Comments on: Thunder 119, Warriors 109

By: redriverndn

redriverndn — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:27:56 +0000

Darnell’s nuggets have become popular….

The only thing that can stop the THUNDER is the THUNDER themselves….

They have played great TEAM basketball the last couple of games & everything is STILL a work in progress…. If this was a team of 28-30 year olds there would be a problem but we are still 24 & younger for half the squad…. INCLUDING the SUPERSTARS !!!!

As the season progresses it will all play out the way it’s supposed to & if that means MIAMI repeating, that’s OK, Miami is in their prime, OKC is not….

That being said, the THUNDER can & will make some noise this season !!!!

By: chuck

chuck — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:13:27 +0000

These bigs everyone is talking about, exactly who are you going to get, and where is the money coming from to pay him? We won’t be able to afford much more than what Perk is making, if we trade him. Perk and Serge are working hard. They are keeping the ball out of the basket when other teams are driving, Serge is tops in the league in blocking shots, and scoring at a career high clip

By: Chuck

Chuck — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:07:10 +0000

Several things still worth noting. One, most of the Thunder are still kids and are learning the game. Most of them are still improving but Brooks has to integrate Jones and Lamb to develop them. Ibaka has made another large stride and next could be putting the ball on the floor. Two, they are hopeless against a quick team as long as stone legs is in the game. Why not try Serge at center and mive KD over to the 4? Or more likely play Hasheem more and more.

Three. Why not press more with RW and Jackson in at the same time? Finally, the Thunder could get a very high first choice from Toronto, and there are a lot of excellent centers coming out.

By: Jake

Jake — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 14:37:59 +0000

Todd, you are the silly guy around the block who is mesmerized by the selfish player like Westbrook, who thinks he is better than everyone in the NBA. Those kind of people don’t last long in professional basketball, because their ego is as big donut, empty in the center.
There will be many guys to fill in his shoes if he is traded and anywhere he goes, he will be always be the same old self.
He can’t even guard the quicker and older Parker or Wade in their last conference finals.He only knows to hold the ball too long and shoot it relentlessly.
Get over protecting him and be fair to the readers!

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:31:03 +0000

Folks, the stuff about Westbrook being selfish and trying to outscore Durant is just silly. The evidence simply does not support the claim. People have been saying things like that about him since he got here, although fortunately the number is shrinking pretty fast.

He wants to win, and sometimes he tries to do too much on his own, often in the past because the offense breaks down and he’s basically forced into it. And he sometimes lets his emotions get the better of him. It’s part of his personality. Bad Russ comes along with Good Russ. It’s a package deal. But Good Russ makes far more appearances over the course of a season, and he’s so good, you live with Bad Russ sightings now and then.

And no, he’s not a true point guard as most people mean the term, and he’s never going to be. We’ve had this argument going back to his first season, and it will likely never abate.

But the idea that OKC has to have him *be* that ‘true point guard’ to win a title overlooks how the the team has progressed with some remarkable speed, and how close they came to winning a title last year. All with Russell Westbrook being a non-true point guard. And he was not, by any means whatsoever, the reason they did not win it last year.

They can win a title with him as the point guard. Whether they do or not, they can.

By: Bret

Bret — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 20:44:03 +0000

The second unit needs to have balance in the forward and center positions as the Thunder exposed themselves in their game with the Grizzlies. The team needs to hire a coach for the bigs, in order to develop the second unit’s defense and offense, just as Sam and Bruce noted. That is why a big, tough scoring, rebounding and shot blocking center is hard to snatch nowadays, because everyone needs one or two of those!
Maybe a Hakeem or a retired center/power forward that were great once before could be hired to do the job!

By: Penn

Penn — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:50:09 +0000

I get what Lou is saying. A scorer who is mostly dependent on people getting him the ball where he needs it, instead of creating on his own, won’t love playing with a point guard like Westbrook. James Harden made plays and got his own offense. What he did was mostly independent of KD & Westbrook.

You can say that K-Mart takes some not-so-subtle jabs (lol) at Westbrook, by saying things like: the point guard needs to be a point guard for him to do what he does or that he’s not going to be killing our offense by taking a bunch of bad shots BUT Westbrook and KD haven’t played with a guy like Martin. It’s going to be an adjustment for them too.

KD knows he has to become more of a play-maker because Westbrook is going to be Westbrook.

Side note: Our bench really is not what it used to be. It’s one thing to not be able to score. It’s another to not be able to defend. Jeez.

By: Monday Bolts – 11.19.12 | Daily Thunder.com

Monday Bolts – 11.19.12 | Daily Thunder.com — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:25:25 +0000

[...] Nuggets from Darnell Mayberry: “Kevin Durant finally did it. He finally notched that first triple double. It took him 391 NBA games, but it was well worth the wait. He scored 25 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and dished 10 assists in 39 minutes. He had nine assists through three quarters and recorded his final helper with 4:57 left in the fourth. It was the culmination of years of fine-tuning his craft, of countless games where he’s been oh-so close but couldn’t quite seal the deal. But this was the night, and by the end of the night KD looked as complete as we’ve ever seen him.” [...]

By: Thunder4fan

Thunder4fan — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:01:15 +0000

I agree that subbing out Perkins when the other team doesn’t have a true low post scorer would be an excellent idea, think Miami in the finals last year! However there may be only 1 or 2 coaches in the NBA that substitute based on situations in the game. Actually making a substitution based on the game situation isn’t really an NBA thing, it’s more of a high school or college coaching thing. NBA coaches prefer to stick to the script regardless of what is happening on the court, again refer to the finals last year!
Nick and Thabo played great in game one and made the difference in us winning that first game. In the second game, Nick played only 7 minutes or so, UNBELIEVABLE! I think if the coaching staff had the courage to play NIck and Thabo more in games 2-5, we may have had a chance to win the title.
Regarding this year, I think the Memphis game WAS a real eye opener for the players. They basically froze out Kevin Martin and it cost us the game, as KD admitted. Since then, in the Hornets game and last night, they seem to realize that they have to find a way to move the ball and get Kevin and others involved. I’m fine with Russell taking good, under control shots. IT’s the flying off balance in the lane against 3 or 4 defenders with his shooters spacing the floor that drives me nuts. Same with KD. They seem to be starting to figure that out in these last couple of games. If they continue and don’t forget how good this has been, we have a chance to really improve as a team and get better following the trade.

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:47:24 +0000

I agree that Perkins is not very effective in games that require rebounding, scoring, block shots and a center’s body to move the opponent’s center out of the paint to get the rebounds. My guess is that Brooks and Presti don’t have the minds of centers and power forwards, but only small ball for guards positions. With that in their minds, the Thunder will not improve through the years, like the Lakers (Kareem), Celtics (Russell and Parrish), Rocket (Olajawon) and Spurs (Duncan).

Even Westbrook is not a true point guard, he is more of a shooter first mentality and pass later player. The Thunder will not improve also with the role he plays and the coach they have, who is a small ball player mindset! Presti needs to develop the big men to thrive in the league.