I’m almost certain we’re headed for controversy on college football’s Final Four after Penn State’s 38-31 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game. Penn State just won the toughest conference in America, beat Ohio State head to head earlier in the season, and has won its last nine games. For me—they’re in. So is Alabama and so is Clemson as both are league champions as well. I think the question is whether you take Ohio State or Washington? My feel is Ohio State is the better team and played a much tougher schedule than Washington.
So–if I’m on that committee my Final Four in the national semi-final reads Alabama vs. Ohio State in one semi-final and Clemson vs. Penn State in the other semi-final. I would penalize Ohio State for not winning their conference and thus make them the No. 4 seed playing Alabama in the national semi-finals.
We’ll see how the committee handles this come tomorrow.
With this much needed break of games this might be a good time to post this excellent interview. Chris Webber of Michigan Fab Five fame is interviewing Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson. It’s still early in the season, but heading into December, Westbrook is averaging a triple double. This is a great sports record of sorts he’s chasing. In baseball, the equivalent would be hitting for the triple crown. In football it would like rushing for 2,400 yards. In hockey, maybe ringing up a fifty goal, fifty assist season. This is a great accomplishment Westbrook is chasing and I’m hopeful our mostly millennial basketball writers in Oklahoma are fully aware of what Westbrook is in pursuit of here. Most of them never saw Robertson play, and to be quite frank, I’m not sure many of them saw Chris Webber play all that much either.
Anyway, this is an excellent interview and a prerequisite watch as Westbrook chases Oscar Roberston.
Highly entertaining game last night in Oakland as the Rockets ended the Warriors’ 12 game winning streak with a 132-127 double overtime win. Harden had his fourth triple double of the season while Durant scored 39 points and Curry chipped in 28 points before fouling out. Another kicking incident by Draymond Green, but’s it okay because he plays for the Warriors and it’s really not all that big of a deal if Green is kicking opposing players in the balls or face on his shot follow through. If you watched the game, it was fairly clear who the MBVP was on the floor was–and it wasn’t Durant, Curry, or Green. It was James Harden.
Here’s Harden’s media day interview talking about Mike D’Antoni and this season in general.
I’ll probably do around five Power Polls this regular season and only rank the top ten teams in the league. I see no point going any further down the list. If you have no life whatsoever and need to know who the bottom twenty teams in the league are then probably googling Marc Stein or Bill Simmons would be the thing to do.
1. Golden State Warriors — When you won 73 games the previous season and would have won a second straight NBA championship if not for the dipshit antics of Draymond Green in Game 4 and add Kevin Durant to your ball club, you should be the best team in the league. Currently–they are.
2. Cleveland Cavaliers — Although I have the Cavs at No.2, I still feel they’re the team to beat come the NBA Finals. LeBron has owned Kevin Durant’s mind to date, so until I witness Durant cross this mental hurdle the Cavs are my pick to repeat although I have them No. 2 in my first poll of the regular season.
3. San Antonio Spurs — A good team, but not a great team. How far can they go with Tony Parker as their starting point guard? I honestly think OKC will match up nicely with the Spurs.
4. LA Clippers — This in itself shows how weak the league is when everyone is picking the Clippers as the fourth best team in the entire league. I think OKC would match up very well against the Clippers in a post season series as well.
5. OKC Thunder — Assuming Westbrook doesn’t get hurt, Adams can keep his hand healthy, and Victor Oladipo continues to elevate his game weekly—I see no reason the Thunder shouldn’t be here on my poll. If the zebras had called the Nick Young Walk and OKC doesn’t sleepwalk against the Magic at home they’re 14-6 as I write.
6. Toronto Raptors — Who else is the second best team in the East? DeRozan has finally cooled, but I love their guard tandem. At some point this season, Westbrook-Oladipo will pass DeRozan-Lowery, but for now I still have them above the Thunder backcourt by a smidge.
7. Houston Rockets — Like Westbrook, James Harden is having a career season. Should not be a surprise if you saw Mike D’Antoni coach Steve Nash in Phoenix. If ever a coach was made for James Harden it’s D’Antoni. Houston vs. Oklahoma City games should be treated as prized royal treasures this season by NBA junkies. First game this season didn’t disappoint at all.
8. Chicago Bulls — Jimmy Butler. No other reason than Jimmy Butler. Plus, someone has to fill out this feeble poll.
9. Boston Celtics — They should start playing better. But they still need a star. Glad Presti didn’t trade Westbrook for Crowder, Smart, and those first round draft picks right now. Seriously glad.
10. Atlanta Hawks — They’re going nowhere once again, but they play smart ball and give their fans their money’s worth on most nights. Yawn.
Let’s not even think about the East and LeBron for the time being. LeBron is the best player in the league until someone in the West beats him in the Finals with a healthy team around him. Anotherwords, I don’t put all that much stock in what Golden State did two seasons ago in the Finals against a Cleveland team which was decimated by injury.
But this year in the West we have quite an MVP race brewing with the likes of Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Chris Paul, Kawhi Leonard, and Anthony Davis. I’m not sure I could vote for any member of the Golden State Warriors in that they have two previous MVP winners on the same team and four NBA All Stars in their starting five. It’s a team which won 73 games last season and added Kevin Durant in the off season. So how do you decipher who’s their MVP given the fact on any given night it could be either Curry, Durant, Green, or Thompson?
None of the other five canidates I mentioned have the luxury of the Warrior players. Westbrook, Harden, Leonard, and Davis do not have another Top 15 player on their respective rosters. Chris Paul does have Blake Griffin, but he’s the only one with a star supporting him.
Westbrook and Harden would be my top two choices one fourth of the way through this season. Both are having spectacular seasons leading teams with rosters which aren’t talented enough to compete for an NBA championship. Yet both OKC and Houston are having respectable seasons and giving NBA fans some great entertainment. Adam Silver should consider himself fortunate for the Westbrook and Harden narratives this regular season. No one really cares about the regular season otherwise because it’s obvious given the Super Team building which has occurred in Cleveland and Golden State as to who should be in this season’s Finals. Nobody really cares and that says a great deal for the NBA collective bargaining agreement which has allowed this to happen. Silver and his greedy NBA owners should consider themselves fortunate Westbrook and Harden are creating an MVP buzz to make the regular season fun to watch.
There’s just no way I could vote for either Durant or Curry. Especially Durant. He joined a team which won 73 games last season—so how do you calculate his presence is all that valuable until we see if Durant can finally beat LeBron with all these All-Stars surrounding him. We can’t. Plus, we don’t even know if Durant could beat a team with Steph on it since he said no mas after his Game 6 no show in the Western Conference Finals. So in all candor neither Curry or Durant’s regular season numbers mean much of anything. How do you determine if there’s really a ‘most valuable player’ on the Golden State roster. I can assure you that Westbrook, Harden, Leonard, and Davis are clearly their teams’ most valuable player. Can we really say that in regards to Durant or Steph Curry or even Draymond Green?
Keeping in mind how I view the MVP this is how I would vote today with LeBron in his own category over to the side.
Western Conference only:
1 Westbrook
2 Harden
3 Paul
4 Leonard
5 Davis
6 Griffin
7 Durant and Curry
8 Lillard
9 Conley (injured-out indefinitely)
10 Marc Gasol
Pretty good basketball game tonight inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena. It was a game which had multiple roller coaster rides as it appeared Scott Brooks, like Serge Ibaka, would return to hand his former team a defeat on the road.
OKC had it going early and at one point led the Wizards by 16 points. But Washington behind Bradley Beal’s 31 point night won both the second and third periods and actually led the Thunder by seven points with three minutes left in regulation.
Enter Russell Westbrook of triple double Oscar Robertson fame and claimed by some to be the jilted ex-point guard of Kevin Durant. Well, wouldn’t you know it, from that three minute mark moving forward Russell Westbrook was one part Michael Jordan, one part Kobe Bryant, and one part Allen Iverson. In a season so far which has propelled Westbrook near the top of MVP consideration — Russell Westbrook once again showed that maybe he was secretly glad Kevin Durant left to go play for the AAU super team in Oakland. Because if Durant didn’t leave we wouldn’t be seeing NBA history being played out before our eyes every night. Because there’s no way Charlie Bell and Richie K would have allowed Westbrook to upstage their prize client in this manner. No f–king Nike way. Golden State may very well win the NBA championship, but in all candor this is some great stuff we’re seeing every night as Thunder fans. Historically great. Oscar Robertson great.
Those last three minutes saw the Thunder roar back largely due to Westbrook, backcourt mate Victor Oladipo, and a Thunder defense which went small making some critical late stops.
But still, OKC was down 98-95 with the ball and the shot clock off when Westbrook went inside the three point line, then outside of it, then nailing the three to ultimately send the game to OT after Otto Porter missed at the buzzer on a very good look from the right elbow. Westbrook’s three was his only made three on the night (1-6).
In OT, Westbrook went completely into MJ/Kobe mode scoring 14 of his 35 points as the Thunder ran away and hid from former coach Scott Brooks and his highly disappointing so far Wizards. It was vintage Russell Westbrook. A Westbrook who wouldn’t have been able to do this with Kevin Durant still in place in Oklahoma City. So, it’s kind of ironic for a hoops purist like myself who was heart broken when Durant left to make Charlie, Richie, and Nike happy–that all this turned out to be possibly the most interesting Thunder season to date. Que sera, sera.
Our Thunder are now 12-8 and in the midst of a four game winning streak since the disastrous loss in Sacramento. The season turned when Bill Donovan finally said enough of Kyle Singler and Alex Arbrines and decided to give Anthony Morrow an honest shot at playing time. Morrow was only 2-9 from the field tonight, but in 31 minutes he had four assists and the highest +/- rating of any Thunder player tonight at +20. Go figure.
All told all five OKC starters scored in double figures tonight, plus Enes Kanter scored 14 points in 14 minutes. But this was one of those nights when it was tough to keep Kanter on the floor because Brooks pretty much stayed small. Which translates into Jerami Grant getting more playing time when opposing teams go small.
Roberson, Sabonis, and Adams were all solid. Victor Oladipo was excellent scoring yet another mini-triple double of 25-6-6. Oladipo went 10-16 from the field and was 5-9 from three. It was a super efficient performance. I know, I know…the way I go on this way and that way about the Westbrook-Oladipo backcourt should have me standing between Brian Davis and Michael Cage—but I’m telling you people these two guys will be the second best backcourt in the league come April. Tonight, combined—60 points, 20 rebounds, 17 assists. Just saying.
Well, so, our Thunder are now 12-8, playing some pretty good ball and back on track to win maybe 47-49 games this NBA regular season which would be fine with me because I have OKC at No. 4 in the West on my Daily Thunder bracket sheet.
The Thunder get a very much needed break of games until Sunday evening when Anthony Davis and the Pelicans show up in town.
Until then, enjoy the break, watch some Bedlam football, and study up on Oscar Robertson.
BTW, for those of you who can’t get over the Durant departure this is for you. He’s gone. He’s going to marry Draymond Green and at some point they’re going to have children together. So–my advice would be to get over it and enjoy this ride.
Scott Brooks returns tomorrow night with his sub .500 Washington Wizards. Not sure how this will go for Scott Brooks long term. But his place in history as the first real head coach of the Thunder will always be cemented as a very positive legacy. OKC grew up as an NBA city with Brooks at the helm. He was the perfect coach for this market. Good coach. Good person. Excellent role model. Brooks was a comfortable fit for a college market making the transition to an NBA market. Plus, his temperament with young stars like Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka seemed like a snug fit given the quaintness of the Oklahoma City market. Class person. Hope he does well coaching the Wizards.
The national storyline will be Russell Westbrook garnered his eighth triple double of the season and forty-fifth of his NBA career. Adding to that storyline is Westbrook is now averaging a triple double for the season…31-11-10.
But that’s not what sticks about this game tonight for me. More to the point it was the Thunder’s overall willingness to play with a chip on their shoulder and do the little things as a team. Get dirty as a team. Play with toughness, some snarl, and a little nasty. I liked what I saw tonight.
For the third game in a row, Anthony Morrow was a very positive factor for the Thunder. Amo scored 14 points, went 5-7 from the field, and was 3-5 from beyond the arc. OKC needed his steadying influence early and he provided baskets when his team needed scoring. For the night, OKC’s bench chipped in 48 points. Circle that in red.
Enes Kanter had what I thought was his best game of the season. In 28 minutes, Kanter scored 27 points and gobbled 10 rebounds. For the second straight game his pick and roll game was there all night with Westbrook. He played physical as well, which rubbed off on other OKC players. When he does that I’m not sure I want to trade him. Please circle in red.
Another good game from Steven Adams as well with 14 points and 10 rebounds. It’s pretty simple, when someone like Morrow is hitting threes and spacing the floor—Kanter and Adams become very dangerous weapons for the Thunder offense.
But I think I’ll go with Andre Roberson as my No. 1 Star of the Game for multiple reasons. I absolutely loved his third period when he pick and rolled with Lauvergne, hit a three, and pretty much blanketed Carmelo Anthony. Carmelo was 4-18 from the field as Roberson altered his shots all night long. Plus, Roberson hit a clutch three in the final five minutes which kind of gave me the feeling this was the Thunder’s night. Great overall game by Andre Roberson. Circle in red, thank you.
Oladipo had an off night. Lauvergne was decent, while Jermai Grant needs to play better. OKC needs more from Sabonis as well.
The national media will be amuck with Westbrook storylines, but if you watch the Thunder every game this was a road win accentuated by some excellent performances by role players with Roberson, Kanter, and Morrow leading the way. And in that exact order those three are my Three Stars of the Game.
Scotty Brooks and the Washington Wizards in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night.