From what I’ve seen from the Thunder this season I would rank this as the most enjoyable game I’ve watched from wire to wire excluding the Russell Westbrook-Frank Vogel games. It was a fun game beteen two pretty much even teams who are at about the same point in their rebuild evolution.
The game had pace, ebb and flow, some great moments by some promising young players and literally a photo finish at the end with a late Toronto game winning tap being correctly waved off.
I thought Little Nick Gallo was actually crying in the post game talk with Shai. It was a fun game.
It was like watching a real basketball game which wasn’t a predetermined loss. And I’m guessing because Shai had eighty guests at this game since he hails from nearby Hamilton that Hinkie-Presti and Coach Tank actually played this game straight up.
If you watched the game close you would have noticed that of the 240 minutes of floor time allotted the Thunder only 13 were what I would describe as ‘developmental’ or ‘tank minutes’. Those 13 minutes came from Poku’s ten minutes and the mysterious three minutes played by Paul Watson.
I mean otherwise, Coach Tank played it pretty much just like I would have.
Shai and Dort played heavy minutes. Giddy was used just about right. Bazely played what I thought was his best game of the season. Kenrich was superb. Muscala actually struggled a bit in his fifteen minutes but hit what turned out to be the game winner. Favors played his backup minutes well. Then Coach Tank sprinkled the rest of the minutes between Jre and Tre Mann. This is how a real coach trying to win would have allotted the 240 minutes of Thunder floor time.
So color me thrilled for this game in Toronto when the Thunder didn’t tank and instead allowed Shai to show his friends and family what the Thunder could potentially be if they were a real basketball team trying to win beyond 22-24 games this basketball season.
I heard someone on Traber’s show today ask if the Thunder should consider trading some of their assets in order to obtain Domas Sabonis from the Pacers?
After I stopped laughing to myself…I listened to Traber’s answer and he got it right. Of course they’re not going to do this. That’s what a real team in a real NBA market would do if they were trying to take a young NBA team to the next level this season and maybe win around 38-41 games this season.
No. Nice thought by the caller. But no…that ain’t happening in Presti World.
The team will continue to lose games with the fervent prayer attached they can lose enough to hit it right with either the kid from Gonzaga or the kid from Duke.
Next up…the LA Laker Show in OKC with Russell Westbrook and Coach Vogel. I’m going. I’ll be there with a Laker T shirt on. The weather is supposed to be balmy in OKC on Friday so it’s the perfect game to root for the Lakers.