BOX SCORE
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
See, this is exactly what I was afraid of.
For some reason, something didn’t feel right heading into this game. Maybe it was because the Thunder was coming off a cakewalk against Orlando. Maybe it’s because it was on the road. Or maybe it was because the Kings have been playing better. Whatever it was, it just didn’t feel like a lock. Really, at this point, nothing does for this team.
Regardless of playing a pretty poo poo game, Oklahoma City had a shot to tie it in the end, with a Kevin Durant 3 falling short as the Thunder (3-4) lost 101-98 to Sacramento (4-4). It looks like a bad loss and in some ways it is. The Thunder was outrebounded by 15. At one point missed nine straight shots and went seven-plus minutes without a bucket. Shot under 40 percent. Missed a couple key free throws. And Tyreke Evans banked in a lucky jumper that basically broke OKC’s back. One of those nights.
Sure, they’re better. That much is clear. But we can’t forget this is a group with an average age of 24 and these nights are going to happen. If you expected a team that was going to be focused 82 nights and never lose to teams it shouldn’t, well, then you were expecting too much. The Thunder are a good team. They really are. But they aren’t ready to hit it every single night and win everything they should. Just aren’t. Read more…
Recap
Sacramento Kings
BOX SCORE
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
I’m kind of sort of shell-shocked. A lot of times last year and even in a game this year, I had no idea what I watched. And I mean that in a bad way.
But tonight, I really don’t know what I just saw, in a great, grand, wonderful way. Holy smokes what a beatdown. Oklahoma City pounded the defending Eastern Conference champs 102-74 in front of a third sellout crowd at the Ford Center. And I’m not even sure it was that close.
I know what some are going to jump up and say. Harumph! The Magic only suited eight players and were shorthanded! Harumph! If you want to use that as an excuse, fine by me. All I know is that the Thunder absolutely smacked one of the league’s best teams with one of the most dominating players in the league. So excuses or not, the scoreboard cares not.
It’s funny, because I couldn’t have been more wrong about this game. I thought the Magic had a major matchup advantage coming in. But I guess I had Dwight Howard’s triple-double emblazoned in my brain from last year in a game the Magic beat OKC just as a bad. But this was worse. I thought the Magic would torch the Thunder from the outside. Nope. Orlando went just 3-16 from 3 and shot 36 percent overall. I thought Howard would have his way in the post. Wrong again. Superman had just 20 points and seven boards, but he wasn’t as good as the numbers seem. OKC frustrated Howard in every way on the post. And I had just a bad feeling in general. Well, that appears to have been incorrect as well. I like being wrong. Read more…
Recap
Orlando Magic
BOX SCORE
Tonight’s game was kind of a sad let down from the first four games. In all four of the previous games we either won nicely or were in a position to win but just didn’t execute. Tonight we really didn’t ever get a good foothold and lost to a scrappy Houston team. How often can you look at a lineup comparison and see that you are at least as talented if not more talented at every position and yet somehow you know you may be the underdog?
Rick Adelmen teams are always very well coached. Dude can put some D-League talent, a beer vendor and the Houston mascot on the floor together and have them competitive. You have to give credit where credit is due. Our team is dripping with top 5 talent and Adelmen has a bunch of 2nd round picks (Landry, Ariza), an undrafted, undersized center (Hayes) and some role players out there making the Thunder wonder what just happened. Truly, the Houston roster is full of very good, effective players, they just don’t have the pedigree. Yet, the box score says it all.
In our first four games we sort of were getting used to the idea of our team keeping us in the game with stout team defense. Tonight….not so much. Granted, this team is much improved defensively from last year’s squad, but tonight’s defensive effort was sub par for the season so far. Read more…
Recap
Houston Rockets
BOX SCORE
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
After a game like that, you tell yourself not to be sad. You tell yourself to look at the improvement. You tell yourself to look at a young, evolving team hanging with the NBA champs and taking them to the brink. You tell yourself that your team played its heart out and gave everything it had.
You tell yourself these things. But it doesn’t make you feel any better. In the end, it just sucks to lose. Especially when you’re that close to a big time win.
The Thunder took the Lakers to overtime, but came up just short, 101-98. And it’s not like the chances weren’t there. They were right there. The ball in your possession with 25 seconds left in a tie game. That’s what you want. Down one with 30 seconds left and a stud scorer waiting to take the shot. You want that. But both times, it didn’t work out for Oklahoma City.
The ball went to Kevin Durant both times and both times, KD came up with all air. It’s not like Durant was having an off night again – he scored 28 points on 10-24 shooting. He had a good night. Without him, OKC isn’t in the position it was. But what’s weird, is that Durant went 0-8 from 3. He’s actually 2-20 from deep on the season and has missed his last 13. I don’t know what the deal is, but it’s clearly a mental thing. Like I wrote in the last postgame, sometimes you just want the ball to go in so bad, that it just won’t. All you need to break out of it is to see it go through one time. Don’t worry about KD. He’ll be fine. And think about this: The Thunder’s hanging tough with their super-stud player not playing up to his potential. And we all know he will soon. So in a backwards way, this is encouraging. Read more…
Recap
LA Lakers
BOX SCORE
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
I have no idea what I just saw. Really, no clue. I’m sitting here, trying to figure out how recap this thing. Maybe the best way to sum it up would be: BAD. OFFENSE.
A couple happy fun-time stats from that… thing:
- I believe the stat is supposed to read “assist-to-turnover.” But for the Thunder tonight, they had a 19 to 6, turnover to assist ratio. No snarky comment necessary.
- Oklahoma City shot 34.3 percent, 3-14 from 3 and missed nine free throws. Blech.
- The Thunder scored just 74 points.
- And one more time, just for emphasis: SIX ASSISTS.
But yet, in what was easily the worst game Oklahoma City has played this season and one of the ugliest I’ve EVER seen them play, I’m strangely encouraged. And yes, the Thunder lost 83-74 to Portland, dropping the first game of the season. Yet I feel somewhat good. Why?
Because despite what I would kindly describe as a poo poo performance, this one was there for the taking. Kevin Durant shot the ball, um, not well. Nine missed free throws (ahem, how much did we lose by?). The turnovers and the assists (or lack thereof). Yet knock down a jumper or two and you’re right there. Why? Because the Thunder is playing some defense. And that’s what good defense can do for you. When you’re having the worst of worst nights, you can be right there. It may not be fun to watch, but it sure is better than losing by 25 and never really having a shot. OKC had a chance to win in the fourth quarter and just came up short. It was a bad game obviously, but all was not lost. I still see the improvement. Read more…
Recap
Portland Trail Blazers
BOX SCORE
November 29th, game number 18.
That was the date and the game number last year in which the OKC Thunder won their second game. That’s pretty cool.
The game tonight was really surreal if you were a Thunder fan last year and watched most of the games. It was like watching an old fashioned slugout slugfest between two defensive minded Eastern Conference teams. It was like the Pistons of old against the Cavaliers of old. This is not the Thunder of last year, and hey, that’s a good thing!
I didn’t feel real good about the direction of the game through the first quarter. The Thunder starters were getting manhandled to open up. The Thunder didn’t get to the line at all in the first, big Ben Wallace had 5 boards and a block, and all of the Thunder starters were looking pretty stinky offensively. Defensively they were getting after it and giving good effort, but they weren’t getting stops. When Brooks began to trickle in the bench, things began to change for the better.
James Harden showed some of his ball handling wizardry beginning late in the first and carrying over into the second By the time he came out in the middle of the second he had 5 assists and a ” +10″ after his name in the box score. He was bringing the ball up the court some and was like a second point guard running the pick and roll very smoothly with Collison (who set some fierce screens on the Pistons). Harden got a nice “welcome to the NBA” message when he tried to drive on Kwame Brown of all people, who nicely put his shot into the seats. But there is no denying Harden has great court vision and expert passing ability- all the reasons most of us Thunder fans were praying for him on draft night. Read more…
Recap
Detroit Pistons
BOX SCORE
(AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
Well honestly, I’m not sure that could have gone much better.
Oklahoma City’s starting five poured in 91 of the Thunder’s 102 points, as OKC rolled Sacramento 102-89 to open the season 1-0. Which also means we’re enjoying the first winning record in Thunder history.
Now, now before we get ahead of ourselves here we must understand this was a stinky Kings squad. And it’s just one game. Nobody should start dreaming of playoffs or a .500 record or anything like that. Yet.
Yes, everything went very well. If you scripted this out, I’m not sure it would’ve gone this well. OKC started with great energy, basically burying the Kings early. The Thunder outscored Sacto 39-22 in the first and really never looked back. The closest the Kings really got was the 13 they lost by when OKC had scaled everything back. Offensively, the Thunder looked near unstoppable. Weapons everywhere, points from everywhere and crisp, clean ball movement.
Russell Westbrook looked like an absolute STAR going for 14 points on 7-12 shooting, 13 assists, seven boards and just two turnovers. If this happens all season then maybe we can start getting ahead of ourselves. The new and awesomely improved Westbrook was something else. He played with his usual fire and energy, but really harnessed it. He just sees the court and plays so much better. A perfect example among many: the bounce pass to KD for a dunk late in the second quarter. He read everything perfectly and instead of jumping and getting caught mid-air and trying to force it to Durant, he slowed down and made a smart but decisive one-handed bounce pass. That play really summed it all up for me. Westbrook is a new player. A new and much, much better player. And he was pretty good to start with. Read more…
Recap
Sacramento Kings
BOX SCORE 
At least this one didn’t count. Wait, didn’t I just say that two nights ago?
The Kings walloped Oklahoma City 104-89 and it wasn’t even that close. The Thunder shot poorly from everywhere and didn’t play that great of defense. But we’ll just tell ourselves it’s because the starters didn’t play much. Jeff Green played just 22 minutes. Kevin Durant 26. Russell Westbrook only 14. We saw a lot of Serge Ibaka, James Harden and Etan Thomas, especially in the second half. Which is fine by me. We know who the first five are. We just need to figure out the next.
I’m not worried by anything I saw honestly. Sure it was ugly, but these guys are sick of this. They’re ready to play for real. This was the last go-through-the-motions meaningless game and I don’t think they cared a ton. OKC plays this same team in just five days so it’s not like Scott Brooks was going to go all out and try and get a win tonight. Of course you’d love to see a better effort, but I just saw the whole night as very meh and a chance for some late rotation guys to maybe prove themselves a bit. Read more…
Recap
Sacramento Kings
BOX SCORE
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
One thing that’s nice about preseason is that your team can play an absolutely horrid game, yet you can sit back and say how it didn’t matter and then point out some positives. And that’s exactly what I plan on doing. The Thunder got walloped in Austin, 119-102, but it was a competitive first 21 minutes though OKC got completely run the last 27. It was 53-50 with 2:55 remaining in the first half. Then San Antonio went on to outscore the Thunder 66 to 52, and had stretched the lead out to 28 at one point.
But hey, it doesn’t matter! It’s just preseason and it doesn’t count! Which is good because I’d really like to forget that I watched that second half. And while the Thunder played some seriously sloppy defense throughout the game, it’s tough to defend against a team that hits 14-19 on 3-pointers (11-14 in the first half) and hits 58 percent from the floor. Some of that were the pathetic closeouts and bad rotations on the defensive end by OKC, but some of it was just deadeye shooting by the Spurs. Read more…
Recap
San Antonio Spurs
Box Score.
The Thunder looked like a much improved team if you just judged the game by the first quarter, or even the first half. Unfortunately the second half was pretty much just yucky preseason ball. The Thunder dropped 33 points on a good Houston defense in the first quarter shooting 54%. They were hitting the boards and hanging on to the ball. They also allowed 33 on the strength of Houston’s 4/5 shooting from the three point line. It looked like a shootout.
Both teams had a tougher time scoring in the second quarter and the Thunder were in the penalty with their sixth foul by three minutes into the quarter. Houston didn’t really make us pay for it though by missing a third of their free throws.
The third quarter was just difficult to watch with the Thunder shooting a very stinky 4/19 (26%) and had 5 turns. Meanwhile Houston re-found it’s stroke and put 26 points on the board. By early in the fourth Coach Brooks began giving Tre Kelley some minutes at the point which seemed to be the ceremonial white flag of surrender.
But again, it’s just preseason and our regular rotations weren’t in use. Coach was definitely trying to force feed Ibaka’s offense, giving Mullens a few touches and Read more…
Recap
Houston Rockets
BOX SCORE 
Not the most exciting game ever. At least for the first three quarters. Kevin Durant was in foul trouble and didn’t play a ton. The Tulsa crowd was a little sparse mainly because of the competing Boise St./Tulsa game (but the official attendance was over 10,000 which is pretty nice). Scott Brooks was tinkering with lineups and a lot of deep bench guys saw action. And it just felt like a preseason game. Lots of whistles, lot of turnovers and quite a bit of sloppy play.
But it picked up very nicely in the final 12. Durant had 18 of his 30 points in the fourth as the starters came in and played well leading Oklahoma City to make up a nine-point deficit to win 96-91. What was good about this game was that it was an ideal demo for closing a tight game. The Thunder needed stops, needed quality execution and needed to make smart plays down the stretch. Check, check and check. Both coaches saw the opportunity to get some serious work in, as the starters played almost all the key minutes. And the Thunder were the ones to finish it out.
The best part? The defense. The Thunder got close by Durant going off. Then hung tight moving between down one and down three for a few minutes. But what won the game was OKC got a few stops, capitalized on the stops and did what needed to be done to win. While just a preseason game, encouraging it is. Read more…
Recap
Miami Heat
BOX SCORE
(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Ah, preseason overtime basketball. Nothing better. Except… everything. To recap quickly, the Thunder blew a 17-point fourth quarter lead, the game went to overtime and the backups backups came in and locked in a 110-105 Thunder victory.
The final score was nice and getting a win was fun but there are three very positive things to take from this one: Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and 3-point shooting.
First, Westbrook. How does a triple-double sound? It sounds pretty awesome, but Westbrook fell just short notching 10 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in three quarters. And only three turns including one coming off a rebound that bounced off his foot. He just looks like a whole new player. I loved the Russ from last year but gone are the hair-pulling moments. He’s in control and he plays smart. Two plays stood out: 1) With 1:15 left in the first, he took his time, split a double-team, went to the rack and scored two and was fouled. It was a patient, well calculated move. 2) With 3:30 left in the third, he got inside the lane, drew two defenders and slipped a beauty to Ibaka for a flush. A very slick play. Read more…
Recap
Phoenix Suns
I didn’t have a chance to listen, but here’s five things I took from the box score:
1. Russell Westbrook wants to be a point guard and he’s proving it so far. How does 18 assists and three turnovers in two game do you? He had just seven points on 2-8 shooting today, but eight assists in 24 minutes is dandy. The scoring will be there. I think it’s obvious that he’s doing his best to run the show rather than be the show.
2. Serge Ibaka has a chance to make this team. Twelve points on 6-10 shooting and nine rebounds gives him a leg up on Byron Mullens already. Add on two blocks and the big guy could be the back up center on the team this year. I thought he was likely Tulsa bound but with performances like today coupled with his solid Summer League, he has a shot.
3. Oklahoma City was outrebounded 50-36 today. That. Is. Not. Good. Basically, Serge Ibaka and Jeff Green rebounded the ball well (nine for Green as well). Read more…
Recap
New Orleans
BOX SCORE
(AP Photo/Lance Murphey)
First off, it’s preseason. We all know this and much like the Summer League, it’s smart to keep things in perspective. But the Thunder played a competitive game tonight where score was kept so there are definitely things to take away from it. Of course, we didn’t get to watch but going off of Matt Pinto’s scintillating call and the box score, there are a few observations to be had. It’s always better to win than lose, but I think Scott Brooks was fine coming out on the bad end in order to get a little experience for his youngest guys.
I’m honestly just relieved we made it through this thing with everyone alive. After Dez Bryant being declared ineligible today, I wondered if this sports year was just cursed in Oklahoma. What was built up to maybe be the biggest year of sports ever in this state has now seen Sam Bradford get hurt, Jermaine Gresham get hurt, Ryan Broyles get hurt, OU lose two games, OSU unexpectedly lose to Houston and now Dez Bryant out for the season potentially. I honestly feared for Kevin Durant’s life tonight. One down. 88 more to go.
Guys that did good
He may not have scored a lot (five points on 0-4 shooting), by when you look at Russell Westbrook’s name in a box score and it says 10 assists and just two turnovers, you should celebrate like it’s 1999. If that’s a sign of things to come, then we’re going to be fine. And by fine, I mean pretty good. In Orlando, it looked like he had slowed down and begun to understand the game. And by all appearances tonight, that’s carrying over to this season. Read more…
Recap
Memphis Grizzlies
This post got messed up big time. It didn’t save right and when it got published and it cut off like all of it. I restored some of it, but not all. Too bad for you, because I had some really brilliant thoughts in there about a Summer League basketball game. Sorry about that.
A couple quick thoughts about today’s game against Dallas:
- The Mavs started out today on a 10-0 run, then took it to 16-2 hitting 4-4 from deep. Roddy Beaubois hit two DEEP threes and Shan Foster hit a pair as well. The Thunder kind of looked like they were ready to hit the casinos tonight and really didn’t appear all that excited to be playing their 10th game in 13 days.
- The Thunder scored just 54 points today and their quarter by quarter went 11, 20, 11, 12. Pretty awesome offense there.
- B.J. Mullens with another beautiful example of his lack of post game: With 5:03 left in the first quarter, James Harden dropped a pretty bounce pass to Mullens who was standing on the block. His defender had left him to go get Harden and the Maverick rotation was a little late. So Mullens was basically standing alone on the block momentarily. He caught the pass, faced up and immediately launched an eight-footer. Literally two dribbles and he’s dunking the ball. Loud sigh.
- Oh and just chew on Mullens’ line for a second: 10 minutes, two points, zero rebounds, zero assists, zero blocks and two turns. I think he’s ready for a break. Read more…
Recap
Mavericks, Summer League
