Vegas Game 3 wrap: Spurs 85, Thunder 76
July 16th, 2009
No James Harden Thursday night for Oklahoma City and his absence really showed, especially in the second half as the Thunder couldn’t generate any offense as they lost 85-76 to the Spurs. DeJuan Blair and George Hill had 20 points apiece and Malik Hairston added 16 for San Antonio. D.J. White led OKC with 17. Some observations:
- Kyle Weaver again played a ton of point guard, scoring 11 points on 4-10 shooting and dished out three assists. But he had six turnovers. And these weren’t the “Oh, well they were really his teammates’ fault” kind of turnovers. He just made bad decisions and forced a lot of passes. Off the pick and roll Weaver goes airborne with no where to go with the ball a lot, like he’s expecting an open shot or an open teammate as soon as he turns the corner. He just looks unsure of himself at the point. Pass or shoot pass or shoot pass or shoot? AHHHHH!!!! It looked like he was trying assert himself offensively, but he just wasn’t that efficient. And George Hill abused him for most of the night scoring 20 with nine assists.
- D.J. White is such an awesome pick and pop guy. He is really almost automatic from 15-18 feet (17 points, 7-12 from the floor). I really don’t have anything bad to say about him. He does just what he needs to do. Eight years from now, whether it’s for the Thunder or someone else, White will be that savvy veteran bench big man that every team wants for a title run.
- OKC hit five 3-pointers, with four of them coming from Robert Vaden. About time for the Sith Lord to get it going. He finally looked totally comfortable shooting the ball and he didn’t really force anything. He scored 16, missed just one three and was 6-10 from the field in 33 minutes. I think Vaden can be a nice offensive player and I get the feeling his poor performances were more from him pressing to impress, rather than him not actually having the talent. Read more…
