Author: Mike

Six games into the Billy Donovan Era in Oklahoma City with two off days before a Sunday evening home game against the Phoenix Suns…maybe a time for some thoughts.

Coming into this NBA basketball season most serious observers had four to six teams in the league as favorites to win the title. LeBron’s Cavs, the Spurs with the additions of LaMarcus Aldridge and David West, the defending champion Golden State Warriors, OKC’s Thunder, the LA Clippers and perhaps the Houston Rockets as an outside possibility.

Golden State, Cleveland and the LA Clippers appear to be what we thought,–the Spurs, Thunder and Rockets still groping with various issues though. San Antonio with the integrations of LaMarcus Aldridge and David West, plus the reality of Tony Parker’s wear and tear at the point guard position. Houston with some early season injuries. Oklahoma City with the coaching change from Scott Brooks to Billy Donovan, plus the eight month injury layoff of Kevin Durant.

To me at least, OKC is the most puzzling of the group, but it shouldn’t be shocking considering Durant’s layoff and Billy Donovan’s introduction to the NBA way of doing things. The four games in five nights didn’t help. You look at the Oklahoma City schedule and it may have been the Thunder’s toughest stretch of the entire 82 game marathon slate.

But several things from a team standpoint glare about Oklahoma City early on which can’t continue if OKC wants to remain on this list of serious contenders. Namely team defense, turnovers and establishing  coherent bench rotations, plus maybe a relook at what to do with starting Andre Roberson at the shooting guard position.

The team defense part is simple. As in it might help if Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant start leading at this end of the floor instead of taking possessions off here and there. I’ve never believed leadership is about rah-rah speeches, but rather your best players leading by example in their play. If Durant and Westbrook want to win a championship it will be because they lead defensively instead of just padding their offensive stats night to night.

Turnovers. OKC has always been near the top during the Durant-Westbrook Era. You can get away with this in the regular season against the bottom twenty-four teams just because of Durant and Westbrook’s talent, not so much when you’re playing against other elite talent. OKC has to clean this up, especially during the final six minutes of games where every possession means something.

Bench rotations. Why is one of the most effective three point shooters in the league from last season not getting minutes? Anthony Morrow–start playing him and get him sixteen minutes a game. Nick Collison-Mitch McGary–this is what I’d do… play Collison against the tougher teams. Play McGary against the bottom level fifteen teams in the league, but don’t just waste his obvious ability to energize offensively from the bench. Nurture Mitch McGary.

Andre Roberson and Kyle Singler. Both are alleged to be seriously good wing defenders. I haven’t seen it. Decent, but not special. You never discount perimeter defense with the mathematical importance of the three point shot. Never.  But even Shawn Marion got to where he could make some shots. Maybe try something different at the starting shooting guard position and if it doesn’t work, try something else. Maybe try Anthony Morrow for those sixteen minutes and use Roberson and Singler as situational players. If Westbrook would start trying defensively–this might actually work.’

I would think and hope Billy Donovan, Monty Williams and Mo Cheeks at least discussed some of this today. Be interesting to see if some tweaks are made on Sunday night against the Phoenix Suns.

 

MJ

 

The Chicago Bulls rode the shoulders of Derrick Rose down the stretch as he seemingly didn’t miss in the game’s final five minutes or so as the Bulls beat the OKC Thunder 104-98 on Thursday night to improve to 4-2 while OKC lost their third straight to drop to 3-3.

OKC did clean up their turnover issues on the night with 21 assists to nine turnovers. Turnovers didn’t get them beat in this one though. Not being able to stop Derrick Rose when every possession counted was more of the primary cause for losing this game. Much as it was last night with DeRosan and as it was on Monday night with James Harden. All three losses in a sense were strongly linked by not being able to get stops on the other team’s go to guard in the last minutes of the game.

Jimmy Butler was stellar as well for the Bulls with 26 points, 4 rebounds, two assists, a steal and two blocks for good measure. But in a close vote, namely me, I’m going with Derrick Rose as the OKCThunderGround No. 1 Star of the Game because unlike the homers on the Fox telecasts I actually pick the rightful No. 1 star of the game.

Tough week for OKC and Billy Donovan. Billy Donovan meet Scott Brooks’ previous life. Not as easy as you thought, eh?

So after six games we really know pretty much nothing except Durant and Westbrook are exceptionally talented players and Serge Ibaka is a nice third piece. Other than that what do we really know?

We know in this loss the Big Three scored 70 points while the rest of the team combined for 28 points. There won’t be any parade this summer in Bricktown with this dynamic in place. Still waiting for Morrow and McGary to be impact guys off the OKC bench. I was kind of shocked by how little both were used this week.

Kanter and Waiters are about what I thought they’d be. Augustin was good in the first three games, but not so good these last three. I love Nick Collison, but I never envisioned him as a regular rotational guy this season. Same with Kyle Singler. I’d like to see McGary get minutes against the Suns, same for Anthony Morrow.

Four games in five nights and the Thunder go 1-3. Think about this though–if Westbrook doesn’t hit the prayer against Orlando–the Thunder would be 2-4 with the Sports Animal and Daily Thunder imploding simultaneously with smoke billowing from the windows atop the Devon Tower.

Billy Donovan honeymoon period is over. No more gushing. The expectations for this club were clear.  Should be two busy off game days for Billy Donovan and his staff.

Phoenix Suns on Sunday at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Mike Jackson

 

 

 

In the near past a Billy Donovan-Fred Hoiberg matchup would have been an intriguing Sweet 16 or Elite 8 matchup between the Florida Gators and Iowa State Cyclones. Tonight in Chicago its the OKC Thunder versus the Chicago Bulls pitting two teams in search of their identities in Week 2 of an NBA regular season TNT broadcast.

Both teams coming off losses. Both teams at 3-2 midway in Week 2. Both teams with college head coaches making the transition to the NBA game, and both teams needing a win to stabilize a bit and get back on track.

Chicago comes off an embarrassing 130-105 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats which left little doubt the Tom Thibadeau era ended last season in Chicago. The Bulls have a nice array of players led by Jimmy Butler, Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah, Derrick Rose, Nikola Mirotic, Taj Gibson, Tony Snell, Aaron Brooks, E’tan Moore,  and Doug McDermott. The experiment with Noah coming off the bench is a work in progress.

Chicago was idle last night while OKC was playing its third game in four nights…an eventual 103-98 home loss at the hands of the Toronto Raptors.

Like the Bulls, OKC is still in the process of finding its new identity in the Billy Donovan era while Kevin Durant works his way back after an eight month layoff from injury. Fourth game in five nights for OKC can’t be dismissed. Both teams and both coaches need a win and some momentum heading forward.

Interesting matchup pitting two good teams in an early season game as they both transition to new head coaches and new systems.

 

 

 

 

DeMar DeRozan scored ten of his game high twenty-eight points in the fourth period to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 103-98 win over the OKC Thunder.But it wasn’t just DeRozan making clutch plays. It was a team effort of different players making just the right plays when it mattered most. Toronto improves to an Eastern Conference best 5-0 with the road win.

Kyle Lowery had 17 points. Jonas Valanciunas  a 17-12 double double and two clutch free throws down the stretch. Demare Carroll had 13 points and made two clutch free throws at the 16.8 second mark to give the Raptors a four point lead. Cory Joseph, Bismarck Biyombo and Patrick Patterson each made significant contributions. Especially Joseph—who melded beautifully in Dwane Casey’s small ball sets which gave the Thunder fits.

As was the case in Houston on Monday night, OKC fizzled and went away quietly into the night in the game’s final four minutes. OKC shot 5-20 in the fourth period and scored but 17 points in the fourth period. But even more alarming, OKC scored only seven points in the game’s final six minutes. Most notable… Durant missing a nice mid range baseline jumper. Westbrook missing a layup. Durant missing a big free throw. Serge Ibaka losing a critical offensive zone jump ball. And Billy Donovan finding himself with nary a twenty second timeout when his team could have used one in the last twenty seconds. It was contagious- a team epidemic of no one making clutch plays.

Long story short, at the midway point of the fourth period–OKC led 91-83, only to lose the last six minutes 20-7.

OKC’s bench was hideous save the 15 points from Enes Kanter. Kyle Singler, Anthony Morrow and DJ Augustin combined to score zero points on the night. On a positive vein–I thought Steven Adams did some nice things early in the game.

OKC drops to 3-2 with its second consecutive loss in which Durant and Westbrook struggled completing plays coming down the stretch in a close game against a playoff caliber team.

DeMar DeRozan wins the OKCThunderGround No. 1 Star of the Night. OKC had no answer for him. Period.

You can analyze this till the proverbial cow jumps over the moon, but when your two stars don’t make plays in the last four minutes it’s tough to win against good teams, and Toronto is a good team which understands its skill sets and roles to a man. OKC presently does not.

Tomorrow night second night of a back to back against the Bulls in Chicago.

MJ

 

 

 

 

Highly compelling matchup tonight at the Chesapeake Energy Arena as the 4-0 Toronto Raptors visit the 3-1 OKC Thunder. Toronto comes off a win in Dallas last night on the second night of a back to back. OKC comes back home to lick their wounds from not only a disappointing loss, but one in which they scored only forty points in the second half and brought back to light the warts which have kept this team from realizing its championship potential… namely turnovers and a lack of a commitment on the defensive end.

Toronto has its own demons though in being a first round exit two years running in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Through four games Toronto’s team differential is +11.8 and there is optimism Demare Carroll might be the missing piece as far as adding defensive toughness and a more blue collar look to the team as a whole. Kyle Lowery leads the team from the point guard position and is undeniably the glue of this basketball team. Starting five will be Lowery, Carroll, DeMar Rozan, Jonas Valanciunas and Luis Scola. Potentially-Toronto should be one of the clubs challenging for a top three seed in the Eastern Conference.

For OKC, it’s the first night of a back to back which concludes tomorrow night in Chicago. OKC comes off its worst half of basketball this season, one in which they lost the second half by 19 points in route to a 110-105 loss to the struggling Rockets It wasn’t pretty. Twenty-five turnovers, a lack of the ability to stay on their man, and in the end,  not finishing and answering James Harden.

For OKC to have any illusions of hanging near Golden State in the regular season and beyond, these two team focal points must be cleaned up by first year coach Billy Donovan. Basketball is not as highly complex as some would suggest it is. If you defend, take care of the ball, and have a finisher you win a lot of games.

Bigger game for OKC than Toronto. For OKC to stake the claim they could be a legitimate contender to Golden State–the subtraction of bad turnovers and soft defense have to be instilled in the team as a whole from top to bottom. There–I’ve said my piece…somewhat.

 

 

 

Tough game to lose, especially considering the current condition of the Houston Rockets with the instability of their roster due to injuries and the integration of Ty Lawson, but in the end James Harden did what we feared. He carried his team to a big early season win considering the Rockets’ 0-3 start.

From the point of Westbrook sitting with his fourth foul the game changed course in a dramatic fashion. The twenty-five turnovers didn’t help and the twenty-five turnovers only give credence to the fact OKC is still a work in progress as far as ball movement and distribution when they’re playing top half level competition.

As far as Donovan sitting Westbrook the remainder of the third period—I don’t have a problem with it. It was the percentage play. Durant, Augustin and Waiters should have picked up the slack, they didn’t.

The twelve turnovers by Durant and Westbrook combined is something we’ve seen before and is something we’ll see again would be my guess. It’s a delicate balance for Billy Donovan to get them to play more controlled, yet not dim their creative brilliance. The hope would be they just learn to calibrate when the time is right to attempt a high risk play and when it’s not.

Not much time to dwell on a loss in the NBA. Tomorrow night Toronto Raptors in town, then a back to back in Chicago on Thursday evening. Two of the better teams in the Eastern Conference.

MJ

James Harden and the Houston Rockets entered the Toyota Center on Monday as a bloody, wounded mess. Not only 0-3, but with the dubious distinction of being the only team in the history of the NBA to lose each of their first three games by at least twenty points. Think about that…for two years straight the Philadelphia 76’ers and LA Lakers have lost games on purpose and neither have been able to accomplish this feat. Seriously–think about that.

Harden entered the game at 3-32 from behind the arc, and btw  you don’t have to be John Hollinger to know that’s really bad. But even with all this in play, Thunder fans feared this game and the notion of James Harden breaking their collective hearts again in this early season statement game to see whether the Thunder are contenders or pretenders to seriously challenge Golden State for the Western Conference championship.

OKC led at halftime 65-54 which wasn’t shocking considering how bad Houston had played defensively entering this game. But then something curious happened at the 9:24 mark of the third period with OKC still firmly in control and leading 71-57…Russell Westbrook got his fourth foul and sat the bench.

Westbrook would not re-enter the game for the remainder of the third period. When the final 9:24 of the third period had elapsed the Houston Rockets led 82-79. Do the math– in that nine minute span OKC was outscored 25-8 without Westbrook.

Just for good measure Patrick Beverly once again got under Westbrook’s skin initiating what turned out to be a double technical at the 7:33 mark in the fourth period. No blood, no harm. Play on. We’d feel let down otherwise.

But coming down the stretch Harden made the winning plays while Durant and Westbrook didn’t. Harden finished with  37 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and two blocked shots. James Harden is easily my OKCThunderGround. com No. 1 Star of the Game.

Durant finished with 29 points, 4 rebounds, zero assists and 5 turnovers. Westbrook in thirty-two minutes of play almost had a triple double with 25 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists and 7 turnovers…. which leads directly into the most telling stat of the night for OKC, that being — 17 assists to 24 turnovers. You don’t beat good teams if you don’t take of the ball. Period.

OKC leaves the Toyota Center with what has to be a bad feeling in that they could have opened 4-0 and given the Houston Rockets a standing eight count. Instead, James Harden broke Thunder hearts…again.

Mike Jackson

 

 

 

 

It’s early in an eighty-two game marathon, but still a big game tonight at the Toyota Center in Houston where the 3-0 OKC Thunder meet the 0-3 Houston Rockets in an early season Western Conference statement game of sorts.

OKC appears to be back with Kevin Durant working his way into form from a foot injury which sidelined him for fifty-five games last season. The Thunder have reeled off three straight wins against the likes of San Antonio, Orlando and Denver. OKC’s offensive efficiency currently ranks second only to the Golden State Warriors. Billy Donovan seems willing to experiment with different lineups and has shown confidence in lineups favoring the presence of Dion Waiters and DJ Augustin when the Thunder go small. Russell Westbrook has been superb. Serge Ibaka, after two so-so performances, got his season untracked last night in an easy win over the Denver Nuggets. Enes Kanter appears comfortable coming off the bench and has provided instant offensive fire power.

Offensively—OKC doesn’t appear much different. Defensively—OKC still is a work in progress, but that was to be expected as the players become more comfortable with Billy Donovan’s philosophy of playing defense from a team standpoint.

OKC enters this game with it’s first 3-0 start to a season since the 2011-12 NBA Finals season. Conversely, Houston which is coming off a Western Conference Finals appearance has stumbled out of the gate going 0-3 against Denver, Golden State and Miami losing each game by twenty points. Last night in Miami — the Rockets blew a nineteen point halftime lead and lost by twenty. James Harden was 2-15 while Dwight Howard was a rest DNP. Terrance Jones and Donatus Motiejunas were both injury scratches. Not surprising Houston ranks near the bottom of the league in both team offensive and defensive efficiency one week into the season.

The addition of Ty Lawson at point guard has yet to show any positives as Houston has been subpar playing  on both ends of the floor. Ineffective offensively and  porous on the defensive end. Houston playing this bad is a storyline in the NBA after one week into the season. Big game tonight for Houston at home. A loss and they drop to 0-4, a win maybe kick starts their season.

Ask most fans in Oklahoma City which Western Conference team they relish beating the most and the answer usually is Houston. Respectful, heated, rivalries have evolved against both San Antonio and Memphis, but its not an understatement to say Oklahoma City doesn’t like Houston and vice versa. Obviously–some of this stems from the residual of the Harden trade, but much was added to the fire with Patrick Beverly’s questionable play near the scorer’s table which resulted in a post-season ending knee injury for Westbrook, and in a sense, the realistic end of OKC’s title hopes the season after their journey to the NBA Finals.

Big game for both teams as far as claiming Western Conference turf for the marathon journey down the road.

 

 

 

Unlike OKC’s first two tough uphill grinding victories of the season this was one was over before the fourth quarter ever arrived as OKC expanded a 58-50 halftime lead into an easy win with a 37-20 third period explosion over the undermanned Denver Nuggets for a 117-93 cakewalk.

Several things of note. This marks the first time since OKC’s NBA Finals appearance in 2011-12 in which the Thunder have started a season 3-0. Second thing–this was the biggest margin of victory since the Thunder whipped New Orleans 119-74 back on February 27, 2013. Third thing—It seemed  like Christmas last year during the dumpster fire, injury riddled season before OKC hit 3-12 in garnering its third win. I know it wasn’t Christmas, but let’s just pretend it was for dramatic effect.

Billy Donovan and his Thunder did everything I ask of them in my pregame preview so they get an A from okcthunderground.com on this report card.

They did the following:

• Moved the basketball as in garnering 32 assists to 19 turnovers.
• Played decent defense as in holding the Nuggets to 38% from the field on the night.
• Got Serge Ibaka going early in what was easily his best game of the season with 18 points, 7 boards, 4 assists and 5 blocked shots.
• Pounded Denver on the boards 50-35.
• Took good shots and shot 52.3% from the field.
• Had seven different players score in double figures with Durant leading the way with an earthly 25 points.
• Got both Durant and Westbrook off the floor for the night with only 28 and 25 minutes logged on their respective bodies. Hoping to see much more of this trend as the season unfolds.

OKC now goes to Houston for a game against the now 0-3 Houston Rockets. My take is this–don’t worry about the Rockets because the Warriors, the Clippers and the Spurs are all going to very tough…especially the defending world champion Warriors who are 3-0 and playing with a chip on their shoulder. Just beat the 0-3 Rockets and move on.

Excellent, professional, workmanlike win. Crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s. That’s all you can ever ask of your ball club. Life is good. Beat James Harden. Piss on Patrick Beverly. Our OKC Thunder is back.

Mike Jackson