Thunder 101, Hornets 93
Nuggets from my notebook from Monday’s win over New Orleans.
- James Harden missed this one with an ankle sprain. He rolled it in Sunday’s game. Nick Collison also was out because of a quad contusion. Without them, and considering it was the second night of a back-to-back that just happened to follow the game of the year, not even Thunder coach Scott Brooks had any idea of what would happen tonight.
- What happened was the Thunder came out and handled business the way it should have regardless of the injuries. OKC jumped on New Orleans early and never let up. The defensive effort was strong from the start and the Thunder played nice team ball offensively to make things easier.
- The Thunder outscored the Hornets 31-18 in the first period and dished out seven assists on 14 field goals. Eight players scored for the Thunder in the first 12 minutes. OKC also limited New Orleans to 5-for-20 shooting in the period and forced the Hornets into six turnovers.
- Said New Orleans coach Monty Williams: “That team just took it to us from the jump.”
- A lot of people lately have been down on Kendrick Perkins. But he was pretty darn good tonight. And I’m not even talking about his season-high tying 13 rebounds or his season-high six blocked shots. His defense on Chris Kaman is what was most outstanding. Go back and watch how well he crowded Kaman and made his looks difficult, especially early. It’s one of the things Perk is best at and something many don’t seem to appreciate. Kaman went 4-for-17 tonight. One of his field goals came against Cole Aldrich and another came on a tip-in. Kaman hit two shots on Perk, and both were pat-him -on-the-butt type contests that you just have to live with.
- Perk clearly came into tonight with an attitude. He left the locker room Sunday night appearing to be in a bit of a bad mood. It could have been anything so I don’t want to assume what the issue was. But obviously he didn’t play well against the Nuggets. So I think Perk made it a point to come out more determined tonight. I wasn’t the only one to notice. Said Kevin Durant: “You could tell he was a little upset with himself. If that was over last night, I don’t know. But he came out and played with that energy, rebounding the ball like a mad man, finishing under the basket and doing some good things for us. That’s what we need from Perk every night.”
- Because he was so fired up, Perk picked up a tech less than three minutes into the game. He got it for arguing a call with an official. And, again, you could tell his emotions were high because of how he got it. He was just trying to play tough defense and he didn’t want the ref bailing out Kaman. And even though he knows he has to slow down on the techs, Perk couldn’t hold his tongue. Unofficially, it was Perk’s 10th tech of the season. To my knowledge, there hasn’t been a ruling on whether the one he got at Houston will be rescinded. If so, he’ll have nine. If not, he’s three shy of an automatic one-game suspension.
- Quietly, Perk has been fantastic in three of his last four games. He shut down Al Jefferson (relatively). He shut down Luis Scola (relatively). And tonight, shut down Kaman. In those three games, Jefferson, Scola and Kaman combined to score 42 points on 18-for-52 shooting. For you math geniuses, that translates to a three-game average of 14 points on 34.6 percent shooting.
- Russell Westbrook was great tonight. Again. He played under control for the most part and didn’t force things. There were a few bad passes but not nearly enough to make a big deal about, because he routinely made the extra pass as well and didn’t hurt the offense by jacking shots or settling. I was probably most impressed with Westbrook’s defensive effort. He was as locked in as I’ve seen him guarding the ball, especially in the high ball screen. He was aggressive, but he also trusted the system and cut out a lot of the gambling.
- Only a combined 62 points for KD and Russ tonight? Slackers.
- Speaking of, Serge Ibaka finished one point and seven boards shy of a second triple-double in as many nights (sarcasm). On a serious note, I thought he was great again, too. He finished with 13 rebounds to match Perk for game-high honors, and he was great cleaning up around the basket and protecting the paint. If he was a split second faster on about two or three goaltending calls, he would have had five or six blocks tonight, too.
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Thunder 110, Warriors 87
Nuggets from my notebook from Friday’s win over Golden State.
- Let’s start with what everyone wants to know. Russell Westbrook is fine. He had to leave the game late in the third quarter after rolling his right ankle. He did not return. But he walked briskly out of the locker room, and his foot appeared to be just fine. I have absolutely no doubt that he’ll play Sunday.
- Kendrick Perkins missed his first game of the season because of a sore knee. Apparently, he banged knees with someone late in the Houston game. I don’t remember it. But he’s day-to-day. Thunder coach Scott Brooks said he’ll see how he feels tomorrow.
- Thabo Sefolosha is out a month.
- As if that wasn’t enough carnage, Lazar Hayward got poked in the eye and wasn’t doing so well after the game.
- The injury bug has finally hit. While only Eric Maynor’s is really severe, the Thunder, like other teams have done this season, will now have to maintain and find a way to get it done while banged up. That’s what this season has been about, and now it’s the Thunder’s reality.
- Another slow start. I blame this one on the makeshift starting lineup the Thunder had to trot out because of the injuries. OKC looked lethargic and played extremely carelessly for much of the first 12 minutes until the Warriors went up 24-20 at the end of the quarter.
- The Thunder had six first-quarter turnovers, five coming in a three-minute span on five out of seven possessions. They came about every way imaginable: two bad passes, a 3-second violation, a traveling violation and an illegal screen.
- After the raggedy start, the Thunder outscored the Warriors 90-63 in the final three quarters.
- This was the first time in three tries that OKC held Golden State under 100 points. The Warriors shot just 34.8 percent for the game and scored just 39 points on 30 percent shooting in the second half.
- Most impressively, the Thunder didn’t get sucked into the run-and-gun style of play that characterized the two games in Oakland. That’s a big part of the Thunder’s desired identity, to play any style but to really set the tone and make teams succumb to how it plays.
- A lot of good things in this one. A whole lot. Assists stood out. Thunder had 24 of them tonight, one shy of tying its season high. And get this. Eleven of the 12 active players had at least one helper. Said James Harden: “That’s beautiful basketball.”
- All 12 active players scored, too.
- The bench scored 55 points tonight. That’s got to be a season-high, right?
- I thought Kevin Durant looked out of it early. He was missing shots, sort of loafing on defense and didn’t seem that aggressive on either end. I thought it might have something to do with perhaps being emotional over parting ways with his agent. But in true superstar fashion, the guy nearly nets a triple-double with 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. The five turnovers were troubling, though, as some were just silly plays.
- With Perk out, Nazr Mohammed got the start and Cole Aldrich got the reserve minutes. And Cole didn’t do anything to quell everyone’s desire to see him. He wasn’t great. But he just knows how to be active and make his presence felt in ways Perk and Naz don’t seem to do. The thing that shocks me is how much more athletic Aldrich makes the center position look compared to Perk and Naz. Unfortunately, that says more about Perk and Naz than Cole.
- Loved Nick Collison’s energy and effort tonight. Then again, when do I not?
Rockets 96, Thunder 95
Nuggets from my notebook from Wednesday night’s loss at Houston.
- The Thunder played about as bad of a first quarter as it could possibly play. It was sloppy. It was raggedy. It was, well, ugly. OKC couldn’t make a shot, couldn’t stop the Rockets and couldn’t stop turning it over. By the end of the period, the Thunder trailed 29-13, setting a season low for points in the opening period, and made just 6-of-24 shots while allowing Houston to hit 11 of 22.
- Russell Westbrook was the only Thunder player with a pulse in the first quarter. When the Thunder trailed 26-10, Westbrook had eight of those points. Kevin Durant had the other two.
- Some will criticize the Thunder for late-game execution after this one. Count me out. The Thunder got some pretty good shots on goal if I may borrow a soccer reference. They just didn’t go in. As I wrote for Thursday’s paper, there are some who will use this game as evidence that a “jump-shooting team” always will struggle in close games. I didn’t think that was the case.
- The Thunder was 0-for-9 in the final 2 minutes, 10 seconds. The last attempt was a desperation launch by Westbrook. So excluding that, only three of the final eight misses were 3-pointers. Of the other five, one was from 16 feet, one was from 15 feet, one was a 10-foot runner, one was a blocked layup and one was a missed tip-in. That’s not what I would call settling.
- And by the way, the Thunder came into tonight’s game 5-1 in games decided by four points or less.
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks said he was satisfied with the late execution. “Down the stretch, we missed some shots that were good looks. We normally would make a few of those. We had good rhythm in that fourth quarter, and then we just couldn’t make a basket. But they were good looks. The execution was good.”
- I found it sort of funny how Brooks altered his choice of words a minute later after more reflection of what exactly his players got down the stretch. “At the end of games, those are great looks. Not good looks. Those are great looks,” Brooks said. “Our guys are going to make those shots more times than not.”
- I could not agree more with Westbrook on this close loss. “It happens like that sometimes. It wasn’t a bad loss. We fought. It wasn’t like we gave up or anything.”
- My only gripe about the late-game execution is that it’s all Durant and Westbrook. It’s like the Thunder forgets there’s this guy named James Harden who happens to be the team’s best playmaker. Harden had one shot in the final 2 minutes, 10 seconds, a missed 3. He was 4-for-4 in the quarter’s first 9 minutes, 50 seconds.
- Harden was turnover prone tonight, as was pretty much everybody in this one. But Harden had three of his five giveaways in the final quarter.
- The Thunder had 22 turnovers as a team, and the Rockets scored 26 points off them. Durant had four turnovers, and Westbrook had six. It’s absolutely amazing how bad this team is at taking care of the ball. The Thunder already ranked last in the league in turnovers coming into tonight. OKC only stretched bumped its average to 17.1 per game after tonight.
- Brooks put it best: “I don’t know how we do it. We’re in every game and we give up the ball too many times.”
Thunder 111, Jazz 85
Nuggets from my notebook from Tuesday’s win over Utah.
- Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka did a great job early of defending Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. They contested extremely well without fouling and forced them into some difficult looks. And this time, for the most part, they finished possessions with rebounds. Thanks in large part to Perk and Ibaka, Jefferson and Millsap got off to an 0-for-7 start and never really found a rhythm. The defense by that duo set the tone, and the Thunder fed off of it the rest of the way to cruise to victory.
- Jefferson finished with 15 points, going 7-for-19 from the field. Millsap had 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting. They combined for just 13 rebounds. How impressive is that? Those two entered the night as Utah’s leading scorers, averaging a combined 35 points with 18.7 rebounds. Both were shooting at least 47.5 percent coming into tonight.
- The Thunder’s defense as a whole at the start of the game was excellent. Utah missed a few good looks, but the Thunder hounded the Jazz into missing 15 of their first 16 shots. Utah’s second field goal didn’t come until Jefferson scored on a putback with 4:50 remaining in the opening quarter.
- The first quarter was the key. The Thunder held the Jazz to 19 points on 30.8 percent shooting. It was the first time in 11 games that OKC has held an opponent to 20 points or less in the opening period. In the previous 10 games prior to Tuesday, the Thunder had allowed an average of 28.4 points and had yielded at least 30 points five times.
- Said Kevin Durant: “The last few games, we had some lapses and we didn’t play as well as we wanted to. We may have gotten some wins, but we kind of squeaked those out. But tonight was Thunder basketball; defense first, hustling, rebounding, helping each other out on the defensive end and playing together. I think we got some fast-break points as well. So we got back to our brand of basketball, and it feels good to be back.”
- The Thunder is 6-2 when it holds opponents to 20 points or less in the first quarter. In those six victories, the Thunder has won by an average margin of 10.4 points.
- This was the largest margin of victory for the Thunder this season. The previous high was 20 points, set in a 99-79 win over Detroit on Jan. 23. And guess what? The Thunder held the Pistons to 12 first-quarter points in that ballgame.
- For a while, though, the Thunder didn’t take advantage of Utah’s poor shooting like it should have. With eight minutes left in the second quarter, for example, the Thunder led 31-28 despite Utah shooting just 11-for-35. The problem? What else? The Thunder allowed the Jazz to take 11 more shots thanks to turnovers (six) and giving up offensive rebounds (six leading to eight second-chance points).
- Russell Westbrook played with great pace tonight. He pushed the tempo when needed but also scaled back and tried to get others involved, too. He scored 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting with five rebounds and two assists. With a fast break dunk at the 2:53 mark of the second quarter, Westbrook joined Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson as the only players in NBA history to record at least 5,000 points, 1,900 assists and 1,300 rebounds in their first 274 games.
- Said Durant of the milestone: “That’s a big-time feat. To be up there with the greats of the game is an honor. I’m sure he’s very excited. I’m happy for him. He’s done so much in this league and he has a lot to go. I’m glad I’m playing with him.”
- Uh, that dunk that put Westbrook in such elite company? It came off a break led by Perk. Westbrook flushed it off an alley from the big man. That’s the second time that I can remember where Perk led the break and threw a lob-pass. He also did it in game No. 2 at Minnesota. “He’s done that a few times, and we score,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. “Surprisingly, at times. But Perk, he plays hard. I don’t mind him doing that occasionally. But we can’t see a daily diet of that.”
- I asked Brooks if he’d consider moving Russ to the 2 and starting Perk at point. Brooks could only laugh. “Perk was nice, huh,” Brooks said.
- What I liked even more than the lob pass by Perk was his ho-hum reaction. He just trotted back on D like, ‘That’s what I do.’ But he let his emotions show on the ensuing possession after he allowed Jefferson to catch an entry pass over the top and score a point-blank layup. Perk banged the ball against his head and, I’m assuming, cussed himself out under his breath. Not trying to make too much out of it. But not too many players show that amount of passion on the defensive end rather than the offensive side. It’s small. But it’s a small something that always should be considered when evaluating what Perk brings to this team.
- Perk was a a passing machine tonight. He had another nice dime that came on a behind-the-back dish to Ibaka with 9:55 left in the third. For the game, Perk tied his career high with six assists. For all those who get frustrated with the Thunder throwing the ball into Perk on the low block, Brooks gave a pretty sound explanation for why he continues to allow it. “I’m doing a better job of letting him touch the ball more,” Brooks said. “Earlier in the season, he was facilitating our offense at times, whether it was at the low post and passing out or at the elbow. I thought we needed to go back to that, because when you have guys that touch the ball they feel better about themselves and they just play better basketball.” (more…)
Thunder 101, Jazz 87
Scott Brooks will coach the Western Conference All-Stars.
Observations from the Thunder’s 101-87 victory at Utah on Friday night. Forgive the delay in posting. Massive wireless issues for me in the Great Salt Lake:
- The Thunder’s victory clinched Scott Brooks becoming the Western Conference coach at the Feb. 26 NBA All-Star Game in Orlando, but director of team operations Marc St. Yves was the only person to shake Brooks’ hand on the court afterward. Why? Russell Westbrook didn’t know the win sealed the deal. Nick Collison knew, but forgot, same goes for Kevin Durant and Nazr Mohammed. It wasn’t that no one cared. It’s just their minds didn’t refocus immediately after the game.
- Durant playfully suggested Brooks’ first duty as All-Star coach might be to start Westbrook, even though fans voted for Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant as the starting guards. “Yeah, yeah,” a smiling Durant said when asked if Brooks should wield his power. “He might tell CP to sit down for a little bit to start.”
- Brooks’ effectiveness as the Thunder’s coach was clearly evident Friday. Based on answers given by several players that day, Brooks is dealing with the team’s turnover issue the right way – not with humiliation and threats but rather with calm concern. In addition, roughly three hours before the game at Utah, Brooks and Durant sat and chatted one-on-one for 20 minutes in the front row along the baseline. Judging from Brooks’ hand gestures, he appeared to be sharing advice on options Durant might have coming off the dribble and how a play could develop. The 46-year-old Brooks has the perfect temperament to handle a young and extremely competitive group like the Thunder. Brooks doesn’t get near enough credit. Perhaps his appearance at the All-Star Game will change that.
- Westbrook said Brooks becoming an All-Star coach is far-reaching. “It’s great for the organization, the city, the community. It’s truly a blessing to see what’s going on around here (OKC),” Westbrook said. “We’ve got a lot of talent on this team, but at the same time, we’ve got to be coached. He’s a guy who keeps us steady and keeps our head above water.”
- You must check out Nick Collison’s appearance with Dan LeBatard in “Highly Questionable.” With seven minutes left Friday against the Jazz, Collison drove hard to the basket and converted an acrobatic scoop layup with the shot clock winding down. At that exact moment, I thought, “Shooter!” Listen to the interview and you’ll understand.
- EnergySolutions Arena was another tough venue for the Thunder, just like the four previous stops during the road trip at San Antonio, Portland, Golden State and Sacramento. However, I’ve never heard the Jazz’ building so quiet. The Thunder did a superb job of not allowing the sellout crowd of 19,911 to take control. Winning helps, of course, but other than going on a scoring spurt, what’s the best way to take the home crowd out of a game? “Get fouls called, get some steals, get to the free-throw line,” Westbrook explained. By the way, all five arenas were sold out for the Thunder’s visits.
- Westbrook isn’t crazy about doing interviews, but one of his favorite subjects is discussing the Thunder’s ability to bounce back after a loss. “Oh, definitely,” Westbrook said after OKC upped its bounce-back record to 25-7 the past two seasons. “In this league, you can’t afford to lose three or four in a row and be an elite team. We know that and we’re getting better each and every season, and in every game. When we lose one, we take it personal coming back the next day to be ready to play.”
- The Thunder is now 34-10 in the regular season since center Kendrick Perkins joined the starting lineup last March. “Pretty impressive,” Perkins said, eyebrows raised. “I’ll take 24 games over .500 any day.”
- Perkins won the 2008 world championship with the Boston Celtics, who went 66-16 (.805) that season. The Thunder is 21-6 and has a similar winning percentage (.778). Perkins said even great teams still lose games. The trick is letting the losses go while not forgetting what happened. “Obviously, we’ve let a few slip away this year that we still think about, but we know what to do about it now,” Perkins said.
- An .800 winning percentage is truly impressive. Look at it this way: For every game that team loses, it must immediately go on a four-game winning streak to make up lost ground. The Thunder would have to finish 53-13 this season to reach .800 or higher.
- On Thursday, OKC had 23 turnovers. On Friday, it had 17, which is still about four or five too many, but it’s far better than 23. Pointing out the obvious, the Thunder sure looks much prettier when it’s collecting steals and not handing over the ball. “Oh, gosh,” reserve guard James Harden said with a smile. “It’s always such a relief when you get easy buckets on the road. It calms the crowd down. They’re game-changers.”
- Rookie guard Reggie Jackson missed his first five shots Friday and attacked the basket with 10 seconds left in the third quarter rather than playing for one last shot. He’s a rookie and has a long ways to go. Better decisions and less hesitation running the half-court offense are Jackson’s biggest challenges.
- I miss watching Eric Maynor play. Then again, I knew I would.
Darnell Mayberry returns in this slot on Tuesday. Commence cheering.
- JOHN ROHDE
Thunder 111, Blazers 107
Nuggets from my notebook from Monday’s win at Portland.
- Kevin Durant said the Thunder remembered some trash talking by Blazers players after they won by 10 in Oklahoma City on Jan. 3. “It was a lot of trash talking after that first game with them,” Durant said.
- When asked to elaborate, Durant toned it down but did provide a few more details. “It wasn’t too offensive. Of course, they said they thought they were the better team; they’re the best team in the West. All of that stuff, which is cool for them to say. They beat us and we had to take it. But I think that ever since then we’ve gotten better, they’ve gotten better and tonight was just going to be a battle between two tough teams and I’m glad we came out on top.”
- Kendrick Perkins on the trash talk: “Oh, we don’t forget stuff like that. But we ain’t about to respond, either. I wish they would have had their whole starting five in so they wouldn’t have no excuses about the game tonight. But we don’t forget nothing.”
- I don’t know whether that block by LaMarcus Aldridge was a goaltend or not. Even the in-arena replays that I saw were inconclusive. Many have said on Twitter that it was clearly a clean block. If so, there’s obviously going to be a large segment of fans who insist the Thunder got a gift. I can’t disagree. The Blazers probably would have won. But it was a bang-bang play (when I saw it live I thought it hit the backboard first) and you can’t fault the officials if they got it wrong. That’s the breaks.
- KD on the goaltend call: “I got it up there quick enough and it hit the glass first and it was a goaltend. So it was a good play for us.”
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks on the goaltend call: “I didn’t look at it. I saw it live. The referees…it’s a hard game. We won the game. I’m happy we won the game.”
- This was a great win. By far the best of the season. It wasn’t always pretty. But when you’re the best (by record), you’re going to get everyone’s best, and it’s going to sometimes be hard-nosed, physical contest. That’s what this was. And the fact that the Thunder came into the Rose Garden, where the Blazers had only lost once in 12 games, and slayed a team that was whupping opponents by an average of 18.3 points in their building, speaks volumes.
- Durant on the win: “It was one of those wins where we come back in the locker room a little bit emotional.”
- People tend to get a little carried away with the superlatives after games like this. So pardon me if what’s coming fits that bill. The defense the Thunder played on the game-clinching Blazers possession was the best I’ve ever seen from OKC. It was a big-time, dominant defensive effort. Everyone did what they needed to do. Russell Westbrook was pressuring Jamal Crawford. Perk was bodying Aldridge. Serge Ibaka provided great help. And Perk got the big block. You won’t find a more impressive 24 seconds of defense. Anywhere.
- Perk on the sequence: “It’s just talking and communication. You’ve got to give credit to the coaching staff. They called the play out. Russ kept pursuing. And you just never give up on the play. You especially can’t give a guy like Crawford a clean look at the basket. He’s known for hitting (game-tying shots) and game-winners.”
- Perk’s defense on Aldridge in the overtime period was as good as it gets. Perk held L.A. to two points on 0-for-3 shooting. Said Perkins: “He wore out himself. He hit some tough shots early…But I think he wore out through the fourth and overtime. The first three quarters, he had his legs.”
- Brooks on Perk’s D: “I thought Perk was the difference-maker. It’s kind of weird to say that when the guy he was guarding had 39, but he made him work for every shot. His activity, his rebounding, his defense, his toughness I thought won this game.”
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Spurs 107, Thunder 96
Nuggets from my notebook from Saturdays loss at San Antonio.
- In answering one of my post-game questions, Kendrick Perkins told the story of this game. It was a simple response, but it easily was the most disturbing thing about tonight’s performance. “They just out-smarted us in every way,” Perkins told me. I thought the Thunder was past that point in its development. I thought OKC could now handle a Spurs team that is missing its best player and, really, is now reliant on one aging future Hall of Famer, a speedy point guard and a bunch of role players. I was wrong. This looked liked the Spurs-Thunder matchup of three years ago, when San Antonio used to take OKC to the woodshed and teach it a lesson in Basketball 101. We’re supposed to be beyond those days. You can make one excuse after another for this type of performance. You could say it happens. You could say the Spurs are great at home. You could say the Thunder was on the second night of a back-to-back. But that’s not what happened here. The Thunder looked over-matched and out of its league for the last 43 minutes. The Spurs, as Perk said, simply out-smarted the Thunder. And by the time the trip to the woodshed had ended, San Antonio had taught OKC yet another lesson.
- Russell Westbrook got the biggest schooling tonight. At least you can only hope he learns from this one. It’s not so much that Tony Parker went completely off on him. It’s much more about how Russ couldn’t control his emotions and figure out a way to contribute nearly anything positive once the snowball started its descent. We saw classic bad Westbrook tonight. Poor defense. Forced shots. Frequent complaining. Inadequate focus. Costly turnovers. The usual. Tough night. Tough, tough night.
- Westbrook’s mano-a-mano mindset clearly started with four minutes left in the second quarter. That’s when Westbrook and Parker hit the floor while fighting for a loose ball. It’s worth noting that replays clearly show that Parker pushed Westbrook just before the scrum. But Westbrook got up fuming, and it was downhill from there. Over those final four minutes of the first half, Parker scored five points on 1-for-2 shooting with an assist. Westbrook scored two points on 1-for-2 shooting with an assist and a block. The battle boiled over in the third quarter and got ugly for the Thunder.
- I hesitate to include this because I have no idea what the conversation was about. But referee Dick Bavetta appeared to try to calm down Westbrook as the Spurs shot free throws with 4:20 remaining in the third quarter. Bavetta put his arm around Westbrook as he bent over and whispered for a while in his ear. It didn’t look like Westbrook had any reaction at all to whatever was said. He just walked away when Bavetta was done.
- Parker finished with 42 points, the most any player has scored on the Thunder this season. He did absolutely whatever he wanted to do against the Thunder tonight. He got into the paint. He created open shots for himself and his teammates. He knocked down jumpers. He dished dimes. And he took amazing care of the ball, playing 40 minutes without turning it over a single time.
- It’s debatable how much blame Westbrook deserves when it comes to the Thunder’s pick-and-roll defense. That’s where Parker really had his way. Defending the pick-and-roll is really a team game. The guard’s got to start with pressure. The big has to show hard. And everyone else has to be on a string, with help to help the helper on the weak side. That’s at least three things that need to happen on every single pick-and-roll, maybe even four. It’s not going to be perfect every time. But I do know that a team has no shot at success if the guy leading the defense — the point guard — doesn’t bring the right amount of intensity. Unfortunately, that’s what I saw out of Westbrook tonight.
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Thunder 101, Grizzlies 94
Nuggets from my notebook from Friday’s win over Memphis.
- Kevin Durant is indeed The Real McCoy.
- The way KD took over the game tonight just leaves you shaking your head and admiring his greatness.
- Durant scored 16 of his game-high 36 points in the final quarter. It was one less than the Grizzlies had as a team!!
- More impressively, 14 of KD’s 16 fourth-quarter points came in the final five minutes with neither team ahead by more than five points. Those are all clutch-time points, folks.
- Memphis coach Lionel Hollins on KD: “He’s a great player. I mean, that’s all you can say. He’s a great player. He made great plays and great shots down the stretch. He took over the game. He’s going to be one of the all-time greats if he stays healthy.”
- I said this tonight on one of our award-winning video recaps (you don’t really believe that do you?). I was more impressed with Durant’s rebounding in the second half than his scoring down the stretch. The points will be what’s remembered, and rightfully so. But KD’s rebounding is more of a testament to his development into an all-around player. Better yet, a cold-blooded killer. He had zero at the half. He finished with 10, including four in the fourth quarter. It helped the Thunder take control of the boards in the decisive fourth quarter after Memphis manhandled OKC for the first three.
- OK, back to KD’s scoring. Dude had missed all five of his 3-pointers before burying perhaps the biggest shot of the night with 53.8 seconds remaining. Said KD: “That 3, as I was shooting, it looked good. But I was missing. So it was just a matter of time before one of those were going to go down for me.”
- Durant said he liked the 3 more than the beautiful, off-balance J he hit over Rudy Gay with 22 seconds left. “Because I had missed five of them that looked good,” Durant said. “But that one finally went in for me and it was a critical part of the game. So it was a big shot.”
- Consider this the second time Durant has stolen shine from a teammate. James Harden was about to be the player of this game before Durant decided to turn deadly. Harden ignited a 22-10 run that turned an eight-point deficit at the start of the fourth period into a four-point lead with 3:14 left to play. Over that run, Harden scored or assisted on 14 of the Thunder’s points.
- When it’s a close game in the fourth quarter, I don’t like to see much of anything out of the Thunder’s offense except the ball in Harden’s hands. That’s the only time I can relax. And it’s the only time I know something good will happen.
- One thing I didn’t like about Harden tonight. He got the Durant treatment by the Grizzlies after getting hot and didn’t respond that well. Tony Allen switched onto him, and Memphis even sent a few doubles his way. But when Allen began playing more physically in denying the ball, Harden couldn’t get open. Keep an eye on that. If teams start doing that, the Thunder’s saving grace is gone.
- Daequan Cook got the start again for the injured Thabo Sefolosha and played his tail off…defensively! Cook started the game 0-for-4 from the field but was a pest at the other end. He blocked a putback attempt by Allen, broke up an alley-oop intended for Gay, boxed out Marc Gasol so well he pushed him all the way under the net and blocked another shot by Allen. And that was all in the first five minutes. Cook’s final line was five points on 2-for-7 shooting with seven rebounds and three blocked shots in 32 minutes. Be honest. You’d love it if Kendrick Perkins provided that production.
- Perk’s actual line: five points, one rebound and one blocked shot in 30 minutes. Insert Scott Brooks‘ favorite line here.
- Is Cook making a case to remain in the starting lineup even when Sefolosha returns? Some already think he deserves it. And as I wrote after the Mavs game, at least one player thinks he’s a good fit in the first string. I doubt it will ever happen. But Cook has quietly become a much better defender than he was when he first got here. And, although I don’t know where he ranks among other shooting guards, his rebounding appears to be above average. And we all know his shooting gives the first five a different dynamic. Could it at least be worth Brooks considering?
- Brooks on Cook: “D.C. was all over the ball. He was all over the floor. It’s a nice luxury to have one of the best 3-point shooters play the defense that he plays. He plays hard. He’s always in the right spot. He’s a great help side defender.”
- It seems Cook will get some more time to present his case to crack the first five. As our man John Rohde reports, Sefolosha will be sidelined a tad longer.
- So much for Perk chilling out on the techs. One game after he told me he would, he was whistled for a double technical foul after getting tangled up with Gasol. It was Perk’s ninth of the season. He’s now four shy of an automatic one-game suspension. With 44 games left, I’m not sure Perk has enough chill in him.
Thunder 95, Mavs 86
Nuggets from my notebook from Wednesday’s win at Dallas.
- The first three nuggets in my actual notebook were as follows:
- Serge Ibaka blows nice Russell Westbrook pass, nearly air-balls layup.
- Ibaka blows putback layup after Kevin Durant miss.
- Ibaka dropped feed from Russ on a cut (not a great pass)
- As you can see, I was all ready to warm up these Rumblings and rip Ibaka a new one. He was that awful in the opening quarter. I was shocked, shocked I say, that Thunder coach Scott Brooks stuck with him for as long as he did. I just knew Brooks was going to yank him for Nick Collison 3 1/2 minutes in. Boy, are you glad Brooks didn’t?
- Ibaka was incredible in the last three quarters. Save a few defensive lapses (my fifth nugget was Ibaka’s slow recovery on a pick-and-roll that allowed Jason Terry to thread the needle to Brandan Wright for a layup) and some blown opportunities offensively, he saved the Thunder in this one. He set a career-high with 10 blocks and grabbed 11 rebounds. He ignited the Thunder’s defensive intensity in the second quarter after it was nowhere to be found in the first. He cut off the Mavs’ seemingly endless supply of easy layups that came effortlessly in the first quarter and struck fear into Dallas’ scorers each time they entered the paint. This was as good as we’ve ever seen Ibaka, matching his Game 2 performance against the Lakers in the 2010 playoffs and his Game 5 showing against Denver last year. As has been the case with Ibaka, the question now is will it carry over?
- Ibaka explained that his big night stemmed from realizing that it wasn’t his night offensively and seeing that he had it going defensively. “I like to get offense,” Ibaka said. “But I feel like tonight, on offense, it wasn’t my day. And I feel like on defense it was working, so I just said, ‘OK. Let’s be focused.’ And the blocked shots were working tonight so I just kept going.”
- Without a doubt the best thing I’ve ever seen or heard from Ibaka is the explanation he provided that he asked off of Dirk Nowitzki so he could protect the paint. Honestly, I wasn’t sure Ibaka had that type of basketball IQ. Not trying to be mean in saying that. I just had never seen anything from him that demonstrates that. This definitely does.
- Ibaka’s 10 rejections tied the franchise record for blocks in a single game. Shawn Kemp, in 1991, and Calvin Booth, in 2004, both registered 10 as well.
- I can’t wait until Seattle gets a new team — ahem, BUILD A FREAKIN’ ARENA, WASHINGTON! — just so we no longer have to include Sonics records in the Thunder’s history. Seattle trolls, save it. We know you don’t want the Thunder to have that history, either. The feeling’s mutual.
- Led by Ibaka, the Thunder got back to defensive dominance. The Mavs scored just 34 points in the final two quarters, an opponent low for the second half, was limited to 8-for-38 shooting in the second half and had just three players in double digits.
- Dirk had just eight points on 2-for-15 shooting. Any Thunder fan who hasn’t been living under a rock knows how impressive that is for OKC. Doesn’t matter that Dirk is having a bad year, or that he’s just three games back from a knee injury. Dirk is a habitual Thunder killer and OKC has rarely, if ever, found an answer for him.
- Durant said Dirk missed a lot of good looks, which I can’t argue with. Brooks agreed, but I liked the coach’s quote: “We finally found out that he was human.”
Thunder Receives Disabled Player Exception
The Oklahoma City Thunder has been granted a disabled player exception by the NBA, allowing the team to acquire a replacement player for injured guard Eric Maynor, The Oklahoman has learned.
Maynor was lost for the season after tearing his ACL on Jan. 7. The Thunder can now use the exception, which is half of Maynor’s 2011-12 salary, or $758,340, to sign one replacement player. The money from the exception, plus $100,000, can also be used to create room to accept a salary in a trade.
ESPN.com first reported the exception, which expires March 12, the league-mandated 45-day window in which it must be used.
It is unclear whether the Thunder will use the exception. Oklahoma City drafted Boston College guard Reggie Jackson with the 24th overall pick in last year’s draft and is now integrating him into the second unit as starting guard Russell Westbrook’s backup. The team also has veteran Royal Ivey who can help in a pinch as the third point guard.
It appears likely, though, that the Thunder will continue to groom Jackson as the backup rather than sign another veteran that could possibly stunt his growth. Jackson, who has averaged 3.4 points and 1.3 assists in 11.7 minutes over 13 games, has shown flashes of heady play that suggests he may settle into the role as the season goes on.
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