From 7:26 to 4:13 of the fourth quarter last night against Houston, the Thunder scored on seven straight trips. Nine if you include offensive rebounds. Ten if you include a steal by Durant that led to a free throw.
All 10 of those possessions had a common denominator: James Harden was running point guard.
From 2:30 to the finish, the Thunder scored on only two of their final seven possessions. James Harden was not running point guard then.
Now, it’s important to note that the defense really is to blame more than anything else. When you’re up 11 with two minutes left, you should have enough points to win a game, assuming you make free throws. And the point of this isn’t to point a finger at Russell Westbrook, who hadn’t turned the ball over once the first 46 minutes of the game and was mostly putting in another stellar performance, but more to look at Harden running point. Read more…
Last night, Russell Westbrook picked up a bad technical late in the game against Houston and the Thunder lost by a point.
It was really just an awful series of events for OKC’s All-Star point guard. He lost his cool with Goran Dragic, turned it over twice and missed a free throw. And again, the Thunder lost by a point, blowing an 11-point lead.
But Westbrook compounded things by not addressing the technical foul or the incident with Dragic. He just straight up ignored the question, eventually walking out while someone else asked it again. Not a fan of this act. I mentioned it in last night’s recap, but I also wrote a long thing about it at CBSSports.com. Allow me to blockquote myself: Read more…
So the Thunder blew their 14-game home winning streak to the Cavs. That’s the blemish on an otherwise quality week for Oklahoma City. It was the type of game that was probably a long-time coming for the Thunder. Because when you win at home like that so often and more times than not, so easily, you take for granted how difficult it is to beat an NBA team.
Kevin Durant called it a learning experience, which is something we knew he’d say, but that’s exactly what it is. Every now and then you need that slap across the face to tell you that if you’re not ready to play, even at home, you’ll lose. The Thunder played a bad game, didn’t execute at all the last five minutes and got beat. You lose, you learn and you move on to the next one.
Trade James Harden and Serge Ibaka to have Dwight Howard for two months and the playoffs. And then realize this: The Thunder giving up any player, much less Harden and Ibaka to rent Howard pretty much goes against the entire organization’s philosophy. Everything Sam Presti has done has been centered around the idea of long-term, sustained success. It’s been a plan of bringing in players that can grow, learn, mature and evolve together into a team that will be successful for the next 10 years. Read more…
At 31-8, the Thunder own the West’s best record by 4.5 games over San Antonio and lead the Northwest Division by 9.5. Not to count any chickens or anything, but the chances are high that Oklahoma City finishes the season as the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed.
There are still 27 games yet to be played and things can certainly change, but I think we can safely assume the Thunder will be in the 2012 playoffs, which means it’s not too early to start wondering about matchups. The Western playoff picture is still cloudy, but there’s a solid sense of who the eight participants will be. And the question is, of whom shall the Thunder fear? Here’s a breakdown.
(Of note: I consider this to be on a Fear Factor scale of Charlotte to Miami — one being the Bobcats and 10 being the Heat.) Read more…
Early in Mark Cuban’s appearance on the B.S. Report with Bill Simmons, Cuban briefly makes a point about the lockout talks that I hadn’t heard as pointedly before, or from such an involved and intelligent source. The Mavericks owner said the cost in “hours” outweighed the league’s gains in the f0rm concessions made by the players. But he wasn’t talking in metaphorical terms, hours of the day or hours of fruitless negotiating. Cuban was speaking of billable hours.
Staggering increases in recent decades of billable hours charged by attorneys have changed the face of litigation. In a lawsuit, the charges for discovery (when sides show each other the evidence they have) alone skyrockets. Elite-level litigators make millions each year just on gathering and analyzing information given to them my elite-level litigators representing the opposing party in mega-lawsuits and mega-negotiations like the NBA lockout mess.
Both sides clearly spent millions on attorneys alone, not counting economists and consultants. These are the types of guys who get paid $1,000 an hour to sit in first class or private jet, paid for by the client, on their way to meetings. So the NBA spent $2 to win $1, and the players paid $2 to lose $1, and so on. The swelling of legal bills has finally forced the market to create alternatives in the form of new firms that charge clients a set fee, splitting the difference with the client if they finish early and eating it if they don’t. Read more…
There’s sort of a complex in being good. All the wins are wonderful, the success is beautiful, but the added stress and anxiety is a foreign feeling. The past two seasons, it was all about steps forward. This season? Forget that. It’s about winning. The team is too good, the players have evolved and the path has been cleared out for the Thunder to make a strong run at an NBA Championship.
But along with that comes the stress and anxiety. An interesting thing happens when your team moves to a record like 29-8. Each loss becomes a pretty painful experience. Each time the Thunder lose, everyone’s forced to start running an autopsy on that game to find where the Thunder’s fatal flaws are. What went wrong? Could it happen again? Is this the sign of something worse? Are the Thunder doomed? Have they been exposed as frauds?
In reality, it’s just a loss and you’ll forget about it as soon as they win their next game. That said, I fully expect the Thunder to win out and if they don’t, I’ll be horribly disappointed.
So, it was a pretty good first half for the Thunder. Rewind your brain to Christmas Day where we were all looking at the schedule and saying things like, “A 6-4 start would be pretty good” and look at the first half of the season for Oklahoma City.
27-7. Best record in the West. Tied for the best record in the league. Nine games up on Portland in the Northwest. The best point differential in the West. And a clear favorite to represent the Western Conference in The Finals.
Yeah, I’d say the first half of the season has gone alright. But that’s the thing: It’s only halfway finished. There’s a whole other 33-game schedule waiting on OKC to play. There will be frustrating nights like losses to the Kings and Wizards. And there will be big, dramatic wins like over the Nuggets and Mavericks. It’s all about staying consistent. Not getting too high, or too low. Keeping your eyes on the prize and pushing toward that top seed and homecourt throughout the Western playoffs.
The NBA season is kind of a three-part process. First half, second half, playoffs. The Thunder are done with a third of it. Now it’s on to step two. Think about step three when it gets here.
So with half the season to go, the Thunder still have an open roster spot. Will Sam Presti use it?
Well … probably not. Grabbing a guy just to grab a guy isn’t exactly a very Presti move — although it’s worth pointing out that Presti signed Robert Vaden to an NBA contract very late last season, for no apparent reason other than to have an extra hard-working body at practice during the playoffs. Vaden looked sharp in his suit at the end of the bench though and probably had a lot of fun being with the team for a few weeks. He was last seen playing basketball in Slovakia, according to Wikipedia.
And if the Thunder do end up using the roster spot, it will probably be because of a trade of some kind. That’s definitely more Presti’s style. So perusing a list of available free agents is probably a waste of time. Read more…
ORLANDO — The 2012 All-Star Weekend got Thunderstruck.
OK, you can punch me in the face for that one later. But it was pretty clear when Pitbull’s smoke machines settled Sunday night — the Thunder kind of sort of owned the NBA’s showcase event.
First, Kevin Durant took home the grand prize, the All-Star Game MVP trophy with a 36-point performance leading the West to a win. Second, he came in second in the 3-point contest, surprising even Scott Brooks on his performance.
Third, Russell Westbrook was completely spectacular Sunday night, flushing six dunks, each one better than the last. At halftime of the game Sunday, Durant had 21 points and Westbrook 17, which led all scorers. It was almost just like a typical Wednesday night at The Peake. KD was scoring with ease with Westbrook running alongside him. Read more…
ORLANDO — All-Star Friday is essentially one big mess. The players all pour in for a 30-minute availability and hundreds of reporters jockey for position and their time to ask a question. And then there’s the wacky foreign media that are either asking wild questions or trying to get the player to say how they’re watching some foreign TV station.
Two Thunderers plus Scott Brooks took part in the circus and here are a few notes: Read more…
The dudes at ESPN Los Angeles’s Land O’Lakers are super good dudes so we swapped a set of five questions and here are their responses. You can check mine at their place.
1. I think most would agree the West is chasing OKC. Do you think the Lakers as they’re presented now could beat OKC in a seven-game series?
Logically, no. The Thunder look better on paper and have cobbled together a notably stronger season. Like many, I predicted they’d win the west. However, L.A. has owned OKC over the last few seasons. Counting their 2010 playoff series, the Lakers are 9-4 against the Thunder over the previous two seasons, which perhaps speaks to an inherently good matchup. Similar to how the Bobcats were an inexplicable riddle for the Lakers.
Still, it does feel like something’s about to give. Read more…
Thunder fan Brad Rogers is frustrated with the criticism being lobbed constantly at the Thunder. So he emailed this in.
It’s pretty obvious that if you’re not from the state of Oklahoma or one of it’s neighboring states (excluding Texas of course) you like to point out the so-called “flaws” of the young squad. No matter the margin of victory or how it’s won, the critics always make their voices heard. Whether it’s Charles Barkley saying OKC’s half-court offense is “turrible” or hometown hater Skip Bayless’ questionable hatred for Russy (really Skip? Russell taking one more shot than KD makes THAT big of a difference?) There is always someone saying some THING is the reason why the Thunder will not win an NBA championship this year.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they are a shoe-in (turnovers continue to make me cringe), but I’m also not counting them out for the same reason the “experts” are either. The reality is that this team is unlike any the NBA has ever seen…and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Read more…
The Thunder reach the halfway point of the 66-game season this week, heading into the All-Star break with 32 games to go once the Lakers leave town on Thursday. It’s incredible how fast this season is going.
So with half the games already in the rear view mirror, it’s time to hand out some midseason awards and take stock of things in Oklahoma City. Read more…
You know how your team is having a good season? When losses like the one to Houston or the one at Sacramento really stick out to you. Teams lose, it happens. Nobody goes 82-0 (or 66-0). You can’t show up every single night ready to play and win.
But those two games are certainly ones we can agree that the Thunder should’ve won. Like in Houston, OKC missed its final nine shots, with Durant and Westbrook coming up empty on looks they’ve hit all season. Or in Sacramento where the Thunder just gave a game away, literally, by turning it over. Take those away and it’s an eight-game winning streak with three more at home this week.
But they lost them and those games revealed some flaws.
