Again, I don’t know exactly what to write. I do know this though, Clay Bennett has a great deal on his plate right now as far as the organization called the Oklahoma City Thunder.
This Game 4 was an embarrassment on multiple fronts not only for the organization, but for the city as well. This wasn’t the face city leaders of OKC had on their minds a decade ago when they brought a pro basketball club to Oklahoma City.
There’s really no point in critical plays being cited or stats being all that much needed or strategy being discussed on here today. This is simple, the Utah Jazz in every way imaginable is just outclassing the Oklahoma City Thunder not only on the floor, but on the bench, and in the GM’s office.
For the second season in a row the best team in the Northwest Division isn’t the Thunder, but the Utah Jazz and with this head to head series it’s an emphatic statement the Jazz are making.
The Thunder lost this game by a score of 113-96 in a game in which Russell Westbrook guaranteed a shutdown of Rickey Rubio and the Jazz. Sigh.
Here’s the thing with Rubio and this Jazz team, Rubio only averages 13 points a game so everybody already knew Game 3 for Rubio was an outlier. There was no need for all this drama. The need was for the Thunder moving the basketball and playing sound team defense.
OKC had 5 assists in the first period. For the entire game the Thunder had 10 assists. What this means is that in the final 36 minutes of play the Thunder had 5 assists as a team. Please explain to me how Oklahoma City’s offense has evolved since the firing of Scott Brooks? Please explain that one to me, Sam Presti.
There has been no transformation whatsoever in the Thunder offensive system in three years. None. There was for that brief period an offensive burst which led to the Thunder’s 3-1 series lead against the Warriors in the 2016 Western Conference Finals, but none ever since the epic collapse by the Thunder in that fateful series.
Since OKC held that 3-1 series lead, the Thunder have gone 2-10 in post season games and will be 0-3 in post season series. There is nothing here in data which would support the notion Billy Donovan knows what he’s doing with this Thunder basketball team.
But to Donovan’s defense there’s not all that much evidence Sam Presti knows what he’s doing as well as the Carmelo Anthony trade makes no sense whatsoever as the Thunder are now strapped to another season of Carmelo Anthony for $28 million dollars.
Please explain to me why Paul George is going to stay in Oklahoma City?
I’m sure Jerry West already has a page full of reasons why Paul George should leave Oklahoma City.
This is sad for me. This is emotional. I don’t get paid for blogging on the Thunder. It’s a passionate thing for me.
If Paul George leaves what you have in Oklahoma City is basically a replica of the Memphis Grizzlies with Westbrook and Steven Adams under contract as Memphis does with Mike Conley and Marc Gasol. Only the Thunder will have to absorb another year of the Carmelo Anthony deal.
So–if you fire Billy Donovan how is it any of this which I just listed gets fixed?
Here is one thing I do know though… the OKC Thunder will never win another Northwest Division championship until they get a coach who can get some semblance of order attached to Russell Westbrook’s basketball game.
Triple doubles are fun things to hunt down during the course of grueling 82 game schedules. But in order for the Thunder to be post season relevant either Russell Westbrook changes his game or the Thunder are going absolutely nowhere as a basketball organization which fancies itself as championship relevant.
Game 5 is in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night. Teams in the NBA which trail 3-1 in series win something like maybe 5% of the time.
It’s been an ugly season, yet expensive season of NBA basketball in Oklahoma City. Sam Presti put all his chips on the table with the trade of Oladipo and Sabonis to Indiana. It appears the Utah Jazz and the rest of the Western Conference remain unimpressed.
Clay Bennett has some serious things on his NBA plate to consider if Utah advances.