Kings 101, Thunder 98
A viewer asked the Fox Sports Oklahoma crew the most compelling question of the night via text message.
“Why does the Thunder play to the level of its competition at times?”
I’m wondering the same thing following Tuesday night’s 101-98 loss at Sacramento. I’ve posed a variation of the question to Kevin Durant and Co. on more than one occasion this season, inquiring whether the team gets more juiced when playing against the league’s best teams.
I was met with company line after company line, from everyone except wily veteran Kevin Ollie, who before playing the Los Angeles Lakers said, “I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t get any extra motivation.”
Said Durant, “I get up for every game no matter who we’re playing. I get up for the Lakers the same way I do for Portland or Sacramento.”
The problem with taking that stance publicly comes when you run into nights like Tuesday that clearly prove otherwise. Not singling out Durant. He actually played well and gave good effort on both ends. But what’s been identified is the issue of inconsistency throughout the entire team. Granted, on Monday I wrote that the Thunder is now beating teams its supposed to beat. But in that same space I also pointed out that OKC is far from out of the woods and has work left to be done.
The latest defeat was a prime example of the labor that lies ahead but is to be expected from a team filled with 25-year-old-and-younger talent.
But explanations for effort are harder to articulate when, two nights after manhandling the defending Eastern Conference champions, you get outplayed from start to finish by a Kings team missing its best player, guard Kevin Martin. Had the Thunder got up for the Kings like it did for Orlando on Sunday or the Lakers last week this game would have easily been a blowout. Instead, the Thunder is 3-4. Instead, the Thunder never led by more than four. Instead, the Thunder shot 39.7 percent against a Kings team without any interior resistance and reverted to haphazard defense.
“We just have to play better,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks.
The worst of it was that the Kings outrebounded the Thunder 51-36, including 15-8 on the offensive end and scored 20 points in transition. Jason Thompson had 21 points and 14 rebounds. Numbers like those make it easy to challenge the Thunder’s claim that it treats every opponent the same. Easy because the rebounding numbers against a much better Magic team two nights earlier read 45-30 in favor of the Thunder. Easy because a much more talented post player, Dwight Howard, was held to 20 points and seven boards when the Thunder’s players had it set in their minds that he wouldn’t be the one who beat them.
“We didn’t rebound the ball well. That’s the bottom line,” Brooks said. “We gave them 15 offensive rebounds. Jason Thompson was really a force down there. He had a lot of easy buckets around the basket. He was physical and it was just too many second-chance points.”
The good news is that the Thunder still only lost by three and Durant short-armed a 3-pointer in the final seconds that could have sent it to overtime despite the team’s effort on both ends ranking as arguably the second worst showing of the season behind the Houston debacle. A lot of shots that ordinarily go in rimmed out tonight. Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Thabo Sefolosha went a combined 7-for-27.
Some of the shooting woes could be attributed to a lack of ball movement. And some of the lack of ball movement probably could be attributed to shooting woes. The Thunder tallied just 15 assists one game after recording a season-high 27. The 16 turnovers marked the second time this season the Thunder finished with more giveaways than assists.
But again, despite it all, the Thunder had a last-second shot for a chance to play five extra minutes. Eliminate some inconsistency and we’re talking about the Thunder’s continued improvement right now.
“We didn’t play as good as we wanted to but we still hung in there on the road,” said Harden. “But there are some good teams that are going to stick in there until the fourth quarter and you hopefully pull it out. It was one of those games where we tried to (win it) in the fourth quarter. It just didn’t go our way.”
QUICK HITS
- Kevin Durant had a bad shooting night and finished with 37 points because he did what he should do every night when his shot’s not falling — attack the rim and get a layup or a trip to the foul line. He was 18-for-18 from the foul line to offset a 9-for-23 night from the field.
- Thought Jeff Green was extremely aggressive with his offense tonight after going 3-for-15 against Houston and looking hesitant against Orlando. He had trouble containing human pogo stick Jason Thompson on the glass, though, and long and athletic power forward matchups like Thompson are the ones that will be the toughest tests for Green.
- James Harden didn’t shoot it well (3-for-7) but I was impressed with his hustle and poise tonight. He rebounded well, made the right play more often than not on offense and defense and came up with a big hustle play in the first half when he saved the ball from going out of bounds.
- Russell Westbrook had six assists and one turnover. And he should have had more assists.
- Is it too early for Tyreke Evans to run away with Rookie of the Year? 20, 8 and 8 ain’t bad.
- Andres Nocioni’s four-point play (foul on Durant) was perhaps the play of the game with 7:30 left in the fourth. For a Kings team trying to learn how to close out an opponent, that shot was a huge confidence builder that came when OKC was slowly chipping away at a nine-point deficit.
- The Thunder is no longer undefeated when Nenad Krstic scores 10 points or more. Did you expect the streak to last forever? I bet you didn’t even know about the streak.
- Beno Udrih, for as much criticism as he takes (a lot of it perhaps his own doing), makes plays. He can shoot, penetrate and find the open man. His speed, savvy and all-around skills on the offensive end make him a tough cover.
- Thabo Sefolosha wasn’t quite the “Sniper” tonight. 1-for-7. 0-for-3 from the arc.
- Great halfcourt shot by Harden at the end of the first half.
- Etan Thomas was not the bulldog we’ve grown accustomed to him being. The Kings’ athletic bigs were a bad match up for him, and he finished with just two points and two boards in 15 minutes. I did see him being physical, causing Thompson to complain about the pushing at one point.
- Another good sign for OKC is that Sacramento, which has a few players that can fill it up from beyond the arc, shot just 2-for-14 from 3-point range. That’s two straight games the Thunder has defended the 3-point line extremely well. It’ll be key against the Clippers on Wednesday and even more important at San Antonio on Saturday.
- Hey, hey! Serge Ibaka was a plus-7 in his 2 minutes, 8 seconds of playing time.
THEY SAID IT
- Scott Brooks on the game: “We didn’t shoot the ball well. We didn’t do a very good job passing either. We just have to play better.”
- Brooks on Kevin Durant’s last-second shot: “Kevin makes big shots. That was straight on. A little short. But he makes shots for us. We need him to make shots. He made one earlier…That was not a bad shot.”
- Brooks on Sacramento playing well without Kevin Martin: “That’s what NBA basketball’s about. Some teams have a 15-man roster, and all 15 guys have to be ready to play and step up when they do get an opportunity. I don’t know their situation real well, but I know Kevin Martin is an incredible player. They were missing a very good player, but guys step up and that’s what they’ve been doing.”
- Brooks on Tyreke Evans: “He’s terrific. He does a lot of good things. He’s going to be a very talented player in this league. He seems to be a very team-oriented guard. I’m sure they’re very happy. They should be.”
- Kings coach Paul Westphal on Kevin Martin: “I texted Kevin Martin today to see how he was doing (following wrist surgery) and he said, ‘I feel great. I want to come to play tonight.’ I texted him back and said, ‘That’d be great. We could definitely find a spot for you except I don’t think you could pass the drug test.”
- Westphal on Andres Nocioni’s defense of Durant: “I told him after the game that that was the best job I’ve ever seen anybody do on somebody and hold them to 37. He had Durant every minute and Durant earned every point he got. Nocioni was really working.”
- James Harden on finding his rhythm: “I’m starting to get a little bit more comfortable. My teammates want me to shoot the ball a little bit more. My coaches want me to shoot the ball a little bit more. So the more comfortable I feel on the court the more opportunities I’ll get and the more times I’ll shoot the ball. So it’s just a matter of playing.”
- Durant on his last-second shot: “It looked good. When it left my hands it looked good. But it was kind of short. Hopefully next time I hit it.”
- Durant on whether Nocioni’s defense bothered him: “He didn’t bother me. He tried to be physical and push me around but it got me to the foul line. I like those kind of easy points. It was challenging. It was tough. He plays hard but he didn’t bother me at all.”
- Durant on manufacturing points: “That’s what I wanted to do, get to the rim. I think I did a good job of that. I could have made some easier shots that I missed earlier in the game. It happens. I think I made up for it.”
- Kings forward Omri Casspi on the physical play: “We took it personal because they beat us in the first game and they really stepped on our face. We took it personal and I am happy that we came out aggressive today and played better than them.”
BY THE NUMBERS
1: Turnover by Russell Westbrook, who entered the game averaging 5.17 through six games.
4: Blocked shots by Thabo Sefolosha, tying a career-high.
12: Steals by the Thunder, a season-high.
37: Points by Kevin Durant, a season-high and the first time he’s topped 30 points this season.
39.7: Percent shooting for the Thunder.
51: Rebounds by the Kings.
10,523: Attendance at Arco Arena.
-DM-
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Comments
I think the big issue is that Coach Brooks does not trust his bench. When he’s got guys who he knows could not score a bucket because they are so cold he still keeps them in. This has been an issue with Westbrook more than anyone else. He’s got to trust his bench when the starters show up cold and stay cold. Otherwise, he gives those starters no incentive to focus and get into the game. Westbrook has got to get more consistent. He’s got to become a better passer.
Steven, I don’t think it’s a matter of Brooks not trusting his bench. He has confidence in that group, especially since it’s a more veteran and stable bunch than last year. Brooks, and management I would say, is just committed to playing the main young guys to help speed their development. But the issue you bring up about them having no incentive for coming out hard every night is a valid one. The hope is that those guys take pride in being professionals and learn to be consistent every night sooner rather than later. -DM-
That last Durant shot really looked good. The miss crushed me.
Nobody likes playing against Nocioni, but I like Durant saying he enjoyed getting all those FT’s. Tough loss, but it’s one game.
[...] A viewer asked the Fox Sports Oklahoma crew the most compelling question of the night via text message. “Why does the Thunder play to the level of its competition at times?” I’m wondering the same thing following Tuesday night’s 101-98 loss at …Read Original Story: Kings 101, Thunder 98 – NewsOK.com [...]
[...] Darnell Mayberry: ”Some of the shooting woes could be attributed to a lack of ball movement. And some of the lack of ball movement probably could be attributed to shooting woes. The Thunder tallied just 15 assists one game after recording a season-high 27. The 16 turnovers marked the second time this season the Thunder finished with more giveaways than assists. But again, despite it all, the Thunder had a last-second shot for a chance to play five extra minutes. Eliminate some inconsistency and we’re talking about the Thunder’s continued improvement right now.” [...]