I in no way want my blog to ever become a homer blog, but I do want it to be fair to Thunder players, coaches, Sam Presti, and Clay Bennett at the end of the day. I always want to make sure I cover the Thunder on here in a genuine and honest manner. There’s a fine line even for rogue bloggers with this, I know this and hope to respect that line.
I’ve wanted to post this Billy Donovan presser for awhile and thought this little western back to back might be a nice spot in the season to do so. I won’t lie, I’ve become fond of Donovan being the Thunder coach. I think he’s done a good job both on and off the court. I can’t remember an instance when he hasn’t been upfront at pressers or been anything less than a class act. I like his flexibility as a coach and his willingness to experiment with players, lineups, and such. I never once have heard him utter a snarky word in regards to Durant’s exit from Oklahoma City.
This is Donovan’s farewell presser at Florida after taking the Thunder job. Florida athletic director Jeremey Foley leads off with a touching farewell to his friend of nineteen years then turns it over Billy Donovan and the press.
After not making the game deciding plays on Friday night versus the Rockets, Russell Westbrook and the Thunder made the big plays which counted down the stretch on Sunday evening against the Celtics to grind out a tough 99-96 home win inside Chesapeake Energy Arena.
It was a game in reality which Oklahoma City shouldn’t have won, but did in fact win. For starters, Oklahoma City was horrid offensively in the first half scoring a season low 39 points as they trailed 43-39 at the break. The Thunder lost Victor Oladipo late in the first period when he fell awkwardly on Jonas Jerebko and sprained his wrist. Oladipo did not return.
But there was even more to overcome as the Thunder missed their first 16 three point attempts and finished an abysmal 3-21 from behind the arc for the game. If this wasn’t enough to clinch a home loss, the Thunder continued their woes at the free throw line shooting 14-27 (61.3%) and only had 17 assists on the night. But amazingly the Thunder somehow found a way to win this game in the fourth quarter after trailing by as many as 13 points in the third period.
Without Oladipo at his disposal, Billy Donovan had to try some other lineup combinations. First blush would tell you this would mean more minutes for Jerami Grant. But not so fast as Billy D decided go hard and heavy with Semaj Christon. Christon responded with his best game as an NBA professional going 3-3, scoring 9 points while adding some ‘little thing’ plays which proved valuable for the Thunder in the fourth quarter. Kyle Singler and Alex Abrines both played for the first time in a while, and together on the floor I might add as the Thunder drew within four at the end of third period as Billy Donovan discarded every plus/minus metric variable known to humanity and the millennials and it worked. Maybe Michael Lewis has this in his new book in a chapter entitled ‘When To Go With Your Gut.’ Anyway, go figure.
I’m now beginning my fourth paragraph on this recap and I figure it’s pretty much time to talk about Russell Westbrook, Oscar Robertson, and Michael Jordan. Not really. This will be about Westbrook only as in despite having his triple double streak snapped at seven he was simply magnificent in the second half comeback by the Thunder. Westbrook’s line was 37-12-6 and you have to figure if Oladipo had played Westbrook would have probably gotten those other four assists, but it really doesn’t matter because the Thunder found a way to win a game they desperately needed.
Of Westbrook’s 37 points, 23 of them came in the second half as he shot 14-26 on the night. Keep in mind, during Westbrook’s streak of seven triples he shot a combined 38% from the field. In essence, this was one of Westbrook’s better shooting games in a while and on this night without Oladipo and with Anthony Morrow going 2-8 from the field it was essential to the Thunder’s cause.
The last thirty seconds were vintage Westbrook. A highlight reel which of in itself should be either be an opening or closing argument to his MVP candidacy. With the game tied at 94 apiece inside a minute, Westbrook weaved and darted to the rim to score an amazing basket which gave the Thunder a 96-94 lead with thirty seconds left. Not long after, Westbrook found himself in a jump ball situation with Avery Bradley under the Thunder basket in a jump ball setting to decide the game. Westbrook easily won the tap which led to a breakout uncontested dunk by Jerami Grant which essentially sealed this improbable comeback win by the Thunder. Westbrook scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, but it was the tap out which might have been the play of the game.
Steven Adams had his second straight solid game offensively with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Kanter went 14 and 6, and Jofferey Lauvergne had a nice game with 7 points and 8 rebounds.
But even with the solid contributions from others, it was an ending which belonged to Russell Westbrook. This was the seventh time this season the Thunder have rallied from behind in the fourth quarter to win a ball game. Quite a departure from last season when the Thunder with Kevin Durant led the entire NBA in blown fourth quarter leads. And make no mistake about it, each of the seven wins have Westbrook’s prints all over each of them. People talk about the triple double incessantly which is fine, but what is more important to the Thunder’s cause is Westbrook is becoming a closer without Kevin Durant at his side. There is no awkwardness or ambiguity any longer, this is Westbrook’s show and every Thunder to a man knows it.
Thunder improve to 15-9 and have what will be a challenging back to back at Portland on Tuesday and at Utah on Wednesday. If Oladipo isn’t available, Billy Donovan will have to mix and max like he did tonight, but even more importantly, Russell Westbrook will have to continue to show the basketball world his evolution as a superstar and why his MVP candidacy is very real.
Not exactly the year of Mark Cuban so far. Just saying.
I giggled the other day reading some millennials on Daily Thunder opine on the subject if former NBA stars from previous eras could star in the current NBA. Of course they could. Today’s players primarily only do three things in today’s game — run around outside the three point line, pick and roll, and pick and pop. Defense is marginal depending if you’re playing in an option year. Granted, some of the players from previous eras would perhaps be playing more defined roles like small lineups or only going against big lineups, but of course they could play because the reality is today’s players are somewhat soft and not coming out of the college game prepared for the next level. Kevin Durant left Texas after winning the NPOTY his only college season and couldn’t even bench press a hundred pounds his first pro season.
Bill Russell could run the floor, defend, rebound, and out think any of today’s centers. Can you imagine Bill Russell as the lone big running the court on a small ball lineup with Steph, Klay, Draymond, and Durant? I’m fairly certain Steve Kerr would trade Za Za Pachulia or Andrew Bogut of now for Bill Russell of then especially if Russell added some weight to his frame. I mean-is there even a genuine dominant or highly skilled center in the current NBA? Is there a center who even remotely has the size or overall skill sets of not only Russell, but Kareem or Wilt? If you’re a millennial you’ve got some work in front of you telling me either DeAndre Jordan or Dwight Howard should even be mentioned in the same breath with these previous players.
Michael Jordan of then would be right there with LeBron as the best player in today’s game. Period. Other current era MVPs such as Durant and Curry in no way have been the complete player Jordan was or would still be in his prime if he were playing today. Curry can’t defend and isn’t much of a rebounder. To Durant’s credit, he has gotten stronger and has vastly improved his defense, but are you telling me you’d take Kevin Durant over Michael Jordan? Good look with that. Jordan would have gone 18-31 in Game 6 versus the Warriors and basically told Draymond Green to go f–k himself while walking off the court. Kevin texted Green after the loss, packed his bags, moved to Oakland, and became the guy’s soulmate. Are you millennials even remotely serious?
Same with prime Kobe Bryant. Bryant, Jordan, Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Larry Bird– all played with a competitive edge you honestly don’t see from today’s players.
Obviously– I’m assuming these previous players would have the same weight training and dietary advances today’s players have in making these statements.
Is it fair to compare Oscar Robertson from his Milwaukee Buck early 70’s prime to Westbrook of 2016? I would say yes and here’s why. Westbrook is faster and jumps higher, but is a spotty three point shooter. I’m fairly certain Oscar Robertson could morph his game to today’s three point line, plus Robertson would play with more guile and cunning than we see from Westbrook, Harden, Durant, or even LeBron. I don’t even seriously enter Curry into this discussion because his game completely revolves around his three point shooting prowess. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have Steph Curry on my team, but I’d have to make sure I had four complete two way players around him on the court.
One of the things I’m loving about Westbrook’s season is that it’s forcing all of us who love the NBA to restudy the history of the game and take some nostalic looks back at previous players and their legacies.
Bill Russell is not only one of the all-time NBA greats, but of all sports. Usually, I find Bill Simmons to be incredibly annoying, but this video is outstanding. I would love to sit with Bill Russell and discuss Donald Trump for an hour. Truly an interesting man who’s book Second Wind is one of the best sports biographies I’ve ever read.
The Houston Rockets are supposed to be a pretty boy team, but on this night it was an overall team toughness which propelled the Rockets to a 102-99 road win which in turn ended the Oklahoma City Thunder’s win streak at six games.
Nothing about this game was pretty by either team. Exciting finish-yes, but nothing pretty, glossy, or smooth. Westbrook did triple double for the 7th straight game at 27-10-10, but with an 8-25 shooting night and eight turnovers attached. Even more revealing, Westbrook went 0-7 from three land and seemingly had his old friend Patrick Beverly (Hello Darkness, My Old Friend) glued to him for most of the evening, especially on a late Westbrook three with the game clock under twenty seconds and a chance to give the Thunder the lead.
After the Westbrook miss, Trevor Ariza was fouled and sent to the line where he made two free throws to give the Rockets a three point lead which held as an Anthony Morrow three came up short at the buzzer for OKC.
Objectively speaking, the Thunder didn’t deserve to win the game as they lost each of the first three periods and found themselves playing uphill against the Rockets all night long. At one point, the Thunder trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half, but in the customary manner of late, Westbrook sparked a fourth quarter rally, however in the end it was too little and too late.
Look at the box score on this game and it tells the story. OKC turned the ball over 19 times and got hammered on their defensive boards as Houston had 16 offensive boards on the night. Overall, Houston won the boards 52-46 and bench scoring as well by a 44-22 margin. So despite OKC holding Harden and Patrick Beverly to a combined shooting night of 7-31, the Rockets simply rolled up their sleeves and won a road game with old fashioned blue collar moxie which usually isn’t associated with their current team brand.
OKC’s defense was fine for the most part as the Rockets went 11-42 shooting their usual frenetic arsenal of threes, but Houston made the plays when it mattered and OKC did not. I call it TSN or just plain grit.
Andre Roberson did another good job defending James Harden limiting him to a 6-23 night, but again it was just toughness on this night from the Rockets which made the difference. For crying out loud, Patrick Beverly had twelve rebounds and was throwing his body all over the place like Mr. Glue. Some hate Beverly, I don’t. I love what he brings to the Rockets even if he is an annoying pain in the ass, but if you’re really honest you know you’d love him if he were on your team.
Rockets improve to 16-7 and now can look upward at the Clippers and aspire for more than fourth in the West as I see it. Houston has a nice team. Capela is sneaky good. Ariza and Beverly give them some perimeter defense and blue collar character. Gordon and Anderson give them spacing and perimeter shooting. Nene gives them an interesting vet big off the bench. Harden gives them a bona fide superstar. Mike D’Antoni gives them an experienced head coach who’s finally got a decent roster to coach for the first time since his glory days with Steve Nash in Phoenix. Plus, they appeared to be unfazed playing on the road. So there you go.
OKC had five players in double figures on the night. Steven Adams had a career scoring high of 24 points and added 10 rebounds. Oladipo and Morrow each scored 12 points while Kanter added ten. Roberson and Jerami Grant both played some high quality defense which for me is the silver lining in this loss. Namely, OKC has a good defensive team which with Grant and Roberson on the floor together can play some very effective small lineup defense against certain opposing matchups. Down the road this Thunder team could become a very good defensive team as this season moves along.
In closing, Patrick Beverly didn’t end Westbrook’s steak of triple doubles, but if you love ugly basketball, you begrudgingly know he was an integral part of a Rocket road win inside the Peake on Friday night.
Boston Celtics in town Sunday night against the Thunder as Westbrook eyes his eighth straight triple.
Save the missed walking call against the Lakers’ Nick Young, the Thunder and Rockets would enter tonight’s game with identical 15-7 records, each with a trending MVP canidate, and each with perhaps a chance at some point in this season of challenging the Clippers for third place in the West. Not bad considering both teams were thought to be in rebuild mode.
From that missed walking call in LA, Nick Young got himself injured and has become inactive as the Lakers are once again losing games and becoming more like the dumpster fire rebuild we thought they might be.
The Thunder of course, then went to Sacramento the next night and perhaps played one of the more horrific games in the franchise’s history by being blown out by the usually toxic Kings on Thanksgiving Eve. But since that putrid evening of noncommittal basketball vs the Kings, the Thunder have soared winning six straight as Russell Westbrook has tripled six straight games.
It hasn’t just been good basketball, it’s been historic basketball as the Thunder and Westbrook have the entire basketball world thinking it might just be possible for Westbrook to average a triple double for the season. Instead of mourning the loss of Durant to Draymond Green’s ball club in Oakland, Thunder fans are now obsessed with the history of Jordan, Magic, Wilt, and ultimately Oscar Roberston. This very well could be the millennials version of what it might have been like when like Joe DiMaggio hit in 56 straight games or Ted Williams hit 400.
If this Westbrook pursuit of Oscar Robertson continues up until the All-Star break–millennials across the NBA landscape will be a ga ga analyzing this era, that era, this style of ball, that style of ball, etc, etc. etc. Our same lovable millennials, the ones who handed the keys of the White House over to Billy Bush’s sex chat buddy will be forced to accept the fact Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and The Big O actually existed and weren’t covert agents involved with Ted Cruz’s father in the assassination of JFK. Clearly, that was a busy sentence.
The silver lining blessing in all of this is that our own Russell Westbrook of Bad Little Dude fame, the one who wears outfits like John Daly, the one who hits it hard, and the one who owns something like forty-three different pairs of eyeglasses without lenses in them, will be the catalyst for these millennials to actually learn something about basketball history and maybe learn something about how the game was played then and how it’s played now.
But it hasn’t just been Westbrook key to the Thunder streak. Anthony Morrow has filled serious scoring and spacing needs. It might not even be a stretch to call Morrow the mini-MVP during this streak of sixes. Anthony Morrow has been superb and if this team wants to continue their ascent upward much of the same will be needed from Morrow.
As much as I disparage Andre Roberson’s shooting on my blog–I’ll be the first to admit his offense and overall play of late has been outstanding. Enes Kanter has been excellent as well giving the Thunder bench a dependable double double threat to go with his bench mates of Lauvernge, Morrow, Jerami Grant, and Semaj Christon until the return of Cameron Payne.
Rookie Domas Sabonis gets more confidence every time he steps on the floor and has shown he’ll give the Thunder a stretch four who can shoot threes with the consistency of Serge Ibaka, but not with the price tag attached.
Victor Oladipo in my view has been the Thunder’s second best player as he’s learning to meld his game with Westbrook’s game and in no way impede triple double history, but at the same time subtly aid the Thunder in becoming the best overall team possible.
Steven Adams has been the Thunder’s third best player even though he’s struggled with ankle and hand injuries through the first twenty-two games. But Adams’ value goes beyond offensive stats as his rim protection, mobility, and defensive versatility make the Thunder whole on the defensive end.
In closing, I can’t really write I’m shocked by what the Thunder have done to date as I picked them to win somewhere in the neighborhood of 46-49 games and finish in either fourth or fifth in the West.
So as Durant and his co organic Bay buds Dray, Klay, and Steph frolick like playful otters inside Oracle, I have to say there’s a very warm, feel good holiday glow about the Thunder’s season so far in Oklahoma City. Thunder fans know a championship isn’t realistic, but the hope of a season of Westbrook and the Thunder flirting with Oscar Robertson’s historic season is a pretty exciting proposition considering how this city felt on July 5th after reading a shallow farewell from Durant on the Players Tribune.
Granted, Westbrook’s tear has been key to this six game winning streak. But let’s not for a second undervalue what Anthony Morrow has meant to this team the past six games. He’s playing substantial minutes and giving the Thunder what they so desperately need—three point shooting and spacing. I love watching Morrow shoot a basketball. He has one of the purest shooting strokes in the league. I can sit and watch the guy shoot in volumes. His ball doesn’t go thru the net, it splashes the net. He and Reddick are my two favorite pure shooters in the league.
When Donovan was giving Alex Abrines a serious look, Morrow never pouted. He waited his opportunity and has made the most of it. I would guestimate if you took a poll of avid Thunder fans in Oklahoma that Morrow would rank as one of the three most popular players along with Russell and Steven.
I love this performance by Morrow during the injury plagued season of 2014. Anthony Morrow at his best.
For the time being, let’s push the ghost of Oscar Robertson over to the side. How ironic–not that long ago Michael was in Oklahoma honoring Russell Westbrook’s induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. On Friday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena, Russell Westbrook will be attempting to tie Jordan’s ’88-’89 feat of seven consecutive triple doubles.
Point blank, Michael is the greatest basketball player I’ve seen in my lifetime. Bill Russell would rank second on my list. Kareem would rank third. I was born in ’57 so I’ve been fortunate enough to see most of the greats.
During pro basketball’s time in Oklahoma City, I’ve been blessed to see Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook. Think about that. All four most certainly headed to the Hall of Fame and I’ve seen all of them play in person in Oklahoma City.
This Friday will be special as Westbrook pursues his seventh straight triple against James Harden’s Rockets. I can’t speak for every Thunder fan, but I still love Harden. I wish he were still with the Thunder, but as time has ebbed along as a fan of the league I realize this is better for him and the game. Make certain of this, I do not feel the same way in regards to Durant because in the end I feel Durant is not doing anything which will help the game or even cement his own legacy. I just feel he’s taking the easiest route possible to a ring short of joining up with LeBron James. I guess I’m just too old school.
But on Friday, it’s Westbrook and Harden. Two California kids who grew in LA idolizing Kobe as their favorite player. Friday evening in Oklahoma City should be special. Maybe Michael should show up and watch from courtside sitting next to Russell’s younger brother, Ray Jr. That would be cool.
I love good interviews as you might tell from reading my blog. I enjoy observing an athlete put his guard down and revealing something of himself/herself to the public. By far, my favorite part of ESPN are the 30/30 docu movies. To me, the most compelling part of sports is often in the human story which drives the sports story. I love this interview with former Georgetown coach John Thompson just talking to Michael like he’s one of his former players and not the player who beat him in the ’82 national championship game.
Great dunk. So much for Dwight Howard as one of the game’s elite rim protectors. Orlando, Lakers, Houston, and Atlanta all became worse with Dwight Howard over time.
It was the second night of a road back to back and it wasn’t pretty at times. But the Oklahoma City Thunder behind Russell Westbrook’s sixth straight triple double had just enough left in the gas tank to beat the sinking Atlanta Hawks by a 102-99 count Monday night in Phillips Arena.
Westbrook struggled mightily with his shot in the first half, but scored 27 second half points to cement his sixth straight triple double and eleventh of the season. It was the 48th career triple for Westbrook. Meanwhile, Kevin Durant appears to be settling in comfortably with his role player status in Oakland. Rumors have it an ESPN 30/30 movie entitled ‘The Real MVP’ might be in the works. And, yeah, this won’t be like the one on the Oxygen Channel.
OKC had double digit leads in both halves, but to the Hawks credit they fought back each time and actually had a chance to send the game to overtime at the end of regulation as a Tim Hardaway Jr. came up short.
The Thunder are still unbeaten since their coming to Jesus moment on Thanksgiving Eve when Billy Donovan finally decided he was going nowhere in a hurry with either Kyle Singler or Alex Abrines as his bench three point flamethrower. Coincide Westbrook’s six game mercurial streak with the fact Anthony Morrow’s minutes have been a fixture in these six games. It’s called space and time. As in Morrow helps create both for his fellow teammates, especially Westbrook, when he’s on the floor. Space and time. You’ll never read that on Daily Thunder, trust me.
Morrow played 25 minutes against the Hawks and was excellent scoring 15 points on a 5-8 shooting night which included 4-6 from beyond the arc. When Morrow does this the Thunder become a different animal, and a dangerous one.
Nice game by Steven Adams with a 12/10 double double. Dipo scored 14 and had a dunk over Dwight Howard which I’ll probably post tomorrow when I’m not sleepy.
Kanter went 10 and 3. Joff didn’t play much. And Semaj had five assists for the second straight game.
Like I wrote atop, it wasn’t pretty, but you take a road win on a back to back any way you can get one. Actually, I think it’s OKC’s first road back to back win of the season after failures in Detroit, Oakland, and Sacramento.
OKC improves to 14-8 and their dual for fourth in the West with Houston will get even hotter on Friday night as Harden’s Rockets visit the Peake for what will be playoff like basketball in mid December.
I can’t wait. I’ll be back tomorrow to post the Dipo dunk over Howard.