Month: May 2016

Excellent press conference. It seems like a lifetime ago OKC was winning an overtime thriller at Orlando in Billy Donovan’s first return to the state of Florida as the head coach of the Thunder. So much has transpired since then not only with the Thunder, but with Oklahoma City as well.

The oil industry cratered with the price of oil hitting $20 a barrel which in turn caused layoffs, uncertainty, and massive budget deficits for the state of Oklahoma. The tragic deaths of Ingrid Williams and Aubrey McClendon followed by the shooting death of Dion Waiter’s younger brother came in a surreal wave which cast a gloom on the season. Yet, here they are, not only standing, but one game removed from advancing to the NBA Finals by taking out two historic ball clubs in the Spurs and Warriors.

You have to live here in OKC to understand what this team has grown to mean for not only the local community, but the state as a whole. Probably much like the feel the Green Bay Packers have created and maintained in Wisconsin over the years.

There’s a subtle beauty to it which big market people either miss or don’t take the time to fully appreciate.

So here they are….Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Billy Donovan, and Sam Presti one game removed from a return trip to the NBA Finals which most thought would be in 2013 before the James Harden trade and the subsequent knee injury sustained to Russell Westbrook via Patrick Beverly. Or in 2014, when Serge Ibaka went down and had to play injured in the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs. Or last season when a swath of injuries took out a season which never really even started and gave the city Reggie Jackson’s unpleasant exit from the team.

Harden and Jackson both made hasty exits from this year’s playoffs in the first round with the Rockets and Pistons. Neither team was even a blip of a realistic contender. Neither opted to be Manu Ginobli and play for championships and create a championship legacy. To each their own. That’s why it’s called free agency.

But if you’re a Thunder fan and you’ve  lived this it puts a lump in your throat to have seen all this team has gone through and is one game removed from returning to the NBA Finals.

I guess you’d have to live in a smaller market to fully appreciate it.

Oklahoma City Thunder 118 – Golden State Warriors 94

OKC leads series 3-1, Game 5 in Oakland on Thursday

Should I even mention Draymond Green or just say thanks to NBA league officials on behalf of the Thunder for allowing him to play tonight? I don’t want to be an internet punk, but there’s a human life lesson to be learned here. When you act like a punk there’s this force in the universe some call karma which usually rears it’s ugly head at some point.

For the second game in a row Draymond Green was horrific… as in historically bad as far as NBA post season play goes. In these two games Green went 2-16 from the field, turned the ball over ten times, and was a mind boggling bad -73 in the two blowout losses.

Here’s the thing, I actually like how Draymond Green plays, but can’t stand when he goes into punk mode. He crossed the line, his coach and the league should have told him these things, but they didn’t. That’s on Steve Kerr and the NBA league office, but as Draymond Green moves forward more so as a human being than a basketball player one would hope he takes something from this experience and grows up a little.

End of lecture.

For the second straight game, OKC’s Thunder pretty much did what they wanted to with the Golden State Warriors by (1) pounding the Warriors on the boards to the tune of 56-40, (2) making for the most part intelligent ball decisions, (3) hounding Steph Curry into a 6-20 shooting night.

Oh, and one other thing, for the second straight game a guy by the name of Russell Westbrook was not only the best point guard on the floor, but the best player on the floor. That’s a pretty strong statement considering Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson were on the floor as well, but it’s one I feel should be made.

Russell Westbrook tripled doubled with 36 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. His decision making was masterful and over the course of this game it was Westbrook who drove the Thunder to their second straight win over the Warriors and third in the last four games. This marks the only time this season the Warriors have lost back to back games.

Durant was excellent as well scoring when needed, but what I’ve really liked about Durant of late has been his defense and rebounding accountability. Or more to the point–his leadership.

I’m tired of listening to Marv Albert on the TNT telecasts. Seriously tired of it. Give these two guys their credit and this comes from a guy (me) who’s been on their asses all season long about leadership on this blog of mine.

Durant and Westbrook have been fabulous. This is special to watch not only if you’re a Thunder fan, but as a fan or historian of the NBA game. They’ve taken their games to the next level and done it against the Spurs and Warriors.

OKC has now won seven of its last nine games against the Spurs and Warriors–and in not one of those game were they a Vegas favorite at home or on the road.

Think about that as far as elevation of play at the goal achieving portion of the season when it matters most.

All five Thunder starters scored in double  figures and Dion Waiters chipped in with ten points as well. Ibaka came out with energy and played well. Andre Roberson cut and moved without the ball to score 17 points. Steven Adams continued making winning plays, especially the baseball pass to Roberson for a layup.

Give Billy Donovan another nod as he went small once again and it payed huge dividends as the Thunder outscored the Warriors 46-20 with the smaller lineup.

OKC is now one game removed from knocking out the Spurs and Warriors in successive series. The road map to the NBA Finals is intact, but given what we’ve seen who’s to say the Thunder don’t end it in five games on Thursday in Oakland.

That would be the ultimate redemption for a Thunder team which is healthy for the first time in post season since the James Harden trade. It would be fitting the Thunder end the Warriors’ one year reign as league champions on their home floor and leave nothing to the imagination of a Warrior comeback in this series.

I’m sure the Warriors will play with desperation, but the same things will apply for OKC on Thursday night in Oakland for a series ending road win.

Win the boards, make smart ball decisions, hound Steph Curry for his space and time…and advance.

Mike Jackson

Game 4 is a must win if the Thunder are to return to the NBA Finals. Based on how bad Draymond Green played in Game 3, it’s yet to be seen if the NBA’s ruling on his bush league antics will imprint this game and ultimately the series.

The roadmap for OKC is simple. Win Games 4 & 6 at home before raucous crowds and the Thunder advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in their short history.

The Thunder are coming off a near perfect Game 3 where they literally ran the Warriors out of Chesapeake Energy Arena. Durant and Westbrook have never been better. They dominated the game from start to finish as OKC’s role players all followed suit and played well.

When Andre Roberson outscores Draymond Green and shoots threes like Steph Curry, you know it’s a good night for the Thunder.

Billy Donovan has been solid this series in that he’s stayed away from being predictable going either small or big depending on the moment. In essence, he’s been the anti Scott Brooks in this regard. More of changing on the fly will be required as this series moves along.

Dion Waiters has once again played some excellent minutes in this series giving the Thunder a reliable Sixth Man and someone who can aid Russell Westbrook with ball handling duties from the point.

Serge Ibaka finally showed up in Game 3 after a longer rest between games. With less rest time between games tonight—Ibaka’s energy could be a key. Circle Ibaka in this one as in which one shows up to play.

The playoff math is simple, if OKC wins this game they have control of their destiny by only having to win Game 6 at home. Lose this game and it becomes an uphill battle for the Thunder to beat the media darling Warriors.

Two things haven’t changed in this series amidst all the excitement about Draymond Green touching basketball boys between their legs and then saying he never touches boys there, namely the team which wins the boards and takes care of the ball wins the game.

OKC can’t get caught up with this Draymond Green hoopla tonight. Just control the boards, get out in transition as in Game 3, and the Thunder should be up 3-1 heading back to Oakland where Draymond’s adoring fans wait. Don’t win the boards and don’t take care of the ball and the Thunder could be in a for a rough night.

As has been the case in every Thunder home game versus the Spurs and Warriors this post season—Vegas has the Thunder listed somewhere around a 2.5 underdog. This despite the fact the Thunder are a combined 6-3 versus the Spurs and Warriors this post season. At home so far against these two historic teams the Thunder are 3-1 in the playoffs.

Every game in a series like this one is huge, but this one is especially because if OKC takes care of business tonight, the odds of a return to the NBA Finals tilt greatly in their favor.

Tonight isn’t about Draymond Green as much as it is about rebounding, taking care of the ball, and not allowing Steph Curry to go off.

 

 

I’m not totally shocked Draymond Green will play in Game 4. He only kicked or kneed Steven Adams in the balls in two consectutive playoff games. He’s a difference maker….who acts like a punk. Maybe that’s why he was still around in the second round of the NBA draft.

It’s the world we live in as far as looking the other way of elite athletes who help our teams win games yet act like lowlife creeps at times.

Draymond Green would get his ass whipped into the concrete in thirty seconds if Steven Adams could fight back— but he knows he can kick a Steven Adams between his legs because he knows his coach, his GM, his owner, ESPN, TNT and the league office will cover for him.

In the world the rest of us live in daily have we ever seen one man kick another man in the groin once and a brawl of some sort not ensue?

But not in this NBA of Adam Silver I’m to now assume.

They fined Green $25,000 and upgraded his foul to a Flagrant II. Which means everything Kerr and Green said postgame was total bullshit because why else would you cop a plea to avoid the suspension he should have received?

Pathetic, by all parties involved. The Flagrant II carries an immediate ejection–which is what should have happened last night.

Sounds like some Warrior lawyering and the league office all took the easy way out with Draymond Green, the coward.

 

 

For the second game in a row, Draymond Green either kneed or kicked Steven Adams in the balls with intent. Are you kidding me? Steve Kerr and Draymond Green both sounded foolish in their post game comments on the matter.

The league has a recent history of little tolerance for these type of crotch blows. Stu Jackson the former VP of Basketball Operations has already stated Green should be suspended. The ultimate decision will rest with Kiki Vandeweghe.

Draymond Green needs to sit a game. He’s teetering on punkdom. It’s one thing to take his boring act of Clubber Lang to the Western Conference Finals, it’s another thing to allow him to possibly injure an important player of the Warriors’ opponent.

But who knows? The Warriors are the darlings of the national media this season as they broke the ’95-’96 Bulls all-time record for wins in a regular season. You’d also think the league would want a Warriors-LeBron rematch in the Finals.

But here’s the thing, just the night before the league suspended Cleveland’s Dahntay Jones a game for administering a crotch shot to the Raptors’ Bismack Biyombo. As I wrote above, the league has been consistent in the past five seasons levying suspensions for these type of cheap shots—even against star players.

I don’t know how the league cannot suspend him without looking incredibly hypocritical.

Brazenly stupid play by Draymond Green who should have been rovering Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook instead of Steven Adams’ balls. Maybe he has a thing for tall New Zealanders with tied back hair.

I can’t say, but he should be sitting Game 4.

Oklahoma City Thunder 133 — Golden State Warriors 105

Oklahoma City leads series 2-1, Game 4 on Tuesday in Oklahoma City

Tonight….Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were the two best basketball players in the world.

Period.

Tonight, in this Game 3, they didn’t just run with the defending champion Warriors, they ran the defending champs out of Chespeake Energy Arena.

But it wasn’t just Durant and Westbrook doing it alone which made this beautiful, it  was the way they morphed their games seamlessly with their teammates as they went about the business of humiliating the Warriors in front of the basketball world.

They ran in transition. The ball moved. Six Thunder players scored in double figures. The Thunder whipped the Warriors on the boards. Turnovers were not an issue.

Russell Westbrook played a near perfect game at the point. Kevin Durant took care of the ball and finished. Andre Roberson made shots. Serge Ibaka roared like the finger wagging lion of past. Steven Adams played well enough until he  again was cheap shotted in the balls by Draymond Green. Dion Waiters was rock solid. Enes Kanter did his job.

As far as Draymond Green, at some point, a Thunder player is going to have to put him down on the floor hard. Don’t get ejected or suspended hard, but put down hard on the floor with a tough playoff foul. His bullshit the last two games cannot go unanswered. Foye is a tough little bastard—he could do it. Derek Fisher would have already kicked his ass.

But on this night, OKC absorbed  Draymond Green acting like a punk and used it as the catalyst to embarrass Steve Kerr and his defending champions in front of the basketball world.

On this night, the Thunder were a smart team….. and the best team in the world.

One game means nothing in playoff basketball. OKC’s road map to beating the Warriors and advancing is predicated on winning at home in Games 3, 4, and 6.

Tuesday night is an absolute must win for the Thunder. In essence, an introverted elimination game for the Thunder.

Tonight was beautiful. The Thunder played like we know they can play.

In OKC’s last nine games, they’re 6-3 versus the Spurs and Warriors. No fluke attached. The USA hockey team only had to beat the Soviets once. The Thunder know what they’re capable of achieving.

When the Thunder play the right way they’re every bit the team the Warriors are and maybe even better. But only when they play smart basketball for forty-eight minutes.

Only then.

Mike Jackson

 

 

This will be brief because it’s not that complicated. OKC went back to playing like a dumb team in Game 2. Dumb teams don’t win NBA championships. The final two minutes of the first half were basically horrific from a decision and composure standpoint. From the point Dion Waiters hit a three to give the Thunder a 47-46 lead, the Thunder then in essence morphed into the Sacramento Kings. That’s pretty dumb and if the Thunder as a team don’t take that as the ultimate insult then I really don’t know what to say. Others covering the Thunder might be polite and call it a lack of composure, I’m calling it dumb basketball.

OKC did not touch the rim with a shot on their final three possessions of the first half even with Kevin Durant in a white hot shooting run going 9-13 from the field at that point. This is on both Westbrook and Durant, but more so on Westbrook because he is the quarterback of the team. Get the ball where it needs to be gotten.

Kevin Durant’s eight turnovers were embarrassing—for him. That has to be cleaned up as well.

But what is even more stunning to me were that both Durant and Ibaka took fouls on three point shooters once again in this Thunder post season. By my completely unofficial count, I have the Thunder committing seven three point shooting fouls just from the Spurs and Warriors series to date. If that alone isn’t an indictment of the Thunder’s mentally loose play then I don’t know what is. I hope this isn’t too much for loyal Prestette readers.

Serge Ibaka, please competitively engage or tell Billy Donovan this is too much for you. I feel like I’m watching you go through male menopause or something. I’m even beginning to wonder if it’s a low T problem. I can’t believe I’m even writing this and how awkward it makes me feel writing it. This could be my low point as a first year Thunder blogger who hopes to someday be mentioned in the same breath as Royce Young and Nick Gallo. But still…it’s tough watching.

But mainly, I’m just saying, play like a smart basketball team with some mental toughness. Again… mentally soft teams teams don’t win championships.

In closing, I’ll go with this Draymond Green quote on his role as the designated Thunder rover, “Try to stop KD and Russell,” he said. “…and if Roberson makes a play, then he made a play.”

I hope this wasn’t too direct, but somebody in this market has to write some of this since we know the Prestettes aren’t allowed.

OKC has the talent, but do they have the mental part is the question at this point.

I guess what I’m trying to write is just grow up as a basketball team. Eight years is my statue of limitations for playing mentally loose (dumb) basketball.

I should sign my name since I just called the Thunder dumb in Game 2.

Mike Jackson

 

I actually watched this Eastern Conference Final game. Raptors spank the Cavs in Game 3 and the series is now 2-1. Bismack Biyombo…wow. 26 rebounds, interior defense, blocked shots, physicality, and swagger. Reminded me of a player the Thunder used to have on their roster–Serge Ibaka. Phone home, Serge. Your team needs you to play like Biyombo instead of Bambi.

Andre Roberson actually had one of the better offensive games of his career in Game 6 against the Spurs, but the numbers do not lie on this and are why this will always be a reoccurring problem for the Thunder. Career-wise, Roberson is a .274 three point shooter. This season was his best though as he went 32-103 at .311.

But it’s clear what Steve Kerr is going to do, in essence it’s going to be a live ball version of Hack a Shaq with Andre Roberson from the outside. Draymond Green will either clog Westbrook’s driving lane to the basket or muddle Kevin Durant’s operating space.

In these first two games of the series, OKC has scored 47 and 49 points in the two first halves trailing by 13 and 9 nine points respectively. Golden State is a different animal offensively than any other team in the league in that you have to score with them. You’re not going to shut them down as evidence by OKC giving up a combined 220 points these first two games of the series. That’s 110 points per game so far.

The question Billy Donovan will have to decide is if his team can score enough to win three additional games against the Warriors with Draymond Green roving on both Durant and Westbrook.

Obviously-Dion Waiters has upped his game in these playoffs, but even if you upped his minutes to 34 minutes a game there’s going to be a need for an additional 14 minutes or so at the shooting guard position. Donovan could go Foye there some if had to, he could continue to clog his offense by using Roberson, or he could give Anthony Morrow some minutes.

From an offensive standpoint, Morrow is the best choice. In his career to date, Morrow is 766-1,804 (.425) shooting the three. Last season, when Scott Brooks had to use him 24 minutes a game, he went 141-325 (.434) shooting the three ball. This season with Billy Donovan his role has been greatly diminished because of the defensive aspect of his game. He’s played in 68 games averaging 13.6 minutes a game going 79-204 (.387).

But Steph Curry and his Warriors are a different animal. A team which goes off on spectacular runs and spurts. You’re not going to eliminate this from their game, rather you need to have runs of your own like the Westbrook led run in the third period of Game 1.

I’d only put Morrow out there if it was with Durant, Westbrook, Adams, and Ibaka to somewhat mitigate his defense. But if Steve Kerr continues to ignore Andre Roberson (he will), this lineup could along with either Waiters or Foye getting more minutes  be a strategy Donovan considers.

OKC has a bit of a problem. Namely, Steve Kerr doesn’t think Andre Roberson is ever going to beat his Warriors shooting the ball. This isn’t a unique observation among  NBA coaches or observers. It’s something OKC has seen every time Roberson takes the floor, albeit to varying degrees of ignoring Roberson in the offensive zone.

But as the stakes have gotten higher, the opposing coaches are basically roving the player assigned to guard Roberson. In essence it’s 4 on 5 basketball for the Thunder in their offensive zone unless they can score in fast break transition.

In this series, the rover is Draymond Green, and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist as a rover against the Thunder to realize most of your roving should focus on Durant and Westbrook. Especially Durant, because Durant more so than Westbrook is a pure clutch scorer and finisher. Plus, he struggles dribbling in limited space.

I just read Tramel over at newsok. He says Billy D must either devise an offensive scheme for Roberson or bench him.

OKC took  a hard look at moving Dion Waiters to the starting shooting guard position when Roberson was injured this season. It didn’t do much for me. Besides, as was the case when Reggie Jackson was the Sixth Man, Dion is finishing most of the games on the floor already.

Dion has had a nice post season, but I’d keep him coming off the bench, but possibly nudging his minutes up by say five minutes a game. But I would not start him.

But why not start Anthony Morrow if your problem is creating space and time for Durant?

Granted, his defense isn’t great, but he’s a career 40% three point shooter. His man cannot leave him unattended in the corner. Steve Kerr will not have Draymond Green float off of Anthony Morrow. The downside is if you start Morrow he’s probably going to have to guard Harrison Barnes. But Tramel is right, there is no way OKC can go this entire series with Draymond Green basically floating the passing lane between Durant and Westbrook.

This is what the playoffs are about. Adjusting and changing on the fly. Even Scott Brooks with his stubborn streak of never changing the starting lineup had to sit Thabo in the 2014 post season at one point.

I love what Steven Adams has turned into as a player, but the part of the Harden trade which burned OKC is that Jeremy Lamb was a bust at the shooting guard position and with neither Harden or Jackson content in the Sixth Man role–it’s still biting the Thunder.

When you get to this level of competition it’s very difficult to put a player on the floor who the other team literally does not have to guard.

OKC got away with this in the Spurs series as Roberson had a career night in Game 6 at home. But in this series and in the Cavs series if OKC gets that far, they’ll be playing uphill as it is with five players on the floor who can score the ball.

I think it’s worth a look to see if Anthony Morrow can give Donovan 12 minutes a game total starting both the first and third periods.

One thing is certain, Steve Kerr will become more brazen and aggressive in not guarding Andre Roberson because it’s a percentage money play when the alternative is allowing either Durant and Westbrook more operating space.