I watched every minute of this game and other than the road win at Toronto… I thought it was perhaps the Thunder’s best wire to wire performance this season.
The game had pace and ebb and flow between what I think are two pretty even teams talent wise. Memphis is in my view is a year ahead of what the Thunder should be next season with Banchero or some other talented player acquired in the draft joining the Thunder next season.
To me…it was evident from the get go they wanted to win this game. Minutes weren’t doled out like it was a rec game at the North Edmond Little Girls’ U-10 Youth Soccer League over on Danforth Blvd.
When you get your ass beat by seventy-three points by a team… I would hope even with Hinkie-Presti and Coach Tank pimping for as many losses as possible that the competitive embers are burning and intact so to speak.
Those two can always lose another game they need to lose somewhere down the stretch in March or April.
Kudos to the eleven Thunder players who played in this game absorbing the 240 minutes of playing time.
I would have preferred to have seen more than five minutes from Aaron Wiggins, but otherwise I saw no pimping for a loss from Coach Pimp on this one. That’s pretty much the way I would have played it as well.
I thought Poku played some very solid minutes amongst the twenty-one minutes and change he played in this game. I hope people are noticing….he’s getting better.
I also liked the manner in which Bazely was utilized off the bench as a stretch forward like I’ve been suggesting he should be used. As in …the Thunder’s own baffy version of Lamar Odom back in the day. I would quit hating on Poku and Bazely and perhaps instead challenge Presti-Hinkie and his tanking coach to utilize their skill sets in a more appropriate manner.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the swarmy Little Nick Gallo actually read that on my blog previously and suggested it to his higher ups within the Thunder organization.
As I’ve written on here multiple times…Sam Hinkie-Presti…I’m here for you, dude. Trust me…you need someone from John Marshall like me in your inner basketball circle. Someone with a basketball soul beyond the feckless white boys within your comfort sphere.
And in closing… this game retiterated to me what I’ve been saying all season long, that being, if Presti-Hinkie wasn’t tanking for a top three player in the draft then I think this Thunder team with perhaps two nuanced roster moves to add more veteran saavy could easily be on the same track as Memphis this season and contending for a playoff spot.
Merry Christmas!