Month: December 2016

A very nice moment in Oklahoma City last night for Scott Brooks and the fans.

Let’s not even think about the East and LeBron for the time being. LeBron is the best player in the league until someone in the West beats him in the Finals with a healthy team around him. Anotherwords, I don’t put all that much stock in what Golden State did two seasons ago in the Finals against a Cleveland team which was decimated by injury.

But this year in the West we have quite an MVP race brewing with the likes of Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Chris Paul, Kawhi Leonard, and Anthony Davis. I’m not sure I could vote for any member of the Golden State Warriors in that they have two previous MVP winners on the same team and four NBA All Stars in their starting five. It’s a team which won 73 games last season and added Kevin Durant in the off season. So how do you decipher who’s their MVP given the fact on any given night it could be either Curry, Durant, Green, or Thompson?

None of the other five canidates I mentioned have the luxury of the Warrior players. Westbrook, Harden, Leonard, and Davis do not have another Top 15 player on their respective rosters. Chris Paul does have Blake Griffin, but he’s the only one with a star supporting him.

Westbrook and Harden would be my top two choices one fourth of the way through this season. Both are having spectacular seasons leading teams with rosters which aren’t talented enough to compete for an NBA championship. Yet both OKC and Houston are having respectable seasons and giving NBA fans some great entertainment. Adam Silver should consider himself fortunate for the Westbrook and Harden narratives this regular season. No one really cares about the regular season otherwise because it’s obvious given the Super Team building which has occurred in Cleveland and Golden State as to who should be in this season’s Finals. Nobody really cares and that says a great deal for the NBA collective bargaining agreement which has allowed this to happen. Silver and his greedy NBA owners should consider themselves fortunate Westbrook and Harden are creating an MVP buzz to make the regular season fun to watch.

There’s just no way I could vote for either Durant or Curry. Especially Durant. He joined a team which won 73 games last season—so how do you calculate his presence is all that valuable until we see if Durant can finally beat LeBron with all these All-Stars surrounding him. We can’t. Plus, we don’t even know if Durant could beat a team with Steph on it since he said no mas after his Game 6 no show in the Western Conference Finals. So in all candor neither Curry or Durant’s regular season numbers mean much of anything. How do you determine if there’s really a ‘most valuable player’ on the Golden State roster. I can assure you that Westbrook, Harden, Leonard, and Davis are clearly their teams’ most valuable player. Can we really say that in regards to Durant or Steph Curry or even Draymond Green?

Keeping in mind how I view the MVP this is how I would vote today with LeBron in his own category over to the side.

Western Conference only:

1 Westbrook
2 Harden
3 Paul
4 Leonard
5 Davis
6 Griffin
7 Durant and Curry
8 Lillard
9 Conley (injured-out indefinitely)
10 Marc Gasol

Pretty good basketball game tonight inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena. It was a game which had multiple roller coaster rides as it appeared Scott Brooks, like Serge Ibaka, would return to hand his former team a defeat on the road.

OKC had it going early and at one point led the Wizards by 16 points. But Washington behind Bradley Beal’s 31 point night won both the second and third periods and actually led the Thunder by seven points with three minutes left in regulation.

Enter Russell Westbrook of triple double Oscar Robertson fame and claimed by some to be the jilted ex-point guard of Kevin Durant. Well, wouldn’t you know it, from that three minute mark moving forward Russell Westbrook was one part Michael Jordan, one part Kobe Bryant, and one part Allen Iverson. In a season so far which has propelled Westbrook near the top of MVP consideration — Russell Westbrook once again showed that maybe he was secretly glad Kevin Durant left to go play for the AAU super team in Oakland. Because if Durant didn’t leave we wouldn’t be seeing NBA history being played out before our eyes every night. Because there’s no way Charlie Bell and Richie K would have allowed Westbrook to upstage their prize client in this manner. No f–king Nike way. Golden State may very well win the NBA championship, but in all candor this is some great stuff we’re seeing every night as Thunder fans. Historically great. Oscar Robertson great.

Those last three minutes saw the Thunder roar back largely due to Westbrook, backcourt mate Victor Oladipo, and a Thunder defense which went small making some critical late stops.

But still, OKC was down 98-95 with the ball and the shot clock off when Westbrook went inside the three point line, then outside of it, then nailing the three to ultimately send the game to OT after Otto Porter missed at the buzzer on a very good look from the right elbow. Westbrook’s three was his only made three on the night (1-6).

In OT, Westbrook went completely into MJ/Kobe mode scoring 14 of his 35 points as the Thunder ran away and hid from former coach Scott Brooks and his highly disappointing so far Wizards. It was vintage Russell Westbrook. A Westbrook who wouldn’t have been able to do this with Kevin Durant still in place in Oklahoma City. So, it’s kind of ironic for a hoops purist like myself who was heart broken when Durant left to make Charlie, Richie, and Nike happy–that all this turned out to be possibly the most interesting Thunder season to date. Que sera, sera.

Our Thunder are now 12-8 and in the midst of a four game winning streak since the disastrous loss in Sacramento. The season turned when Bill Donovan finally said enough of Kyle Singler and Alex Arbrines and decided to give Anthony Morrow an honest shot at playing time. Morrow was only 2-9 from the field tonight, but in 31 minutes he had four assists and the highest +/- rating of any Thunder player tonight at +20. Go figure.

All told all five OKC starters scored in double figures tonight, plus Enes Kanter scored 14 points in 14 minutes. But this was one of those nights when it was tough to keep Kanter on the floor because Brooks pretty much stayed small. Which translates into Jerami Grant getting more playing time when opposing teams go small.

Roberson, Sabonis, and Adams were all solid. Victor Oladipo was excellent scoring yet another mini-triple double of 25-6-6. Oladipo went 10-16 from the field and was 5-9 from three. It was a super efficient performance. I know, I know…the way I go on this way and that way about the Westbrook-Oladipo backcourt should have me standing between Brian Davis and Michael Cage—but I’m telling you people these two guys will be the second best backcourt in the league come April. Tonight, combined—60 points, 20 rebounds, 17 assists. Just saying.

Well, so, our Thunder are now 12-8, playing some pretty good ball and back on track to win maybe 47-49 games this NBA regular season which would be fine with me because I have OKC at No. 4 in the West on my Daily Thunder bracket sheet.

The Thunder get a very much needed break of games until Sunday evening when Anthony Davis and the Pelicans show up in town.

Until then, enjoy the break, watch some Bedlam football, and study up on Oscar Robertson.

BTW, for those of you who can’t get over the Durant departure this is for you. He’s gone. He’s going to marry Draymond Green and at some point they’re going to have children together. So–my advice would be to get over it and enjoy this ride.