Thunder-Warriors Live Blog, 7 p.m. Wednesday
Thunder-Suns Live Blog
Robert Swift to Start Tonight?
First to the news everyone is waiting on. There is no update on the status of Nenad Krstic’s signing. The Nets have until the end of the business day to make their announcement so we should know something in a few hours. But don’t expect Krstic to be in uniform tonight if the Nets decline to match.
As for tonight’s game against the Phoenix Suns, expect Robert Swift to start at center if Shaquille O’Neal plays tonight, coach Scott Brooks said at this morning’s shootaround.
It would be Swift’s fifth start of the season and 11th game of the year. He’s averaging 3.0 points and 3.7 rebounds in 10.3 minutes per game as a reserve against 3.0 points and 6.8 rebounds in 21.8 minutes as a starter.
If O’Neal sits, Brooks will go in a different direction, one that he’s not even sure of at this point.
“It’s going to be predicated on who they start,” Brooks said.
Here’s the problem, Joe Smith, the team’s starting center the past three games, has a right knee contusion and will be a game-time decision, and Nick Collison is progressing from a broken left thumb but is still questionable. That leaves Swift, Chris Wilcox and Johan Petro.
Collison participated in shootaround this morning for the first time since his injury.
“He’s leaning maybe to playing but (is) not totally sure yet,” Brooks said. “We’ll see how he feels tonight. It’s one of those things where you can’t break it more. It’s broken. He’s a tough kid. He can handle a lot of pain. Like I said earlier in the week, he must be in a lot of pain because he doesn’t sit out games. He loves to play. He loves to practice, and we expect him (back) soon, hopefully tonight.”
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Wizards 104, Thunder 95
Observations from tonight’s game…..
* Thank goodness for the Golden State loss on Dec. 8. That one was so bad that it’s hard to rank any of these higher going forward. But consider tonight’s against the short-handed and struggling Wizards the runner-up.
* 21 offensive rebounds for the Wizards is unacceptable.
* 31 assists and only 11 turnovers for the Wizards is unacceptable.
* 23 more shot attempts for the Wizards is unacceptable.
* 20 Thunder turnovers is unacceptable.
* 3-28 is unbelievable.
* Jeff Green and Kevin Durant each scored 20-plus for the first time since Dec. 14. It didn’t matter because they got little help from anyone else.
* Somebody has to step up offensively other than Durant, Green and Westbrook. Westbrook struggled tonight, going 3-for-10, and nobody else could pick up the slack. Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith and Desmond Mason have their moments, but they’re few and far between.
* The Thunder had no answer for Mike James, who set the tone early with seven points and five assists in the first quarter and had OKC on its heels the rest of the game.
* Amazing difference between the effort in Detroit and the effort shown tonight. It goes back to what Chris Wilcox told me following the loss to Detroit: “I think we play better when the competition is better. When we’re playing a team that’s been in the playoffs and things like that I think we bring our ‘A’ game. I think what we struggle with is playing down to our competition sometimes and that’s when we end up throwing games away. But we’re learning right now. We’re young and we still got room to grow.”
* Scott Brooks talked afterwards about the team needing to stay together.
“It’s tough on all of us, and they understand that,” Brook said. “They know where we are right now. It’s no fun having three wins. It’s important that we stay together, we continue to compete for one another. Not one guy in this locker room is a loser. Unfortunately we’re not getting wins like we should.”
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Thunder-Wizards Live Blog — 6 p.m.
Pistons 90, Thunder 88
Observations from tonight’s game….
* If only the Thunder had a closer like Allen Iverson.
* Kevin Durant was on Iverson to start, which was surprising given the fact Scott Brooks immediately moved Durant to small forward when he took over to prevent him from having to guard guys like Iverson.
After the game I asked Brooks about starting Durant on Iverson and he said it had to do with Iverson having a history of struggling against longer, lankier players. Brooks said he also wanted to use Russell Westbrook on Rodney Stuckey to try and keep Stuckey out of the painted area after seeing Stuckey score 40 points against Chicago on Dec. 23 and 20 the game before that against Atlanta. Those explanations made sense. I think it also could have had something to do with Iverson coming off a groin injury and the Thunder thinking he wouldn’t be 100 percent.
* Rookie guard Kyle Weaver got seven critical first-half minutes and looked solid. He made a sweet no-look pass to Jeff Green for a layup and hit a nice mid-range jumper in rhythm. Then he played six second-half minutes and looked like a rookie, contributing nothing but two turnovers. We could see more of Weaver.
“Kyle came in and gave us good minutes,” Brooks said. “The one thing about Kyle that I love and I love about this league is if you bring it every day in practice and try to get better and work on your game, one of these games you’re going to get an opportunity. And he has done that for two months. So he’s being rewarded for working every day in practice trying to get better.”
* And with that, Damien Wilkins could now see extended minutes on the bench.
* The story of Chris Wilcox’s career was summed up in 22 minutes tonight. He scored six points with seven boards in 11 first-half minutes and had four points with no rebounds in 11 second-half minutes.
* Durant’s hot streak continued. His 26 points tonight bumped his streak of games with 22 points or more up to nine straight. He’s scored at least 22 in 10 of 12 games this month. Thunder officials plan on campaigning for Durant as Player of the Month. He’s now averaging 25.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks in December with three games remaining this month.
* Wonder why Pistons guard Richard Hamilton played just nine minutes in the second half.
* 17 lead changes and 14 ties would have made you think this was a playoff game against two heavyweights.
* The Thunder’s nine second-half turnovers, five in the fourth quarter, really hurt. Taking care of the basketball is just as much a part of closing out games as good defense, quality shots and made free throws.
* Speaking of free throws, the Thunder was 3-for-6 in the fourth quarter. The Pistons were 6-for-6.
* Jeff Green and Kevin Durant need to continue to feed off each other offensively. After both players scored 20 or more in back-to-back games against Dallas and San Antonio, giving fans a glimpse of things to come, Green has failed to score 20 points in his past five games and contributed more than 13 points only twice (18 and 16) in the past five games. Green had 11 tonight, but the Thunder is a much more difficult matchup when both are clicking.
Quotes to note…..
“We can play with anybody. We just have to, from the opening tip, play with some toughness. And they have. We’re battling. We’re coming close every game. We’ve heard it before. We’ve seen it before. Now, let’s change the ending. And our guys are going to work on that until we find a way to change the ends of these games.” — Coach Brooks.
“We have to continue to play with resolve. We did that tonight. It could have easily been, ‘OK, we’re down 14 (in the fourth), let’s get ready for the Wizards.’ But our guys are not like that. It’s an incredible thing to watch this team progress and evolve.” — Brooks.
“One of the things I love about our guys – they have it now and it’s getting better every game — they’re mentally tough. It’s going to help us down the line if we continue to show mental toughness.” — Brooks.
“I think we play better when the competition is better. When we’re playing a team that’s been in the playoffs and things like that I think we bring our A game. I think what we struggle with is playing down to our competition sometimes and that’s when we end up throwing games away. But we’re learning right now. We’re young and we still got room to grow.” — Chris Wilcox.
“We’re getting tired of these moral victories. We’ve got to get some wins. If we continue to play like this and get those key stops like we did we’ll win games. It’s just a matter of time. We’re going to start to turn this around.” — Kevin Durant.
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Thunder-Pistons Live Blog
Thunder-Hawks live blog, 6 p.m.
Carlesimo Speaks
Former Thunder coach P.J. Carlesimo spoke with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, his first public comments since being fired following a 25-point loss to the New Orleans Hornets on Nov. 21.
Carlesimo declined to discuss the details of his firing or any specifics regarding the situation in Oklahoma City but said he enjoyed his time in town, with the only drawback being living 2,000 miles away from his wife and children who remained in Seattle.
“It just wasn’t good not being with the family,” Carlesimo said at Saturday’s Gonzaga-Connecticut game at KeyArena. “Being back (in Seattle) is great. To be honest with you, the kids have loved the last two days. It’s more snow than they’ve ever seen, so they are happy as heck. It’s great to be back here, it really is.”We were just real fortunate, the neighborhood we live in, the school the kids are in, an absolute home run for us, so really it’s worked out perfect.”
Carlesimo went on to say interim coach Scott Brooks “and those guys will move on and do well and that other than not being with his family OKC “was fine, people were great. The atmosphere was great. I was treated extremely well.”
Carlesimo also said he is looking to return to coaching soon.
“I would rather get paid to coach than get paid not to coach,” he said. “Forget what the record was, that doesn’t make any difference. We went through similar (things) last year, not to the extent it’s been this year, but you know you’re working and as long as the guys are working and you feel you’re improving. A lot of people say, ‘Well, hell, you got out of it,’ (but) I’d rather be working than not.”
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Better Chance at 70, Thunder or Celtics?
Through the first third of the season, the Boston Celtics are on pace to win 70-plus games, while the Thunder is on pace to lose 70-plus. Which is more likely to happen? The debate has begun………..
“While the Celtics certainly would be hard to pick against in June, I think they’re a bit less reliable than the Thunder when it comes to reaching 70,” says FOXSports contributing columnist Randy Hill.
Hill also thinks Thunder coach Scott Brooks looks like Phil Keoghan, the host of the CBS reality show “The Amazing Race.” I personally think Brooks resembles Phoenix Suns president of basketball operations and general manager Steve Kerr or Kevin Connolly, perhaps better known as Eric or “E” from HBO’s hit show “Entourage”
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