Rockets 105, Thunder 94
So you liked seven seconds or less in the Valley of the Sun, huh?
How about four seconds or less in Houston?
Against the Thunder on Friday night, the Rockets took Phoenix’s patented high-octane, fast-breaking offense and turned up the tempo even more in their 105-94 win over Oklahoma City at the Toyota Center. On the Thunder’s makes, misses and turnovers, Houston routinely ran up the court and had a shot up before five seconds had ticked off the shot clock.
The Thunder never looked interested in getting back and, even though OKC was well within striking distance of the Rockets’ five-point halftime lead, the writing was on the wall as the two teams headed for their locker rooms. By then it was clear that if the Thunder didn’t focus on getting back the contest would quickly turn into a blowout. And that’s about what happened — even if the scoreboard read the Thunder was within eight inside the final two minutes.
This game was not as close as even the final 11-point margin indicated.
A smaller, less athletic Rockets team bullied the flat-footed Thunder. In the paint (54-44 paint points) and in transition (22-10 fast break points). Houston, with a 6-foot-6 inch starting center in Chuck Hayes, even had more blocked shots (10) than the Thunder (eight). The Rockets’ 6-foot backup point guard Kyle Lowry was credited for four blocks.
Credit Lowry, and starter Aaron Brooks, for pushing the pace, too, and making things uncomfortable for the Thunder all night. Lowry had eight assists in 20 minutes off the bench. Brooks had six. The Thunder had just 15 as a team. Most of their dishes were the result of run outs or breakdowns in the Thunder’s defense in the halfcourt.
“They just played much tougher than we did tonight,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said.
It’s not like the Thunder didn’t know what type of game Friday night’s would be. Oklahoma City got a sneak peak of this same Rockets squad in the third-to-last game of its preseason schedule. And Brooks knew full well what to expect after walking out of Houston the first time following a 20-point loss.
“We know they’re fast,” Brooks told me following Thursday’s practice. “After leaving that (preseason) game in Houston, I came away knowing that that’s a fast team that knows how to pass the basketball. And we have to do a better job of containing the ball and creating some difficult passing lanes for their little guards.”
The Thunder fell to 2-3, its third straight defeat, because it failed to adhere to the scouting report.
It didn’t help that the Thunder’s offensive rhythm was nearly as out of sync as its defensive principles. Only Russell Westbrook (game-high 33 points) and Kevin Durant (27 points) finished in double-digit scoring. Together, their 25 of 47 shooting helped the Thunder shoot a respectable 43.5 percent. The other three starters shot a combined 6-for-27.
The Thunder had as many assists (15) as turnovers, and over its past three games has now tallied 44 assists to 55 turnovers, a sign of just how much the team has struggled offensively of late.
“We’re about team basketball,” Brooks said. “We all have to play together as a team…We have to regroup and refocus our effort. Our identity is we have to defend. We have to score off of our defense and tonight we did not do that. We were taking the ball out of the basket throughout the game.”
Follow me on Twitter @darnellmayberryOklahoma City Thunder vs. Houston Rockets Live Chat
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A Quick Chat With Sam Presti
Wanted to make sure everyone saw a good conversation that took place between Thunder GM Sam Presti and an NBA TV studio crew of Ernie Johnson, Kevin McHale and Chris Webber.
Presti talked about James Harden’s development, how he acquired Jeff Green, how much the players like playing together and answered some questions about his drumming skills. Take a look.
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Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Los Angeles Lakers Live Chat
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Blazers 83, Thunder 74
This is what it looks like when you’re a team filled with jump shooters. When there isn’t a low-post scoring option in sight and the shots that usually go down do everything but drop through the net.
You knew the problem would rear its ugly head at some point. You just didn’t expect it to be game three. Especially not after the Thunder’s performances in games one and two.
The Thunder shot 34.3 percent in its 83-74 loss to Portland on Sunday night. Oklahoma City missed 11 of 14 3-pointers and couldn’t even hit the freebies, going 23 of 32 from the line.
The shooting woes led to just six assists.
“Offensively, it was probably as bad as we could possibly play,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks.
Kevin Durant was 3-for-21 and is now 21-for-64 through three games. That’s 32.8 percent.
Sunday’s shot selection was particularly alarming. Alarming because Durant continued to settle for jumpers. Good looks, no doubt, but not as good as layups. Alarming because this, his third season, is the one he was supposed to come back with an even more refined game. But he looked like strictly a jump shooter Sunday. There were occasions when he manufactured points and attempted to take it to the rack. His 14 free throw attempts were a good indicator that it wasn’t all long-range heaves.
But he could have done better, should have done better.
“Great players have their off shooting nights, and I guess tonight was his,” said Jeff Green. “He will bounce back next game and have a terrific game.”
Follow me on Twitter @darnellmayberryThunder 91, Pistons 83
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Last year, the Thunder took two steps back in games like this.
On the road. Bait for a team’s home opener. After a blowout home win.
It used to be the perfect storm. Friday night it was a piece of cake.
For a moment, though, it appeared as though not much had changed. The Thunder scored just 38 first-half points on 39.5 percent shooting. A talented Pistons squad that’s loaded with offensive weapons wasn’t having much trouble putting the ball in the basket in the first 24 minutes. And what we thought was a new and improved Russell Westbrook was regressing by the second, reverting to playing faster and turning over the ball at an alarming rate.
Even when the Thunder took a 10-point lead on two occasions in the fourth quarter, the outcome seemed in doubt. You might have reached ‘Here-we-go-again’ mode when the Pistons clawed within four with 4:27 remaining after surging to an 8-0 run.
But then it happened. The Thunder showed us this year would be different. Westbrook turned the tide when he hustled back instead of hanging his head after Ben Wallace blocked his layup. The Thunder’s point guard returned the rejection on Ben Gordon and helped the Thunder salvage it’s four-point lead. He made two free throws to push the lead to six. After Gordon netted one of two free throws, Westbrook found Nenad Krstic under the rim to bump the lead to seven.
And when Gordon split two more free throws, fundamental ball movement found Thabo Sefolosha in the corner for a 3-pointer that gave the Thunder a 84-75 lead with 2:03 remaining. The crowd filed up the Palace’s steps. The Pistons never got closer than five.
“This was one of our better wins since I’ve been here in terms of holding a team off and being able to get stops when we needed to in the fourth quarter,” said Nick Collison. “We never gave up that bad spurt where a team made a run on us. That’s something we struggled with in the past…It’s good to see in a tough game on the road that guys are still trying to do the right thing. A less experienced team like we were last year, those are the times guys kind of break away from the game plan and don’t make good decisions. But tonight, everybody played well.”
And the Thunder is 2-0.
Follow me on Twitter @darnellmayberryThunder 102, Kings 89
So what did we learn about this year’s Thunder squad after one game?
If Wednesday night’s season opener taught us anything it was that this team can be pretty good when it plays hard for 48 minutes. The 102-89 win over Sacramento proved that the things the organization has preached since moving here in July of last year — teamwork, energy, effort, commitment and patience — can indeed pay off.
“It was a good start,” said coach Scott Brooks. “I thought we played some pretty good basketball.”
The Thunder has become a more confident group. That was perhaps the biggest revelation on opening night. You can see the progression in almost everything the players do, everything they say.
Kevin Durant was spotted at his locker before the game, slouched in his office-style chair with his long legs stretched out. He seemed calm, prepared for anything that was about to come his way. Less than an hour before tip-off, he looked every bit as at ease as he claimed to be only a day earlier, on the eve of his third NBA season.
And after the wire-to-wire win, the Thunder’s dressing room was far from festive. Players hardly flashed smiles, let alone celebrated the opening victory. Media members filled the room with more noise than the guys who had just put on the show. It was almost a surreal scene considering it was one that rarely played out after big-time wins last year.
“It’s an encouraging start,” said Nick Collison, “but there’s 81 more games.”
Follow me on Twitter @darnellmayberryThe ROY Race Minus Blake Griffin
James Harden (pictured above in the bow tie) rejected the notion that he’s got a better shot at Rookie of the Year now that L.A. Clippers rookie and No. 1 overall pick Blake Griffin could miss up to six weeks with a knee injury. The Thunder’s No. 3 overall pick out of Arizona State said the 2009 draft class still is too deep, too talented to get overly confident just because Griffin will miss a chunk of the season.
“Obviously Blake’s a tremendous player,” Harden said. “I hope he recovers very well. But we have a great class. Jonny Flynn over there (in Minnesota), Tyreke Evans, who we’re playing against (tonight) has a chance, Brandon Jennings, Stephen Curry. It goes down the line. These are some great players who are put in positions to play and help their teammates win games. So it’s up for a hunt.”
But how will Griffin’s near two-month absence impact the Rookie of the Year race?
Of this year’s 30 first-round picks, 21 are set to make their debuts tonight. Four of them will be in the Ford Center for tonight’s season opener against Sacramento. Top five picks Harden and Evans will get a heavy dose of minutes. Sacramento forward Omri Casspi, the No. 23 overall pick, will make history when he checks into the game for the first time and becomes the first Israeli to play in the NBA. And Byron Mullens, the No. 24 pick will be on the Thunder’s bench as well.
Griffin isn’t out of contention for the award. But he’ll have to make up ground in a hurry when he returns. That could be rather difficult considering Griffin is on a Clippers team with a talented frontcourt and he’ll be experiencing his rookie growing pains more than a month later than everyone else in contention.
So with Griffin out of the picture for now, what largely was considered a two-man race might be about to blossom into free-for-all between seven main competitors. Here they are, listed in order of most likely to win it.
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