Wolves 88, Thunder 82
BILLINGS, Mont. — Coach P.J. Carlesimo wanted to see evidence that his team had made strides on the defensive end.
Mission accomplished.
Despite an 88-82 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, the Thunder held the Wolves to 37 percent shooting and forced them into 25 turnovers for the game. Numbers can often lie, but the defense looked that solid for most of the night. Players were helping, rotating and talking. Shooters were contested and closed out on even if the rotation was a step slow.
Sure, the Wolves were only two wins better than last year’s Sonics, and Minnesota was the fifth lowest scoring team in the league at 95.5 points per game. But last year’s Sonics were the fourth worst defensive team in the league, yielding 106.3 points per contest.
Tonight was a step forward defensively.
“Overall I’m happy with the defense,” Carlesimo said. “The first quarter was not very good, but the group off the bench got us going. From that point on we defended pretty well. The defense was infinitely better than the offense.”
An unheralded player from tonight’s game will be Johan Petro. In 20 minutes, he grabbed seven boards, netted three steals and made both of his field goal attempts for four points. Rebounding is a part of defense, and Petro’s efforts prevented second-chance points. Don’t forget, Petro just sustained a mild hamstring strain on Saturday and battled back from that injury. (Chris Alexander, it’s worth noting, chipped in five points and four boards in just six minutes.)
Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Earl Watson struggled to say the least, combining to go 5-for-27 from the field for 16 points and 11 turnovers. I wouldn’t read too much into that trio’s performance. Durant got decent shots for the most part, although he settled for a few too many jumpers instead of getting to the basket. Durant showed a few post up moves tonight as well, which should improve as the season wears on and get him a few more easy buckets.
Watson didn’t look good at all tonight, going 1 of 7 for two points, four assists and five turnovers. He didn’t take control of the offense or look for his own offense aside from a few times he impressed with his dribble drive penetration into the lane. Unfortunately, he didn’t finish many of those drives.
It’s only one game, but the guy that alarmed me most is Jeff Green. In his 22 minutes I thought he looked sort of lost on the floor, not sure when to demand the ball and take control and equally unsure about how to contribute without the ball. He did come up with five boards, two steals, an assist and a blocked shot but his four points on 1 of 7 shooting was troubling, as were his four turnovers. For all that has been made about Green’s versatility, he showed little tonight despite stuffing some stat categories. Again, stats can often lie. It’ll be interesting to see how Green bounces back. The Thunder can’t afford for him to stand around and watch KD or the point guards on offense and be average on defense. (Note: Green was shaken up midway through the third when he landed awkwardly. He returned to the game in the fourth quarter and was fine after the game. I’ll update his status in Sacrament0.)
Having said that about Watson, Green and Durant, perhaps they were all focused more on contributing defensively. Durant was tenacious on the boards with seven, and all three finished with two steals each.
P.J. went back on his word regarding playing time. Well, sort of. He said before the game that he didn’t want to play anyone more than 24 minutes. But he also knew going into tonight’s game that the team was thin up front and would have to play Nick Collison and Chris Wilcox more than he would have preferred. That was the case, and he didn’t like that Wilcox finished with 31 minutes and Collison finished with 33. Those figures, Carlesimo said, need to come down and others need to go up, namely Russell Westbrook’s 19 minutes.
A few quotes from those involved….
Carlesimo on closing out the game: “We played poorly (down the stretch). We got to learn from it. We have to defend more consistently. We gave up 28 points in the fourth quarter and a big chunk of those were in the last five minutes…The thing that’s a little disappointing is some of the guys were veteran guys. If it had been Russell or it had been new guys that’s one thing. But it wasn’t new guys so we expect a little more of the guys who have been here.”
Durant on starting a new season: “It feels good. It feels real good, especially to play against somebody else other than my teammates. It’s been fun. Unfortunately we didn’t come up with the win but we played hard, played defense and we’ve got to correct some of the mistakes and we’ll be OK.”
Durant on his performance: “It was so-so. I tried to work hard on the defensive end and get some rebounds, some blocks and assists. I could have made some more shots. That would have been good for me. But I think we played good team defense. We helped each other out a lot. That’s something that we didn’t see that much last year. So we’re going to have to just continue to get better.
Russell Westbrook on his performance: “It was alright. We lost, so it was not as good as I wanted it to be. My main focus was to try to help us win the game and try to come out in the preseason with a bang.”
-DM-
Related posts:
- Thunder 88, Wolves 85
- Rockets 89, Thunder 77
- Suns 102, Thunder 93
- Thunder 111, Grizzlies 103
- Clippers 107, Thunder 104
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Comments
I was most pleasantly surprised by Damien Wilkins and Russel Westbrook. They both provided good energy and Westbrook’s ability to get to the basket will be useful to say the least.
I also like the chemistry between Collison and Wilcox. They definitely play well together. Wilcox overall looked solid.
Watson was probably the biggest disappointment. I know it’s the first preseason game but he looked more like the rookie to me than Westbrook.
I’m just happy to be talking about actual games for our new team. Keep up the good work Darnell.
Nice job, as usual, Darnell.
I agree with everything that Kieth said and would add that I liked what I saw of Petro.
I read a comment in one of the other blogs that summed up what we can expect from Collison. KD and others were blessed with athleticism, whereas Nick’s had to work hard to get where he’s at. That’s not a slam on Durant or anyone else, but it says a lot about Nick.
philip, remember what this blog used to be like?
for those that weren’t here, it was a carnival of bickering and name-calling. that’s not to say it wasn’t entertaining, but it was crazy. DM seemed more like a legal analysist then a basketball beat reporter.
here’s a classic:
that guy Says:
April 24th, 2008
“i know everyone’s pretty impressed with your endless amounts of time and energy dedicated to the nba in okc web-blogging. i know most of us come on here and have a good laugh at your expense and at the expense of the desperate and delusional okc folk…”
ahhh, memories. anyway, now this blog is home to DM’s awesome basketball reporting every day. oh, there’s still a few haters (what up, Ed Whitson!), but for the most part it’s all x’s and o’s. keep up the good work, because people like me with a life and a job can’t devote every waking minute to trying to learn and keep up with our new team. but just from coming to this blog alone, i know more about the team than most of the people i talk to. thanx!
Go OKC Potatoes!!!