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New Orleans Pelicans 123 — OKC Thunder 119

OKC’s Thunder on the second night of a road back to back showed why it’s unlikely this season will provide any kind of a deep run into late June. Namely, the team loafs defensively and doesn’t seem all that locked in on getting better in that regard. Tonight in New Orleans was further evidence as the Thunder lost to previously 22-34 New Orleans by a 123-119 count.

This isn’t a juggernaut offensive team the Pelicans put on the floor. They’ve been decimated by injury. They’re basically playing for nothing, and yet they were the team which played harder and looked like they cared.

Anthony Davis scored 30 points and is my No. 1 Star of the Game. He had some great help though from Ryan Anderson with 26 points, Jrue Holiday with 22 points, and the Pelican bench.

Durant and Westbrook both had massive offensive nights, but it doesn’t matter if you have no defensive leadership on the team. There appears to be no defensive leadership on this basketball team. When you score 119 points against a team averaging 103 points a game and lose…. the check engine light comes on, but unless the Thunder organization all have their heads in the sand—that light came on quite some time ago.

This basketball team is going absolutely nowhere because at this point you have to question if they have the collective defensive heart to go any further than the first round this spring.

It’s not a cliché, defense wins championships, yet the Thunder and their two stars don’t seem to buy into the axiom.

OKC drops to 41-17, yet 1-3 since the All-Star break when their schedule got markedly tougher and they started playing better teams.

I’m cutting this short tonight, the GOP debate in Houston was far more interesting than the Thunder effort in New Orleans. The post debate shows are on and there’s really no point going any further with this recap.

The Thunder host Golden State on Saturday night on ESPN.

Mike Jackson

Second night of a road back to back for OKC’s Thunder in New Orleans tonight. Last night was a good night for OKC as they won in Dallas while the LA Clippers lost to the Denver Nuggets. OKC’s lead over the Clips now stands at four full games.

New Orleans is the most disappointing team in the league this season. Many thought this could be a breakout year for the Pels, but instead the team has been beset by injuries and enters tonight with a record of 22-34 under first year coach Alvin Gentry.

Tonight will be the final game of this season’s series between the two clubs. OKC won both meetings earlier this season in Oklahoma City by scores of 110-103 and 121-95.

Pelicans will be without Tyreke Evans, while the Thunder are at full strength with Andre Roberson back in the starting lineup.

New Orleans still has Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, and Ryan Anderson so the Thunder can’t just sleepwalk through tonight going thru the motions.

Last night was a rarity for Oklahoma City as options three thru six all had good nights on the same night against Dallas. Adams, Ibaka, Waiters, and Kanter were all good on the same night—that doesn’t happen often enough.

Waiters was good, but I thought Steven Adams’ third period was special as well. He probably should have been my co-No. 1 Star of the Game. It’s fun watching Adams grow up as a player. He’s very close in my eyes to becoming OKC’s third best player.

Same mantra for OKC tonight should be the talk by Billy Donovan–namely getting something solid out of these four players.

Randy Foye played 22 minutes last night, it will be interesting to see if his rotation minutes become secure or if Donovan just gave up early on Cam Payne because he couldn’t stay with JJ Barea.

Vegas has OKC as a 5.5 to 6 point road favorite tonight.

 

OKC Thunder 116 — Dallas Mavs 103

OKC’s Thunder snapped their two game post All-Star Game swoon and avoided their second three game losing streak of the season by beating the Mavs in Dallas by a score of 116-103. The win gives the Thunder a four game series sweep of Dallas and somewhat washes away the bad taste of Sunday’s home loss to Cleveland.

As usual, OKC was led by Kevin Durant and Westbrook who both scored 24 points, but in this game it was more of a case of Dion Waiters, Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams and Enes Kanter all contributing as they should if OKC is to have any hope of making any kind of run this post season.

Ibaka had 13 points and 8 rebounds. Kanter 14 points and 9 rebounds. Adams 15 points of which 11 came in the third period as he set a personal best scoring mark in a period as a pro. But the No. 1 Star of the Game goes to the oft criticized Dion Waiters who answered all his haters with a bounce back game in which he went 5-8 from the field and scored 11 of his 14 points in the fourth period.

Donovan’s rotations at the guard position were interesting tonight for sure. Andre Roberson returned and scored 4 points on 1-5 in 21 minutes and was one of only two Thunder players with a negative rating of -5. But, hey, in the world of internet metrics ‘he was the difference.’ Sigh. But seriously, I like Roberson and some of what he brings to the table, but until he learns how to shoot a basketball there are limitations to what he can contribute. But it’s nice to have him back, he has a role on this team.

Waiters played 27 minutes and had an overall solid game with nice hustle plays, some rebounds, several nice assists, 14 clutch points and a Thunder high +16.

The big surprise of the night was Randy Foye’s minutes as in Billy Donovan played him 22 minutes. Foye went 2-7 hitting two threes and was +15. These minutes surprised me, but Dallas does play an offense predicated on swinging the ball and shooting a ton of threes–so maybe it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise.

Cam Payne played only five first half minutes and couldn’t seem to defend his man at all. Payne didn’t play in the second half, didn’t score in the game, and was -5.

It was a typical OKC-Dallas game of runs as both teams usually answer the other until the Thunder summon enough will at the end to subdue the overmatched Mavs. Dirk led the Mavs with 33 points, but these Mavs aren’t anything close to Dirk’s Mavs of 2011, yet it wouldn’t be totally inconceivable if OKC and Dallas end up as first round foes.

After the Cleveland loss on Sunday, any Thunder win on the road is a good win, so this qualifies as a good road win over a so-so Dallas team which is going nowhere except possibly a first round exit.

Thunder improve to 41-16 and play the Pelicans in New Orleans tomorrow night.

Mike Jackson

OKC Thunder on the road tonight to take on the Dallas Mavericks. Thunder enter at 40-16 and losers of two straight trying to avoid losing three straight for the second time this season. First time was back in November when OKC lost three straight to the Rockets, Bulls, and Raptors. Without looking it up, I can’t remember many times in the Durant-Westbrook era this has happened in the same season when both were healthy for most of the season.

Dallas (30-27) is a so-so team which I originally picked as the No. 8 seed in the West before the season started. Nothing Dallas has shown me to date makes me feel wrong abut this assessment especially considering the way Portland is climbing the standings of late.

One thing of note we need to start watching is the gap between OKC and the Clippers for the No. 3 seed in the West. It was earlier a given this wouldn’t be an issue with all the Blake Griffin distractions surrounding the Clips, but slowly and surely it’s not beyond the realm of possibility this could become a close race for third in the West given how tough OKC’s schedule is the remainder of the season.

Andre Roberson expected to be back in the starting lineup for the Thunder tonight.

OKC listed by Vegas as a 4.5 point road favorite tonight in Dallas.

It was quite a week in South Carolina for the GOP Reality Presidential Show. Trump chased off Jeb. Bubble Boy somewhat came back to life after the street fight beating he took from Chris Christie in New Hampshire. Ted Cruz was called a habitual liar by Donald Trump and then fired his campaign manager. And, my choice John Kasich, the only one even remotely qualified to hold the office, barely held off Ben Carson for fifth place.

It seems fairly clear to me Trump and Hillary are headed for a brawl this fall.

But what would a Trump presidency actually look like when we peel back the layers and take a penetrating look at the real candidate?

Or this…..

Or maybe this….

I haven’t done a Power Poll since before the All-Star Game break so it might be time for one. My top four remain the same, but OKC is dropping in stock as a viable title contender. Take the current top three and then there’s a space between the rest of the league as far as championship viability. No. 4 thru No. 12 present a great deal of parity from my view.

1      Golden State Warriors

2      San Antonio Spurs

3      Cleveland Cavaliers

 

4       Oklahoma City Thunder

5        Toronto Raptors

6        LA Clippers

7        Miami Heat

8        Boston Celtics

9        Atlanta Hawks

10      Indiana Pacers

11      Dallas Mavs

12      Portland Trailblazers

 

• note  I might be premature in this, but I’ve dropped Memphis due to the Marc Gasol  season ending foot injury.

OKC has several roster construction problems which aren’t the fault of Billy Donovan, but more the fault of Sam Presti. The one which glares the most is OKC doesn’t have a starting guard who can compete on the same level as say…Klay Thompson,  JR Smith, or Danny Green–just to name the three counterparts in Golden State, Cleveland, and San Antonio.

This isn’t Billy Donovan’s fault, it’s what he inherited.

For some reason Sam Presti seems enamored with building a roster of ‘half players’ to surround Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. In otherwords, players who can’t play both ends of the floor with equal shares of basketball integrity.

Presti drafted Andre Roberson to be the next Bruce Bowen, Shawn Marion, or Shane Battier, but you know what—those three could actually shoot a basketball to some degree. Sam Presti of Josh Huestis fame drafted a shooting guard who can’t shoot and who isn’t an elite lockdown defender as some claim. He’s an okay defender with the freakish wing span of a seven footer, but not an elite defender. If he were elite then why has every journeyman guard in the league had their best career nights the past two seasons against the Thunder? Half player.

So–then Sam Presti took a chance on Dion Waiters even though LeBron James didn’t want Dion Waiters on his team. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Dion basher, he seems like a decent kid and he’s trying to do his best playing alongside Durant and Westbrook, but Presti gave up a first round pick and a nice bench piece in Lance Thomas to take a chance on fixing Waiters as a player and solve the OKC shooting guard dilemma. Vastly inconsistent player.

As far as Anthony Morrow goes, he’s been an elite three point specialist in his career, but not good enough defensively to consider for the starting shooting guard role. Half player.

Randy Foye at age thirty-two does absolutely nothing for me. Randy Foye at age twenty-seven would have peaked my interest. Old player.

Here’s what vexes me though about what Presti has done, he traded DJ Augustin away as his backup point guard when he could have actually moved Cam Payne into the hybrid guard position alongside Durant and Westbrook ala Harden. Of course you could only pull this off if Westbrook would actually try to play some defense, but’s it’s an intriguing possibility.

Maybe that’s a possible tweak OKC should explore somewhat as the season moves along. It doesn’t mean you banish Roberson or Waiters, but rather find the right combination of roles on a team with too many ‘half players’ on the roster.

It’s worth a try. But it only works if Durant and Westbrook don’t loaf defensively.

I love this. I wish some of our players were as competitive as she is. This is great. Sam Presti should sign her up and try her at shooting guard. Couldn’t hurt.

Cleveland Cavs 115 — OKC Thunder 92

Lebron James and his Cleveland Cavs basically played on the road today without Kyrie Irving, Iman Shumpert, and Mo Williams, but still easily beat the Thunder by a score of 115-92 inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. It would not be a reach to say Oklahoma City was outclassed from start to finish.

Cleveland led 62-53 at the half, then 95-73 after three periods. If this were a prizefight a white towel would have seemed appropriate. LeBron, Kevin Love, JR Smith and Co. were better than anything the Thunder could answer.

This defeat goes down as the fourth worst home defeat (23 points) since Clay Bennett moved the Sonics to Oklahoma City just prior to the inaugural 2008 season.

In my eyes, the previous worst Thunder home defeat came in that 2008 season when OKC was blown out by New Orleans in the game which got PJ Carlesimo fired and Scott Brooks elevated to interim head coach. But keep in mind, Durant, Westbrook, Green, and Ibaka were still youngsters just discovering their way during a 23-59 season.

Today was worse because Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka were all healthy and rested. No excuses. Oklahoma City was simply outclassed because they can’t defend at an elite level and their journey to find a dependable shooting guard remains an unsolved puzzle.

Dion Waiters will go down as the scapegoat and he was in fact horrific, but keep in mind Waiters, Morrow, and Randy Foye went a combined 4-21.

Add to the fact, Kyle Singler didn’t score a point while Enes Kanter was literally abused by Timothy Mosgov.

I’m sure this won’t lead Nick Gallo’s storyline, but basically all four players Sam Presti acquired by trade either last season or this season were all bad today versus the Cavs.

Durant, Westbrook, Adams, and even rookie Cam Payne  played okay, but there wasn’t enough from the rest of the team to beat a Cleveland club which was missing two of its top six players on the road.

You can sugarcoat it, you can blame it on Dion Waiters, you can blame it on multiple things, but what OKC showed today was they’re much closer to pretender status versus being regarded as a serious contender.

Mike Jackson

Team Lebron in Oklahoma City this afternoon for the ABC national telecast game. Pretty much agreed by most there are four teams with a chance to win the NBA championship with OKC and the Cavs being two of the four teams.

Cleveland won the first encounter this season by a 104-100 count in a very competitive game where Billy Donovan let his team down by not staggering Durant and Westbrook sitting to start the fourth period. It was disastrous for OKC as Cleveland predictably went on a spurt and the game changed. Donovan did the same thing Friday night in the home loss to Indiana. Not sure what part of this Billy Donovan is struggling to grasp.

Cleveland comes in with a new head coach in Tyronn Lue after the LeBron dismissal of David Blatt for obvious reasons. Namely, wtf reason is there to have Kevin Love on your team if you’re not going use him properly. Plus, he wants the Cavs to play a more up tempo style of play which should be conducive to the overall Cavs roster. So–all in all probably a wise move by LeBron to make the coaching change.

OKC comes in at 40-15 on the heels of a bitterly disappointing home loss to the Indiana Pacers. Same old bug-a-boos for the Thunder. Shaky perimeter defense and a lack of offensive execution coming down the stretch, plus not a great fourth period of coaching by Donovan. He didn’t stagger his subs starting the fourth, and I really feel like he burned OKC’s final timeout prematurely. Keep the timeout in your pocket and have it for your last timeout with 5.1 seconds left and a chance to send the game into overtime. I can’t believe he wasn’t even slightly taken to task for this by the apparently scared to death OKC local media.

Not a huge Bill Simmons fan, other than his Book of Basketball, but maybe he’s right in calling the OKC media the the Prestettes. I mean, c’mon, do we have anyone ever asking even a remotely tough question in the fear the Thunder may banish all and leave Thunder coverage exclusively to be handled by Nick Gallo. That’s why you need an underground and it’s why ‘some’ of what Jim Traber does is actually necessary.

Anyway, same old story for OKC today. Namely, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook could use some help. I hate beating this to death, but guys like Ibaka, Adams, Kanter, Waiters, Payne, Singler and Morrow can’t just go invisible. They have to competitively engage. They have to make an imprint on the game.

It will be interesting to see if Randy Foye sees any minutes in this game if Dion Waiters can’t contribute any offense whatsoever.

LeBron has held a very dominant edge over Durant and Westbrook so far into their respective careers. To me this is a fairly huge game for OKC just to show if OKC can really be counted as a serious championship contender going beyond just the fact Durant and Westbrook wear Thunder blue.

Can’t wait. Going to a chilli-footlong Thunder watch party with Sonic onion rings and everything. To date, OKC is a combined 1-2 against Golden State, San Antonio, and Cleveland. Next seven days should reveal a little more if OKC is a pretender or a contender.