Back on November 22nd the Thunder basically toyed with the world champion Warriors by a 108-91 count. It was brutal. So you figured the Warriors would be waiting for the Thunder with some sort of message to send to the attention deficit disorder Thunder who apparently only get stoked to play the handful of teams in this league who have a chance to win the championship.
But none of that mattered from a Golden State viewpoint as it appeared none of that buoyant one for all attitude with the Warriors showing their adoration of Kevin Durant and his mother joining an already championship level team was there. None of that feel was in the building. None. It seemed phony anyway. As if Durant’s handlers suggested to Steve Kerr it would be a good thing to do.
The only feel in the building was that Russell Westbrook proved when he fucking cares he’s most likely the best basketball player in the world on these nights when he cares enough to play defense. The second feeling I got was that Paul George when he wants to show it is the best two way player in the world given that LeBron has lost himself with all that that shit he created in Cleveland. The third feeling I got was one I already knew, that being, that Carmelo isn’t really the third piece in OKC’s Big Three–that would be Steven Adams. Don’t get me wrong, Carmelo is a nice piece if you were paying him about $12 million less a year, but at this point in Carmelo’s career, he’s more like Ray Allen was in his last years with the Heat.
So, we all know who the OKC Big Three are moving forward as if we already didn’t know for those of us who watch every game. We now know on the open record.
We also now know now that while we love Andre Roberson and his heart, there’s no excuse for this Thunder team to mentally loaf. We saw with our own two eyes what Josh Huestis can do in subbing the Andre role. We saw that Jerami Grant can be a flat out hoss when Billy Donovan feeds him the minutes. We saw that frilly Alex Abrines can actually defend a little and might actually warrant a role on this team beyond specialist. We saw what Pat Patterson can do defensively given a bunch of Carmelo’s minutes after the ankle sprain occurred. We saw all of these things with our own two eyes. What we didn’t see was rookie Terrance Ferguson set foot on the floor until the game’s final two minutes.
So, really, unless Sam Presti can pick up some aged vet like Tony Allen on the cheap, Sam Presti doesn’t need to trade pieces to the Orlando Magic in the hope he could get Jonathan Simmons in return.
The reason he doesn’t need to do this is that even without Andre Roberson–it’s apparent Billy Donovan has enough on his roster already. Consider this, against the teams in this league who have a chance to win the O’Brien Trophy…OKC is now 5-1..with the only loss coming to the Celtics when the Thunder went full attention deficient disorder in the second half thinking they had the game won. I don’t view the Spurs as a legit contender as presently constructed so that’s why I don’t include that loss to the Spurs in this conversation.
What I take out of this game is that Josh Huestis should be starting in place of Andre. Pat Patterson should take about five of Carmelo’s minutes, and maybe I was too hard on Alex Abrines in that he actually defended pretty well against the Warriors. This would mean Terrance as a rookie should go back to being the tenth player in the rotation. The floater with less minutes and a reduced role.
It also showed me when Billy Donovan shortens his bench to nine players the Thunder are much more viable.
The final insult to the Warriors on this dismal night was when Draymond Green got ejected for basically being the punk he is. At this point, I just kind of laughed. It’s not like it evoked all that much emotion in me. I’m guessing Westbrook laughed as well.
It was Russell Westbrook and Paul George’s night on the national TNT telecast. It was their night to show what they can be when they really bring their games to the arena. Paul George scored 38 points and had six steals. Russell Westbrook scored 34 points, grabbed 9 boards, and dished out 9 assists. On this night with all those Oakland All-Stars who made the NBA All-Star Game…Westbrook and Paul George showed the world what they don’t know.
But what they also showed the world is that when they want to the heart is there, just maybe not the focus on nights when they’re playing teams not at their level.
Unfortunately, the Thunder now have to play the Lakers on Thursday night in LA. Who would have thought looking at February from January that the two games against the Warriors would be easier for the Thunder than the games against the youthful Lakers. Who would have known?
Billy Donovan, do something daring in the Laker game, start Huestis again and start Patterson to defend Julius Randle and see what happens.
It’s like I never jumped up and fist pumped during this win over the Warriors. In fact, I was cussing the Thunder for a great portion of this game for not playing at this level more often. It genuinely pisses me off as a blogger I have to dog them so much for their apathy.
But it is what it is. Hope Paul George’s family is sitting front row for the Lakers game. Maybe that’ll get Westbrook and George stoked.