Author: Mike

Miami Heat 97 — OKC Thunder 95

For the second straight game, OKC’s Thunder found a way to lose on the road in the fourth period with Kevin Durant playing, and for the second straight game OKC showed a basic lack or the inability to make a play when it needed to.

Dwayne Wade hit two free throws with 1.5 seconds left to seal this defeat. Not that I’m all that strong on Dwayne Wade in the present tense, but I’ll go ahead and make him my OKCThunderGround  No. 1 Star of the game with 28 points and a -3 on the stat sheet.

Sucks when a rogue blogger with his own Thunder blog has to admit this only three paragraphs into a recap in Game 19, but here goes–maybe the Thunder just aren’t all that good. There –I said it.

Maybe Scott Brooks wasn’t to blame. Maybe the guys around Durant and Westbrook aren’t adequate to be a serious contender. Maybe Billy Donovan is in over his head. Maybe Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook don’t understand what it takes defensively to win a championship.  Maybe Sam Presti has too many one way players who can’t function on both ends of the court. Maybe?

One thing immediately jumps out to me–Durant and Westbrook scored 50 of the Thunder’s 95 points. Which means the rest of the team scored 45 points. Subtract Dion Waiter’s points and you’ve got the rest of the Thunder scoring 32 points on 12-31 shots … I think.

Anthony Morrow, DJ Augustin, and Andre Roberson combined for two points.

Serge Ibaka didn’t do anything which would make you think he could be the third best player of the Orlando Magic, let alone the third best player on the team Charles Barkley picked to win the NBA championship this season.

Fifteen assists for the Thunder.

Fifteen turnovers by the Thunder. Seven by Westbrook alone.

I honestly don’t know what to write about these guys tonight other than what I just wrote.

Thunder drop to 11-8 on the season and 2-4 on the road.

I better stop here because I’m not generally into meltdowns after a loss.

Mike Jackson

 

 

 

Thunder in Miami tonight to play the Heat. OKC comes off a tough road loss in Atlanta on Monday night where the same problems surfaced again with this Thunder team — namely not being able to get stops when needed and the offense basically too heavy with Russell Westbrook in the fourth period. Plus, a bad night from the bench.

OKC enters at 11-7 on the season and 2-3 on the road as the current No. 3 seed in the West. Golden State has left the rest of the West in its wake with the possible exception of San Antonio. From a realistic view–OKC is at best playing for the No. 2 seed and just discovery itself as a team.

Miami is 10-6 on the season and 8-3 at home this season against a rather soft schedule so far. Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic, and Gerald Green make for an interesting starting five. Luol Deng, Tyler Johnson, Justise Winslow, Josh McRoberts, and Udanis Haslem comprise the bench unit.

Same story as Monday night in Atlanta. OKC on the road for the second straight game against a pretty good team from the Eastern Conference.

 

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

The Thunder in Atlanta tonight to play the Atlanta Hawks. Hawks currently at 11-8 and the seventh seed. Atlanta should have a nice season, but hard to envision them as a serious championship contender to take it all in the East. Atlanta comes in off a twenty point loss at San Antonio on Saturday night and are 4-6 in their last ten games.

OKC enters tonight carrying a four game winning streak going 7-3 in their last ten. With Kevin Durant’s return—the Thunder have settled down somewhat and have played good enough in fourth quarters to win four straight games and improve to 11-6.

Two good teams playing tonight, but both teams not really where they want to be as far as overall level of play.

Hawks lost Demare Carroll from their core of a year ago which should help Kevin Durant have a pretty good night. Paul Milsap, Al Horford, and Jeff Teague remain the core, while Dennis Shroeder, Kyle Korver, Kent Bazemore, Thabo, Mike Scott and Mike Muscala round out the Hawk primary rotations.

OKC needs to continue playing better team defense, moving the ball, keeping Serge Ibaka involved offensively, and trying to stay within a reasonable distance of  San Antonio for the second seed in the West. Find a way to win and get better defensively.

 

Back to the year 2008 when Oklahoma sports were ruled by college football and college sports in general. Not the case since the arrival of the Thunder, but still OU football is at the least on a par with the Thunder as far as statewide sports relevance. Never since the arrival of the Thunder has OU football seriously contended for a national championship entering the month of December until this season.

 

I love this video. It represents so much of what Oklahomans value in sport.

With OU’s 58-23 win over Oklahoma State in Bedlam–OU football for the first time  since 2008 and the Thunder’s arrival in Oklahoma City head into the month of December as a viable national championship contender.

In 2008, Sam Bradford won the Heisman and OU advanced the National Championship Game against Urban Meyer’s Florida’s Gators. OU lost that game 24-14, but it was basically a one possession game. Interestingly, OU lost to Texas 38-28 to Texas that same season, but like this season, ran the table to advance. Guess beating or losing to Texas really doesn’t mean that much anymore.

Before the Thunder’s arrival in Oklahoma–OU football ruled the sports roost with its iconic brand and national championship heritage. Not so since the Thunder’s arrival in 2008 as a kid from the University of Texas named Kevin Durant has taken claim as the most important sports person in the state.

So–for the first time since 2008, OU football and Thunder basketball share the limelight in Oklahoma heading towards Christmas.

Oklahomans have a deep rooted passion for their sports teams and this sports year could be special.

At 17-0 the Golden State Warriors have positioned themselves to possibly make a run at Chicago’s 72-10 team of ’95-’96. Something we have to start keeping track of as the weeks begin to peel back on the season.