Month: November 2015

OKC Thunder 111 — Utah Jazz 89

Kevin Durant made his return from a mild hamstring strain sustained against the Wizards almost two weeks ago. In between that beautiful first half against the Wizards, minus last night’s win over Dallas without Durant, there was some very ugly basketball played by the Oklahoma City Thunder. With Durant’s return it was a return to the type of basketball which had most NBA experts putting OKC in the mix with Golden State, San Antonio and Cleveland for an NBA championship this season.

Durant was Durant scoring 27 points on a 10-13 shooting night. This is Kevin Durant. Perhaps the most seamless, efficient scorer in the modern era  or any era in the history of the league. It’s what he does and why OKC looks lost without him as far as closing and scoring at critical times in close games. He makes Russell Westbrook better and vice versa. Westbrook is a triple double machine for the ages, but Durant is the closer. Period.

Durant and the Thunder left nothing to the imagination in this one.  They came out on the second night of a road back to back against a rested Utah squad and basically executed the Jazz in the first half with a 63-46 standing eight count. This game was over at halftime. For those keeping track this was OKC’s first win of the season on a road back to back or any back to back for that matter. This was a glimpse of the Thunder potential which has some thinking they could ‘maybe’ hang with the Golden State Warriors in a seven game series. But then again—this was a Utah squad starting a rookie named Raul Neto at point guard. So let’s not get carried away just yet.

OKC improves to 9-6 on the season and currently stands in fourth place in the West.

Other things:

• Oh, yeah….Kevin Durant is my OKCThundGround No. 1 Star of the Game. Almost forgot.
• I thought Dion Waiters was excellent in this game. His energy, his defense, and his overall play are things we’re starting to see on a regular basis. Must suck for the haters at Daily Thunder, you know…with Waiters playing good and all…sigh. But I didn’t use the word Trekkie…give me that. Call it personal growth on my part.
• Westbrook was just right integrating Durant, yet being Westbrook.
• Billy Donovan seems to have finally cemented the notion Anthony Morrow should be in the rotation and Kyle Singler shouldn’t. It only took a month. Can you imagine the outcry if Scott Brooks had done this?
• Steven Adams’ hair still sucks. I guess he didn’t read my suggestions from last night. I mean—for a nice looking kid…his hair really sucks.
• Five different players were in double figures for the Thunder tonight
• 22 assists to 16 turnovers.
• Raul Neto started at point guard for the Jazz tonight.
• OKC with ten blocked shots tonight.
• The Utah crowd has become annoying with the childish booing of Enes Kanter.
• Combined…Waiters and Morrow went 11-17 from the field, 4-6 from behind the arc and scored 27 very efficient points.
• Nick Collison  has played some great basketball of late and has put to rest any notion of Mitch McGary becoming a rotation player this season. Nick answered the call.

Good win for the Thunder. Utah in all likelihood won’t be a playoff team, but still a nice road win.

Welcome back, Kevin Durant. Stay healthy.

Mike Jackson

 

 

 

 

 

OKC plays at Utah tonight in a game matching teams with different styles of play. OKC more reliant on its offense, Utah more so on the defensive end of the floor holding teams to 92 points a game. Utah enters tonight at 6-6, but that’s somewhat misleading in that the Jazz have played nine of their first twelve games on the road this young season. At home, the Jazz are 2-1.

OKC is the reverse playing but five if its first fourteen games on the road where it has been 2-3 so far. The road wins were against Orlando and the Wizards. The losses came against Houston, Chicago and Memphis. Kevin Durant played in all of these games except the Memphis game. All three road losses have been on the second night of a back to back.

A good win for OKC last night over Dallas without Kevin Durant. Solid team effort with various players making big plays in the fourth period. Serge Ibaka, Dion Waiters, Nick Collison, Anthony Morrow, and Enes Kanter were all solid on the same night in a home game. No word on Kevin Durant’s status as of this preview. Either way—OKC hopes to build something positive tonight. A step forward.

Not sure if last night was a statement of any sorts, but it was a win and there were some encouraging signs especially with Serge Ibaka and Anthony Morrow.

Utah is a young team with a young core group of Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Alec Burks, Rodney Hood, Trey Burke, Rudy Gobert and Trevor Booker. Solid defensive team which struggles scoring at times. Utah is coached by former Missouri head coach Quin Snyder. Both teams still very much finding their way in the first quarter of the season.

Should be an interesting game to watch with young teams featuring contrasting styles of play.

 

OKC Thunder 117 – Dallas Mavericks 114

Good basketball game on Sunday evening as the OKC Thunder without Kevin Durant for the sixth straight game made a sequence of game winning plays in the final three minutes to end the Mavericks winning streak at six games with a 117-114 win at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Even though Russell Westbrook led the way with a 31 point, 11 assist evening, and several big buckets when it mattered most, for the first time since Durant’s hamstring strain- multiple Thunder players stepped up their games coming down the stretch to help OKC improve to 8-6 overall and 3-3 without Durant.

Serge Ibaka with 16 points and 9 blocks would probably lead my list of Thunder players other than Westbrook stepping up when it mattered. Ibaka’s block of  a Deron Williams layup attempt with 8.4 seconds left… in essence clinched it for the Thunder.

Dion Waiters, in his second start filling in for Durant was solid with 14 points and several big plays.

Nick Collison continued his excellent play of late with ten points, but more importantly solid overall floor play.

Anthony Morrow from last season was actually spotted at Chesapeake Energy Arena with a 14 point night on a 5-9 shooting night in 24 minutes. For the first time in a while–Morrow looked like one of the league’s better three point shooters going 2-3 from behind the arc. I liked the confidence he showed with his stroke. Maybe the fact he played 24 minutes and Kyle Singler played 3 minutes is significant in this Eureka moment provided by Billy Donovan.

Kanter chipped in 12 to round out a night in which six different Thunder players scored in double figures. Tough call, but I think I’ll go with Serge Ibaka as the OKCThunderGround No. 1 Star of the Game.

Deron Williams led Dallas in scoring with 20 pts. Wes Matthews had 18 points. My favorite name player in the NBA…Zaza Pachulia had a 12 point, 10 rebound night.

Dallas drops to 9-5 on the season which is good because I have them at No. 8 on my  Daily Thunder Western Conference Regular Season Seeding Bracket Sheet.

Other things:

• After going an abysmal 3-29 from behind the arc against the Knicks, OKC got back to normal with a 9-22 night from three point land.
• 25 assists to 16 turnovers is something the Thunder can live with every night. Good ball movement which was rewarded with a 52.2% shooting night from the field overall.
• Kevin Durant missed his 61st game out of his last 96 games if you’re counting.
• Best win of the six game stretch of games without Durant.
• Possibly the second best win overall of the young season falling behind the opener against the Spurs.
• Golden State tied the NBA record of going 15-0 to open the season. Play the Lakers next.
• Rookie Cam Payne got torched again defensively when he set foot on the floor in the second quarter.
• Steven Adams missed two very big free throws at the end which fortunately didn’t cost OKC the game. It must be the hair. Unless he’s auditioning for a part in a Quinton Tarantino movie he should get rid of the hair. He doesn’t need that hair.
• Kevin McHale got fired earlier this week by the Rockets.
• Hope we’re seeing a new trend in the distribution of Morrow-Singler minutes.

Tomorrow night in Utah against the defensive minded Jazz and Enes Kanter’s old teammates.

 

Note to Steven Adams–If you’re hell bent on this new hair look—this would be better. Just trying to help. This would be a better look.

Or, maybe keep it long without the tail. That would work. Let it flow.

In the end I like Adams so it doesn’t really matter about the hair I guess.  Seems like a very funny, genuine guy. Just make the free throws.

 

 

 

 

 

Thirteen games into this NBA season and nothing seems apparent except the Thunder without Durant are probably a bottom half team in the Western Conference. As one objectively watches these games without Durant both last season and this season–there doesn’t appear to be a player on Sam Presti’s roster who can pair with Westbrook to give OKC a dependable twosome when Durant isn’t available due to various health issues. Kevin Durant has now missed 60 of OKC’s last 95 games dating from last to this season. …so this is an issue.

7-6 into a young NBA season is not a disaster or a reason to panic because OKC isn’t going to catch Golden State in the standings regardless. But thirteen games into a season in which you were picked by Vegas to be one of the top four teams in the league for a second straight season and seeing the same trends of play is a reason for serious concern.

Bottomline even with an All-Star triple double machine in Russell Westbrook, OKC isn’t a good basketball team without Durant on the floor. They appear disjointed, lacking in confidence and unsure of who has the right to be the second star in Durant’s absence. In these games—Serge Ibaka is clearly defining himself as a limited player within a limited role who doesn’t appear confident moving beyond.

 

So a red hot Dallas club rolls into Chesapeake at 9-4 and on a current six win streak. OKC is 7-6 overall and 2-3 minus Durant. Dallas has been a bit of an early season pleasant surprise. An interesting blend of Dirk, Deron Williams, Wes Matthews, Chandler Parsons, Zaza Pachulia, Dwight Powell, JJ Barea, Devin Harris, Raymond Felton and Charlie Villanueva.

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Deron Williams and Zaza Pachulia have been nice off season additions as consolation prizes roster additions after the soap opera failed free agency signing of Deandre Jordan.

No official word on Durant’s status tonight as of this writing. With Durant this makes for a compelling game to watch–without Durant I’d have Dallas as the favorite at say -4.5 or so.

Dirk versus KD always makes for an entertaining watch, Dirk versus the Thunder team without not so much.

 

Below is the Dirk Championship MVP Finals video. If Durant is a no play tonight—this might be a better basketball watch as a fallback position courtesy of OKCThunderGround. Always be prepared.

 

 

 

New York Knicks 93 — OKC Thunder 90

 

Difficult game to write about, maybe why I’ve taken my time deciding on how to recap it in my season journal. I’ve thought how to start it, but here’s what I ultimately have to go with.

Thinking, thinking—let’s go with this.

 

With about 26 seconds left and OKC trailing by three, Russell Westbrook penetrated the lane then fired an on target pass to Serge Ibaka in the corner. A completely wide open Serge Ibaka.  Just a perfect basketball play until Ibaka clanked the wide open look. OKC would ultimately get another chance to tie the game, but Westbrook fired a wild three which missed badly, and Dion Waiters missed on a second chance  three which went half way down. Knicks win despite really not making a game winning play in the last thirty seconds or so.

These are the Oklahoma City Thunder without their closer Kevin Durant to steady them in the end of close games. These Thunder are a borderline 8th place team in the West regardless of how many times Russell Westbrook triple doubles or Enes Kanter double doubles.

Serge Ibaka is my favorite player from Congo in the NBA if you know what I mean, but he was bad again. In thirty minutes of play he went 4-13 from the field and had three rebounds if I read the box correctly. Steven Adams was a non-factor as well. Kanter and Waiters were decent, functional, but when you get virtually nothing from your two starting bigs its hard to win against solid NBA teams who are well coached. At 7-6, the NY Knicks under Derek Fisher appear to be headed in that direction. Not great, but solid.

There were two ex Duke players on the floor. The one who played for OKC the first part of last season was by far the most effective ex Coach K player on the floor. He scored 12 important points with several buckets coming down the stretch run. Here’s a clue—his name isn’t Kyle Singler.

Westbrook scored 34 points on the night, but I can’t give him the No. 1 Star, nor can I give it to Carmelo Anthony who scored 25 points and helped his team improve to 7-6.  In all candor–I thought Lance Thomas and Nick Collison were the two most fundamentally sound players in the second half–so I’m setting precedent here by giving the other Duke player and Nick Collison my OkcThunderGround co-No. 1 Stars of the game.

OKC drops to 7-6, but an even more revealing 2-3 when Kevin Durant isn’t on the floor to bail them out in the final four minutes of tight games.

In watching these first thirteen Thunder games I’m coming precariously close to calling Sam Presti a chump who got his lunch money stolen by the playground bully for buying out Scott Brooks final contract year to see this type of basketball. The same mistakes. The same defensive miscues. The perimeter defense gone awol. Same things if you’re really honest with yourself as self admitted Scott Brooks and Kendrick Perkins blamers. Same damn things. Coachable things, correctable things. Especially on the defensive side.

But it’s still November and even though OKC is already six down in the loss column to the Luke Walton coached Golden State Warriors the week before Thanksgiving–I shouldn’t seethe thru a Thunder recap even if it is my own blog.

So I won’t. I’ll leave this to Jim Traber on Monday afternoon on the radio and live thru his seething vicariously.

Rick Carlisle and his streaking Dallas Mavericks at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on Sunday evening. You would think Kevin Durant will be on the floor. Better be.

Mike Jackson

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knicks in town tonight to play the OKC Thunder, but it’s already been announced Kevin Durant is not playing so he’s a scratch. Knicks enter at 6-6 and much improved from last year’s disaster season. Carmelo Anthony and Latvian rookie big man Kristaps Porzingus have anchored a Knick return to respectability under second year coach Derek Fisher.

As we’ve seen in these four games without Durant, they’ve all been struggles to varying degrees. I would expect the same to be true tonight as it should be a good game as the Thunder aspire to improve on their 7-5 mark and stay near San Antonio for the second seed in the West.

To me–it’s very simple if other players on the roster besides Westbrook and Durant cannot consistently start picking up their games, OKC will not seriously contend for the West along with the Warriors and Spurs even after Durant’s return. Period.

At the top of this list I put Ibaka, Kanter, Adams and Waiters. It’s time for these four players to show me why I have them ranked as OKC’s four best players after Westbrook and Durant. The Singler-Morrow thing is vexing, but both of those guys are specific role players with narrowed roles. Same with Andre Roberson.  But much more is needed from the foursome listed above.

Very simple axiom in team building. Here we go…your two stars have to play like elite stars. Your alpha closer has to get healthy and stay healthy. Serge Ibaka has to step up his game and leave no doubt he’s the third best player.  Backup point guard DJ Augustin has to play much better defense and give OKC something when Westbrook has to take a blow. Morrow has to make threes. Collison has to be Collison doing the dirty work. Andre Roberson has to be a better lockdown perimeter defender.

That’s ten players. That would be my rotation. Quit messing with the roles upon Durant’s return. This means Kyle Singler becomes the 11th man and a floater in sense after Durant returns to the lineup.

OKC needs to win tonight, get to 8-5 and have Durant in the lineup Sunday night against the Mavericks.