Thunder 120, Warriors 109
Observations from the Thunder’s 120-109 victory over Golden State at Oracle Arena on Friday night:
- Thunder All-Stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are starting to have fun with their allegedly poor working relationship. As media waited inside the locker room after Friday’s game, a row of smiling OKC teammates started dogging each other about their wardrobes. They were kidding, or perhaps they weren’t. It doesn’t really matter. When the good-natured ribbing increased in volume, Durant spoke to Westbrook just loud enough for reporters to hear. “Look, Durant and Westbrook are arguing again. They’re arguing and arguing,” Durant whispered. Westbrook pointed at one reporter and said, “Look, he’s writing that down.” (Actually, I did write that down and you just read it – in its entire context.)
- Speaking of Durant vs. Westbrook, you have to read this account of what transpired between Durant and a local television commentator during pre-game warmups. This is vintage Durant and, no, there probably isn’t a better guy in the NBA, although a handful of his teammates aren’t far off – Nick Collison, Nazr Mohammed, Kendrick Perkins, Thabo Sefolosha, Royal Ivey and Daequan Cook head the list of runners-up.
- Serge Ibaka, who is always the last Thunder player to finish showering and dressing, seemed surprised when I waited him out after all other players had departed. Ibaka had a look that said (in broken English, of course) “You want to talk to me?” With a shrug, Ibaka said, “I try to do my best to be there for us.” Ibaka was an absolute monster against Golden State with season highs in points (20) and rebounds (12). Warriors coach Mark Jackson mentioned Durant, Westbrook and James Harden as three guys who can “take over a basketball game.” But when you throw Ibaka into the mix, well, good luck with that. “Serge Ibaka did what we’ve been asking our big guys to do,” Jackson said.
- The only downer about Ibaka’s night: His streak of 31 straight games with at least one blocked shot ended. It was the longest active streak in the NBA, according to STATS, Inc.
- Durant had a season-high 37 points and 14 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. Which stat did he like more? “Man, I was past due with the big scoring night, so it felt good to score some points,” Durant said. “With the rebounds, it’s not every night I can go get 14, so that feels good to help my team out in that aspect.”
- Miami’s LeBron James might be having his best all-around season so far, but Durant is right there with him for league MVP. In fact, Durant might be slightly ahead.
- Perkins is the anti-Westbrook. How so? Unlike Perkins, Westbrook fills up a stat sheet – 28 points, 11 assists, seven steals, seven turnovers and six rebounds against Golden State. Meanwhile, Perkins had two points, five rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot. Make no mistake, however. Perk is a huge reason the Thunder is doing so well. “He brings it every night,” OKC coach Scott Brooks said. “I never look at his stat sheet. I always skip his name when I look at it. It’s not about stats. He does so many things for us that looking at a stat sheet does an injustice to his game.”
- I saw footage of Harden’s penetrating moves as a player at Arizona State. He makes it look even easier now that he is in the NBA. How can that possibly be?
- Sefolosha left the game with a sore right foot in the first quarter, got it re-taped and returned in the second quarter, only to be scorched by rookie guard Klay Thompson, who had 10 first-half points. “I tried to come back, but I couldn’t chase anybody. I couldn’t do anything, so I called it a night,” said Sefolosha, who officially is listed as day-to-day. By the way, “day-to-day” might as well be added to the official list of “The Thunder Way.” Everybody is listed as day-to-day. If only it were true with reserve guard Eric Maynor.
- Speaking of Maynor, he did not make the trip, but as a tribute the team posts his name plate and hangs his game jersey in a locker for every game.
- Cook didn’t miss a shot from 3-point range on Wednesday night against New Orleans (3 for 3) and didn’t make a shot from 3-point range on Friday (0 for 4). Ahh, the life of a shooter.
- Golden State’s scouting report on the Thunder included several items. Among the many things scribbled on the whiteboard inside the Warriors’ locker room: “OKC 27th in turnovers;” a warning about Westbrook “laying in the weeds for steals on outlet passes;” and also “Durant: Make him play defense.”
- The Thunder made just 4 of 17 (.235) 3-pointers compared to 12 of 28 (.429) for the Warriors. OKC was outscored by 24 from 3-point range, but Golden State was outscored by 17 at the free-throw line. The Thunder regained its touch from the line (32 of 37 for .865). The Warriors made 15 of 19 (.789).
- A whole lot of turnovers (42 total) weren’t turned into a whole lot of points (30 total).
- Pointing out the obvious, when the Warriors make 3-pointers, they’re really good. When they don’t, they’re really not.
- At LA Clippers on Monday night.
- John Rohde
Thunder 101, Hornets 91
Nuggets from my notebook from Wednesday’s win over New Orleans.
- Monty Williams was my pick to win Coach of the Year. Can I get a mulligan? Please!!!
- You knew this one would be somewhat competitive. If nothing else, Williams will get his team to play hard, which is why I thought the Hornets would be this year’s surprise team in the first place. Plus, New Orleans lost its last three games by a combined six points. The Hornets might have come in on an eight game losing streak, but these guys know how to compete and not go out without a fight.
- Serge Ibaka is coming around folks. This had to be his best game yet. And he just looks completely different now than he did in most of the first 10 games or so. His energy level has been great and he just looks more focused. Earlier in the season there were times where he didn’t even look interested in being out there. Now, Ibaka is rebounding with aggression and finding a way to be around the ball more on both ends. He started off excellent tonight on the glass and it led to some confidence on offense. Ibaka was an animal in the paint with putbacks and even looked good a time or two in the pick-and-pop with Russell Westbrook.
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks on Ibaka: “Serge was really good tonight, scoring around the basket, making his jump shot.”
- Brooks said at practice Tuesday that he has made it a point to get Ibaka more involved offensively. But Brooks credited Ibaka for his 10-point first quarter tonight rather than anything the coaching staff did. “He was aggressive,” Brooks said. “I wish I could take the credit, but I’m not…Give him the credit. He was putting himself in a position to score.”
- I asked Ibaka before the game why he doesn’t break out the Air Congo anymore. His response: “I’m getting old.”
- Ibaka’s man defense left more to be desired. It seemed like whoever his man was got a bucket any time he wanted in the first quarter. Ibaka bit on two pump fakes in the first half, too, one one Jason Smith and one on Jarrett Jack. We continue to wait on the discipline to kick in.
- The Hornets must be the kings of the circus shot. That or the kings of the bank shot. These guys had at least three circus shots in the first half, two by Emeka Okafor and one by Carl Landry. And when they weren’t putting in off-balanced, falling-down prayers, they were banking them in.
- This was not a pretty win. And not just because the game was a complete and utter bore. Offensively, things are really messy at times for the Thunder. By now we know that if the Thunder isn’t scoring in transition, it could be a really long night. Fortunately for the Thunder, some easy chances came tonight in transition and off Hornets turnovers. But there just seems to be tons of instability and indecisiveness on the offensive end of the floor.
- The most glaring problem tonight in the halfcourt offense was that nobody seemed to realize that Kevin Durant was having a great game. Go back and watch the first four minutes of the third quarter to get a complete understanding of how oblivious to that fact OKC appeared tonight. Durant was 6-for-6 from the field in the first half, yet when the offense struggled in the first four minutes of the third KD could barely get a touch. This is when Thunder players should be glad KD is not Kobe, because Durant had every right to snap. But of course KD kept his cool. He patiently watched Westbrook miss three shots, Ibaka miss a jumper and Thabo Sefolosha misfire on a 3.
- Turnovers are the other big problem. The Thunder had 21 of them tonight. Six players had two or more. New Orleans scored 21 points off those giveaways, and if the Hornets were any good the Thunder might have lost this game.
- After tonight, the Thunder is now averaging 18.3 assists and 16.6 turnovers.
Thunder 99, Pistons 79
Nuggets from my notebook from Monday’s win over Detroit.
- I don’t know about you, but I knew this game was going to be a blowout when Russell Westbrook shredded the Piston’s defense and threw down a tomahawk dunk to make it 6-2.
- I was convinced when Westbrook threaded the needled with an on-the-run, behind-the-back pass to Kevin Durant to make it 8-2.
- Not very often two Top 10-worth plays by the same team are turned in within the first 2 1/2 minutes of a game. Westbrook did just that.
- Westbrook on his two early highlights: “I just tried to keep the excitement in the game. I just tried to keep the fans involved and keep my teammates involved as well.”
- If you ask me, this was by far Serge Ibaka’s best game of the season. He started off providing weak side defense at the rim and his presence was a big part of the Thunder shutting down the Pistons’ attack early. Ibaka then rebounded like a mad man. Only thing he didn’t do tonight was knock down shots, which (I may be in the minority on this) you can live with when he has nights like this. Ibaka finished with a game-high 10 boards and a season-high tying five blocks.
- In his last three games, Ibaka has now pulled down 29 boards and blocked 12 shots. Said Westbrook: “He’s back to protecting the paint and rebounding. In the last five or six games, he’s gotten people scared to come in the paint. I’d be scared if I was them, too.”
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks started Kendrick Perkins on Greg Monroe and Ibaka on Ben Wallace. I wasn’t sure about that one at first because of Monroe’s athleticism. But it was a brilliant matchup. Perk’s superior man defense limited Monroe’s effectiveness, and with Ibaka on a non-factor offensively in Wallace he was allowed to roam and provide that great weak side help. Well done by Brooks.
- Worst part of this game was Nick Collison not returning after halftime due to a sprained left ankle. He’s listed as day-to-day. A shame, really, because you never want to see bad things like an injury happen in a blowout.
- Detroit made its first shot. The Pistons then missed 15 of their final 17 in the opening period.
- Westbrook’s post-up game looked much better tonight. I’m nowhere near ready to say that it’s a good option yet, largely because he abused a rookie in Brandon Knight. But the first move Russ hit Knight with, a Dream shake-like fake that led to a smooth jumper was jaw-dropping no matter who it was scored against. It was by far the most impressive move we’ve seen out of Westbrook in the post. Give me more of that regularly and I can live with Westbrook on the block.
- KD missed the Dirk twice tonight. He’s like 0 for his last four on the Dirk…and I’m still not sure he’s hit one at home.
- The Thunder scored 15 of its 19 fast break points in the first quarter. There have been entire games this season in which the Thunder hasn’t had 15 fast break points.
- How sweet is home for James Harden? He scored his 18th points with 4:52 remaining in the second quarter. That total was more than his point production in any one game on the Thunder’s recent three-game road trip. Harden finished with 24, two shy of his career-high, on 8-for-11 shooting.
- Thanks to Harden coming back to earth, the Thunder finally made some 3-pointers. OKC was 7-for-16 tonight, and Harden was 5-for-6. In the previous two games, the Thunder was 8-for-26 from deep.
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Quotes About Russell Westbrook
Thunder GM Sam Presti, coach Scott Brooks and guard Russell Westbrook held a press conference today to announce Westbrook’s contract extension. All three had some pretty good sound bites. Here’s a sampling of what they had to say.
WESTBROOK
From day one, this is the spot I wanted to be. The organization believed in me by surprisingly picking me No. 4. A lot of guys doubted me, but from day one this organization supported me.”
Special thanks to my family. Without them, I don’t know if I would be sitting in this situation now.”
Growing up, me and my brother always said no pain, no gain. Right now, I can say I made a little gain. I’m just blessed to be in this position.”
It wasn’t something that was a problem. My agent, Sam and Clay were taking care of that. And my job was to come out every day, every night and try to find out how we could start the season off on the right foot…Once it got finished, it definitely was a big relief.”
I can say this for any player in the league. You want to be somewhere where you’re wanted. I wanted to be somewhere where I had great support, and this is the spot for me.”
Why wouldn’t you want to play with the best scorer (and maybe) the best player in the league on your team?”
BROOKS
How can you not love this guy? The guy plays with so much passion. He plays with toughness. He plays for the team. And he’s improved every month since we’ve had him.”
I like the fact that he wants to be coached. He understands than he’s not a finished product. His family has done a great job of instilling that work ethic in him.”
PRESTI
Days like today are made possible because of our owner, Clay Bennett, who’s shown unwavering support in our efforts to build and sustain and elite basketball organization. We’re fortunate to have an owner as committed as Mr. Bennett is.”
As we began our conversations with Russell about remaining with us as a core member of our organization and team, he made it abundantly clear he wanted to continue to be part of the organization, as well as this community.”
Our expectations for Russ are high, and he knows this. We expect him to continue to develop, even though he’s 23 years old, in a myriad of ways.”
The guy is so resilient. It’s really hard to keep him down. He just continues to come back and work. That’s incredibly impressive.”
-DM-
Thunder 84, Nets 74
Nuggets from my notebook from Saturday’s win at New Jersey.
- There was a TON of Thunder fans in the building tonight. I mean a ton!! I remember coming here two years ago and being shocked at how many fans were cheering for the Thunder. You’d have to times that reception by 35 to get a feel for what took place tonight. I asked my Twitter followers about two hours before the game who was coming to this one. I only got a handful of responses. But the reason I asked was because I figured it would be like this.
- Thunder jerseys, hats and sweatshirts were everywhere. I even say two fans with a sign that read “Fear The Beard.” Fans even cheered each and every Thunder starter when he was announced during pre-game introductions.
- Kevin Durant, who got an M-V-P chant from at least one fan late in the game, on the reception: “It feels good. We came a long way. I remember my first year when we played in Oklahoma, we played these guys here and it wasn’t hardly anybody in the stands. So a lot of people coming to support us makes us feel good. I’m excited that people are starting to like us and are starting to like us and come out to see us play.”
- The game itself wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was pretty darn ugly. But unlike three nights earlier at Washington, I’m sure ugly is fine for everybody who bleeds Thunder blue when OKC comes out on top.
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks rated tonight as one of his team’s best defensive performances. Hard to argue with that. OKC held the Nets to opponent lows of 31 percent shooting and 74 total points. The Nets came in leading the league with 26 average 3-point attempts. Against the Thunder, they went 3-for-23.
- The only rebuttal one could possible give Brooks is the Nets are absolutely brutal.
- You could tell the Thunder made it a point to defend the 3-point shot tonight. On three occasions, a Thunder player fouled a Nets shooter while contesting a 3. Reggie Jackson gave up a four-point play when he hacked Anthony Morrow on a last-second attempt in the first quarter. Russell Westbrook closed out too strong on Deron Williams in the third quarter. And Durant fouled DeShawn Stevenson behind the arc in the fourth quarter.
- I wrote a few games back about how everyone being in Jackson’s ear could have a negative short-term impact. We’re officially seeing it. Jackson hesitated on shots in the first and second quarter and is clearly over-thinking at this point. He now looks unsure of himself and too determined to do the right thing instead of playing naturally. It’s obvious that he has some natural scoring ability, but now that he’s been forced to play a certain style he’s looking lost out there at times.
- This was not one of the Thunder’s better nights offensively. And I’m not even talking about the season-low 84 points. That would be acceptable if it was a rhythmic game with ball movement and crisp sets. But the Thunder didn’t just miss shots tonight. OKC made it hard on itself at times with one-on-one play and poor ball security. In the end, this was the second straight night and sixth time this season that the Thunder finished with more turnovers (19) than assists (13).
- Durant had 20 points on 22 shots. Westbrook had 21 points on 21 shots.
- The saving grace for the Thunder offensively was scoring off turnovers. OKC had 22 points on 18 Nets turnovers. By halftime, the Thunder had 18 points on 12 Nets giveaways.
- No Jay-Z tonight. More importantly, no Beyonce.
Wizards 105, Thunder 102
Nuggets from my notebook from Wednesday’s loss at Washington.
- Calm down. It’s just one game. Forget for a second who it was against. It was only one game, and only one ‘L’ will go down in the loss column. Don’t lose sight of that.
- Having said that, it’s not good to get swept by the Wizards in the season series.
- One thing snapped the Thunder’s seven-game winning streak — apathy. A few tried to deny that fact. They should have instead done themselves a favor and admitted it. Frankly, the Thunder took the Wizards lightly. It was as simple as that. To deny it only opens the possibility of it happening again.
- Once the Thunder came out careless, it gave the Wizards a chance to keep it close. That gave Washington all the confidence it needed to continue to hang around and make things interesting. Bad, bad decision on the Thunder’s part. OKC should have approached this one like it did at least four others in the past: jump out to a big lead, keep the foot on the gas and rest up in the fourth quarter.
- I thought that’s what would happen tonight. I thought the Thunder would come out focused and ready to put a hurtin’ on the Wizards. Silly me. But I blame Kevin Durant. Not for the loss, of course, but for duping me into believing the Thunder would bring the right level intensity. It was at Tuesday’s practice that Durant was asked about how the best team in the league could get up for the worst team in the league. “We greedy,” Durant said. “We want to win every game we play.”
- The moment you knew the Thunder wasn’t all there tonight is when Kendrick Perkinsbacked down from Wizards forward Andray Blatche.As Perk was making an offensive move midway through the second quarter, his elbows made contact with Blatche twice, once in the chest and once in the face. Blatche had grown tired of it and got in Perkins’ face. Perk didn’t do a thing, which some might say is the smart thing to do. But we all know that’s not Perk. He’s the instigator, the bully, the enforcer. This time, he allowed Blatche to get in his face, chest to chest, and never responded. He actually waited for Blatche to finish and walk away.
- The battle between Perk and Blatche actually began on the previous possession. Durant was trying to inbound the ball to Perk (seemed backwards to me), and Blatche was bodying up on Perk to prevent a clean inbounds pass. Perk flashed a smirk, scrunching up his face to show the universal sign for disrespect when a player thinks he can’t be guarded. But Blatche stole the ball on the inbounds pass and it led to a one-man fast break that Blatche finished with a layup. Had this been playground ball, after the ensuing mix-up one could say that Blatche got into Perk’s head then stole his heart.
- If you’re griping about the last-second shot KD took and, more specifically, Thunder coach Scott Brooks’ play-calling, do yourself a favor and stop. It was the exact same play Brooks drew up that won the game against Dallas. Only difference is the Wizards played it tougher by fighting over the double screen, and KD missed the shot.
- Rebounding is a problem. It didn’t take all 15 of these games to realize that. But after tonight, it certainly looks like the Thunder is now in serious trouble. The Wizards, the 2-12 couldn’t beat a bowl of eggs Wizards, out-rebounded the Thunder 52-43 and 19-6 on the offensive end, tying an opponent high for offensive boards. The Thunder has now given up at least 10 offensive boards in each of its 15 games. Worse yet, the Thunder is yielding 13.3 offensive boards a night, the most in the league.
- All these opponent rebounds are killing the Thunder’s defense, which generally has been solid prior to the shots going up. They’re giving teams second chance scoring opportunities and putting them on the foul line additional times. They’re also hurting the Thunder’s offense, as teams prevent easy run-out opportunities which the Thunder destroys opponents with.
- Washington previously had out-rebounded only one opponent all season.
- Before the game, Wizards coach Flip Saunders called the Thunder’s four-man post rotation of Perk, Serge Ibaka, Nick Collison and Nazr Mohammed the best in the league. Then Saunders watched his duo of Blatche and McGee out-rebound the Thunder’s foursome 21-18. Blatche and McGee combined for more offensive rebounds (nine) than the Thunder did as a team (six).
- Shooting guard Daequan Cook got a team-leading two offensive boards. Enough said.
- The offense ain’t working either. Not in the sense of the entire season, but more so in the sense of stretches of every game and, at times, entire games. For the fifth time, the Thunder finished with more turnovers (21) than assists (15). And the imbalanced scoring is becoming more and more alarming. Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 68 percent of the Thunder scoring. Nothing good can come from that. Defenses that can design their game plan around stopping two guys have a relatively easy assignment. Slowing the Thunder’s two All-Stars is still a challenge. But if it’s essentially a game of 2-on-10, who you taking?
- Consider this. KD and Russ combined to score 69 points on 25-of-50 shooting. The remaining three starters scored eight points on 4-for-8 shooting. Something’s wrong with that picture, because 50-percent shooting is 50-percent shooting, no matter who’s an All-Star and who’s not.
- James Harden stunk it up again on the road. I pointed it out in my nuggets after the Boston game, and mentioned it in my notebook in Wednesday’s paper. It. Is. An Issue. Whatever Harden is doing on the road, he needs to stop. Whatever routine he has, he needs to change it. It sounds strange, but on most nights Harden is the most important Thunder player on the roster. When he scores and scores efficiently, the Thunder has a three-headed monster with him, Westbrook and Durant. When he doesn’t, well, the Thunder loses to the Wizards. Harden is now barely shooting 38 percent on the road.
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Thunder still not best in West
NBA on TNT crew of Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley.
On Monday night on TNT, the Thunder beat the Boston Celtics for the third straight year inside TD Garden. For more than two hours, the telecast crew of Kevin Harlan, Mike Fratello, Chris Webber and David Aldridge heaped praise upon the Thunder, which has the NBA’s best record at 12-2 after its 97-88 victory at Boston. But when TNT joined its studio crew of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal outside Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Thunder quickly played second fiddle again.
Johnson asked the panel to pick a series winner between the Los Angeles Lakers and Thunder right now and all three without hesitation picked LA. The Lakers are too big and Kobe Bryant is simply too good for OKC to win.
LA then went out and nipped Dallas 73-70 on a 3-pointer from Derek Fisher with 3.1 seconds left. The Lakers scored seven total points in the third quarter, shot 38.2 percent from the field, shot 10 percent from 3-point range (1 for 10) and Bryant went 7 for 22 from the field and finished with 14 points.
Some excerpts from the TNT experts:
Webber on Thunder forward Serge Ibaka: “He is athletic, smart defensively. He’s a great shot blocker and a great inside presence.”
Fratello on Thunder head coach Scott Brooks: “He really knows his players and he knows which guys to let grow and develop and which ones he can get on a little bit harder. He wants players to grow and experience this learning process and by the way, they’re winning a lot of games in this process.”
Webber on Thunder sixth man James Harden: “The best teams that I played against had role players that were superstars. They took their role seriously and they knew the importance of their role to the team. (Harden) has embraced his role (as sixth man) and has made sure that the bench is better for that.”
Smith on point guards Rajon Rondo of the Celtics and OKC’s Russell Westbrook: ”They are the only two teams that have guards, besides (Chicago’s) Derrick Rose, that consistently get into the paint.”
Fratello on Thunder forward Kevin Durant: “He is a very unselfish player. He has the God-given ability to score the basketball whenever he wants to. He understands the team aspect of the game and is a willing passer.”
Barkley’s predictions on the best teams in the Western Conference: “The Portland Trail Blazers and the Denver Nuggets are the two best teams I have seen in the West.”
O’Neal on the Thunder being 12-2: “They’ve had an easy schedule.”
As you can see from ESPNstats, the Thunder ranks No. 1 in the NBA in RPI and No. 8 in strength of schedule. O’Neal is partically right in that OKC often has played teams not at full strength such as San Antonio (no Manu Ginobili), New York (Carmelo Anthony), Memphis (Zach Randolph, Darrell Arthur) and New Orleans (Eric Gordon and Trevor Ariza), but other teams also have enjoyed the same benefit. In addition, the Thunder also swept its back-to-back-to-back, won five games in six days and is on a seven-game winning streak.
Thunder 97, Celtics 88
Nuggets from my notebook from Monday’s win at Boston.
- Thabo, Thabo, Thabo. My goodness. When the Thunder desperately needed a source for something, anything, good offensively, it was Thabo Sefolosha of all people who stepped up delivered. Sefolosha finished with a season-high 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting and bailed out the Thunder three times alone in the fourth quarter.
- Sefolosha scored 12 of his points in the final frame, the most by any player in the decisive fourth quarter.
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks on Sefolosha: “Thabo’s just a winner. The guy just makes winning basketball plays for us all the time. We don’t ask for a lot of scoring out of him, but he made big shots…He made shots all game long.”
- As I wrote for Tuesday’s paper, if nothing else tonight illustrated how things go for a team on a roll Sefolosha’s second and final 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining did. We’re talking about a career 31.4 percent 3-point shooter who squeezed the trigger with nine seconds showing on the shot clock even though the Thunder was trying to run out the clock. It was a helluva gutsy shot, one that sealed the win and kept the Thunder’s winning streak alive.
- Sefolosha on his dagger: “I caught it and I had an open look. I had confidence in that shot. I felt like if I let it go it would go in and it did. I didn’t even think about it, really.”
- The Thunder has now won seven straight, two shy of the franchise record in the Oklahoma City era. This win bumped OKC’s league-best record to 12-2.
- The Thunder entered the fourth quarter 2-for-11 from 3-point range. What happens next? OKC goes 5-for-5 in the final five minutes. “We made big shots,” Brooks said. “Some of them were tough shots. But we knocked them down. I’m happy for that.”
- Sefolosha shot a career-low 27.5 percent from beyond the arc last season. He’s shooting 60 percent (12-for-20) from deep this season.
- The Thunder’s offense was a beautiful mess tonight. It looked like utter chaos at times. There was little ball movement. Infrequent off-the-ball action. Turnovers in bunches. And another night of imbalance. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 54 points on 18-for-38 shooting. The rest of the team combined for 43 points on 18-for-42 shooting. Take away Sefolosha’s big night and the rest of the team scored 24 points on 11-for-33 shooting.
- Brooks: “At times, it didn’t look good. But we still battled and played with a competitive spirit and gave ourselves a chance to win.”
- It wasn’t just the Thunder’s offense. This game was brutal on both sides. At one point, both teams combined for 19 assists and 27 turnovers in this slobber-knocker. Yuck!
- Much of the reason why the Thunder’s offense sputtered in this one was because James Harden wasn’t James Harden. He scored a season-low five points on just 2-for-8 shooting. He had four fouls, one assists and two turnovers. It looked like Harden of two seasons ago, only instead of eight shots he would have stopped firing at four.
- Keep an eye on Harden’s production on the road. He struggled with his shooting away from home last season, and he looks to be doing the same thus far this year. The next two doormat of opponents might be just what Harden needs.
Kevin Durant Film Gets New Title
Kevin Durant will soon film scenes for his upcoming movie inside Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The Warner Premier film starring Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant has a new title.
Initially introduced with a working title of “Switch,” the film is now titled “Thunderstruck.”
The film’s plot, however, remains the same, as detailed here.
A fun and energetic family basketball movie starring Kevin Durant AS HIMSELF, a basketball star who switches talent with a klutzy 14 year old fan. When Brian, a hopelessly uncoordinated young fan magically switches talents with his hero, Kevin Durant, he becomes the star of his high school team…while Kevin Durant suddenly can’t make a shot to save his life. But with the playoffs approaching, Brian learns that being a true winner involves working hard at your own game, and he tries to make things right in time to prevent a catastrophic end to his hero’s season.”
Durant will be filming scenes for “Thunderstruck” in Oklahoma City in the next few days, including a session that is scheduled to be shot inside Chesapeake Energy Arena on Tuesday, Jan. 23. The studio’s original plan was to shoot footage at a preseason game, but the lockout-shortened season limited the Thunder to only one preseason home game as each team dealt with a rushed start to the season. It’s possible that filmmakers will shoot action at the Jan. 23 home game against Detroit and/or the Jan. 25 home game against New Orleans.
The bulk of filming was done in Baton Rouge, La. back in September. But prior to the movie being completed, certain shots that can only be produced in Oklahoma City must be captured. The movie has been granted license from the NBA to use the Thunder’s name and logo and other league property, meaning real game footage will be used and Durant will be seen in his Thunder jersey, possibly with teammates and Thunder coach Scott Brooks making cameos.
No release date has been announced for the film.
-DM-
Five Thoughts From Tuesday’s Game
Russell Westbrook had his way with the Memphis Grizzlies' defense Tuesday night.
The Thunder is right back at it tonight at New Orleans in what will be its fifth back-to-back already this season. So there’s little time to gloat or groan about anything in any one game this season. But you can spot trends developing or continuing and those things are important to remember. With that said, here are five observations I had from Tuesday’s win at Memphis.
- The Thunder’s ball movement is incredibly erratic. It was a problem last year, and it was one of the main focal points coming into this season. But things haven’t gone according to plan. Tuesday’s game at Memphis was one of the worst showings this season. The Thunder had just 14 assists, two more than its season low, and finished with 15 turnovers. It was the third time this season that the Thunder finished with more turnovers than assists. In two other games, the Thunder had one more assist and two more assists, respectively, than turnovers. Re-watch the Grizzlies game (or perhaps just watch tonight’s in New Orleans) and you’ll see why the ball the Thunder has so many struggles. Far too many possessions are filled with just one or two passes. The Thunder settles too often for isolations or idleness by ball handlers while waiting on ball screens. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies, at times, put on a ball movement clinic, passing the ball three and four times before finding an open shot. They finished with only two more assists than the Thunder, which is not at all indicative of how much better Memphis moved the ball. But this game showed why the Thunder so far is averaging only 3.5 more assists than turnovers.
- Russell Westbrook was fantastic on offense. He shook off an 0-for-13 performance in his first game at Memphis to score 30 points on 12-for-20 shooting. Westbrook had his mid-range shot falling, was attacking and finishing at the rim and, most importantly, was under control for much of the night. He added six rebounds and four assists against two turnovers to complete what was by far his most dominant performance of the young season. It was a night that reminded us all of what Westbrook is capable of when his head is screwed on straight. Defensively, though, Westbrook still hasn’t hit his stride. He struggled to defend the pick-and-roll, and his ineffectiveness allowed Mike Conley to control the flow at the other end as Conley got to the basket at will and created open shot after open shot for his teammates. The good thing is Westbrook cut down on much of his gambling defensively.
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