Actually, by simply being idle, the fading Thunder jumped from No. 8 to No. 5 in the Western Conference standings last night. It was one of the better nights of the season for the Thunder since the All-Star break by simply not playing.
I feel better. If only the Thunder could just somehow avoid having to play these ten games I’d feel even better.
Amazingly, OKC, San Antonio, Utah and the Clippers are in a dead heat as we wind down these final few weeks of the regular season. I think to project how this winds down for the Thunder as far as seeding would drive any sane person into an insane person at this point.
OKC is in Toronto tonight for the flip flop game with the Raptors. Vegas has Toronto favored at -2 .5. The Raptors for the second straight game will be without starting point guard Kyle Lowery.
There was quite a bit of talk yesterday on OKC sports radio in regards to Billy Donovan and the extension he received in December for next season. My feeling is obvious, he shouldn’t have received the extension and this season should be the grading season for Billy Donovan’s future in Oklahoma City.
But this season still has ten regular season games and at least one playoff series left before we fully understand where this Thunder season falls in relation to Billy Donovan’s four overall seasons in Oklahoma City as an NBA head coach.
This blog entry requires human decency and a bit of a kinder, gentler approach. Besides, it was Nick Collison Night and the game versus the pretty good Toronto Raptors was an afterthought.
Everyone in Oklahoma besides Little Nick Gallo knows where this Thunder season is headed–so there’s no need for me to lack sensitivity per se. It is what it is.
For the second straight season it appears the Thunder with the nicest Ward Cleaver-like coach in the NBA will be a huge disappointment as we near the real NBA season in April.
With OKC’s most recent loss since February 14th, in New Orleans–this one being a 123-114 overtime loss to the Raptors, the Thunder have done the unthinkable and dropped from second to eighth place in the Western Conference standings.
During this span of sixteen games the Thunder are a collective 5-11 and quite honestly appear to be one of the worst teams in the NBA since the All-Star break. It’s not just one thing. The Thunder just suck collectively. From their head coach to their two stars to their role players to their bench to their media relations people—the Thunder suck across the board.
Take this game as a brief microcosm. Russell Westbrook did have 42 points, but he also had 8 turnovers. Paul George was nothing special in a huge game with a 19 point performance and dropped below Nicola Jokic on my MVP vote list. Combined—Steven Adams, Jerami Grant, Terrance Ferguson and Dennis Schroder went a combined 13-47 from the field.
But here’s the most glaring sign of overall Thunder lack of attention to detail—they shot 15-29 from the free throw line. So my question to Russell Westbrook and Paul George would be, “Even if you got every call what difference would it make?”
The Thunder just aren’t very good and the easy first third of the season schedule masked so much of what we’ve seen since the schedule got tough.
You don’t play Memphis, Phoenix, Cleveland and the NY Knicks in the playoffs. This Thunder in the current tense is who the Thunder are unfortunately against playoff caliber competition. The Divine Miracle in Philly snookered us.
For a reason which completely escapes me, Sam Presti, and I wrote it several times back when it happened, extended Billy Donovan another year for next season in Oklahoma City. I’m not sure if I ever remember a coach being extended then being fired, but it is what is in Oklahoma City NBA wise.
On a positive side, the Toronto Raptors have a nice team apparently ready to make some noise in the highly anticipated Eastern Conference Playoffs. Their starting five with the addition of Marc Gasol and the star emergence of Pascal Siakem is impressive. They run the court. They move the ball. They finish…and in essence do all the things coach Nick Nurse asks of them on a nightly basis for the most part.
The really bad news for the Thunder is they just went 0-3 on a critical home stand and now travel to play these same Raptors on Friday night.
There won’t be any outburst or snarky writing from me on here. The truth is evident. The Thunder just aren’t that good.
Simply put, Nick is my favorite Thunder of player all-time. I don’t know who my second favorite player is as of this moment in that I love role players and what they give to a team. Maybe if Andre could ever make a free throw…he’d become my second favorite Thunder player in the Thunder era.
From the first time I watched Nick play at Kansas it was obvious his father was a coach. The attitude, the toughness and the off the chart BBIQ made it clear his father had coached him. Roy Williams landed a champion when Nick decided to spend his college career in Lawrence.
Of course, as an OU fan, I hated when they beat us, but with Collison it was always about respect and admiration for the way in which he carried himself both on and off the court.
Nick Collison wasn’t a star. For his NBA career he averaged 6 points a game and 1.4 assists a game. He was a bear on the boards and a tenacious defender.
Yet having written this, Nick was the 12th player taken in the 2003 draft by the Seattle Sonics. All of Nick Collison’s fifteen years in the NBA were with the same franchise both in Seattle and in Oklahoma City. He never made an All-Star team or won an MVP award.
He was a master of the two man game with James Harden in both 2011 and 2012. With Harden and Collison on the floor together their offensive games meshed and it was a clinic in moving without the ball followed by the textbook backdoor pass.
He was also a master of drawing the charge and the image of a Memphis player crashing into the planted Collison is indelibly printed in every Thunder fan’s soul.
Collison was also the most interesting and accessible Thunder player in the press room. Talk to people at the Children’s Hospital in downtown Oklahoma City and you’ll hear some stories which had nothing to do with the hard wood, but everything to do with the nature of his heart as a human.
But most of all Collison was/is a class act and the model of what every NBA owner would want from one of his players on and off the court.
I still cry when I think about the Thunder beating the Spurs in Game 6 to advance to the NBA Finals. It’s something no real Thunder fan will ever forget.
Nick Collison is a part of all this which will never be forgotten and if you took a poll he’d be the most popular figure in the history of the Thunder franchise.
Nick Collison Night tonight inside the Peake will be a memorable experience for all involved. I doubt there will be a dry eye in the house.
Don’t look now, but the superbly coached San Antonio Spurs beat Golden State last night for their 9th win a row and passed the gasping Thunder for the No. 5 seed in the West. Utah and the gritty Clippers are now one game down in the loss column to the train wreck Thunder who are now 5-10 since the loss in New Orleans.
This season under Florida Gator coach Billy Donovan was supposed to be different than the previous one in which it was alleged Carmelo Anthony torpedoed the Thunder by refusing to come off the bench.
That was the narrative following Carmelo’s hellbent exit interview at the conclusion of last season. That being, it was pretty much all Carmelo’s fault the Thunder were a season long dud and a relatively easy victim for the Utah Jazz in Round 1.
So here we stand… seventy-one NBA regular season games later and the Thunder in reality appear no different than last season’s smoldering heap of junk which made it appear Kevin Durant and his handlers were prescient in getting out of town and taking the easy path to two NBA rings.
There was no Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City tonight as he was suspended for getting his 18th technical of the season as two had already been rescinded.
The final score read 116-107 in favor of the sub .500 Miami Heat who are now 34-36 and fighting to hold on to the 8th seed in the East.
The mercurial peacock Westbrook will return on Wednesday night for the Thunder. It will be Nick Collison Night as the Thunder organization tries to take a sentimental view back towards what the Thunder were in 2012 when Collison, Perk, Serge, Thabo, Durant, Harden, Fisher, Maynor and Westbrook caught the fascination of the world by reaching the NBA Finals versus D Wade and LeBron’s super team in Miami.
But on this night inside the Peake a laid back crowd didn’t get to see the Thunder without Westbrook change the direction of their season as the Heat after a slow start came back to score 116 points and make the Thunder look like a lottery team.
It was Wade’s last appearance in OKC and he didn’t disappoint as he scored 25 points and along with point guard Goran Dragic’s 26 points stuck the knife just a little deeper into the gut of the reeling team with the Love’s billboard posted on their collective chests.
The Love’s logo is a huge red heart. How ironic… for a team without any collective heart that this should be the sponsorship logo on their jerseys.
The Thunder resume action on Wednesday night inside the Peake to honor Nick Collison. Maybe Sam Presti will announce Nick’s addition to the coaching staff in as it appears little if any coaching takes place with the dumbest team in the NBA.
That’s what I always admired about Collison…his smarts, his toughness and his willingness to do anything to help the team win a game.
The Thunder host the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night and will be honoring Nick Collison.
Back in the day when John Feinstein wrote Season on the Brink–I bought the book in hard copy and loved it. It was quite the rage as a NY Times bestseller. My wife had a friend who was the sister of Bobby Knight’s second wife and just by accident I found out she was getting ready to spend a week in Bloomington with Bob Knight. I politely asked if she would take my book with her and see if Coach Knight would sign it for me.
She came back with my book unsigned and told me Coach Knight wouldn’t sign the book because he now hated John Feinstein. She gave me my book and then gave me another hard cover book which had just been released by the title of Bob Knight: His Own Man by Joan Mellon. It turns out Joan Mellon was an English Lit prof at Temple and she and Coach Knight did this book in response to the book in which Coach Knight gave complete access to John Feinstein to write in the first place. I opened the book and there’s Coach Knight’s signature inside the book with a note which read: ‘Mike, You shouldn’t have wasted your time reading the first book. This is the better book.’ -Bob Knight-
I use this in my lead for today as for the second straight season the Thunder’s season appears to be clearly on the brink. Since February 14th, the Thunder are 5-9 and falling fast. As I look at the standings this morning the Thunder are in the No. 5 seed and on the cusp of falling further if things don’t take a turn for the Thunder in their remaining twelve games of the regular season. San Antonio, Utah and even the inspirational LA Clippers are all still winning and not going away.
So what happened? Was it just the schedule getting tougher and the Thunder coming back to the norm of what they really are with Russell Westbrook as star and college coach Billy Donovan running the ship?
I’m not sure. I don’t have access like John Feinstein did with Bobby Knight back when Knight was an icon with the Hoosiers. From the outside looking in though– it appears Russell Westbrook, not Clay Bennett, is the primary owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise. It appears Westbrook drives the bus and Sam Presti and Clay Bennett go along because they fear they have no other option at this point.
I don’t know what else to write at this point.
What other conclusion could you draw after the dismissal of Brian Davis for the ‘cotton pickin’ mind’ comment or the ascension of Little Nick Gallo as some sort of personal communications guru for Westbrook himself?
I cannot fathom in any alternate universe how Clay Bennett or Sam Presti think this is a good look for an NBA franchise even for one in Oklahoma City.
So how would Bob Knight handle Russell Westbrook is how I tie all this together? Bob Knight actually won one of his national championships with a point guard from Chicago by the name of Isiah Thomas. Oh, they had their moments–but they did win a national championship before Isiah went on to the Detroit Pistons.
But in the year 2019… could a coach like Bob Knight rein in Westbrook the Peacock and keep his point guard’s attention focused on winning a championship?
I don’t know. But I feel certain Billy Donovan can’t handle his peacock of a point guard and this season is clearly on the brink with Carmelo Anthony nowhere in sight.
The Thunder host the Heat tonight in another goodbye game for D Wade on his farewell tour. Of course, Westbrook is suspended due to receiving his 16th technical in the blowout loss to the Warriors after body checking Klay Thompson when a call didn’t go his way. Ironically, that was the only time in the game Westbrook appeared to be close enough to either Thompson or Curry to offer much resistance.
Every game is big for the Thunder at this point unless they want to fall to the No. 8 seed.
The Miami Heat and D Wade in town tonight at the Peake .Maybe Wade could explain to Westbrook if he weren’t suspended what it takes to become a three time NBA champion.
Only in Oklahoma City could this continue like this even after every one of these local writers supported Russell Westbrook after the incident in Utah. I’m thinking I have a feel for the systemic problem in Oklahoma City. The problem being…Sam Presti runs a daycare center fronting as an NBA franchise.
In spite of the Thunder, I made sure and enjoyed every minute of this game. I took the time to follow both Steph and Klay all night long following their movements on the floor with and without the ball. And even though the Thunder were blown out early in this game it’s very clear the Splash Brothers are historically good and simply a marvel to watch.
The Splash Brothers are art..pure and simple. I would guess before it’s all over they’ll be recognized as the best backcourt in NBA history–if not already.
If you take Steph and Klay, add the very talented Demarcus Cousins and throw in Draymond Green and Iguodala…and throw in Livingston and the young players off the bench you have a championship team without Kevin Durant is what I took away from this game.
Ironically, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook had something oddly in common this game–as in neither played. Durant was a DNP due to a sore ankle and Russell Westbrook played one of the worst games in his career. To simply write Westbrook was horrific isn’t enough. It was a combination of horrific ladled with pathetic which made you want to grab him through your flat screen and put him on the end of Billy Donovan’s bench.
One good thing does come of this game though for Thunder fans. This should put an end to all this Durant-Westbrook angst which still lingers among Thunder fans. That should be over because after Durant leaves the Warriors after this season…Durant and Westbrook will have something else in common…that being neither will be relevant in the championship conversation as long as the Warriors keep Steph, Klay, and either DeMarcus or Draymond. Just one of those two would be enough with the Splash Brothers.
I think even the most hardened Durant hater in OKC would now have to admit even if Durant had come back in 2017 that the Thunder would not have come back and beaten the Warriors.
I have no idea where Durant lands. If he were smart he’d go play for Popovich and continue to expand his game as he has with Steve Kerr.
As far as the Thunder…yikes. As in double yikes. Since the All-Star break the Thunder have collapsed under the weight of a difficult schedule and we now know it wasn’t just Carmelo accounting for last season’s car wreck. It’s something else more systemic within the organization.
For the second straight season the Thunder have derailed and if you look closely at the standings the Thunder could derail all the way to the No. 8 seed. Wouldn’t that be a great reward for Clay Bennett and his ownership group after opening their wallets to do everything to put a team around Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook, of course, received his 16th technical in this game and will be suspended for Monday’s home game versus the Heat.
Not exactly an eight day span for the ages for Russell Westbrook. The incident in Utah, the complete collapse in Indy, the no show against the Warriors and a suspension while your teammates are trying to keep their season together and not fall to the No. 8 seed and a first round matchup with the Warriors.
But here’s what I’d suggest for Thunder fans…take the time to watch Steph Curry and Klay Thompson and admire two future Hall of Famers in the prime of their careers.
Golden State’s Warriors are in town tonight for the tiebreaker in this season’s three game regular season series with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The stubborn Denver Nuggets haven’t gone away and are still within striking range of the iconic Warriors. One would think the Warriors will be in town with a reason to play with some focus and meaning tonight inside the Peake.
With the No. 5 seeded Thunder…who really knows which team will show up on a given night, much less which team will start a half with some reason to play hard and with a sense of purpose.
Like all of Billy Donovan’s teams in OKC minus the Oscar Robertson triple double trail season–the Thunder under Donovan never really seem all that concerned with end results or when the season will end.
This Thunder team and organization seem to be in their own provincial world and apparently believe they’ve been relevant since Kevin Durant’s departure to go play on a real championship contender in Oakland.
But the truth is the truth. Since Durant’s departure to win rings and Finals MVP trophies the Thunder have yet to exceed 48 wins in a regular season or to win a single first round playoff series. In playoff basketball–the Thunder without Durant are an abysmal 3-8 in post season play.
But tonight in OKC should be fun as it’s the ABC Saturday Night Game of the Week pitting the Warriors vs. the Thunder.
I would guess Thunder fandom will still be booing Durant in a robust manner for going to play for a winner. Thunder zealots will have their Little Nick Gallo Sippy Cups in hand and overlook a complete and absolute meltdown Thursday night in Indianapolis as the Thunder choked on a nineteen point lead against the Pacers. These Warriors aren’t the Pacers. These Warriors are iconic.
I haven’t looked at my Vegas site yet, but I’d pick the game at Golden State -2.5 or so. It should be a great game. It feels like two seasons ago when Dennis Schroder scored 32 points against the Warriors back in November to propel the Thunder to a win over the Dubs. One would think this will be one of Little Nick Gallos keys to a Thunder win tonight…namely, Dennis Schroder needs to show up tonight inside the Peake.
I love the ABC games. I won’t for a second listen to the Fox telecast other than to catch some of Antonio Daniels in the post game breakdown.
As far as who wins tonight—all I will say is that when it matters the Warriors usually show up to play and surprisingly this game still matters for the Warriors to maintain their lead in the standings over the Nuggets.
I’m not doing a recap on this game. It’s too painful and ultimately serves no purpose since I have no sway with decisions the Oklahoma City Thunder organization make one way or the other. Maybe—tomorrow morning I’ll touch on a few things from this meltdown loss in my prelude to the ABC Saturday Night Game of the Week vs. the Warriors.
I was over on the Thunder Nation message board this morning lamenting the loss with other Thunder fans and someone mentioned how much they missed Brian Davis doing the television play by play.
I was one of those who was kind of tired of Brian Davis and Michael Cage doing their homer routine, but I have to admit almost a year later…I do miss Brian Davis.
As I look back the guy was entertaining. He brought a certain fun quality and approach to his job which is sorely missing with the combination of Chris Fisher and Michael Cage. And what a great voice!
So–tomorrow I’ll make a few quick comments on the meltdown while at the same time fast forward to the matchup with the Warriors on ABC.
One thing you learn for certain as Thunder fan is that at the end of the day you need to be able to have a sense of humor or else this will drive you insane
Here’s a best of Brian Davis mix. He was actually very entertaining. The Thunder might have out thought themselves on this one in retrospect.
I’m going to recap six or so hours later so as I don’t destroy my computer screen in the process of writing my recap. I’m not your normal Thunder blogger. This is a game the Thunder had no business whatsoever losing after having a nineteen point lead with seven minutes left in the third period.
I’m smart enough about myself to know I need six hours.