Suns 113, Thunder 110
Nuggets from my notebook from Sunday’s loss to Phoenix.
- Whatever happened to the controversial “respect for the game” rule that was so highly debated in the preseason? Those technical fouls are a distant memory now that the real games have started. Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry blatantly berated referee Marc Davis midway through the first quarter and got off scot-free. Maybe the league has realized such subjective rulings were a bad idea to start with.
- Of the NBA’s below-the-rim players, Steve Nash has got to be the most entertaining. Rim-rocking dunks are nice. But you can’t not have an appreciation for Nash’s rainbow 3-pointers and pinpoint passes. Nash makes everyone on his team a threat and makes it look easy when he’s doing it.
- So much for the Thunder being a better 3-point shooting team. That ship has sailed. After 28 games, the Thunder is shooting just 32.2 percent from long range. Only Sacramento is worse. The two acquisitions that were supposed to provide relief, Daequan Cook and Mo Peterson, are in suits on the inactive list every night. And Sunday was bad. The Thunder finished six of 21 from behind the 3-point line and was 2-for-12 at one point. Thabo Sefolosha, who entered the game making just 27 percent from 3, had both and finished with three of the six.
- Thunder guard Eric Maynor had a trip to the free throw line to with 3.3 seconds left and the Thunder trailing 112-109. His intent was to make the first and miss the second. He executed the strategy perfectly. But a brief oversight was costly. Thunder coach Scott Brooks failed to put in a big man, either Serge Ibaka or Nick Collison. It left Thabo Sefolosha and Jeff Green to battle for the board. Gentry, meanwhile, subbed in center Robin Lopez for point guard Goran Dragic and fellow big man Channing Frye for forward Grant Hill. And when Maynor missed the second attempt, it was the 6-foot-11 Frye who grabbed the game-clinching rebound.
- Remember the game at Boston when the Thunder was short-handed and beat the Celtics? This one had all the makings of history repeating itself, only the other way around. And that’s exactly what happened. But the Suns’ best player is Nash and, as stated above, he can make anybody good. But the Thunder didn’t respect this team in the opening minutes. It gave the Suns confidence and momentum that they never gave back.’
- The zone defense that Phoenix threw at the Thunder in the first half stumped OKC. And, as noted above, the Thunder doesn’t quite have the shooters to deal with it. The Thunder shot 12-for-43 (27.9 percent) in the first half and missed 10 of 11 3-points. According to Kevin Durant, tonight’s performance could have lingering effects. “We’re really not used to zone,” Durant said. “They played it very well…Teams might watch this film and start playing zone against us so we got to be ready.”
- Defense, or a lack thereof, really hurt the Thunder in this one. The Suns shot 57.5 percent, out-rebounded the Thunder 37-32 and basically got one open look after another. “We didn’t play the defense that we needed to play to win an NBA basketball game,” Brooks said.
- Here’s an incredible stat. The Thunder made 38 free throws and made 33 field goals. Amazingly, that’s the fourth time this season that has happened for the Thunder. OKC did it in the first two games of the year against Chicago and Detroit and again against Indiana. The Thunder also tied its made field goals and made free throws with 37 apiece at Indiana.
- Another guy hit a $20,000 halfcourt shot tonight. Again, it looked good all the way. This time, the guy banked it in. That’s now twice in four games that MidFirst has ponied up some cash. Glad The Oklahoman keeps it simple with T-shirts parachuting from the rafters. If not, I’d probably be out of a job.
- Every now and then Grant Hill does something that makes you remember exactly how great he used to be. Tonight, it was a baseline jumper in front of the Thunder’s bench in the second half with the shot clock winding down that did it for me. His other 28 points and his game-high 11 rebounds didn’t hurt, either.
- When the Thunder made an 11-0 run late in the third to turn an 80-72 deficit into an 83-80 lead, it looked like OKC was going to win this ball game. But after taking an 85-82 lead into the fourth, OKC shot itself in the foot with turnovers in the fourth. The Thunder had six turnovers that led to 10 Suns points in the final period. You can’t give a hot-shooting team even more chances like the Thunder did tonight.
- Russell Westbrook’s missed dunk came during that 11-0 run. It wasn’t a big deal (in fact, I saw Brook laughing after the entire sequence) because Westbrook’s hustle got him a three-point play without the Suns capitalizing. But at what point does Westbrook just take an easy two points. And for me to even think about writing that says a lot. I love flash and frills.
- I don’t know this for a fact. But I do know that players do this a lot. And at the third-quarter buzzer, it looked Maynor did it tonight. When Maynor had a chance to get up a halfcourt shot as time expired, he took a few extra tenths before releasing. He ended up sinking the shot after the buzzer. Sometimes players intentionally do that so they don’t damage their individual shooting percentage or the team’s. But when a player gets as good of a look as Maynor did, you would think he should throw it up regardless. Just things you think about in a 3-point loss.
- Collison was huge tonight. So much so that Brooks had to play him 30 minutes and Serge Ibaka just 12. As I wrote for Monday’s paper, Collison is regaining his form and finally getting confidence back after two knee injuries. He’s looked great.
- It’ll be interesting to see how the big man rotation shakes out from here. Nenad Krstic could return Tuesday at New Jersey. Krstic has intensified his workouts in the past two days and is close to returning. With Ibaka and Collison playing so well, Brooks will have a tough choice to make on which player to give the bulk of the minutes to.
- James Harden caught an elbow to the face while defending a Grant Hill drive to the basket. Harden looked woozy and had to come out of the game. But he returned and Brooks said he was fine afterward. Harden looked OK in the locker room as well.
- The Thunder finishes this four-game home stand 3-1. I sensed a lot of disappointment after the game, though. Probably because everyone involved knew it could have been, perhaps should have been, a perfect home stand. This one got away. But 19-9 ain’t bad. The Thunder was 14-14 at this point last year.
-DM-
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Comments
[...] An excellent observation from Darnell Mayberry: “Thunder guard Eric Maynor had a trip to the free throw line to with 3.3 seconds left and the Thunder trailing 112-109. His intent was to make the first and miss the second. He executed the strategy perfectly. But a brief oversight was costly. Thunder coach Scott Brooks failed to put in a big man, either Serge Ibaka or Nick Collison. It left Thabo Sefolosha and Jeff Green to battle for the board. Gentry, meanwhile, subbed in center Robin Lopez for point guard Goran Dragic and fellow big man Channing Frye for forward Grant Hill. And when Maynor missed the second attempt, it was the 6-foot-11 Frye who grabbed the game-clinching rebound.” [...]
how long are they going to keep cook and peterson? what can they possibly be adding to the team?? I’m sick of seeing them in suits on the bench. Trade them for someone else who can actually make a shot.
[...] post-game nuggets. An interesting point about how on four occasions this year the Thunder have made more FT’s than [...]
[...] filled with the sort of atmospheric details that never make it into regular game stories. His Sunday postgamer has even more fun stuff than usual, including this: I don’t know this for a fact. But I do [...]
“Thunder guard Eric Maynor had a trip to the free throw line… a brief oversight was costly.” I’m so glad you brought this up. My buddies and I in loud city were going crazy about this as Maynor was preparing to shoot his free throws. I couldn’t believe that we had Green and Thabo in there at that moment. We might’ve actually had a shot if Serge and/or Nick would’ve been in there.
“I don’t know this for a fact. But I do know that players do this a lot…” I’ve noticed players doing that before too, but I didn’t realize Maynor (possibly) did that last night. I did think back to that shot, though, after we lost by 3.
Funny comment about the MidFirst thing. I wonder if they are gonna cut that out now or not. I hope not, I think it’s the best in-game entertainment next to Rumble. Plus, I still have hopes of being chosen one of these times to do it.
[...] their 3-point shooting. As Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman pointed out after the team lost to the [...]
[...] won’t happen on the strength of their 3-point shooting. As Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman pointed out after the team lost to the shorthanded Suns on Sunday, OKC is shooting just 32.2 percent from [...]
The Thunder need to quite messing around and just trade for a guy who is money with his 3s otherwise people playing zone will screw us over big time. Maybe KD is right and we’re going to start slumping big time after this great defensive coaching move by the Suns. Make a team that can’t shoot 3s have no choice but to beat you with them. It also works wonders when you have no threat in the paint. I’m dreaming of Nene for Christmas!