Well, I just got through reading both Royce Young and Anthony Slater’s take on the game last night, and in all candor all I can I write is I wasn’t surprised. I’m not at all a big Bill Simmons fan, but his tagging of OKC’s local media as the Prestettes is totally on the mark. Instead of any narrative on the game, the team, and the season, there’s all this fascination with Reggie Jackson and his antics and the effect it had on Thunder players like Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Kevin Durant, and Nick Collison at the end of the game.
And you know what…I’m going to come to Reggie Jackson’s defense even though he played as poorly as his former Thunder mates last night. Truth be known, the Pistons didn’t win last night because of Reggie Jackson, they won in spite of Reggie Jackson, but the Thunder are so stupid they allowed this to happen coming off one of their best nights in almost two full seasons of play.
Think about what I just wrote, in almost two full years of play with two of the league’s four best players, a road win at Toronto with a slumping Kyle Lowery qualifies as a signature win. Think about that. To me, this says a great deal about the Thunder.
And exactly what were Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka resting from? Kevin Durant played in 27 games last season. He’d already sat seven games this season and sleepwalked for about three weeks after the All-Star break. What rest was needed? The only people more well rested than Kevin Durant are in the United States Senate.
I’m just reading all this and blown away on multiple fronts. The world has changed, my friends. There is no way I could fathom prime Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird, or Magic Johnson allowing themselves to be sat in this game.
So why are Thunder players or Thunder beat writers even rehashing this aspect of last night’s game?
Leave it alone. If OKC as an organization isn’t smart enough to stagger their players in a well thought manner–then just leave it alone.
In Reggie Jackson’s world it was his One Shining Moment and if the OKC Thunder are dumb enough to allow it to happen then accept it for what it is and don’t say a word about it.