Jazz 101, Thunder 94
Observations, news and notes from Friday night’s game…….
* Deron Williams, much like Derrick Rose Wednesday night, stole the show and the game from the Thunder.
* Apparently D-Will took offense at the Thunder attacking him….”The young guys tried to come at me in the first quarter a little bit,” Williams said. “I was just trying to get everyone involved and I thought we were doing a good job of executing. There wasn’t a need for me to force anything and get eight turnovers…Mehmet (Okur) went down in the first half so I just thought that I better get it going a little bit.”
* Williams did have some good things to say about OKC: “This is a tough team. The coach is doing a great job over there. This time of year young teams are playing great. They are playing like playoff teams. They are dangerous and have some young superstars over there. They are going to be really good in a couple of years.”
* Brooks had to switch Thabo Sefolosha onto Williams halfway through the second quarter. It didn’t help. In fact, it got worse.
* Sefolosha finished with one steal tonight, the eighth straight game that he’s finished with at least one steal.
* Okur, if you don’t know, got poked in the eye by Chucky Atkins and left the game with 7:41 left in the second quarter. Jazz officials said he was seeing double in the locker room.
* That’s about the only thing Chucky did right tonight — zero points on 0-for-4 shooting, all of them coming from downtown. He had three assists, two rebounds and two fouls in 18 minutes. How many of you are dying to get Earl Watson back on the court now?
* I actually think Atkins is just slow to find his shooting rhythm. He hasn’t played for most of this season. I think it’ll come.
* Russell Westbrook was forcing the action a lot tonight. I lost track of how many times he jacked up the first shot after bringing the ball up the court and not even making a single pass.
* Kevin Durant said he still hasn’t gotten his stroke back after missing seven games with a sprained right ankle. He went 10-for-23 tonight and 3 of 10 in the first half.
* For the first time, Durant got the And 1 on the sweep through move he’s been working on all season. It came from the right corner with 45 seconds remaining in the first quarter with Ronnie Brewer defending him.
* Paul Millsap’s 14 points and seven boards off the bench were big for Utah.
* OKC’s 25 assists were a welcomed sight. The Thunder had 13 in three of the past four games.
* The 19 turnovers, including 10 in the second quarter that helped Utah outscore OKC 26-16 in the period, were costly.
* Jeff Green looks to be getting his stroke back slowly. He went 6 of 16 from the floor tonight but 3 of 6 from downtown.
-DM-
Bulls 103, Thunder 96
Observations, news and notes from Wednesday night’s game………
* I knew Derrick Rose was good. The guy is great. He willed his team to victory tonight and had an answer for everything the Thunder did in the second half.
* Rose wrapped up my Rookie of the Year vote tonight.
* Russell Westbrook, who was closing the gap in the ROY race in my eyes, no answer for Rose when he got aggressive. Worse, Westbrook’s offense disappeared in the second half after outperforming Rose throughout the first 24 minutes.
* Meanwhile, Kevin Durant was everything Rose was not tonight. And, unfortunately, that’s been the story of the season more often than not for Durant. He’ll get his points, a game-high 28 tonight, but rarely have we seen him take over when needed like Rose did tonight.
* Nick Collison was the player of the game for the Thunder in my book. His 12 points and 13 rebounds marked his 10th double-double, and his hustle kept OKC hanging around much of the second half when the game continued to slip away.
* Despite Collison’s efforts, the Thunder got beat on the boards 44-31.
* OKC’s 13 assists tonight marked the third time in four games it has finished with 13 assists. What has happened to the ball movement and distribution?
* The Bulls were gaining momentum at the end of the half. Then Jeff Green’s stole Rose’s pass at halfcourt as Rose tried to save it from going out of bounds, leading to a poster dunk over John Salmons with 56.9 seconds remaining to put OKC up 54-51. The crowd got back into it. Ben Gordon missed a floater at the other end, and Durant his a buzzer-beater to give the Thunder a five-point halftime lead.
* The 21-10 Bulls run to start the third quarter put Chicago up 72-66 with 4:28 left in the quarter and turned the tide in the game. All the shots that the Thunder made in the first half were attempts that misfired in the second.
* Brad Miller torched the Thunder for 14 points, six rebounds and five assists in 28 minutes off the bench.
* Add Tyrus Thomas’ 12-point, 11-rebound double-double to Miller’s efforts and the Bulls had too many effective players on this night for the Thunder to compete.
* The Thunder’s bench, meanwhile, was nonexistent aside from Collison. Kyle Weaver, Chucky Atkins and Malik Rose combined for 10 points, ZERO rebounds and three assists.
* Thabo Sefolosha continues to excel on the defensive end. Three steals and four blocked shots tonight!
* How could the Thunder score 30 points off 22 Bulls turnovers and lose?
* I’m wondering the same thing about the Thunder’s 22-9 edge in fastbreak points.
* Thunder missed nine of 11 3-pointers tonight.
* A neat little Hornets reunion could be seen at halftime between Desmond Mason and Linton Johnson. Two points to everyone who remembers Linton Johnson played in Oklahoma City during the Hornets’ first year in town. Johnson walked over in front of the Thunder’s bench and the two chatted it up for the final six minutes before the start of the third quarter.
* D.J. White made his debut with the Tulsa 66ers tonight, scoring 15 points with 10 rebounds, one blocked shots, five turnovers and four fouls in 32 minutes. He was 6-for-14 from the field.
* Shout out to Thunder Man, who sits behind my press seat. The guy has been a die-hard for the Thunder all season but lost tonight’s Ultimate Fan Contest. Nothing against any of the other contestants, but I didn’t see anyone else deliver teddy bears dressed in Thunder Man T-Shirts to television duo Brian Davis and Grant Long.
-DM-
D.J. White Assigned To Tulsa 66ers
The Thunder has assigned rookie forward D.J. White to the Tulsa 66ers, its D-League affiliate.
White, the 29th overall pick, has yet to play in this year because of jaw surgery. He was cleared by team doctors on Monday to resume full-contact practices and games after having not played or practiced since before the start of training camp.
Thunder officials made the move hoping that White can get his timing back in Tulsa and receive more playing time than he likely would recevive in Oklahoma City.
White is expected to rejoin the team before the end of the season and make his debut with the Thunder.
-DM-
D.J. White Cleared To Play
Forward D.J. White has been cleared by team doctors to participate in full-contact practices and play in games. With 15 games remaining on the season, however, it’s unclear if White will make his debut this year or if Thunder officials will hold him out of games until 2009-10.
White, the 29th overall pick in last year’s draft, has yet to play this season after undergoing surgery to repair a benign growth in his jaw. White underwent the first of two surgeries this season on Oct. 13 to remove the growth in his jaw. Doctors performed a second surgery on Jan. 4 to take a bone graft from the right side of his hip and mend the bone in his jaw. He had a routine check up Monday and received news that he has recovered enough to resume all basketball activities.
White still has visible swelling on the left side of his jaw but has been an active member of light practices and shoot-around sessions, doing everything but full-contact drills. Whenever White takes the court, he is expected to add depth to the Thunder’s frontcourt with interior toughness, a knack for rebounding and a polished offensive game that includes a consistent jump hook from the left block and shooting range out to 17 feet.
“He’s very athletic and he’s very active, especially on the boards,” said rookie Russell Westbrook, who teamed with White during the Orlando Summer League last July. “He can score and bring people out to the elbow. He’s going to be a good asset for us, especially rebounding and blocking shots.”
White earned Big Ten Player of the Year honors as a senior at Indiana in 2008 and was a Second-Team All-American. He averaged 17.4 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots in 33 games for the Hoosiers last season.
-DM-
Thunder 78, Spurs 76
Observations, news and notes from Monday’s game……
* Best win of the season. By far.
* The Thunder was down 17 and won. The Thunder shot 35.8 percent and won. The Thunder had one player have a solid offensive game and won.
* About halfway through the fourth quarter, I leaned over and told a team employee that’s exactly what it would be if the Thunder pulled the upset, even though the Spurs were without Manu Ginobili. That person wisely leaned back over to me and said, “The Thunder is playing without Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook.” – Quote of the night.
* Green and Westbrook shot a combined 8-for-32 from the field. Westbrook joked with me after the game as I approached he and Green’s locker, saying the media shouldn’t venture to that side of the room. When I asked why he admitted, “Because we didn’t show up tonight.”
* Interesting that Westbrook was drafted behind the belief that he will eventually be able to slow down guards like Parker. Hasn’t done that in the first two tries. Parker scored a game-high 28 points on 12 of 22 shooting and had seven assists and four rebounds. Westbrook had his moments in the match up. Parker had plenty more.
* Think the Spurs are going to remember this game March 31?
* It helped the Thunder that the Spurs missed 16 of 19 3-pointers, shot 42 percent from the field and turned the ball over an uncharacteristic four times in the fourth quarter and got to the line only 12 times.
* The Thunder tied its season-low with 13 assists, set last Wednesday at Denver.
* OKC turned the ball over nine times in the first 17 minutes and had just three over the final 31minutes, including none in the fourth quarter.
* Nick Collison scored eight points with 10 assists tonight. That’s the good news. The bad news is he broke his middle finger on his shooting hand tonight. He is expected to play Wednesday.
* Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had nice things to say about the Thunder’s building efforts….”It is a fine group of players, and it is only going to get better as they add to their team. These guys will keep gaining experience and corporate knowledge, get used to each other. They have made some new additions too so they are still getting used to each other’s play. It is the beginning of a great future for their franchise.”
* Kevin Durant said his ankle is fine and he’s experienced no setbacks after playing his second game following a seven-game absence. He scored a team-high 25 points but was a little less efficient (10-of-24) than we’re used to seeing.
* I thought Thabo Sefolosha was the player of the game and wrote about him for Tuesday’s paper. How his addition has helped turned the Thunder’s defense around.
* Is it just me or does the halftime act quick change never get old?
-DM-
Suns 106, Thunder 95
Observations, news and notes from Saturday’s game………..
* Kevin Durant returned after a seven-game absence and looked solid. He finished with a team-high 22 points despite a slow start. I thought he moved well on his right ankle and did a pretty good job of refraining from forcing anything offensively.
* Durant scored six straight early in the fourth quarter that were big. Then the Thunder for some strange reason stopped going to him for about seven minutes. Story of the season.
* Once again, Jeff Green looked like his back wasn’t giving him any trouble. He crashed the boards hard, mixed it up in the paint, took charges and cut hard to the basket on several occasions. I counted at least six times that he did those things in the first half alone.
* Turnovers plagued the Thunder yet again. OKC finished with 20-plus yet again. Russell Westbrook had a game-high eight to go with an otherwise solid performance. He had 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
* Westbrook also shot 50 percent from the field and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line.
* Westbrook made some solid plays tonight, breaking down the defense and finding the open man or simply hitting the open cutter. But in the fourth quarter, Westbrook tried to do too much.
* Shaquille O’Neal was essentially a non-factor tonight, although it helped the Thunder when he picked up his third foul with 8:26 to play in the second quarter. Shaq couldn’t get into a rhythm after that and finished with just 12 points and four rebounds in 25 minutes.
* Surprising that the Suns still managed to out-rebound the Thunder, 41-38, despite Shaq’s ineffectiveness.
* Credit Jared Dudley for helping the Suns control the glass. He had nine points and nine boards, becoming the second energy player in as many games to hurt the Thunder, joining Denver’s Renaldo Balkman.
* Thunder coach Scott Brooks went with Chucky Atkins over Earl Watson tonight, marking the first game Watson has missed this season. Not sure if Watson is injured or not. But if he isn’t it’s a questionable decision on Brooks’ part considering Watson was coming off his best game of the season on Wednesday night in Denver.
* Make that 4-30 under Brooks when the opponent scores 100 points or more.
* Suns swept the season series 4-0.
* Thabo Sefolosha has a nice shooting stroke when he gets his feet set and puts arch on his shot. When he shoots it flat, it’s pretty much guaranteed to be a brick. His three steals tonight, however, mark the eighth time in 11 games with the Thunder that he’s recorded two or more steals in a game.
* Heck of a halfcourt shot by Kyle Weaver at the end of the third quarter. It served as three of his six points. With the Thunder fully healthy again, you can officially forget about getting much from Weaver on the offensive end.
* Leandro Barbosa outscored the Thunder’s bench tonight, 22-13. Phoenix’s bench outscored OKC’s 44-13.
* OKC continues to excel from the free throw line, going 18-for-20 tonight.
* The good sign was the ball continued to move well despite Durant’s return. The Thunder stopped moving it as much in the second half but that seemed to be more about a young team getting away from what made it successful early when the Suns made a push rather than an inexplicable lack of execution.
* Road gets tougher from here with the Spurs coming to town Monday.
-DM-
Suns 106, Thunder 95
Observations, news and notes from Saturday’s game………..
* Kevin Durant returned after a seven-game absence and looked solid. He finished with a team-high 22 points despite a slow start. I thought he moved well on his right ankle and did a pretty good job of refraining from forcing anything offensively.
* Durant scored six straight early in the fourth quarter that were big. Then the Thunder for some strange reason stopped going to him for about seven minutes. Story of the season.
* Once again, Jeff Green looked like his back wasn’t giving him any trouble. He crashed the boards hard, mixed it up in the paint, took charges and cut hard to the basket on several occasions. I counted at least six times that he did those things in the first half alone.
* Turnovers plagued the Thunder yet again. OKC finished with 20-plus yet again. Russell Westbrook had a game-high eight to go with an otherwise solid performance. He had 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
* Westbrook also shot 50 percent from the field and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line.
* Westbrook made some solid plays tonight, breaking down the defense and finding the open man or simply hitting the open cutter. But in the fourth quarter, Westbrook tried to do too much.
* Shaquille O’Neal was essentially a non-factor tonight, although it helped the Thunder when he picked up his third foul with 8:26 to play in the second quarter. Shaq couldn’t get into a rhythm after that and finished with just 12 points and four rebounds in 25 minutes.
* Surprising that the Suns still managed to out-rebound the Thunder, 41-38, despite Shaq’s ineffectiveness.
* Credit Jared Dudley for helping the Suns control the glass. He had nine points and nine boards, becoming the second energy player in as many games to hurt the Thunder, joining Denver’s Renaldo Balkman.
* Thunder coach Scott Brooks went with Chucky Atkins over Earl Watson tonight, marking the first game Watson has missed this season. Not sure if Watson is injured or not. But if he isn’t it’s a questionable decision on Brooks’ part considering Watson was coming off his best game of the season on Wednesday night in Denver.
* Make that 4-30 under Brooks when the opponent scores 100 points or more.
* Suns swept the season series 4-0.
* Thabo Sefolosha has a nice shooting stroke when he gets his feet set and puts arch on his shot. When he shoots it flat, it’s pretty much guaranteed to be a brick. His three steals tonight, however, mark the eighth time in 11 games with the Thunder that he’s recorded two or more steals in a game.
* Heck of a halfcourt shot by Kyle Weaver at the end of the third quarter. It served as three of his six points. With the Thunder fully healthy again, you can officially forget about getting much from Weaver on the offensive end.
* Leandro Barbosa outscored the Thunder’s bench tonight, 22-13. Phoenix’s bench outscored OKC’s 44-13.
* OKC continues to excel from the free throw line, going 18-for-20 tonight.
* The good sign was the ball continued to move well despite Durant’s return. The Thunder stopped moving it as much in the second half but that seemed to be more about a young team getting away from what made it successful early when the Suns made a push rather than an inexplicable lack of execution.
* Road gets tougher from here with the Spurs coming to town Monday.
-DM-
Thunder-Suns live blog
Nuggets 112, Thunder 99
Observations, news and notes from Wednesday’s game………
* Before I get to the game, a quick note on Kevin Durant. I wrote in this space after Tuesday’s game against Sacramento that I expect to see him return Monday against San Antonio. But after a couple of conversations tonight, it looks like KD will be a go for Saturday at Phoenix. Durant said before the game that he’s able to do a lot more and feels only a pinch of pain. His conditioning, he said, is more of an issue than his foot at this point.
* As for the game, the Thunder looked tired all night in the second game of a back-to-back.
* There were times OKC looked awful and times they gave good effort, especially considering the team still isn’t fully healthy.
* Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook didn’t play the final 10 minutes because, as Thunder coach Scott Brooks explained, the team was down 19 points and he saw no point in keeping them in. And once the Thunder cut the deficit to nine with 3:27 left to play, Brooks said he chose to stick with the lineup that got them there. Coaches do that all the time, and it’s actually a philosophy that I like to see implemented.
* The flipside is Nuggets coach George Karl continued to bring back his starters because, as one Nuggets writer told me, Denver is notorious for giving up leads in the fourth. First Karl brought back Nene for Chris Andersen with 9:17 and the Nuggets up 18. Then he substituted Chauncey Billups for Anthony Carter with 8:03 to play and Denver ahead 16. Carmelo Anthony then checked in for Renaldo Balkman with 6:40 and the Nuggets ahead by 14. My question is this, if you know the Nuggets are notorious for giving up late leads, and Karl doing everything he can to prevent that from happening yet again, why not stick the starters back in this time? Maybe, just maybe, a fire was lit under them when they saw mostly reserves battle back to within nine.
* The Thunder finished with a season-low 13 assists. The starting unit had only two. TWO!
* These are the types of games Westbrook can’t have. He’s got to be better at getting his teammates involved. Finishing with one assist should never, ever happen. Kid is way too talented for that.
* Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman. Really? Carter had 12 assists. Balkman had 14 points and 14 rebounds. The performance of those two, along with Andersen’s, characterized why the Thunder lost this game. The Nuggets out-hustled OKC and played better team ball.
* Denver also got a layup anytime it wanted one. Makes you really look forward to the day OKC gets a presence in the paint who will make opponents think twice before bringing it inside. Or one who can at least alter some shots when they do.
* The Nuggets scored 60 points in the paint tonight. It was the fifth time this season they have scored 60 or more points in the paint. They’re 5-0 in those games. And should be.
* The free throw line is becoming quite an advantage for the Thunder. OKC made 30 of 32 tonight.
* Robert Swift scored a season-high 10 points tonight to go with four rebounds and one big-time blocked shot. He made the most of his 16 minutes.
* Swift can barely talk. He’s suffering from a sinus problem. He said he got sick on the flight from Dallas to Seattle last week and lost his voice.
* Thabo Sefolosha didn’t have quite as good of a defensive game as he did in the last two. He had a few lapses tonight, and Anthony easily beat him off the dribble once. But he did have two steals, two blocked shots and is starting to establish himself as a hard-nosed rebounder. Had a team-high nine boards tonight.
* Former Oklahoma State guard John Lucas III was at the game tonight. Lucas, remember, was a member of the Thunder’s preseason roster and was waived right before the start of the season. I caught up with the point guard afterward and he told me he’s now with the Colorado 14ers, the Nuggets’ D-League affiliate. Lucas said he’s working out with the Nuggets regularly and Denver has a strong interest in bringing him in next year, possibly signing him to a two-year contract. The Nuggets would have space for him if all goes well. Anthony Carter and Jason Hart come off the books at the end of this season, and Denver could be in the market for a solid third-string lead guard at a relatively cheap price.
-DM-
