Month: December 2015

So …here we are eighteen games into Florida Gators’ coach Billy Donovan’s debut NBA season and what to think. The Thunder are 11-7 so far and in all candor I really don’t see much difference from Scott Brooks’ Thunder and this North Florida version Thunder…except that Scott Brooks usually had teams who bought in defensively. Despite what Kevin Durant wants to think—this isn’t a great defensive team.

This is a team which has defensive lapses and doesn’t appear to have bought into the axiom that team defense wins championships. Don’t get me wrong, Billy Donovan seems to be a great guy and fairly interesting in his pressers, but I  really don’t see anything in this team to date which makes me think they could beat either Golden State or Cleveland in a seven games series.

Several things in my opinion are still obstacles for OKC winning an NBA championship. I’ve already talked about the defense. This is very simple–it’s very rare for a team that doesn’t play top ten in the league type defense to win a championship. KD can bristle all he wants, but he’ll be without a ring for another season until these guys get it through their heads defense wins post season championships.

Another primary issue I see is that as good as Russell Westbrook is…he still can’t pull the throttle back in the last six minutes in close games against good teams and make players around him better when it counts. I’m not into counting shots or any of that, but how in the world No. 35 doesn’t get looks in the fourth against Atlanta is mind boggling. We’re talking about perhaps the greatest scorer in the modern era and he’s not getting shots.

I’m not talking Adams or Kanter or Morrow or Waiters—I’m talking about getting the best pure scorer in the game today his shots in the fourth period.  Get the ball to your closer and let him close. Good lord.

The third issue I see with the Thunder is back to the third man issue. Who’s the best third man on this team? It should be Serge Ibaka. Durant and Westbrook have to show enough versatility in their games to allow Ibaka to thrive in this role.

As far as OKC’s bench–it’s all over the place if Durant and Westbrook aren’t on the floor. Probably a good idea by Donovan to make sure his two stars don’t rest at the same time against the better teams in the league.

I have OKC finishing as the No. 3 seed in the West in my Daily Thunder Western Conference Seeding Bracket Sheet, and quite frankly to date I haven’t seen anything which makes me feel wrong about that pick.

Mike Jackson

 

Not really even remotely excited about the OKC-Miami game tomorrow night. Actually-more into a kind of somber sadness of seeing Kobe Bryant look so incredibly bad last night losing to the horrific 76’ers. This is not the way legends should exit. Michael did not exit like this even with the Wizards. Tim Duncan is not exiting like this with the Spurs. It’s kind of very sad when you think about it.

I used to hate Kobe. Just hated the guy until I took the time to really listen to him. Then–I ended up loving him. I’ll never forget — he was talking about film making  and Quinton Tarantino movies–and he just floored me. I had no idea how smart of guy he was and how he saw his teams from a team building standpoint and specific roles.

Even though Bill Simmons is a complete douchebag—I love this interview.

 

Wish Kobe would have done this two seasons ago, but he still has to go down as one of the ten greatest players of all-time. Just a fabulous two way player who got it done on both ends of the floor and won five NBA championships. Hard to see him go out this way, but one of the greatest of all-time in his prime. I’d have Kobe No. 7 or so on my greatest all-time list. Truly a great basketball player.

 

Atlanta Hawks 106 — OKC Thunder 100

With 2:21 left in the 4th period, Russell Westbrook made a two-point jumper to give the Thunder a 96-92 lead. With the bucket, Westbrook was standing on seventeen points points in the period. It appeared OKC was on its way to a nice road win over a pesky Atlanta Hawks squad. Westbrook would not score again.

During the remaining 2:21 of play, Jeff Teague and Paul Milsap led a 14-4 closing run as the Hawks made all the winning plays. Teague made two buckets inside the game’s final seventy seconds to clinch the game. Simply put…Atlanta made the plays at the end, OKC didn’t.

Kevin Durant scored two baskets in the last half minute of the game for his only points in the fourth period.

I’ll go with Jeff Teague as my OKCThunderGround No. 1 Star of the Game. Teague had 25 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists on the night, and it was Teague who made the plays which closed the door on the Thunder’s modest four game winning streak.

Minus the final 2:21 of play,  Westbrook was three assists away from another triple double. On the night, Westbrook had 34 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists.

Kevin Durant’s line went 25 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 blocked shots. But in the fourth during closing time–he didn’t see much of the ball until the game had been decided.

Serge Ibaka added 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots. On the night, OKC’s Big Three went for a combined 76 points, which means the rest of OKC’s roster scored  24 points on the night.

Dion Waiters, Anthony Morrow, and DJ Augustin went 3-21 from the field scoring 11 points between them. This simply cannot happen if OKC is to beat good teams on the road and be an elite team.

Paul Milsap and Al Horford both had double doubles on the night for Atlanta. Milsap had 26 points and 11 rebounds, while Horford went for 23 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots. Kyle Korver was the fourth Hawk player in double figures with  11 points.

Here’s something I can’t ignore…OKC’s Big Three went for a combined 76 points, while Atlanta’s Big Three went for 74 points. But here’s the thing about winning against good teams on the road…the best closer in the NBA–namely Kevin Durant, didn’t get the ball until it was too late to matter coming down the stretch.

How can that happen?

This game is a microcosm of why it’s hard to imagine the Thunder beating the Warriors or the Cavs when  it matters most come May and/or June.

OKC drops to 11-7 with the loss.

On the road again on Thursday against the Miami Heat.

Mike Jackson