Author: Mike

More than  halfway thru this NBA season I feel a need to change the flow and tone of the previews on this rogue Thunder blog. We’ve seen all the teams once to this point and the reality is clear unless you’re a Fox homer drone who has a Nick Gallo sippy cup in his hand during the games. The truth is this…of the thirty teams in this league — only two aren’t mortally flawed to the extent they can win the championship this season. Only two, unless Cleveland or Oklahoma City make a game changing trade on the trade deadline to change the equation.

OKC plays the 19-22 Charlotte Hornets tonight in the Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Hornets enter as the coldest team in the East as they’ve lost eight of their last ten games. Their best big Al Jefferson is still out, and there’s no reason OKC shouldn’t dominant this game from beginning to end. None.

Kemba Walker and Nicholas Batum will test the Thunder defense, but it should be a game where Durant, Westbrook, and at least one other Thunder player frolick like  freed sables in the ending scene of Gorky Park.

I’d like to see Serge Ibaka frolicking as the third sable tonight. He’s my desiginated third guy of the of game going in award winner tonight.

OKC is 31-12, they should be 32-12 somewhere around 9:15pm CST.

There are no secrets or keys to victory tonight if OKC plays with any focus or edge. This is a game OKC should take by the jugular and impose their superiority from the opening tap.

I haven’t bothered googling my favorite Vegas NBA odds site. I’m saying OKC -12.5 in this one.

As this season moves along the previews should be succinct, more to the point, and lacking any ambiguity. OKC is at home and is the superior team. A team which needs wins and in streaks of five, eight, and ten at this point if they want to be mentioned seriously in the same breath as Golden State and the Spurs.

 

 

Oklahoma City signed Enes Kanter to a four year $70 million deal this past season. Some experts around the league view it as one of the worst current contracts in the league because of Kanter’s negative net value on the defensive end of the floor.

It has served for endless discussions and comparisons from the analytics crowd. Every conceivable plus/minus analytic stat has been used to try and decide if Enes Kanter is only moderately bad or really bad on the defensive end. Whether Kanter is a net plus or a net minus? Whether Kanter in any way gives OKC a better chance of beating Golden State and San Antonio as each game forward accrues with more value attached?

Last night in Denver, Kanter had a season high game of 25 points against the extraordinarily mediocre Denver Nuggets. This doesn’t do that much for me. I need to see more from Kanter night in and night out against the Top 12 teams in the league to justify this contract. As we nudge forward into the goal achieving portion of Kevin Durant’s free agency season this is a storyline which has to be viewed closely and from an objective lense.

 

If OKC is going to entertain any notion of winning a top two seed in the West and subsequent home court advantage in the second round of the playoffs–either a 9-1 or 10-0 stretch in the next ten games needs to get done as the Thunder currently reside 7.5 games behind Golden State and 5.5 games behind San Antonio.

Six road games, four home games. Yet, only two of the ten are against teams currently in my Top 12 power poll, with one of these being at Golden State on Feb 6th. Of the ten games, OKC will be a Vegas favorite in all of these games save the road game at Golden State.

Road games at Dallas on Jan 20th and at the NY Knicks on Jan 26th could be tricky if OKC’s supporting cast goes awol in either of those two games.

So–the margin is thin in the next ten games for OKC to make significant headway if you assume the game at Golden State will be extremely difficult to win. 9-1 is doable, but certainly not a  cinch of any sort given the up and down play of Ibaka, Waiters, Kanter, and rookie Cam Payne.

With Durant-OKC is 28-8 this season, without him, 3-4. This speaks volumes whether you watch the games closely or not. Even with Westbrook’s continual rise since 2012 as a top seven player in the league, OKC as a team has regressed as far as being championship viable.

Not meaning this to be overly negative, just honest. For OKC to put itself in the position of championship viable it’s very simple for me, Durant, Westbrook, and Adams are pretty much known commodities every night. OKC knows what they’ll get from these three players. But as I’ve written before—it’s somewhat of a crapshoot what OKC will get on any given night from Ibaka, Waiters, Kanter, and Payne. These four players hold the key to this Thunder season if OKC seriously aspires to be anything beyond the third best team in the West.

OKC’s next ten games….. Jan. 20 Charlotte, Jan. 22 @ Dallas, Jan. 24 @ Brooklyn, Jan. 26 @ NY Knicks, Jan. 27 @ Minnesota, Jan. 29 Houston, Feb. 1 Washington, Feb. 3 Orlando, Feb. 6 @ Golden State, and Feb. 8 @ Phoenix

 

OKC Thunder 110 — Denver Nuggets 104

OKC’s Thunder were a little bit of everything Tuesday night in Denver as they won their fifth straight game of the season over the Nuggets to improve to 31-12 for the season.

It wasn’t particularly an impressive performance, nor a horrible one, but rather a nondescript NBA road win where basically Durant, Westbrook, and on this night Enes Kanter, were the major clogs as OKC did enough to tame the Denver Nuggets.

Combined–the two stars plus Kanter scored 82 of OKC’s points and were enough even though the rest of the OKC roster scored only 28 points. It went Durant 30 points, Westbrook 27 points, and Kanter with 25 points in 25 minutes of play.

I think I’ll go Enes Kanter as my No. 1 Star of the Game because he and Kyle Singler were basically it for OKC’s bench tonight.

Depending on whether you’re a glass half full or half empty type—OKC won on the road tonight with Serge Ibaka, Dion Waiters, and rookie Cam Payne shooting a combined 4-27 from the field. That in itself tells you how good Durant and Westbrook are, and how completely mediocre Denver is in the same compact paragraph.

Dion Waiter’s three game streak of good games came tumbling back down to earth as he went 2-10 with three turnovers. A complete microcosm of Waiters’ not only in OKC, but in the NBA.   If you can visualize Ibaka, Waiters, and Payne out playing and out thinking Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes, and Shawn Livingston in a seven game series without home court advantage then there must be something I’m not seeing big picture.

But still, OKC is improving as far as overall ball movement goes as it notched another thirty assist game  as a team. Even though, I’d still grade this one as nothing more than a road win against  a 16-26 team which is the current No. 11 seed in the West.

Kyle Singler continued his modest string of  positive games with 7 points and 4 rebounds off the bench.

Danilo Gallinaro and Kenneth Faried  led Denver with 27 and 17 points.

OKC is now 20-4 in its last twenty four games and 28-8 when Kevin Durant plays. But keep this in mind, Golden State has both Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala as Durant hounders, and the Spurs have a guy named Kawhi Leonard as well to shadow No. 35. Kevin Durant and Russell aren’t good enough to beat the Warriors or Spurs with only part of OKC’s roster contributing.

So for the pragmatic crowd, me included, OKC didn’t take a step forward or backwards tonight–just sideways, and if you witnessed the Golden State dismantling of Cleveland last night there’s a fairly good chance Durant, Westbrook, and sideways won’t be enough in a six or seven game series if it ever comes to that.

Mike Jackson

 

A stunning display of basketball. Coupled with Golden State’s 88-85 win at home in December, the Warriors complete a 2-0 season sweep of the Cavs.

Golden State at Cleveland tonight. First time for the Warriors to return to Cleveland since their championship clinching Game 6 win last summer. Should be the focus of all the NBA world tonight.

OKC Thunder 99 — Miami Heat 74

I’ve been watching the Democratic Presidential Debate since the conclusion of the Thunder-Heat game, so I didn’t listen to any of Billy Donovan’s presser on this one. Don’t think I need to because my guess is he’s a fairly happy coach with good things to say after this Thunder win.

Even though Miami was missing point guard Goran Dragic in this one, I’d probably rate this as one of OKC’s top six or seven wins on the season as far as level of play and quality of  opponent.

This game was clearly a tale of two halves, but what’s impressive is OKC won both halves even though they struggled shooting the ball in the second quarter.

First half was played at Miami’s grinding tempo which isn’t really conducive to how the Thunder like to play, but what the Thunder will see some of if they make a deep run in this post season. Despite a choppy second period–OKC led 44-42 at the half.

Second half was a different story as OKC got out in transition and won the third period by a 31-16 count. The game was essentially over entering the fourth, but OKC kept the pressure on and finished with a second half win of 55-32 over the deliberate Heat who are not in their comfort zone playing at a faster pace game.

The 74 points by Miami was their lowest output of the season, and the lowest point total OKC has allowed this season.

All of the things which have limited the Thunder at times were all positives tonight against a pretty good ball club. The ball continued to move for OKC and the improvement in this facet of the Thunder game is becoming more noticeable every game. On the night,  OKC garnered 24 assists versus 14 turnovers, and it would have been higher if not for the poor second quarter shooting performance.

OKC’s defense and energy were good as well. From the opening possession when Andre Roberson went into full dive mode to create a jump ball, which in turn created a turnover on the pursuant jump ball. Little things, getting dirty, scratching, clawing, bleeding for that extra inch. Those are the work ethic plays  Jeff van Gundy was alluding to the other night.

Plus, OKC’s defense was good from its two stars…Durant and Westbrook. They got after it defensively. They led by example on both ends. Again with the caps….THIS IS A HINT OF WHAT OKC CAN BE IF THEY PLAY THE RIGHT WAY. Great game by the stars.

Westbrook collected his fifth triple double of the season. It’s the kind of line I love from Westbrook with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 15 assists. Combined Westbrook and Durant had 18 assists. Kevin Durant led OKC with 24 points and 10 rebounds

On this night, both Serge Ibaka and Dion Waiters were making their shots to the tune of 15-27 from the field. Ibaka scored 19 points, Waiters added 18 points. It marks the third straight game in which  Dion Waiters was efficient. Keep it up, Dion.

OKC’s bench  scored 31 on the night and was +23 on the night. Another game in which there was a nice blend of starters and bench units pulling it together on the same night.

My No. 1 Star is the team. I thought it was an excellent team win as OKC won its fourth straight and improved to 30-12.

Good win for OKC. Improved team play on several different fronts. Not only that—it appears Golden State might be coming back down to earth.

All in all a good week-end for the OKC Thunder.

Mike Jackson

Unbelievable day of NFL Divisional Playoff football yesterday. So—I decided to move the poll back till today. Still can’t believe the ending of the Packer game. One of the craziest endings ever in the history of the league.

Some NBA games yesterday which will cause me to shake things up near the top of this week’s poll. Namely, the Pistons beating Golden State for the Warriors second loss in three games. Golden State for the first time this season won’t be No. 1 in my poll. Sacramento beating the LA Clippers and ending the Clips’ ten game winning streak will make me drop the Clippers a notch, although if you look at the standings it’s not inconceivable George Karl could get his mentally fragile team into the 8th spot in the West before season’s end.  The Chicago Bulls had a rough week and are moving down in my poll as well. OKC’s Thunder didn’t really beat a quality team during the week, but due to  the Clips and Bulls showing they’re probably not Top 4 worthy–the Thunder slide back up, but still in my mind haven’t done anything to be moved into the top three tier of teams.

Are the Detroit Pistons for real in the East? I’m not sure, but they get my attention and for the second straight week they climb in the poll. Are the Toronto Raptors the second best team in the East behind Cleveland.. again, not sure, but in this week’s poll they are my second highest rated team from the East.

1     San Antonio Spurs

2     Golden State Warriors

3     Cleveland Cavaliers

4     OKC Thunder

5     LA Clippers

6     Toronto Raptors

7     Atlanta Hawks

8     Chicago Bulls

9     Miami Heat

10   Detroit Pistons

11    Dallas Mavericks

12    Memphis Grizzlies

OKC Thunder 113 — Minnesota Timberwolves 93

OKC’s Thunder moved the basketball Friday night inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena. It didn’t stick, it swung, then found a wide open shooter. Basketball is simple, yet beautiful when played this way. OKC had 31 assists to but 6 turnovers en route to an easy coast to coast cakewalk win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Russell Westbrook played like you want your point guard to play in registering the 23rd triple double of his unique career. One game removed from being snookered into an ejection by J.J. Barea, and showing little composure on the floor, Westbrook gave a clinic on what a team aspiring for lofty goals needs from their point guard on every night, not just when they’re playing one of the worst teams in the league.

Russell Westbrook is my No. 1 Star with 12 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, and only two turnovers. When Westbrook plays like this, OKC is elite. When he plays that other way, not so much. Hate to dwell on it, but for OKC to be Warriors, Spurs, Cleveland-like elite—this is the Westbrook OKC has to have, not the one who J.J. Barea got ejected the other night. You don’t think every good team in post season won’t talk about getting under Westbrook’s skin? C’mon, this isn’t Nick Gallo’s recap or the Fox postgame show.

This was basically over at the end of the first period as OKC took command in the first twelve minutes leading 31-17 at the end of the period, then 57-43 at the half. Like I said in the preview, Minnesota isn’t very good, but still–it’s a team with two No. 1 picks from two different drafts in Wiggins and Towns. Not trying to be critical of Sam Mitchell, but maybe these young guys should be coached just a little different. Like maybe starting with the decision of who’s your point guard moving forward…Ricky Rubio or Zack Lavine. Make a decision and go with it like OKC did with Westbrook during his ugly growing days. Just a random thought there for the editors of Daily T Wolves. Sigh.

It was a night of ball Billy Donovan and staff hope will be the template for the Thunder’s remaining 41 regular season games and beyond. Almost perfect. OKC had six players score in double figures and its starters combined for 66 points, while OKC’s often criticized bench scored 47 points. Tell me this isn’t what Donovan would want every night, and I’ll tell you you’re wrong. This is what Billy Donovan wants from his team and his two stars. HE WANTS WESTBROOK AND DURANT TO MAKE THE OTHER PLAYERS AROUND THEM BETTER AND HE WANTS THESE PLAYERS TO MAKE SHOTS. I hope the caps didn’t take away from the thought I was trying to convey.

BTW, OKC shot 52.8% from the field on the night. Nice.

Durant had a good game as well scoring 21 points and handing out 7 assists. This means combined Westbrook and Durant had 17 helpers and but 3 turnovers. That will win Billy Donovan a basketball game on almost every night.

The curious, mysterious Dion Waiters had his second effective game in a row scoring 20 points and only completely missed the rim on a layup–once.

In closing this one out–let me quote Jeff van Gundy from the Cleveland-Houston game which caused me to be late with this recap.

‘Teams which aspire to win championships play defense and move the ball every night. It’s not just a sometimes thing. It’s something which comes about through working hard as a team to do it every day in practice and in every game. Most teams won’t do this though.”

So—there’s the challenge to Durant, Westbrook, and the Thunder as a whole via Coach Jeff van Gundy. If you want to win a championship you have to get dirty, play smart, and do the little things which don’t come easily.

End of lecture.

Mike Jackson

T-Wolves in town tonight to play the Thunder for the second time this week. After their 8-8 start, reality has set in with this team as they’ve settled downward to the No. 14 seed in the West currently only ahead of the tanking dumpster fire Lakers.

The only ones not seeing this trend coming we’re a group of hoop youngster knaves over at Daily Thunder who started their own rogue Wolves blog because of their restless boredom on Daily Thunder. But still — you have to admire their passion however misguided. We’ll be chatting about the midway scores in the Daily Thunder Western Conference Seeding Contest soon though.

I have great seats tonight–so I’ll work hard at making it fun just seeing Wiggins and Towns.

Vegas has OKC as a 13.5 point favorite, which should be about right if the Thunder bring some focus into this game. This marks the halfway point in the season for OKC. Hard to tell in the past two games if OKC’s confused perimeter defense has improved in that Minnesota is a terrible three point shooting team and Dallas held out Dirk, Chandler, and Matthews on Wednesday night. I would suspect the answer is not much.

If OKC shows up and plays with any kind of fire this should be another game where Cam Payne plays at least 25 minutes. The Thunder bench was torched with a -28 earlier this week against this next to last place team and needs to assert something so as just to get some kind of positive feel going about itself.

The curious Dion Waiters had a horrible game on Monday, a solid game on Wednesday…how would one know what’s in store tonight. Kanter’s defense has been the subject of many recent local stories with various local internet scribes using every imaginable advanced stat to tell us what we already knew….Enes Kanter isn’t very good on the defensive end.

In defense of Billy Donovan and his rotations, he’s going to be dealing with this for the remainder of this season in that Kanter has a no trade clause in essence for the first year of his contract. This is on Sam Presti, not Billy Donovan.

OKC’s record is 28-12 which is good. People can’t be down on the Thunder because of what Golden State and the Spurs are doing. Both are on potentially historic runs and OKC has only played one game total against either of these teams so far.

It’s pretty simple for OKC…their bench and their overall team defense have to get markedly better if they aspire to go beyond the second round.

Not that I think tonight will tell us anything because Minnesota is a bad team, but I’ve got a great seat. So— take smart shots, Dion. Play some defense, Enes. LET’S GO THUNDER!