Month: December 2015

OKC Thunder 94 — Utah Jazz 90

It was vintage Kevin Durant the closer using every wiggle, hop, skip, and finish he’s incorporated from Dirk and made into his own game. It was breathtaking to behold. Durant scored OKC’s last eleven points in the game for the Thunder as no other OKC player scored in the last six minutes of play. It was Durant doing what no other player in the NBA save Steph Curry can do with such regularity…namely–close the deal.

I almost forgot…OKC defeated Utah 94-90 on Friday night as Durant hit a tiebreaking three with 1:06 left, then clinched the game with two free throws with two seconds remaining.

For the most part–OKC dominated the game. Leading 52-44 at the half. Then 72-67 entering the third period. OKC had plenty of double digit leads throughout the night, but Utah went on a 16-4 run to tie the game at 87-87 before Durant just basically took the game over in the final minutes.

Remarkably—the Fox Telecast crew prematurely gave Russell Westbrook ‘their’ Player of the Game Award before Durant had even completed his imprint on the game. Unbelievable. So…my No. 1 Star of the Game is Kevin Durant. Not sure about that Fox crew at times.

Westbrook was very good going for 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists, but Kevin Durant did things in those last five minutes fathers and sons will be talking about until the next game on Sunday against this same Jazz team.

Serge Ibaka was basically awful going 4-13 on an array of wide open shots which were there for him all night if only he could have made a couple. But to Ibaka’s credit, he did make two early fourth period buckets before Durant decided enough was enough and the largesse passing was over for this night. Thank god for that.

Enes Kanter was actually decent tonight scoring 11 points as Trevor Booker jacked with him while a bunch of white people from Utah booed. But you can tell…Kanter is kind of liking all this and responding to it. He was pretty good. Dion Waiters scored ten points in thirty minutes and was okay with those white sneakers.

Gordon Hayward led the Jazz with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Utah was once again abysmal from beyond the arc going 8-28 on the night.

OKC wins their fourth in a row and improves to 15-8 on the season. But more importantly it feels as if Durant and Billy Donovan are both on the same page as to what OKC is and isn’t as an overall team as presently constructed.

A Durant finish for the ages which I’ll tell my first grandson about some day while we’re fishing a farm pond on a lazy spring day.

Utah in Oklahoma City on Sunday evening as the Thunder try to get to 16-8.

Mike Jackson

For the first time this season there’s the feel Kevin Durant’s complete health and Billy Donovan’s better feel for the team are somewhat meshing as the Thunder take a three game winning streak into tonight’s game against the Jazz.

Durant and Westbrook have been superb the past two games moving the ball and making sure to get both Ibaka and Adams involved early. If OKC is to become a serious threat come April—this is the template they must follow. Coming down the stretch in fourth quarters …   don’t be afraid to go to your big dog alpha wearing No. 35 a little more it need be. The mythical Norman Dale had no problem with making sure Jimmy Chitwood got the ball late-nor should Billy Donovan with Kevin Durant.

Defensively—this team will always be challenged somewhat because when Kanter, Augustin, and Morrow are on the court regardless of the lineup combinations—Donovan will have to be somewhat creative disguising their defensive liabilities.

Utah is 10-10 and what I would describe as a borderline playoff qualifier. OKC enters at 14-8 tonight and in search of real forward traction with a road win tonight.

If OKC locks down on the perimeter defensively tonight — they should win this game given the struggles Utah sometimes encounters shooting the three.

Same keys for OKC tonight…move the ball, get Ibaka going early, play tough team defense and don’t allow Utah any shooting confidence from the outside.

 

Note to Billy Donovan—always remember, you have Jimmy Chitwood.

 

OKC Thunder 107 – Atlanta Hawks 94

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook came out moving the ball on Thursday night against the Atlanta Hawks at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. The early benefactors were Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams as OKC played smart taking early advantage of Atlanta’s smallish bigs in Al Horford and Paul Milsap.

Ibaka and Adams both had solid evenings scoring 23 points and 11 points respectively. Ibaka’s 23 points were a season high–added with 10 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.

But the story of this game was the passing largesse of both Durant and Westbrook as they combined for 20 assists on the night. It marks only the second time in their careers they have both gone for at least ten assists on the same night. Durant had eight assists in the first half which is a career high for a half.

The two superstars had an obvious agenda–keep the ball moving, and get Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams involved. Mission accomplished. I thought it was Ibaka’s best game of the season and he’s my OKCThunderGround No. 1 Star of the Game.

Durant’s line was brilliant as he garnered the seventh triple double of his career with a 25 point, 12 rebound, 10 assist night. Westbrook was excellent as well going for 23 points and 10 assists. On the night–OKC’s Big Three of Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka scored 71 points. Add in fellow starter Steven Adams’ 11 points and you have 82 of OKC’s points scored by four of their starters tonight.

Dion Waiters and Anthony Morrow chipped in with 9 and 8 points respectively.

OKC pounded the smallish Hawks 52-34 on the night. The Thunder had 24 assists to 14 turnovers.

Kent Bazemore led the Hawks in scoring with 24 points. Jeff Teague added 18 points.

OKC improves to 14-8 with the win.

A good night for the Thunder. They beat a good team by double digits and the ball kept moving as it did in Memphis. Two straight good wins where there was tangible improvement by the team. OKC has 55 assists in these two wins against Memphis and Atlanta. Something very much  positive to build upon. Two key things I take away from this game…ball continued to move, Serge Ibaka played great.

OKC in Utah tomorrow night to play the 10-10 Jazz.

 

Mike Jackson

 

 

Since I evoked the name of Jerry West yesterday, thought it would be a nice space for this superb interview. Trust me, you will learn more about the NBA listening to this rather than just pouring over advanced stats till your eyes glaze over.

For those too young…West was a Hall of Fame guard for the Lakers, the Lakers GM who brought Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Shaq together for the first Laker threepeat, then the GM of the Memphis Grizzlies for a brief time, and now the special head consultant for the world champion Golden State Warriors. West has won the NBA Executive of the Year Award twice in his career. Great interview.

Atlanta Hawks in Oklahoma City tonight to play the Thunder. Atlanta comes in at 14-9 and on the second night of a road back to back coming from Dallas where they beat the Mavs 98-95 last night.

OKC enters at 13-8 and coming off its best performance of the season with a textbook 125-88 road blowout of the Memphis Grizzles. Both teams should be very familiar with each other as Atlanta beat the Thunder 106-100 last week in Atlanta with Jeff Teague and Paul Milsap outplaying Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant in the fourth period.

Big game for Oklahoma City. Not from the standpoint that they’re going to make any significant run at the 23-0 Golden State Warriors because of a win tonight. But more to the point it gives the Thunder an opportunity to build on a modest two game winning streak, plus show the team ball movement displayed against the Grizzlies wasn’t just a fluke, but hopefully more of a building trend heading into the second quarter of Billy Donovan’s first NBA season.

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant were otherworldly  against Memphis combining for 22 assists. I can’t imagine ball movement won’t be the first thing coming out of Billy Donovan’s mouth in the pregame team talk. Keep moving the basketball.

Serge Ibaka needs to be solid again. Would be nice to see him and Westbrook continuing the pick and roll game they displayed against the Grizzlies.

Atlanta plays small itself, so this could very well be a game of small ball combinations from both teams.

Big game for OKC. Need to stay within sight of No. 2 San Antonio in the West. Unless Steph Curry and Dramond Green go down with injuries–the Warriors are gone and will be in serious pursuit of a seventy win season and perhaps even the ’95-’96 Chicago Bulls’ mark of 72-10.

Two good ball teams. But a bigger game for Oklahoma City with much more to prove and the possible beginning of what Thunder fans hope becomes a more positive trend of play as the season enters the second quarter.

Exciting feel and buzz in Oklahoma City this morning about the game. Otherwise, a gloomy feel in Oklahoma City with oil closing at $37 a barrel yesterday.

 

After the blowout visceration of Memphis last night, maybe a fair time to ask this question of the ESPN advanced stats guru and inventor of PER. He walked into a situation where Memphis was already good and had already been to a Western Conference Finals before he ever got there. He inherited a team which was already good—especially on the defensive end.

Yet, other than perhaps the firing of Lionel Hollins, the hiring of Dave Joerger, the player additions of Courtney Lee, Jeff Green, Mike Miller, Vince Carter, and Mario Chalmers—have we seen anything really moving forward in Memphis as far as basketball operations from the VP of basketball operations. I haven’t seen a thing. When I make my preseason picks on Memphis, I just automatically pick Memphis 6th because they’ve done nothing I can discern to make any forward move as a serious contender in the West beyond being precisely what they were before the arrival of John Hollinger. Conversely–Jerry West at Golden State has played a tremendous role in the Warriors’ evolution as a championship team.

Most people don’t understand the similarities of basketball and ice hockey in relation to the same basic principles of the game. Defensive zone communication and switching. Defensive zone breakouts. Neutral zone transitions both ways. Offensive zone basics as far as creating time, space–and then finishing. Give and go. Following your pass. Illegally setting screens, but not getting caught. Pick and roll. Pick and pop. Triangle cycling of the puck/ball. But in the end it’s mostly about creating space and time–and making sure your finisher finishes at an acceptable rate.

Durant and Westbrook aren’t Jordan and Pippen, but more like Gretzky and Messier when you really break down their games. Durant is Gretzky the best finisher in the game. Westbrook is Messier the bulldog.

Kevin Durant on skates.

Like I stated on here before, I’m not the typical NBA fan in Oklahoma. I don’t wear the corny community based T shirts when I attend games. I didn’t like the way Clay Bennett wasn’t upfront with the people in Seattle. I f you’re going to take someone’s team…then say it up front and be honest about it. I objectively realize OKC isn’t a major league city, but more of an NBA version of the Green Bay Packers as far as market and the manner in which the community embraces the team. I won’t freak out if Durant and/or Westbrook leave for Los Angeles or New York at some point, because it will happen eventually just like it did with Gretzky and Messier after their stays with the Edmonton Oilers. It will happen at some point. But while they’re here I realize how incredibly special it is to have two generational players displaying their world unique skills just twenty minutes from my front door in a place called Deer Creek, Oklahoma.

Like the writer said at the end of the Sonicsgate film… just think how cool it is to be able to watch in person players who do something better than anyone else in the world. There’s something extremely poetic in that thought. Almost romantic.

OKC Thunder 125 — Memphis Grizzlies 88

OKC’s Thunder finally put the game together its fan base has been craving. Showed why Vegas and Charles Barkley had them mentioned in the same breath with Golden State, Cleveland , and San Antonio back in October. Proved why Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook belong together on a basketball court as one as they displayed a level of basketball almost Jonathon Livingston Seagull–esque. It was simply beautiful to watch. A state of basketball perfection.

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant  are my OKCThunderGround No. 1 Stars of the Game. It was a flash photo of how Westbrook can win an NBA championship with Kevin Durant. Westbrook’s line… 13 points on 5-7 from the field. Sixteen assists. Two steals, and +26. The ball moved effortlessly. It never stuck. It found the hands of open, willing Thunder teammates. It was perfection. Russell Westbrook was perfection on this Tuesday night in Memphis.

If Westbrook was Jonathon Livingston Seagull  in this one, then his buddy Kevin Durant was Father Gull. If you haven’t read the book–then you’re out of luck on this recap and you need to be reading more good books about the state of perfection on various planes of existence. Kevin Durant was beautiful in basketball flight as well. Every nuance, every movement, every gliding maneuver, almost every play was perfection in accord within the basketball universe. Durant’s line… 32 points on 11-16 from the field, 10 rebounds, 6 assists. Perfection in flight.  Basketball perfection in flight.

Serge Ibaka went for 17 points and excelled on rolling to the basket off the pick and roll.

OKC…31 assist to 12 turnovers.

Dion Waiters was superb in the second quarter and helped blow the game open. DJ Augustin and Anthony Morrow scored the ball.

Billy Donovan coached his pants off and went small ball making Dave Joerger and his team look helpless.

Mike Conley didn’t score a point. Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph went a combined 7-19 from the field.

It was 59-47 at halftime….98-63 at the end of the third period. It was a game where OKC’s Thunder showed a glimpse of what they could possibly become.

It was clearly Oklahoma City’s best game of the season.

It was beautiful.

 

 

Where to start, what to write? Game 21 and OKC is 12-8, which is still .600 ball even with Durant missing six games. That’s where I’ll start.

Take what Golden State has done and remove it from the equation. Just focus on what OKC can do to become better in the short term and be a much better team by March. That’s the beginning point.

Thunder in Memphis tonight where historically they usually struggle shooting the basketball. Earlier this season–Memphis on Mario Chalmers Career Night beat the Thunder 122-114. And, of OKC’s eight losses to date this might be one of the most revealing in that they allowed the slow paced Grizzlies to score an unthinkable 122 points.

These first twenty games have revealed the Thunder to be soft defensively, vastly inconsistent on the bench unit, and Serge Ibaka failing to be the strong third piece he needs to be for OKC to be more than just Durant and Westbrook versus the world post James Harden Era in Oklahoma City. And, oh, by the way…oil closed at around $38 dollars a barrel yesterday.

In addition, these first twenty games to date have not been a strong endorsement of any of Sam Presti’s recent moves to bolster the roster or the coaching staff.

Kyle Singler to date has been a bust even in a niche, minor role. DJ Augustin gets torched defensively at times. Dion Waiters has shown some improvement, but  then regresses back into bad habits. Anthony Morrow is all over the place as a three point specialist. Steven Adams’ play fluctuates depending on the opponent. Andre Roberson is a nice defender, but I certainly can’t put him in the elite lockdown defender category.

Then there’s the Enes Kanter resign which led Charles Barkley to pick the Thunder to win the NBA championship this season.  The only way that works is if Enes Kanter gets a much larger share of shots and can provide more points to offset his defensive liabilities. But then again–defense wins championships. Not sure what Sir Charles was thinking on this one, but then again he never won a ring.

In short, as a team, OKC looks scrambled so far and the same it did last spring when it was missing key pieces due to injuries.

It appears from reading the Daily Thunder comments section this morning they’re ready to trade Russell Westbrook because Sam Presti’s moves haven’t panned out to date with this roster. Not sure I’d pull that trigger just yet. Why would the Atlanta Hawks trade Jeff Teague and Al Horford for Westbrook when he enters free agency the year after Durant? Plus, why would they move the one piece which possibly keeps Durant in OKC a year longer to contemplate his future? And why would Russell Westbrook stay in Atlanta when his parents and his wife’s parents live in Los Angeles? Triple sigh, but you have to love the DT Trekkies if for nothing else their sheer exuberance in creating scenarios. Sigh.

It’s simple for Sam Presti, Billy Donovan and the Thunder organization as a whole–start playing much better or there’s no reason for Kevin Durant to stay in Oklahoma City beyond this season with the belief Sam Presti can construct a championship roster worthy of a generational player like Durant.