Author: Mike

A stunning display of basketball. Coupled with Golden State’s 88-85 win at home in December, the Warriors complete a 2-0 season sweep of the Cavs.

Golden State at Cleveland tonight. First time for the Warriors to return to Cleveland since their championship clinching Game 6 win last summer. Should be the focus of all the NBA world tonight.

OKC Thunder 99 — Miami Heat 74

I’ve been watching the Democratic Presidential Debate since the conclusion of the Thunder-Heat game, so I didn’t listen to any of Billy Donovan’s presser on this one. Don’t think I need to because my guess is he’s a fairly happy coach with good things to say after this Thunder win.

Even though Miami was missing point guard Goran Dragic in this one, I’d probably rate this as one of OKC’s top six or seven wins on the season as far as level of play and quality of  opponent.

This game was clearly a tale of two halves, but what’s impressive is OKC won both halves even though they struggled shooting the ball in the second quarter.

First half was played at Miami’s grinding tempo which isn’t really conducive to how the Thunder like to play, but what the Thunder will see some of if they make a deep run in this post season. Despite a choppy second period–OKC led 44-42 at the half.

Second half was a different story as OKC got out in transition and won the third period by a 31-16 count. The game was essentially over entering the fourth, but OKC kept the pressure on and finished with a second half win of 55-32 over the deliberate Heat who are not in their comfort zone playing at a faster pace game.

The 74 points by Miami was their lowest output of the season, and the lowest point total OKC has allowed this season.

All of the things which have limited the Thunder at times were all positives tonight against a pretty good ball club. The ball continued to move for OKC and the improvement in this facet of the Thunder game is becoming more noticeable every game. On the night,  OKC garnered 24 assists versus 14 turnovers, and it would have been higher if not for the poor second quarter shooting performance.

OKC’s defense and energy were good as well. From the opening possession when Andre Roberson went into full dive mode to create a jump ball, which in turn created a turnover on the pursuant jump ball. Little things, getting dirty, scratching, clawing, bleeding for that extra inch. Those are the work ethic plays  Jeff van Gundy was alluding to the other night.

Plus, OKC’s defense was good from its two stars…Durant and Westbrook. They got after it defensively. They led by example on both ends. Again with the caps….THIS IS A HINT OF WHAT OKC CAN BE IF THEY PLAY THE RIGHT WAY. Great game by the stars.

Westbrook collected his fifth triple double of the season. It’s the kind of line I love from Westbrook with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 15 assists. Combined Westbrook and Durant had 18 assists. Kevin Durant led OKC with 24 points and 10 rebounds

On this night, both Serge Ibaka and Dion Waiters were making their shots to the tune of 15-27 from the field. Ibaka scored 19 points, Waiters added 18 points. It marks the third straight game in which  Dion Waiters was efficient. Keep it up, Dion.

OKC’s bench  scored 31 on the night and was +23 on the night. Another game in which there was a nice blend of starters and bench units pulling it together on the same night.

My No. 1 Star is the team. I thought it was an excellent team win as OKC won its fourth straight and improved to 30-12.

Good win for OKC. Improved team play on several different fronts. Not only that—it appears Golden State might be coming back down to earth.

All in all a good week-end for the OKC Thunder.

Mike Jackson

Unbelievable day of NFL Divisional Playoff football yesterday. So—I decided to move the poll back till today. Still can’t believe the ending of the Packer game. One of the craziest endings ever in the history of the league.

Some NBA games yesterday which will cause me to shake things up near the top of this week’s poll. Namely, the Pistons beating Golden State for the Warriors second loss in three games. Golden State for the first time this season won’t be No. 1 in my poll. Sacramento beating the LA Clippers and ending the Clips’ ten game winning streak will make me drop the Clippers a notch, although if you look at the standings it’s not inconceivable George Karl could get his mentally fragile team into the 8th spot in the West before season’s end.  The Chicago Bulls had a rough week and are moving down in my poll as well. OKC’s Thunder didn’t really beat a quality team during the week, but due to  the Clips and Bulls showing they’re probably not Top 4 worthy–the Thunder slide back up, but still in my mind haven’t done anything to be moved into the top three tier of teams.

Are the Detroit Pistons for real in the East? I’m not sure, but they get my attention and for the second straight week they climb in the poll. Are the Toronto Raptors the second best team in the East behind Cleveland.. again, not sure, but in this week’s poll they are my second highest rated team from the East.

1     San Antonio Spurs

2     Golden State Warriors

3     Cleveland Cavaliers

4     OKC Thunder

5     LA Clippers

6     Toronto Raptors

7     Atlanta Hawks

8     Chicago Bulls

9     Miami Heat

10   Detroit Pistons

11    Dallas Mavericks

12    Memphis Grizzlies

OKC Thunder 113 — Minnesota Timberwolves 93

OKC’s Thunder moved the basketball Friday night inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena. It didn’t stick, it swung, then found a wide open shooter. Basketball is simple, yet beautiful when played this way. OKC had 31 assists to but 6 turnovers en route to an easy coast to coast cakewalk win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Russell Westbrook played like you want your point guard to play in registering the 23rd triple double of his unique career. One game removed from being snookered into an ejection by J.J. Barea, and showing little composure on the floor, Westbrook gave a clinic on what a team aspiring for lofty goals needs from their point guard on every night, not just when they’re playing one of the worst teams in the league.

Russell Westbrook is my No. 1 Star with 12 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, and only two turnovers. When Westbrook plays like this, OKC is elite. When he plays that other way, not so much. Hate to dwell on it, but for OKC to be Warriors, Spurs, Cleveland-like elite—this is the Westbrook OKC has to have, not the one who J.J. Barea got ejected the other night. You don’t think every good team in post season won’t talk about getting under Westbrook’s skin? C’mon, this isn’t Nick Gallo’s recap or the Fox postgame show.

This was basically over at the end of the first period as OKC took command in the first twelve minutes leading 31-17 at the end of the period, then 57-43 at the half. Like I said in the preview, Minnesota isn’t very good, but still–it’s a team with two No. 1 picks from two different drafts in Wiggins and Towns. Not trying to be critical of Sam Mitchell, but maybe these young guys should be coached just a little different. Like maybe starting with the decision of who’s your point guard moving forward…Ricky Rubio or Zack Lavine. Make a decision and go with it like OKC did with Westbrook during his ugly growing days. Just a random thought there for the editors of Daily T Wolves. Sigh.

It was a night of ball Billy Donovan and staff hope will be the template for the Thunder’s remaining 41 regular season games and beyond. Almost perfect. OKC had six players score in double figures and its starters combined for 66 points, while OKC’s often criticized bench scored 47 points. Tell me this isn’t what Donovan would want every night, and I’ll tell you you’re wrong. This is what Billy Donovan wants from his team and his two stars. HE WANTS WESTBROOK AND DURANT TO MAKE THE OTHER PLAYERS AROUND THEM BETTER AND HE WANTS THESE PLAYERS TO MAKE SHOTS. I hope the caps didn’t take away from the thought I was trying to convey.

BTW, OKC shot 52.8% from the field on the night. Nice.

Durant had a good game as well scoring 21 points and handing out 7 assists. This means combined Westbrook and Durant had 17 helpers and but 3 turnovers. That will win Billy Donovan a basketball game on almost every night.

The curious, mysterious Dion Waiters had his second effective game in a row scoring 20 points and only completely missed the rim on a layup–once.

In closing this one out–let me quote Jeff van Gundy from the Cleveland-Houston game which caused me to be late with this recap.

‘Teams which aspire to win championships play defense and move the ball every night. It’s not just a sometimes thing. It’s something which comes about through working hard as a team to do it every day in practice and in every game. Most teams won’t do this though.”

So—there’s the challenge to Durant, Westbrook, and the Thunder as a whole via Coach Jeff van Gundy. If you want to win a championship you have to get dirty, play smart, and do the little things which don’t come easily.

End of lecture.

Mike Jackson

T-Wolves in town tonight to play the Thunder for the second time this week. After their 8-8 start, reality has set in with this team as they’ve settled downward to the No. 14 seed in the West currently only ahead of the tanking dumpster fire Lakers.

The only ones not seeing this trend coming we’re a group of hoop youngster knaves over at Daily Thunder who started their own rogue Wolves blog because of their restless boredom on Daily Thunder. But still — you have to admire their passion however misguided. We’ll be chatting about the midway scores in the Daily Thunder Western Conference Seeding Contest soon though.

I have great seats tonight–so I’ll work hard at making it fun just seeing Wiggins and Towns.

Vegas has OKC as a 13.5 point favorite, which should be about right if the Thunder bring some focus into this game. This marks the halfway point in the season for OKC. Hard to tell in the past two games if OKC’s confused perimeter defense has improved in that Minnesota is a terrible three point shooting team and Dallas held out Dirk, Chandler, and Matthews on Wednesday night. I would suspect the answer is not much.

If OKC shows up and plays with any kind of fire this should be another game where Cam Payne plays at least 25 minutes. The Thunder bench was torched with a -28 earlier this week against this next to last place team and needs to assert something so as just to get some kind of positive feel going about itself.

The curious Dion Waiters had a horrible game on Monday, a solid game on Wednesday…how would one know what’s in store tonight. Kanter’s defense has been the subject of many recent local stories with various local internet scribes using every imaginable advanced stat to tell us what we already knew….Enes Kanter isn’t very good on the defensive end.

In defense of Billy Donovan and his rotations, he’s going to be dealing with this for the remainder of this season in that Kanter has a no trade clause in essence for the first year of his contract. This is on Sam Presti, not Billy Donovan.

OKC’s record is 28-12 which is good. People can’t be down on the Thunder because of what Golden State and the Spurs are doing. Both are on potentially historic runs and OKC has only played one game total against either of these teams so far.

It’s pretty simple for OKC…their bench and their overall team defense have to get markedly better if they aspire to go beyond the second round.

Not that I think tonight will tell us anything because Minnesota is a bad team, but I’ve got a great seat. So— take smart shots, Dion. Play some defense, Enes. LET’S GO THUNDER!

As we near the trade deadline on February 20th, this much remains certain whether you’re Bill Simmons or Nick Gallo — the OKC Thunder because of injuries, team chemistry, inconsistent bench play, or losing the absolute perfect player to slide into the OKC co-point guard position along with Westbrook, has never made it back to the NBA Finals. But more importantly–from the trade forward, OKC has never found the right fit at the shooting guard position as Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, Reggie Jackson, and Dion Waiters have never filled the role as Harden did. Reggie Jackson came close, but ultimately he didn’t want the role. He wanted his own team. So–here OKC is almost four seasons later and still struggling with what  they should do trying to fill the shooting guard position.

 

Even with last night’s loss to Denver, Golden State still very much in pursuit of a seventy win regular season at 36-3. But the next ten games will provide some tests, plus the Warriors and Spurs finally hook up for the first of their four regular season meetings.

Golden State’s next ten games…. Jan 14 Lakers, Jan 16 @ Pistons, Jan 18 @ Cleveland, Jan 20 @ Bulls, Jan 22 Pacers, Jan 25 San Antonio, Jan 30 @ Sixers, Jan 31 @ NY Knicks, and Feb 3 @ Wizards.

Plus, the Warriors and Spurs meet twice in the final week of the regular season.

OKC Thunder 108 —  Dallas Mavericks 89

When it was announced Dallas coach Rick Carlisle was sitting all five of his starters tonight–this one figured to be an easy one-sided win for the Thunder even with their recent mood swings of apathy and complacency. One of those where you felt cheated for buying tickets to see a high level NBA game.

But thanks to some showmanship by gritty Dallas guard J.J. Barea and veteran forward Charlie Villanueva this one at least remained fun to watch.

With 5:17 left in the second period, Russell Westbrook and Barea became entangled, expletives were were exchanged, and somehow Charlie Villanueva found himself trying to choke Serge Ibaka in the aftermath. Villanueva was ejected and double techs were given to Barea and Westbrook.

Not long after—Barea instigated Westbrook again, and again Westbrook was given a tech while Barea was given nothing. Good, smart hockey-basketball by one J.J. Barea. Westbrook done for the night, Barea still in the game. OKC needs a player like Barea..seriously. OKC is in serious need of another player with an edge besides Westbrook. I just love Barea, Patrick Beverly as well. You need some energy players with edge.

But it mattered not one bit in this monumental mismatch between OKC starters and Dallas subs as OKC easily cruised to an all smiles feel good win over the Mavericks.

It was 65-44 at the half and the game was basically over.

Serge Ibaka is my No. 1 Star of the Game with 20 points, 11 rebounds,, and 3 blocked shots.

Durant doubled-doubled with 29 points and 11 rebounds. The curious Dion Waiters had his periodic good game scoring 18 points and dishing 5 assists. OKC’s bench was much better as a result and Cam Payne in 25 minutes had 10 points and 3 assists. OKC’s bench had 44 points on the night.

Andre Roberson scored nine points in the first quarter and never scored again, while Russell Westbrook for only the second time in his NBA career went scoreless.

This win means nothing except OKC improves to 28-12 and for the first time in a while actually looked engaged and having some fun.

Minnesota on Friday evening at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Mike Jackson