The Hornets are here blah blah blah the past blah blah 2005 blah. All that is pretty much out of my system now. I don’t really give two poos about Chris Paul and David West anymore. They are the enemy and this is a big game. The Thunder can pretty much bury New Orleans from harming their playoff chances with a win tonight. Oklahoma City would own the tiebreaker over the Hornets and plus, it’s one more game up on them with one less game to go. Read more…
Kevin Durant is awesome. He’s a legit MVP candidate. He was fantastic once again against New Orleans with 30 points. We know this.
But this was Russell Westbrook’s game. He was huge on the offensive glass against Atlanta and he came up with an even bigger offensive board with 35 seconds left against the Hornets tonight. And the best part is, after sitting on the clock for 15 seconds, Westbrook finished off the extra possession he provided by knocking down a backbreaking jumper to put Oklahoma City up four with 15 seconds left. He flirted with a triple-double for the second straight night (26-8-10) and while KD will be the Thunder’s unquestioned MVP for the season, Westbrook was the MVP for the night.
And that’s what it takes to separate yourself from an average team with a superstar player, to a good team that actually may be able to compete with the best of the best. Instead of consistently relying on one guy to carry you, you can delegate to another playmaker to make it happen. Kevin Durant is going to be The Man 95 out of 100 times. But the fact that it’s looking like the Thunder can point to Westbrook and sometimes Jeff Green for that big play is more encouraging than anything else. Read more…
No rest for the Thunder. No time to be satisfied about a big win 24 hours ago. It’s up and out of Oklahoma City and on to the next one. And the next one happens to be pretty darn important. Read more…
Nick Collison talked all summer about the biggest step for a young team is simply learning to win. Learning how to make plays, learning how to get stops and just learning how to end up with more points than the other guy in the end.
For the most part this year, this group has started to figure it out. And tonight against the Hornets, the Thunder did the hardest part. They got stops. They just never got the ball the basket when in counted. Oklahoma City made only three field goals in the fourth quarter and scored just 11 points.
But after Russell Westbrook’s AMAZING offensive rebound and putback to cut the New Orleans lead down to 93-92 with 50 seconds left, it just felt like the Thunder was going to find a way again. But they reminded us something that we’ve been prone to forget this year: These guys are young (very young), they’re immature and they’re still learning. I mean, have a look out on the floor during that final series of possessions. Ages for the Thunder: 20, 21, 21, 23, 25.
It was a little ironic that after getting a major stop with 30 seconds left and still down one, OKC didn’t secure the rebound. Essentially, an offensive rebound for the Hornets turned out to be maybe the biggest play of the game because Chris Paul scored later on the extra possession to push the lead to three. But OKC did a fantastic job on the glass tonight, only allowing five offensive boards to the Hornets and outrebounded NOLA by nine for the game. For shame the Thunder couldn’t just grab one more. Read more…
We’re almost four years removed from the Hornets being in Oklahoma City. And even though we have a new team here that is actually all ours, I still get a little nostalgic when Chris Paul and the Hornets come back to town. While that’s the obvious hook, the more important thing is that the Hornets are one of the teams now chasing the Thunder for the eighth spot in the West. There will be many more important games after this that will determine such things, but winning these sort of games and having two up on the Jazz already could be what eventually separate you in the end. Read more…
So who’s listening to the Thunder play a preseason game over watching OU-Baylor or the end of OSU-Texas A&M? Anybody?
Regardless, the Thunder will go ahead and play in New Orleans against the Hornets. Scott Brooks mentioned that he plans to mix up the starting lineups, so who knows what we’ll see. No word yet on Kevin Ollie, Nick Collison and James Harden’s statuses. Read more…
So much happened on this day even before tip-off. Oklahoma City traded for Tyson Chandler. The new mascot was to be unveiled. The old team was in town with our first love, Chris Paul. Basically, it was a wannabe sportswriter’s dream setup for a moving, look-how-far-we’ve-come column. And that’s exactly what I planned on writing, especially if the Thunder could pull off a win. But wouldn’t you know it, things weren’t going well from the start. Read more…
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