Daily Thunder.com

(The idea that KD is good and LeBron is bad was discussed a few weeks ago, but just on the surface. What about their teams? Is this truly a good versus evil type of dynamic in the NBA this year? JG takes a closer look.)

Far too often in sports, professional athletes and teams are given exaggerated names or labeled with one of a million cliched analogies that they just don’t deserve. Hyperbole runs rampant in the information age and so many, many a fan rolls their eyes when they hear words like “the game of the decade” or “the best _______ I’ve ever seen” so much so that a doubting reluctance to pay attention to any demonstrative title or name becomes almost second nature.

The reason I say this is to try and illustrate how much disdain I personally feel when a team or athlete is hyped to an unbelievable degree or labeled as something so outlandish and absurd that all you can really do is laugh about the strained connection some writer or media member tried to make between a true icon of the sports world or a timeless character from books, movies, history, etc and some modern day athlete playing a game for a living.

Why? Well, because I’m about to do just that.

You see, I’ve been diving into the defining traits of the all-time great modern villains in literature and film, or as I like to call them, the Degrees of Diabolicalness, for my book’s website and I couldn’t help but notice the striking parallels between legendary, epic villains and—the Miami Heat.

Now while that might not be all that surprising, the realization that the Miami Heat would be the NBA’s version of the Empire led me to an almost inevitable inquiry: If the Miami Heat are the Empire, does that make the Thunder the Rebellion?

Read more…

Commentary Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder

I’ve long attempted to avoid much mention of any playoff talk, mainly because I don’t want to be Mr. Jinxy. But now at 35-23 and sitting firmly in sixth in the West, this is getting serious. Not just “Oh I hope we make the playoffs!” serious, but like, “Let’s get a good seed so we might be able to do some damage” serious.

Now I’m not getting ahead of myself. I still feel like a five-game losing streak could be lurking around every corner. Something that rhymes with schmimjury could happen at any time. The NBA season is a marathon and we’re just over 65 percent done. So don’t start booking hotels and plane tickets quite yet.

But looking at John Hollinger’s Playoff Odds today, Oklahoma City has a 97.2 percent chance of getting into the postseason. But that’s not the best part. As it stands today, the Thunder has a 10.2 percent chance of getting to the motherflipping NBA Finals. That’s a similar percentage to Denver, Phoenix, Miami, Atlanta and better than Boston, Dallas and San Antonio. I’ll pause for you to re-attach your jaw to your face. Read more…

Commentary Oklahoma City Thunder

(Deep breath)

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Woo.

Boy it feels nice to be on the other end of that. After watching it happen four times to us, seeing our guys jump all over each other after the buzzer was pretty stinking nice. Oh, and guess what? Nine baby. Nine.

But dang, what a great game that was. There were 14 ties and 22 lead changes. The first half was played at a hellish pace, with both teams combining for something like 480 points. At halftime I actually had to go towel off. The third quarter slowed down dramatically with Oklahoma City  scoring just 17 and Golden State 25. The fourth quarter was all about who could get more stops, grab more rebounds and turn the ball over less. And I guess, who had the ball last. In this case, it was Jeff Green knocking down an awesome jumper as time ran out, lifting the Thunder to a 122-121 win over the Warriors. Woo.

The Thunder three were BIG tonight. I mean big. Russell Westbrook had 30 points and seven assists (20 points in the first half), Green 26 and Kevin Durant 27, 12 boards and five assists. So to spare you from grabbing your calculator, the three combined for 83 points, or 68 percent of OKC’s total points. It was funny that with about a minute left Fox Sports Oklahoma awarded the player(s) of the game to Durant and Westbrook and left Green out. Oops.

A major sequence was the 9-2 run the Thunder had mid-fourth to tie the game at 88-88. The Warriors looked poised to pull away, but OKC (NINE!-34) hung tough and clawed back in it. After taking a four-point lead minutes later, the Thunder dodged a huge bullet as GSW (13-30) got three cracks at the bucket but came up empty and OKC closed winning the quarter 33-26. Those type of things weren’t going the Thunder’s way when they were losing the close ones. Now, they’re learning how to scrape and claw and fight and win.

Check out some of these stats from tonight: OKC played at a ridiculous pace (98.0) and had an offensive efficiency of 124.5. Conversely, Golden State had an offensive efficiency of 123.5. OKC shot 49.4 percent from the field on 85 shots and GSW hit 52 percent on 75 shots. Some may disagree, but to me, it wasn’t about bad defense tonight. It was just about really, really good offense coupled with a fast game. And for another double-take stat of the game, OKC took 33 free throws and hit 30 and GSW took 40 (!) and missed just two — but none bigger than C.J. Watson’s with about a minute left. Remember when the Thunder were hitting just 60 percent of their free throws and losing games by seven? Yeah, that would’ve been the case again tonight if they didn’t hit 91 percent. Nice work guys. Read more…

Other Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder

vs.

Oklahoma City Thunder (8-34, 2-17 road) vs. Golden State Warriors (13-29, 9-9 home)
Wednesday, Jan. 22
Oracle Arena
Oakland, CA
9:30 PM CST

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

Offensive Rating: Thunder: 101.1 (29th), Golden State: 108.2 (11th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 108.5 (19th), Golden State: 113.2 (29th)
Pace: Thunder: 93.8(6th), Golden State: 97.5 (1st)

So what is this, like the 14th time we’ve played the Warriors? Because holy crap, it sure feels like it. This is game one of a two-game West Coast road trip. This is OKC’s first trip to the left side of America, but is the third time the Thunder has played the Warriors. I guess that’s not so bad. The first matchup, Golden State beat OKC 112-102 but the Thunder got revenge with a 107-100 win on New Year’s Eve. Since Ron Adams joined the bench that night, OKC’s been the best team in the league. Well, maybe not, but it kind of seems like it compared to the first two months.

After winning two out of three during last week’s homestand, OKC is now 5-5 in its last 10. The Warriors have won two in a row and three of four. What does that mean? It’s a nice way to say these two teams have horrendous records but have been playing better lately. Read more…

Other Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, Pre-game