Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

I can’t believe I had to write this as a headline even on a rogue blog. But what else can you write if you have a shred of honesty attached to your coverage of this team?

OKC had four days rest before Game 1. They were completely healthy. This is a team which did not make the playoffs last season. This is a team which rested its stars at the end of this regular season. This is a team which for various reasons has been the most underachieving team from a talent standpoint the past three seasons….and they loafed defensively, especially the two stars.

Chris Webber on the TNT telecast can talk all he wants about OKC’s pick and roll defense being the worst he’s ever seen, but at the core they loafed. They didn’t get back in transition defense against a Spurs team which is not noted for running a fast break offense. They committed four boneheaded fouls outside the three point line in the first half which Charles Barkley was correct in stating ‘is just stupid basketball.’

There didn’t seem to be much caring by either Durant or Westbrook.  It’s one thing to see this in a meaningless regular season road game at Phoenix in late February, it’s quite another thing to see this in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals.

I get it. I’ve been watching the NBA since about 1964. There’s an unspoken culture within the NBA where it’s kind of  okay to coast defensively during  certain regular season games. For all we know, it may even be in small print in the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement….’pursuant to Article 622 paragraph IV–loafing is allowed in designated regular season games’.

But are you kidding me about Saturday night?

It was just right there to see for all the world. OKC’s two stars loafed defensively. As I was watching I wondered what Scott Brooks and Kendrick Perkins were thinking to themselves since their main tasks while in OKC were to plead with the two stars to ‘run back faster’ and ‘play harder’.

I don’t ever really recall this ever being an issue with Michael or Scottie or Kobe or LeBron or even Kawhi. Real superstars. Honest two way basketball players bring their lunch box in the goal achieving portion of the season.

Talk all you want about benching Andre Roberson because he can’t shoot a basketball or tweaking the pick and roll defense, but if Durant and Westbrook don’t give a flip about playing defense then it doesn’t matter for OKC who starts at the shooting guard position.

There are certain things some fans tolerate. I’m certainly like that in some regards, but watching two stars loaf in Game 1 is not something I can turn my head away from.

Like I wrote yesterday, all things considered, Durant and Westbrook may need to get out of Oklahoma City and play for someone like Pop, Steve Kerr, or Rick Carlisle where a coach can talk to these two players with total job security intact.

Game 2 tonight in San Antonio. Hope we see some caring from the two stars.

There’s been some national scribes writing about how Durant has already checked it out in Oklahoma City. Maybe a rousing song could get him going in this Spurs series. Maybe turn things around for him like it did for Trump after losing in Wisconsin to Lyin’ Ted Cruz, then crushing the idiot in New York and Pennslyvania. Maybe this will get KD going. Norman Dale never had to do this with Jimmy Chitwood in Hoosiers, but it couldn’t hurt.

If you want to be regarded as one of the league’s elite super stars there’s no better place to show your skills than in post season. As we all know, Oklahoma City missed the playoffs last season when Kevin Durant missed 55 games due to a Jones fracture injury.

So far this post season, Kevin Durant has not been elite. Russell Westbrook maintained Durant’s Game 2 woes versus the Mavs was just a one time thing, but not the case when you really look at the numbers.

Last night in Game 1 against the Spurs — Durant’s line read 33 minutes, 6-15, 8 rebounds,  6 assists, 1 turnover, -31. The whole team was miserable, so we’ll push that to the side for the moment.

But when you go back and examine Durant’s body of work in the Dallas series against a team with no real defensive prowess the numbers in those five games are revealing. No Kawhi Leonard. No Tony Allen. No LeBron James. Just a Dallas team trying to field a team.

In the five Dallas games, these were Durant’s numbers… 43-117 (36%) from the field, 11-41 (26%) from three point, 16 assists, 18 turnovers.

Not exactly the numbers Billy Donovan and his club need from Kevin Durant if their season is to extend beyond next week-end.

OKC’s margin to compete and possibly beat the Spurs is razor thin with Durant playing well, with Durant playing like this the Thunder have no chance.

 

 

Phil, Pop, and Red in that order with me as the three greatest NBA coaches of all-time. They not only knew/know basketball, but they understood the human element of coaching. That doesn’t come from an ESPN metric stats page. It comes from understanding people. This is horrible to say coming from a Thunder fan/blogger, but it wouldn’t hurt either Durant or Westbrook to spend a season or two with Greg Popovich.

 

 

San Antonio Spurs 124 – Oklahoma City Thunder 92

I’ve slept on it and feel better. More centered, refreshed, and ready to tackle this recap. Keep this in mind, I don’t run this blog to sell advertising. Nor is writing about the Thunder what I do for a living. It’s a passion. Consequently, unlike Berry Tramel, Anthony Slater, Jenni Carlson, Erik Horne, or even Thunder homer ESPN blogger Royce Young–I could care less what Sam Presti and Clay Bennett might think. The downside of this is you don’t get much readership. The upside of it is you don’t find yourself playing the bullshit game of quid pro quo access with the Thunder organization in fear of losing off the record access.

But here’s what I’ll say about off the record access in this age of modern internet sports writing—what possible good does it do to have off the record access if you never write something honestly from the heart?

I don’t want to take anything away from the San Antonio Spurs. They’re a good basketball team which is coached by probably the second best NBA coach of all-time in Greg Popovich. I’d go Phil Jackson at one, Greg Popovich at two, and Red Auerbach at three. I give Pop the nod over Red simply because he coaches in a modern age where most NBA coaches can’t tell their superstars what to do. He does and it’s actually refreshing to see stars do things like play defense, make the smart pass, make the smart play, show some caring in their overall craft. Take less money to be a part of something special and actually care about their legacy.

Mark Cuban got it wrong. There’s only three current superstars in the NBA. They would be in this order…LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kawhi Leonard. Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are not superstars for the simple reason they don’t play defense. They could play defense, they have the ability to play defense, but they’ve opted not to for the most part.

Last night in San Antonio was a virtual disgrace for the entire Oklahoma City Thunder organization. This game was literally over eight minutes in when the Spurs led by twenty points. The Spurs went 18-22 from the field in the first period. Kawhi Leonard looked like a streaking Jerry Rice getting behind the alleged Thunder defense. It was pathetic. If a youth coach wanted to put together a video to show his kids how not to play team defense this would be Exhibit A.

Evidently within the braintrust of the Thunder coaching staff they don’t understand terms like space and time. Head on a swivel. Read and react. Talk to your teammates. Getting in a fucking guy’s chest. It appeared there was no preparation whatsoever for this basketball game. No half court defensive zone walk thru, no team film sessions–because if any of these occurred none of the Thunder players played like any of this occurred.

How many times did Kawhi Leonard get to the rim with ease? How many times did LaMarcus Aldridge find himself in his comfort zone spots on the floor with so  much space and time it was embarrassing? How many times was Danny Green left totally unattended on his favorite three point launching spots? It was so bad, my X Factor Tony Parker just lounged around dishing out 12 of the 39 San Antonio assists. Tony Parker did about what Peyton Manning did in the Super Bowl….just enough.

Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge went a combined 28-36 from the field. Danny Green went 6-7. The Spurs as a team shot 60% from the field and 60% from behind the arc.

On the flip side of this every shot OKC attempted was contested. Durant and Westbrook went a combined 11-34 from the field. It’s one thing to loaf defensively, it’s another to suck on the offensive end as well. Give Pop credit though, he went with Kawhi on Westbrook and it wasn’t even competitive. He went with Danny Green on Durant–and in both cases it was a resounding win for the Spurs matchup wise.

And it wasn’t just a case of the Thunder being mentally lazy. They were dumb. Four times in the first half the Thunder fouled a Spur beyond the three point line for three free throws. Four frigging times. The Sacramento Kings don’t even do this.

This game was such a blowout it was already decided before Enes Kanter even got on the floor for his first minutes. The only thing lacking from the Spurs’ complete and total humiliation of the Thunder was bad boy enforcer David West calling out Enes Kanter to center ice and whipping his ass in front of a frenzied Spurs crowd.

One game does not make a series, but OKC’s two one way superstars better locate some heart in a hurry and inspire their teammates or else this series might not go much further than the fifth game Darnell Mayberry predicted it would go.

 

I’m going to put this up for the Thunder players. Take a look.

 

Mike Jackson

 

 

This is about thirty minutes long. It’s a mini movie on the 2014 Spurs-Heat Finals.

The Spurs were coming off their disastrous finish in Game 7 in the 2013 Finals when they let a championship get away from them in the final thirty seconds. The Heat were going for their three peat.

Amidst it all the Spurs played some of the best team basketball ever viewed.  Kawhi Leonard emerged with the MVP and his first NBA championship. If you’ve never seen this it’s worth a watch as a primer for this series.

It’s game day. To be brutally honest, with the exception of the previous games against the Warriors, Cavs, and Spurs—this is really the first time I’ve been excited this season. This is the first time I feel like we’re going to find out if OKC is the real deal or just more of the same since the Harden trade.

Think about this, since the trade there’s always been various injury issues which have made it unfair to evaluate the Thunder. Not so entering this series. OKC couldn’t be healthier. Scott Brooks is gone. Kendrick Perkins is gone. Same with Thabo. Derek Fisher, Kevin Martin, Caron Butler, and Jeremy Lamb. All gone. Poof.

So here we are entering the beginning of reckoning for Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Billy Donovan, Sam Presti, and Clay Bennett.

Can Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook as two of the world’s best five basketball players lead their team to the NBA Finals for the first time in their careers without James Harden or even Derek Fisher for that matter?

I’ve been reading our local scribes, the ones Bill Simmons refers to as the Prestettes and seeing what they think about the series.  Nick Gallo and Royce Young can’t even be referred to as journalists because both either directly or indirectly make their living because of the existence of the Thunder. So I don’t even include them in the mix.

But the writers at newsok are actually journalists and try to be objective. Granted, they know they work in what is still basically a college market and are a little soft minus Darnell Mayberry, but they for the most part do a solid job. But they’re still the Presettes minus Darnell Mayberry.

I went through their series picks and takes, and for the most part they see it like I do, albeit Anthony Slater who has picked the Thunder in six games. I think Slater actually does a good job, so I’m keeping note of this pick in case the Thunder win this series.

Tramel, Carlson, and Erik Horne pretty much see it like me with the Spurs winning in either six or seven games. Darnell sees it with the Spurs winning in five games. Mike Sherman is the editor so he doesn’t count and isn’t included as a bona fide Prestette.

But back to the question above, can Durant and Westbrook actually do this?

True, OKC moved the ball better this season and upped their assists to around 23 per game, but here’s what they also did—they led the entire NBA in blown fourth quarter leads. How stunning is that sentence. With two of the world’s best five players, this team had more blown fourth quarter leads than either my putrid Philadelphia Sixers or the dumpster fire Lakers.

So, my primary question is if Durant and Westbrook can actually make the right ball decisions in the last six minutes of these games without Harden or Derek Fisher around? Because of injuries we’ve never really gotten the opportunity to see for ourselves if they can do this?

Can Durant and Westbrook finish games in the last six minutes? Can Durant and Westbrook do what Jordan and Pippen finally did when they got past the Detroit Pistons to begin their run of championships?

Even if you’re not a fan of either team involved in this series, it will make for a compelling watch because of the basketball history implications.

For the first time this season–I’m jacked.

Lots of bloggers, internet dwebs, and various other people who never played sports love picking their ‘X factors’ in games, series, and even entire seasons. So–this is probably a good time for me to pick my X factor in the Thunder-Spurs series.

My X Factor is easy. Tony Parker. How he goes is how I ultimately feel this series will tilt. Tony Parker in his prime was as good as it gets at the point guard position. This is not that Tony Parker with those legs, but this version of Tony Parker doesn’t have to be as good because there’s so much quality depth on this roster. Maybe kind of like Peyton Manning with this year’s Bronchos. Can Parker just be good enough?

Tony Parker doesn’t have to be the Tony Parker who in 2007 won the NBA Finals MVP as the Spurs swept LeBron’s Cavs in four games. He just has to be solid and can’t allow Russell Westbrook to take over the series.

Tony Parker, my series X Factor, either way it goes.