Month: November 2015

No Nene. No Bradley Beal. Not even Kevin Durant in the second half after a hamstring strain late in the first half. Nary any drama from the Wizard crowd in regards to Durant’s impending free agency. But most of all no contest whatsoever in an alleged battle of elite point guards as Russell Westbrook destroyed John Wall while leading the Thunder to a no mas blowout 125-101 win over the punchless Wizards.

Vintage Russell Westbrook. Triple double No. 20 in the Westbrook File. In twenty-eight minutes it went 22 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and most importantly a message sent….why would Kevin Durant leave Russell Westbrook to join John Wall if he’s serious about winning an NBA championship? Know what I mean?

Russell Westbrook is my OKCThunderGround No. 1 Star of the Game.

Another very good game from Dion Waiters. He was second on my list. That’s two back to back seconds for Dion in his pursuit of this prestigious award. Waiters finished with 25 points on a 7-10 night from the field. He wasn’t just good, he was excellent.

 

Other things…..

With Durant—OKC won the first half 68-50. Without Durant–OKC won the second half 57-51.

OKC had 27 assists to 12 turnovers.

Thirteen different Thunder players scored. Even Anthony Morrow, who went 1-6 in 16 minutes.

Have to keep an eye on that Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka, Kanter, Roberson lineup as the season moves along and how often Billy Donovan employs it against good teams.

OKC is the No. 1 rebounding team in the league and showed it pounding the Wizards 53-41 on the night.

John Kasich and Jeb Bush, the two guys who worked for Lehman Brothers are in serious trouble…they couldn’t answer the banking question. Oh, wait—this is a basketball blog.

Thunder shot 51.2% from the field and an even gaudier 15-23 from beyond the arc.

Kevin Durant garnered a first half double double with 17 points, 10 rebounds in 17 minutes.

Kyle Singler must have seen my Duke video of him here on the blog and decided it was time not to suck. Dude knows what Thunder blog to follow.

OKC improves to 5-3 with the easy walk-off win. My former Philly 76’ers in OKC Friday night on Friday the 13th. Just me, but I wouldn’t even allow Kevin Durant to dress out for this one.

Mike Jackson

 

 

 

The national narrative on this one will be is this Kevin Durant’s last game in D.C. wearing a Thunder uniform as his free agency creeps closer. Durant’s free agency in July of 2016 is there, as Thunder fans we all know it, we dread it, but in the end know either way it goes Kevin Durant will forever be a part of Oklahoma not only for what he’s done on the court, but off the court as well. So much of what Oklahomans love about Durant is his quiet humility, his desire to get better, and to ultimately be part of a championship in Oklahoma City. If he does decide to leave we know it will be with a quiet sense of dignity which was absent in the branding of LeBron James in Miami.

I’ve always thought of Durant as a Tim Duncan or a Dirk in a sense in that he appears to be very comfortable in his own skin and doesn’t need to play in New York or LA or Miami to define his own legacy. You never know though. But either way, even if he leaves, he has me as a fan for life because the guy exudes class which is so often missing in our contemporary sports stars.

Now the preview. OKC at 4-3 visits the 3-3 Wizards tonight. Should be a good game. Wizards have a solid starting five in John Wall, Nene, Gortat, Bradley Beal and the emerging Otto Porter. Both teams looking to play better and get something going with their respective seasons.

The Anthony Morrow talk continues to dominate the local Thunder talk both on the internet and radio sports talk. I’ve written all I’m going to write on it though. Billy Donovan is the coach. It’s his call.

I would expect Nick Collison to reassume the minutes Mitch McGary possessed on Sunday night in that it’s a road game against a pretty good team in the Wizards. Maybe home at Philly later in the week is a better spot for getting McGary into some sort of flow.

Russell Westbrook – John Wall matchup should be fun.

Otherwise—should be a good game with the Thunder hoping to get some answers to their early season identity as a team. OKC 1-2 on the road so far–with the only win coming in the miracle finish at Orlando.

July 3, 2014 –Three weeks after losing in six games in the Western Conference Finals to San Antonio.

 

Kyle Singler is a player I enjoyed watching at Duke. Loved his game, his swagger, his court attitude. I was okay with the trade.  I see none of this in his game with the Thunder to date. If he’s going to play in the rotation over Morrow–then I’m hopeful he’ll relax,  play with an attitude and start making open looks.

Behind a Kevin Durant 32 point, 11 rebound night, the OKC Thunder eventually overwhelmed the Phoenix Suns by a 124-103 count to end their three game losing streak. OKC improves to 4-3 while Phoenix drops to 3-4.

OKC jumped out quickly to an early double digit lead, but OKC’s bench promptly allowed Phoenix back into the game. OKC’s starters got part of the lead back and led 60-54 at halftime.

The second half was pretty much OKC expanding the lead and taking care of business in a matter of fact win against a Phoenix team which isn’t nearly as fun to watch this season without  Dragic, Gerald Green and the departed Morris twin.  Eric Bledsoe was the lone bright spot for Phoenix with a line of 28 points and 11 assists.

But a win is a step forward, you take it and hope some things were learned by OKC tonight as far as self team discovery.

Westbrook was solid with 21 points, 6 rebounds and 11 assists. Both Enes Kanter and Dion Waiters had solid nights for the otherwise struggling OKC bench unit. Kanter was 9-10 from the field going for 21 points. Waiters scored 19 points on a six of nine night from the field. Interesting note–this marks the first time in the history of the Thunder two bench players have scored at least 19 points on the same night. The rest of the OKC bench was in a word…lacking.

Mitch McGary did play regular rotational minutes tonight coming off the bench, but looked rusty, awkward and a step out of sync. He struggled. Kyle Singler kept his minutes and like McGary…struggled. DJ Augustin was better than Singler and McGary, but I’m not sure what that says at this point. Nick Collison was a DNP, as was Anthony Morrow.

Expected this on the Collison front tonight, didn’t expect it on the Anthony Morrow front. Early in this season it appears Billy Donovan has relegated Morrow to basically a three point specialist role who might play on some nights, but on other nights won’t play because of his defensive issues. But still—Singler hasn’t shown much and I loved watching him play at Duke so it’s not like I’m a Kyle Singler hater or something of the like. We’ll see if he can get going and make some shots to make it appear the Reggie Jackson trade to Detroit isn’t a bust.

The North Edmond Little League soccer mothers on the Cox telecast awarded Dion Waiters as their player of the game. Not horrible, and in fact I thought of going with Dion and Enes Kanter as my co-players of the game. But in the end couldn’t do it because the Big Dog exerted his will in this game . Kevin Durant is my OKCThunderGround No. 1 Star of the Game with 32 points on a 12-19 shooting night. Throw in the 11 rebounds, 4 assists and three steals and unless you’re into participation ribbons how could it be anyone else tonight but Kevin Durant.

A win in the West is a win. You don’t piss on it, but in reality we didn’t learn much tonight except this Phoenix team is pretty boring to watch without Dragic getting under Westbrook’s skin, the Morris Twins playing happily together in their fantasy basketball play crib and Gerald Green jacking shots.

OKC on the road against the Wizards on Tuesday night.

Mike Jackson

 

Before OKC ever got an NBA team via Hurricane Katrina, the Philadelphia 76’ers were my favorite team. As a kid growing up, I pretended to be Billy Cunningham in my driveway even though right-handed. Loved Billy C and Bobby Jones. Marveled at Dr. J. But most of all, respected the way Mo Cheeks played the point guard position. Know what I mean?

 

On Monday evening, the 3-0 OKC Thunder played the 0-3 Houston Rockets inside the Toyota Center. On Saturday night, we went to bed with the 4-3 Rockets ahead of the 3-3 Thunder in the Western Conference standings. Such will be life in the Western Conference this season for fans unless your team has three guys on it named Steph, Klay and Dramond. But for the other fourteen teams it’s going to be an up and down meat grinder of a season.

Phoenix Suns in OKC this Sunday evening to play the OKC Thunder. Both teams generically 3-3 entering tonight. Both teams rested. Phoenix features a nice guard tandem of Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight. Both Kentucky guards in previous basketball lives.

Hint…this might be a game to integrate Anthony Morrow and Mitch McGary into some sort of minutes within the flow.

But beyond this maybe happening, OKC  needs to start working at getting better every game. Treating each game as an incremental opportunity to learn and get better as a team. Move the ball. Finish good looks. Play defense–as in all five guys.

Which brings me to Kendrick Perkins of all things on this beautiful Sunday morning in Deer Creek, Oklahoma. If Perk provided nothing else, he at least provided a consistent voice on the team that defense matters. Teams do not win championships in this league by being soft defensively. OKC is currently soft on the defensive end, but they don’t have to be. They have enough pieces to be better than this, but it’s kind of like all five guys on the floor need to be on board. Need to be trying.

Scott Brooks knew this, but wore his coaching voice out pleading for his team to play harder on the defensive end. Billy Donovan six games in probably has some empathy for Brooks after watching the film of the Orlando, Houston, Toronto and Chicago games. I would guess he looked at Monty Williams, Mo Cheeks and asked aloud, ” Can you believe this shit?”

Jordan and Pippen were tenacious defenders in their prime. Usually two of the best in the league on the defensive end of the floor. Same with Kobe Bryant when he was in his prime. Same with D Wade before his knees betrayed him. LeBron James plays defense, and maybe that’s one of the reasons he’s been in six straight NBA Finals. Golden State changed their team culture by bringing in Steve Kerr and Ron Adams to instill defense and were rewarded with 67 regular season wins and sixteen more post season wins, plus rings for those three guys named Steph, Klay and Dramond.

Until Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook embrace this and lead their team with a defense first team mantra—OKC’s Thunder is basically going nowhere.

Great players play both ends. End of lecture on an obscure, underground blog.

Suns at Thunder tonight.

Six games into the Billy Donovan Era in Oklahoma City with two off days before a Sunday evening home game against the Phoenix Suns…maybe a time for some thoughts.

Coming into this NBA basketball season most serious observers had four to six teams in the league as favorites to win the title. LeBron’s Cavs, the Spurs with the additions of LaMarcus Aldridge and David West, the defending champion Golden State Warriors, OKC’s Thunder, the LA Clippers and perhaps the Houston Rockets as an outside possibility.

Golden State, Cleveland and the LA Clippers appear to be what we thought,–the Spurs, Thunder and Rockets still groping with various issues though. San Antonio with the integrations of LaMarcus Aldridge and David West, plus the reality of Tony Parker’s wear and tear at the point guard position. Houston with some early season injuries. Oklahoma City with the coaching change from Scott Brooks to Billy Donovan, plus the eight month injury layoff of Kevin Durant.

To me at least, OKC is the most puzzling of the group, but it shouldn’t be shocking considering Durant’s layoff and Billy Donovan’s introduction to the NBA way of doing things. The four games in five nights didn’t help. You look at the Oklahoma City schedule and it may have been the Thunder’s toughest stretch of the entire 82 game marathon slate.

But several things from a team standpoint glare about Oklahoma City early on which can’t continue if OKC wants to remain on this list of serious contenders. Namely team defense, turnovers and establishing  coherent bench rotations, plus maybe a relook at what to do with starting Andre Roberson at the shooting guard position.

The team defense part is simple. As in it might help if Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant start leading at this end of the floor instead of taking possessions off here and there. I’ve never believed leadership is about rah-rah speeches, but rather your best players leading by example in their play. If Durant and Westbrook want to win a championship it will be because they lead defensively instead of just padding their offensive stats night to night.

Turnovers. OKC has always been near the top during the Durant-Westbrook Era. You can get away with this in the regular season against the bottom twenty-four teams just because of Durant and Westbrook’s talent, not so much when you’re playing against other elite talent. OKC has to clean this up, especially during the final six minutes of games where every possession means something.

Bench rotations. Why is one of the most effective three point shooters in the league from last season not getting minutes? Anthony Morrow–start playing him and get him sixteen minutes a game. Nick Collison-Mitch McGary–this is what I’d do… play Collison against the tougher teams. Play McGary against the bottom level fifteen teams in the league, but don’t just waste his obvious ability to energize offensively from the bench. Nurture Mitch McGary.

Andre Roberson and Kyle Singler. Both are alleged to be seriously good wing defenders. I haven’t seen it. Decent, but not special. You never discount perimeter defense with the mathematical importance of the three point shot. Never.  But even Shawn Marion got to where he could make some shots. Maybe try something different at the starting shooting guard position and if it doesn’t work, try something else. Maybe try Anthony Morrow for those sixteen minutes and use Roberson and Singler as situational players. If Westbrook would start trying defensively–this might actually work.’

I would think and hope Billy Donovan, Monty Williams and Mo Cheeks at least discussed some of this today. Be interesting to see if some tweaks are made on Sunday night against the Phoenix Suns.

 

MJ

 

The Chicago Bulls rode the shoulders of Derrick Rose down the stretch as he seemingly didn’t miss in the game’s final five minutes or so as the Bulls beat the OKC Thunder 104-98 on Thursday night to improve to 4-2 while OKC lost their third straight to drop to 3-3.

OKC did clean up their turnover issues on the night with 21 assists to nine turnovers. Turnovers didn’t get them beat in this one though. Not being able to stop Derrick Rose when every possession counted was more of the primary cause for losing this game. Much as it was last night with DeRosan and as it was on Monday night with James Harden. All three losses in a sense were strongly linked by not being able to get stops on the other team’s go to guard in the last minutes of the game.

Jimmy Butler was stellar as well for the Bulls with 26 points, 4 rebounds, two assists, a steal and two blocks for good measure. But in a close vote, namely me, I’m going with Derrick Rose as the OKCThunderGround No. 1 Star of the Game because unlike the homers on the Fox telecasts I actually pick the rightful No. 1 star of the game.

Tough week for OKC and Billy Donovan. Billy Donovan meet Scott Brooks’ previous life. Not as easy as you thought, eh?

So after six games we really know pretty much nothing except Durant and Westbrook are exceptionally talented players and Serge Ibaka is a nice third piece. Other than that what do we really know?

We know in this loss the Big Three scored 70 points while the rest of the team combined for 28 points. There won’t be any parade this summer in Bricktown with this dynamic in place. Still waiting for Morrow and McGary to be impact guys off the OKC bench. I was kind of shocked by how little both were used this week.

Kanter and Waiters are about what I thought they’d be. Augustin was good in the first three games, but not so good these last three. I love Nick Collison, but I never envisioned him as a regular rotational guy this season. Same with Kyle Singler. I’d like to see McGary get minutes against the Suns, same for Anthony Morrow.

Four games in five nights and the Thunder go 1-3. Think about this though–if Westbrook doesn’t hit the prayer against Orlando–the Thunder would be 2-4 with the Sports Animal and Daily Thunder imploding simultaneously with smoke billowing from the windows atop the Devon Tower.

Billy Donovan honeymoon period is over. No more gushing. The expectations for this club were clear.  Should be two busy off game days for Billy Donovan and his staff.

Phoenix Suns on Sunday at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Mike Jackson

 

 

 

In the near past a Billy Donovan-Fred Hoiberg matchup would have been an intriguing Sweet 16 or Elite 8 matchup between the Florida Gators and Iowa State Cyclones. Tonight in Chicago its the OKC Thunder versus the Chicago Bulls pitting two teams in search of their identities in Week 2 of an NBA regular season TNT broadcast.

Both teams coming off losses. Both teams at 3-2 midway in Week 2. Both teams with college head coaches making the transition to the NBA game, and both teams needing a win to stabilize a bit and get back on track.

Chicago comes off an embarrassing 130-105 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats which left little doubt the Tom Thibadeau era ended last season in Chicago. The Bulls have a nice array of players led by Jimmy Butler, Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah, Derrick Rose, Nikola Mirotic, Taj Gibson, Tony Snell, Aaron Brooks, E’tan Moore,  and Doug McDermott. The experiment with Noah coming off the bench is a work in progress.

Chicago was idle last night while OKC was playing its third game in four nights…an eventual 103-98 home loss at the hands of the Toronto Raptors.

Like the Bulls, OKC is still in the process of finding its new identity in the Billy Donovan era while Kevin Durant works his way back after an eight month layoff from injury. Fourth game in five nights for OKC can’t be dismissed. Both teams and both coaches need a win and some momentum heading forward.

Interesting matchup pitting two good teams in an early season game as they both transition to new head coaches and new systems.