Thunder 122, Bobcats 95
Nuggets from my notebook from Saturday’s win over Charlotte.
- This game was over after a three-minute stretch early in the second quarter. The Thunder used a 12-0 run to turn a three-point lead into a 15-point advantage. During that spurt, the Thunder got the Bobcats to miss five straight shots and turn it over twice. Kevin Durant and James Harden combined to score all 12 points during the run.
- The most impressive thing about what was essentially the game-clinching run was how the Thunder shared the ball. All five made field goals by Durant and Harden came on assists. Four different players — Harden, Reggie Jackson, Nick Collison, and Russell Westbrook — had an assist.
- The Thunder had a season-high 27 assists in this one. Eight Thunder players had at least one assists. Six Thunder players had at least two.
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks on the ball movement: “You can’t say that we turned the corner because it’s just one game. But it’s a start. Hopefully we continue to move the basketball. The good teams in this league are consistent with that ball movement.”
- It’s trite, I know, but the key to the Thunder bouncing back tonight was effort and energy. If the Thunder played like it did tonight against Cleveland, that home winning streak would still be intact. Instead, the Thunder had to learn the hard way. Said Collison on the team watching the Cavs film Saturday morning: “We didn’t play hard enough to win. We didn’t play fast enough and we didn’t have enough energy. It was really pretty bad.”
- The Thunder is now 8-1 in games after a loss.
- Westbrook got off to a great start, getting high-percentage shots while just abusing D.J. Augustin. Westbrook scored on post-ups, in transition and on pull-ups and mid-range jumpers. Westbrook scored 13 of the Thunder’s first 15 points on 6-for-6 shooting, and he was under control and made good decisions throughout.
- Harden and Westbrook were the only ones doing anything for the Thunder on offense early on. They combined to score 29 of OKC’s first 35. Durant then joined the party.
- The Thunder’s 31-point lead tonight was one point shy of its largest of the year. But the field-goal percentage (63 percent) was a season-high.
- OKC’s 122 points were a regular season high and came two shy of the 124 scored in overtime on Feb. 19 against Denver.
- Despite the blowout, turnovers and defensive rebounding both were a problem again. The Thunder had 14 turnovers, which actually is a fantastic number for OKC. But eight of those came in the first half, and the Bobcats scored 20 points off of them. As for the rebounding, the Thunder gave up 15 offensive rebounds (partly because of a tone of missed shots by Charlotte). (more…)
Hawks 97, Thunder 90
Nuggets from my notebook from notebook from Saturday’s loss at Atlanta.
- Russell Westbrook is a warrior. There’s no other word to describe him. Less than 48 hours after spraining his left ankle, Westbrook was back on the court, keeping his consecutive games played streak alive and bumping it to 283. Westbrook left Amway Center on Thursday night with an extremely bad limp and it looked like there was no way he’d be able to play. But then Thunder coach Scott Brooks announced at Saturday morning’s shootaround that Westbrook would be a game-time decision. It sounded like a smoke screen. And then Brooks announced about 75 minutes before tip-off that Westbrook would play. And as I sit here typing this, I still can’t believe Westbrook didn’t have to sit this one out.
- Not only did Westbrook play. He came out and played his butt off from the start. With his left ankle heavily tapped underneath an ankle brace, Westbrook showed no signs of the ankle being a burden. The first thing he did was run into Kirk Hinrich to set a screen. Then he started scoring. And scoring…and scoring…and scoring. Westbrook had 10 points in the first quarter on 4-of-5 shooting. He hit a jumper out of a post up on Jeff Teague. He drilled two 3s. And he got Jannero Pargo to bite on an up-and-under move for a jumper.
- As if Westbrook’s performance wasn’t impressive enough, it became clear in the locker room after the game that he did what he did with a still swollen ankle. His left foot was clearly puffier than his right, but he kept it moving like it was no big deal. Seeing that was an example of some of the things these athletes go through that every day fans have no idea about.
- Of course, Westbrook wasn’t happy with his performance. But rather than just rely on using the loss as reason, he pointed to specifics. “I did all right,” Westbrook said. “I could have done a better job of defending and rebounding. I didn’t get an opportunity to get no rebounds today. Especially at my position, if I can get loose balls it can lead to fast breaks. The next game, I’m going to do a better job of that.”
- This was the first time this season that Westbrook didn’t pull down a rebound. It was the first time since a 17-point win over Charlotte that he failed to grab at least one board.
- Only thing I didn’t like about Westbrook’s game tonight was he got trigger happy from 3-point range. He took a career-high eight. He made his first two, which, with the benefit of hindsight, might have been a bad thing, because then he missed five of his last six. And many of those last six were terrible shots. Some of it might have had to do with not having his customary explosiveness. But eight is too many for Westbrook, especially when they don’t come in the flow of the offense.
- OK. There was no offensive flow tonight. Turnovers destroyed any hope of that. The Thunder finished with 21 and watched them lead to 22 Hawks points. Amazingly, OKC had four in the first 1 minute, 55 seconds and five in the first 3 minutes, 56 seconds. Eight players had at least one turnover. Seven had at least two.
- Thunder coach Scott Brooks: “We got to fix it. We keep talking about it. We’re working on it. But we got to figure out that because it’s going to be hard to win night in and night out the way we turn it over.”
- More Brooks: “We are an attack team. We are an aggressive team. I understand that. But we still have to be solid with our decisions. It’s unacceptable having 20 turnovers in an NBA game.”
- The Thunder’s league-worst turnover rate is now at 16.83 per game. This was the 10th time this season that the Thunder had at least 20 turnovers.
- As I wrote for Sunday’s paper, the worst part of the turnovers was that they snowballed into selfishness. You could see players quickly losing trust in one another and taking it upon themselves. But that’s only a good way to get blown out. The ball movement became non-existent, and the Thunder finished with a season-low 11 assists as a result.
- Good news: Atlanta had just 11 offensive rebounds.
- Bad news: Zaza Pachulia had nine of them and got putbacks on several, scoring 10 points with 14 rebounds to help the Hawks rack up 16 second-chance points.
- Brooks: “We turned the ball over and we gave up too many offensive rebounds. They scored on just about every offensive rebound.” (more…)
Charles Barkley’s criticisms don’t add up
As Charles Barkley remains steadfast in his criticism of the Thunder, one obvious question remains: If OKC has such little hope of winning a championship, how does it keep winning so many games?
With Thursday night’s 105-102 victory at Orlando, the Thunder has the best record in the NBA (29-7), the best record at home (15-1) and is within one game of having the league’s best record on the road (14-6).
Barkley sees many flaws in the Thunder, the most prevalent being that OKC is a jump-shooting team that struggles with its half-court offense. The Thunder indeed relies heavily on the jump shot and at times struggles with ball movement in its half-court sets. This will come to the forefront in the playoffs when the pace slows, play becomes more physical and the half-court game takes on added importance.
But what if your jump shots keep going in? OKC is second in the the NBA in field-goal percentage (.474) behind Miami (.487), the overwhelming favorite to win this year’s title. Because a half-court offense becomes more important in the playoffs, wouldn’t this be advantageous to good jump-shooting teams like OKC?
Kevin Durant is shooting a career-high percentage from the field (.512), as are Russell Westbrook (.469), James Harden (.475) and Nick Collison (.656) – and all by substantial percentages. The last time the Thunder/Sonics franchise shot this well from the field was 1995-96 when it finished the season 64-18 and lost 4-2 in the NBA Finals to the 72-10 Chicago Bulls, the winningest team in league history.
Barkely also criticizes OKC for having only three scorers in Durant (28.0), Westbrook (23.6) and Harden (16.7). This trio ranks second to the league’s most heralded threesome of Miami’s LeBron James (27.7), Dwyane Wade (22.8) and Chris Bosh (18.4), and trails by just 0.6 combined points (68.9-68.3). Isn’t having three prolific scorers a good thing?
OKC’s inside combination of Collison, Kendrick Perkins, Serge Ibaka and Nazr Mohammed is arguably the league’s best defensive frontcourt, and prides itself as such. They don’t demand the ball, but will gladly mop up misses and accept any open looks. Terrific Karma underneath. Again, a good thing.
During TNT’s pregame show on Thursday night, Barkley twice said of OKC, “This (Orlando) is not a good matchup for them” and he repeated it again at halftime. An hour later, the Thunder completed a season sweep over the Magic and won for the first time in Orlando since 2004.
Barkley credited Westbrook for his Wednesday performance at Philiadelphia (22 points, season-high 13 rebounds) and co-analysts Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal also shared how Westbrook could improve. It was accurate and helpful criticism without trashing Westbrook, as many have been prone to do.
Barkley: “One of the keys to being a great player, you can always get your shot. The key for him (Westbrook) is, ‘How can I get Kendrick Perkins six points? How can I get (Thabo) Sefolosha (out with a foot injury) six points?’ That’s when you become a great player, when you make the players around you better. When you make the players around you better, it makes the game easier.”
Smith: “There’s five ways to be a superstar — points, scoring and assists, but the others things are leadership and tempo of the game. He (Westbrook) can create a tempo of the game … that he can get those guys easy baskets. Kendrick Perkins should just be laying it in. He can do that. The issue is, he (Westbrook) is so good at scoring he says, ‘Why should I, because I could get by my guy, too.’ But sometimes that will make you go over the top and be a championship team.”
O’Neal: “Those guys (Durant, Westbrook and Harden) score 66 percent of the team’s scoring and the big guys only score 12 percent. The question is, do the big guys need to score more? Do you want to trade what they’re doing on offense for defense? I think they’re doing well, but the question remains, ‘Will they play this way in the postseason?’ Chuck said it, I said it, you said it, ‘You live by the jump shot, you die by the jump shot.’ ”
Until the playoffs arrive, it appears a team with many flaws will somehow keep winning many games.
Thunder 92, Sixers 88
Nuggets from my notebook from Wednesday’s win at Philadelphia.
- This was a tough, tough win by the Thunder. And you figured it would have to be. The Sixers are an extremely good defensive team that likes to slow the game down, grind it out and make teams work for everything. And we all know the Thunder is not great in those types of contests. That’s what makes this such a nice win. This is the style of play we’ll see come playoff time. And for the Thunder to get out of here with a win to go along with some experience against this style was huge.
- Once the Thunder clawed back from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter and pulled to 85-all with 3:20 remaining, you sort of knew things were going to go the Thunder’s way from there. OKC has just been too good at closing out games, even on the road. And even though the Sixers are a tough-minded bunch, the Thunder is the more experienced team. Sure enough, the Sixers were the team that struggled with the mistakes when it mattered most and the Thunder was the team that executed late, largely by benefiting from Philly’s miscues.
- Before the Thunder tied it up with 3 1/2 minutes left, it was anybody’s guess as to how this one would end. And with the game in doubt, the Sixers’ game-night operations staff had to prepare for all scenarios. It ended up being a funny little sideshow to a pretty scintillating game. I tweeted about it, and someone urged me to include it in the Nuggets so here it goes…I tweeted two pictures in succession: this with 5 1/2 minutes left and this with 2 1/2 minutes remaining.
- The way the Thunder was able to pull this one out was with defense and rebounding. And it was one heck of an effort. Everyone chipped in, and the stops just kept coming. In the final two minutes, when it was tied at 85-all, Russell Westbrook kept a ball alive following a Kevin Durant miss. Then Serge Ibaka secured an offensive rebound and got fouled after another KD miss. That’s when OKC went up by two (its first lead since 55-53 with 8:59 left in the third). Then Kendrick Perkins cleaned the defensive glass and was fouled and made one of two foul shots. Ibaka intercepted a Lou Williams pass to Elton Brand. Durant and James Harden trapped Williams and forced another turnover. Perk closed out on Jodie Meeks and came up with a huge rejection on his 3-point try. And then Russell Westbrook just did what Russell Westbrook does…
- There was not a bigger, more important, more fitting play than the final rebound Westbrook grabbed. He flew in from out of nowhere and snatched a missed free throw attempt by Durant out of the air in the middle of the lane. I guess nobody has ever told Westbrook he’s a guard, he’s only 6-3 and he doesn’t belong in the paint with the big boys. The guy is not only a phenomenal athlete, but he’s also a fearless player. That board, coupled with Westbrook’s ensuing two free throw makes, iced the game.
- Said Westbrook of his final board: “People tend to relax on free throws, especially in a game like that. I just went to go get it and whoever was right there wasn’t ready.”
- Said KD of Westbrook: “Russ had the biggest rebound of the game after my missed free throw.”
- Said Thunder coach Scott Brooks of Westbrook: “The kid is an amazing athlete. He is dynamic. That last offensive rebound was huge. It was a big one. I don’t know where he came from. He just jumps over bigs and finds a way to snatch it out of the air.”
- Said Sixers coach Doug Collins of Westbrook: “That guy is a little Pit Bull. You have to play all 24 seconds of the clock with him, and I didn’t think we did that. I thought we were lax at the end of clocks, and you can’t do that with him.”
- Westbrook finished with a game- and seas0n-high 13 rebounds, including a game- and seas0n-high seven on the offensive end. Russ’ career high is 15 rebounds, set on Dec. 1, 2010 against New Jersey. (more…)
Five Things To Watch In The Second Half
If the Thunder can stay healthy and button up a few areas, there may be no cooling off Oklahoma City in the last half of the season.
The second half of the season is upon us.
With All-Star Weekend in the rearview mirror, the Thunder will now embark on its final 32 games of the regular season starting Wednesday at Philadelphia. Already sitting atop the Western Conference standings at 27-7, the Thunder has enjoyed some pretty smooth sailing thus far. Oklahoma City is on pace for 52 wins, which in a traditional 82-game season translates to 65 victories.
It’s scary to think this team can perform even better.
With that said, here are five things to watch as we prepare for what is shaping up to be a fantastic final half.
1) Injuries. Once upon a time, the Thunder was a team blessed with extremely good health. That period came to an end last year. This season, OKC quickly turned into the walking wounded. Already, the Thunder has seen eight players miss a combined 57 games to injury or illness. By comparison, in all of last season, seven players combined to miss just 53 games. Eric Maynor has been lost to a torn ACL. Thabo Sefolosha has the sorest foot in the history of mankind. Ryan Reid busted his nose. Lazar Hayward busted up his eye. And Nick Collison, James Harden and Kendrick Perkins have all missed at least one game because of nagging injuries. Thus far, the Thunder has withstood the storm. But can OKC continue to hold on? How the Thunder deals with the unavoidable injury bug from here out could determine how it finishes in this home stretch. Some even have said that the league-wide injury issue will determine this year’s champion.
2) Rebounding. It’s no secret that the Thunder has had trouble rebounding. Through the first half of the year, the Thunder ranked ahead of only Washington, Sacramento and Golden State in opponent offensive rebounding. That inability to consistently close out defensive possessions with a rebound has prevented the Thunder from truly capitalizing on its standout defense through the first shot. The rebounding problem also is largely to blame for opponents taking nearly seven more shots per game than the Thunder. It’s become problem 1-A for OKC, and it will now be the main area the team will look to clean up before the playoffs begin. If the Thunder can do it, we could see it transform into a dominant defensive team. (more…)
Thunder 100, Lakers 85
Nuggets from my notebook from Thursday’s win over the Lakers.
- Tons of credit goes to Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins and Nazr Mohammed for the job they did on Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. That Lakers duo has been a perennial pest to the Thunder, but the way the bigs bodied them up and made them take tough shots set the tone and helped keep them relatively quiet.
- Led by Ibaka (game-high 13 boards) and Perk (nine boards), the Thunder out-rebounded the league’s best rebounding team 44-41 and held the Lakers to just eight offensive rebounds. Extremely big key to tonight’s win.
- Thanks to a solid defensive rebounding effort by the Thunder, as well as just 12 OKC turnovers, the Lakers attempted only one more shot than the Thunder. This thing had the potential to get ugly if the Thunder allowed L.A. to play volleyball at the rim. But that didn’t happen largely because of the big boys.
- Said Thunder coach Scott Brooks: “Our bigs, you know, you’re so proud of them every night. They come and give you everything they have. They defend, they rebound, they set screens. They are the unsung heroes of our team.”
- No Nick Collison tonight. He missed his third straight game with a quad contusion. I don’t know for sure, but I assume he’ll be ready to go Tuesday at Philadelphia. The fact that the Thunder controlled the middle without the help of Collison was impressive in itself.
- Ibaka did some serious work boxing out Gasol at the free throw line. Ibaka didn’t seem to care one bit about actually getting the rebound. His sole mission was to keep Gasol from getting it by any means necessary. Gasol didn’t want none of that.
- The Lakers are far from an offensive juggernaut right now. But you’ve got to be impressed that OKC held L.A. to 38 percent shooting.
- A big part of that poor field goal percentage was Kobe Bryant was held to 24 points on 24 shots. Who needs Thabo Sefolosha? (Kidding). Daequan Cook, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and even Kevin Durant did a great job of tag-teaming on Kobe and using their length to force him into some tough, tough looks and prevent him from getting anything but contested shots.
- Harden actually played through a wrist injury. Apparently it happened in Wednesday’s game against Boston. He had his left wrist heavily tapped and had some sort of contraption on it while he was on the bench. He finished with 16 points, four rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots, a steal and five turnovers. Gritty effort by Harden.
- Harden doesn’t seem to like Kobe. Every single time they meet there is jawing and pushing. Tonight, they had to be separated late in the game. It looked like Harden took exception to something Kobe said. Harden wouldn’t let it go. He just kept getting in Kobe’s face. Neither guy looked like he really wanted to fight. Kobe was even smiling and laughing while talking to Harden and KD at the other end while the refs reviewed a shot by Derek Fisher.
- While the antics by Harden did have a slight stench of a guy just trying to make a name for himself, it did show some of what this Thunder team has become about. Oklahoma City is a confident group of young guys that is on its way to taking over the league, and they don’t care one bit who they have to run through to do it. Rarely will Thunder players put that mentality on display like Harden did in the final minute and a half. But rest assured it’s in them. Said Brooks: “I don’t coach the perfect players or the perfect team, and they’re not coached by the perfect coach. But one thing we don’t do is we don’t back down.” (more…)
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 119, Warriors 116
Nuggets from my notebook from Tuesday’s win at Golden State.
- The Warriors got off to an 8-0 run after converting wide open jumpers and getting into the paint with ease. Meanwhile, the Thunder looked out of sync offensively early and couldn’t get shots to drop. In those first two minutes, it looked like this just might not be the Thunder’s night. Looked like the overtime thriller at Portland had taken its toll.
- Then Russell Westbrook decided to do something about his team’s sluggish start. Westbrook scored a layup on an ultra-aggressive and athletic attack. Then another one, both three-point plays. Then a pair of pull-ups. Before you knew it, the Thunder had tied it up at 14-all.
- Kevin Durant didn’t really have it going early. He missed his first three shots, all good looks, and just didn’t appear to be in rhythm. And just when you thought KD just didn’t have it, the guy starts throwing in off-balanced leaners for and-ones. Crazy how good he is.
- Durant finished with 33 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. He would have had his first career triple-double had Serge Ibaka not blown at least two of his set-ups.
- Warriors forward David Lee actually did have a triple-double with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Remember when everyone in OKC wanted the Thunder to break the bank to sign him?
- You’ve got to be happy with the win. But defensively, the Thunder left a lot to be desired. The Warriors’ point total was an opponent season high (116), Golden State shot lights out (55 percent), the Thunder had no answer for Monta Ellis (game and career-high 48 points) and OKC struggled once again in the pick-and-roll and defending the three-point line (9-of-21).
- Said Durant: “We want to strive toward perfection. We want to be one of those teams that are looked at as a really good team, and tonight we kind of had too many lapses. As a leader, I’m a little upset at myself for letting that happen. Of course we’re happy about the win. But the stuff that went on in the game, we have to correct it and try to get better. We don’t want to have games like this every game. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board.”
- The best thing you can take from this one is the Thunder showed again that it can play fast and win a shootout. The more versatile the Thunder is the better. But, really, this team is built to win shootouts. It’s the slow-paced, grind-it-out, games that require halfcourt efficiency that the Thunder still needs to prove it can consistently win. When the Thunder figures out both styles, it will be a dangerous, dangerous team come playoff time.
- There was a mysterious score change at the end of the third quarter that appeared controversial at first. What had happen’ was the refs went back and ruled a 3 by Westbrook with 4:18 remaining in the third period was actually a two. That changed the score from 93-92 going into the fourth quarter to 93-91, Warriors, at the start of the final period.
- The Thunder is now 6-1 in games decided by four points or less.
- Nazr Mohammed had brought it the past two games. He scored all eight of his points during a 13-2 run the second unit used to start the second period. Between his scoring tonight and his rebounding at Portland, I figure that will silence Thunder heads clamoring for Cole Aldrich at least until, oh, Thursday.
- What I liked best about Naz’s game tonight? His stand-still block of Ekpe Udoh. Naz just put his arms straight up and stuffed Udoh on a post move. Made him look like a little kid.
- Durant said he didn’t call glass on his go-ahead jumper. What is it about the Thunder and bank shots at Golden State?
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.
