study found what everyone already knows: The home team has an advantage. But how much of an advantage the home team has varies by the sport itself more than any other factor. For example, the authors’ numbers indicate that home field advantage is the most significant in soccer. The win percentage of home teams in three of the most popular leagues in Europe, including the English Premier League, is about 65 percent. And in 40 other leagues in 24 other countries, it’s about 63 percent. Amazing. And NFL teams (57.6 percent) win at about the same rate at home as Arena Football League teams (56 percent) and college football teams (57 percent) — at least when only conference games are considered in college to account for the propensity by power teams to schedule weaklings in the non-conference schedule. Read more…

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Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images

Most people have been disappointed with the selection of Aldrich to this point as they still call for that elusive “big man” to come swooping in and save the Thunder from their 26-13 record and first place spot in the Northwest Division. But the Aldrich pick was and remains about the future. Like everything else in Oklahoma City, it’s about developing talent.

So instead of sitting on the end of the bench, Sam Presti has utilized his options. Aldrich has spent the past few weeks in Tulsa developing his game with the Thunder’s D-League affiliate 66ers.

Wednesday, the 66ers were on NBATV as part of the D-League Showcase and Aldrich has his best game as a professional at any level. He scored 19 points, grabbed five rebounds and blocked seven shots. He was a dominant post presence on both ends. And before you say, “Well this is the D-League,” yes that’s true, but Aldrich was playing against a guy many believe will be called up in the near future in Chris Johnson. Read more…

Commentary Cole Aldrich

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Today at Celtics Hub, Hayes Davenport determined that the Los Angeles Clippers are the “fattest” team in the NBA, using Body Mass Index. The Celtics with Big Baby Davis and Shaq, were surprisingly No. 2.

So naturally, I was curious where the Thunder ranked. And it’s somewhere right in the middle with an overall 25.05 BMI.

“Normal weight” is considered to be between 18.5-24.9. Overweight is from 25-29.9. Anything above that is obese, and anything below normal is underweight. As Davenport notes, “Many NBA players are in much better shape than these figures imply. LeBron’s BMI is over 27 and he’s doing okay, physically. So this is really more about “bulkiness” than fatness, or the relationship between height and weight. Also, height and weight listings on NBA rosters are a morass of deception and ignorance, so consider them with a pinch of salt.”

So really, this information is kind of worthless considering all the factors. But still, I think we all needed to know Oklahoma City’s fat rankings. Especially since Mayor Mick told us we were all going on a diet a couple years ago. Read more…

Commentary Very Important Statistical Analysis

(You’re welcome for the picture. –ed)

Is it just me, or does the Thunder have a habit of coasting through the first half or even the first three quarters and then play with purpose in the latter stages of the game?

Numbers-based evidence is inconclusive. Perhaps the best indicator would be how many of Oklahoma City’s 24 wins featured comebacks from a halftime deficit, and the answer is eight. Exactly a third. That doesn’t strike me as a particularly high or low percentage, though two of those comebacks have come in the last four Thunder wins, and six have come in the last 14.

A look at the halftime numbers in Oklahoma City’s 13 losses is similarly inconclusive. The Thunder has been trailing at the break in eight of them and was tied twice. OKC narrowed the gap between halftime and the final horn in only three of the 13 L’s.

But … it certainly feels like the Thunder plays completely differently in the second half, doesn’t it? Especially in recent weeks. That almost half of the last 14 wins were come-from-behind affairs probably helps.

The last two Thunder-Mavericks contests are good examples of why it feels like Oklahoma City has a Jekyll-Hide routine early and late. In both games, the Thunder spotted the Mavs a double-digit lead before half of the rich “too cool to get to the game on time” crowd found its seats. (This happened in the Memphis and San Antonio games too, to cite other recent examples.) Then the Thunder clawed back to take a lead.

But that also shows why, if the Thunder really is playing with an on/off switch, that doing so is living dangerously. In the first of those two games, a home loss, Oklahoma City couldn’t hang on. Jason Terry killed the Thunder down the stretch. On Thursday night, it worked fine. OKC locked down on the defensive end, moved ahead in the third quarter and never relinquished the lead. But, like with the first Mavs game, that doesn’t always happen. I doubt anyone would argue it’s a good idea to spot someone a big early lead.

So what kinds of ills could the Thunder be suffering from that would lead them to play like this? Read more…

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