Game 9 Recap: New York 116, Oklahoma City 106

Noooo!!!! Please don't eat me!

Yahoo! Box Score

Royce and I had very conflicting opinions about tonight. While I was telling the team to control the ball, make half court sets, work around for a shot, and play defense, he was preaching, "Just run with 'em!" Well, it looks right he was the correct one.

At the very start of the game, they tried running the fast break, but Earl Watson kept missing shots, so they went to the slow style, and it didn't work. It was almost painful to watch as the Thunder couldn't get anything going and were forced into bad shots and turnovers. It's a common misconception that smallball teams play bad defense....they're usually actually quite good at it if you get them into half court sets. I don't know how many times I saw the guards of the Knicks leak out after a missed shot. One of the Knicks superb rebounders would grab it, and throw it up court for an easy lay in, while most of our guys would still be standing on their own end of the floor.

But, we were yet again witness to a second half comeback. I think I've nailed our games against the upper 20 teams of the NBA down to a 3 type of game science:
Type 1: Just get destroyed. (Example: the Magic game)
Type 2: Show some promise in the 1st and have a good lead, let it whittle down to a tie in the 2nd, and then just let the other team push their lead up to 20 by the time the game is done. (Example: the Celtics game)
Type 3: Come out really crappy, realize what you were doing wrong strategy wise, correct it, and come to within just enough of a margin to win, but then crap out in the last 5 minutes. (Example: todays game at the Knicks)

No one likes the sad D'Antoni look. :-(

I really don't know what the deal is with our coach. P.J. Carlesimo has been in the league longer than most players, and he's learned from the best, Gregg Popovich. He's had this same team for a year before this. Why can't he figure out what to do until the 1st half is up? I mean, did losing Luke Ridnour really make that much of a difference in his game?

Tonights NBA flashback was Malik Rose. I mean, I had no idea that dude was still playing basketball! Much less in a run n' gun system under D'Antoni! I know there's no analysis here, but it's just kind of a wow moment.

I'm also finding myself really hating the FSN Oklahoma coverage. I'm really tired of Brian Davises voice, and Grant Longs insight is usually minimal at best. I was really psyched to watch the game tonight because I thought I could watch it on MSG with Walt Frazier, but DirectTV blocked me out (even though I have league pass) and forced me to watch Grant Long. If you think about their NBA careers, their broadcasting careers are about equivalent. And, I assure you, it's not because I'm sick of hearing the same guys. I really love the Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area guys, Bob Fitzgerald and Jim Barnett. When I watch the Warriors, I love hearing Bobs voice, and Jims great old-school analysis, even if half the time he is reminding the team to trade the 2 for 1. Davis and Long just kind of have no personality for me. Maybe my opinion will change as the season progresses, but these guys are homers to the highest degree. "Did you just see Robert Swift pull down that rebound? Wow!" "We're within 15, looks like we have a good chance of winning!" Ugh, no way. Please get some new announcers!

As far as awards go, Kevin Durant had a typical Kevin Durant-y night. He scored a lot of points, which makes you think he did good, but then you look at his lack of other stats and his poor shooting and realize he had a crappy game. Who really exceled tonight was Russell Westbrook. He actually shot 50%....that's right, 50% from the floor tonight. He grabbed 10 rebounds, 5 of them offensive and tossed 6 assists, almost securing the all coveted triple double. Add on his 19 points, 6-12 shooting, and 1 steal, and you easily get the Thunder Wonder for tonight.

As far as the Thunder Down Under award goes, there are 3 who deserve consideration. Some might be tempted to go ith the black fingernailed Robert Swift and his 13 rebounds, but 4 points just won't cut it tonight. Some might be tempted to go with Jeff Green, who had 16 Points, 8 Rebounds, and 4 Assists, but his 7-17 shooting puts him out of contention. The real performer here is Nick Collison. 14 points, 7-8 Shooting, 6 Rebounds, and 1 Assist locks the award up for him. While his rebounds were kind of low, he still had an excellent and efficent scoring night.

Sadly, I have to give the Thunder Blunder award to Joe Smith. 4 Points, 2-3 Shooting, and 2 rebounds isn't totally bad in 16 minutes, but it was clear thst this was not his type of game. His 33 year old body simply can't handle such a fast game, and this was apparent for the large numbe ofr time he was standing around mid or quarter court watching a scoring play happen. He's much more comfortable in half court sets. Still, it wasn't that bad of a performance, as he din't really hurt the team all that much when he played, but nobody else on the roster really warrants it. I suppose one could just as well give the award to Johan Petro, but he was much more efficent with 6 Points, 3-6 Shooting, and 5 Rebounds in only 10 minutes. I really like Petro coming off of the bench, and I think that's where he should stay.

On the other side of the ball, David Lee gets the Thunder Plunderer award off of the bench. Since they were playing D'Antonis fast ball, everybody else has abysmal shooting percentages. With 18 Points, 7-8 Shooting, 6 Rebounds, and 1 Assist, David Lee definately earns the right to be the second Thunder Plunderer off of the bench.

Next Game: Saturday at the 76ers
If we go 1-9, I think I'll find that I have no mouth and I must scream. Our mater predicter had the right point differential, but he was 21 points behind on both scores. Still, that's somewhat good!

Okay, now that's what I like to see! :-D

Game 9 Pregame: Thunder at Knicks

Mike D'Antoni: Creepiest Coach in All of Sports

And the slaughter continues....

The Thunder are going up against a team that has for the past 5 years been an NBA doormat. In the United States biggest television market and with a storied franchise history behind them, it would take a complete nutjob to screw them up. Those nutjobs are Jim Dolan and Isiah Thomas. Dolan is the owner, a traditional Daddys rich boy son ho knows absolutely nothing about running a basketball franchise. The latter, Thomas, is a former Point Guard who won the Pistons a Championship back in the 80s. The recipe for a good coach, right? Well, not when he goes to great lengths to trade for selfish point guards and lazy centers and can't coach them out of a closet. Luckily, he left the team at the end of last year, with the entire city of New York hating him and his players.

Enter Mike D'Antoni. He is the 04-05 Coach of the Year, and is largely attributed for the popularization of small ball. (Don Nelson invented it, but it never caught on until D'Antoni.) D'Antoni basically braught the Suns to national championship contenders every year. But, he always fell short, so Suns management saw a need to change things up. Thus, they traded Shawn Marion for Shaquille O'Neal, probably one of the worst moves ever. The suns were a first round out, and D'Antoni was quite unjustly fired by the power hungry GM, Steve Kerr. D'Antoni then got offers from the Bulls and Knicks. He took, to everyones surprise, the Knicks.

So, we come to today. The Knicks are a team full of lazy, selfish players that New York hates, and wants to get rid of, and everyone predicts them in the area of 20-25 wins. But....the D'Antoni magic struck. He benched Eddy Curry, who came to training camp having gained a lot of weight, and benched Stephon Marbury, a Point Guard known for hogging the ball and taking bad shots. Lo and behold, the Knicks are 5-3, and the City of New York is loving it.

Backstory: The Thunder are going to have to pull out all of the stops in order to win tonight. D'Antoni is going to wanto to run up and down the floor, and kill us with his teams athleticism. In order for the Thunder to win tonight, they're going to have to control the pace of the game. Slow the game down, set the pick n' roll, don't throw up lazy shots.

Defensively, they'll have to keep it tight on the perimeter. Jamal Crawford and Quentin Richardson aren't afraid to throw it up if need be. At the same time, they have to keep aware of the inside scoring of Randolph and Lee. We shouldn't have too much of a problem with this aspect of it though, as we have a trememndous height advantage on them.

Basically, if you force them into bad shots on the perimeter, you should be good against this Knick team.

Match-Ups:
Earl Watson vs. Chris Duhon
Edge: Push
Chris Duhon is a good point guard in his own right, but he's spent his entire career behind Kirk Hinrich on Chicago until this season. At the same time, Earl Watson has played well lately, but can have off nights. It's really anybodys guess who comes out on top.

Kevin Durant? vs. Jamal Crawford
Edge: Durant
Both have equally bad shooting percentages, but Durant is far better defensively, and he can rebound and drive better.

Jeff Green vs. Quentin Richardson
Edge: Quentin Richardson
Quentin Richardson was once considered to be a borderline All-Star, but since then, he's basically been a bust. He's about at the same level as Jeff Green is now, except he's probably a better outside shooter. So the advantage goes to him.

Nick Collison vs. Zach Randolph
Edge: Zach Randolph
Zach Randolph had a bad year last year, but he appears to be picking things up. Finally out of his pot smoking jailblazer days, this guys is a scoring and rebounding force every night. Nick Collison is largely on and off.

Johan Petro vs. David Lee
Edge: David Lee
David Lee is an excellent rebounder, and Johan Petro is excellent at being completely average. David Lee was the diamond in the rough for the past couple of years for the Knicks, and I think he easily outmatches Trash-o.

Battle of the Benches
Edge: Thunder
Because of D'Antonis statements to some of the Knick players, their bench is very thin. The Thunders bench, on the other hand, is ready to replace any player in the starting lineup with someone slightly less crappy in a hearatbeat, and might as well go 12 men deep. D'Antoni would have to see all of the eligible players carried out on a stretcher before he played Curry or Marbury.

Coaching and Intangibles
Edge: Knicks
I'm not a fan of D'Antoni, but I've got to give him credit for the Knicks rebirth.

Player to Watch: Joe Smith. This veteran should have no problem trashing the big man midgets of New York.

I'm not qualified to do this, so I'll defer to my main man, Ben, for this last section.
God of Thunder's Pick: Knicks 95 Thunder 85

Game 7 Recap: Indiana 107 Oklahoma City 99

The only thing KD needed to do to improve his shooting percentage was adjust his style. Jeff Foster seems to like it.
Yahoo! Box Score

Better late than never, they always say. Yes, I know, I'm not Zorgon, which means I have big shoes to fill (both literally and figuratively). But, hopefully I can live up to his greatness just this once...

So, now you get to hear about yet another epic OKC Thunder collapse! At one point in the first quarter, the Thunder found themselves ahead by 15 points, a lead that had even God of Thunder considering a career change. But did anyone, honestly, expect it to last? I think it would be a valid point that not that many Thunder players even expected it to last. And last...it did not...

After closing that epic first quarter with a decent 34-24 lead, OKC was able to follow up with a 24-17 thumping in the second quarter. Maybe head coach P.J. had just a little too much confidence in this team's lead, as evidenced by the 12 minutes he gave Robert Swift. To his credit, Swift had a fantastic game considering the amount of time he spent on the floor. Why are we so quick to play this guy when Damien Wilkins sees no time at all? Sometimes P.J.'s subs seem a tad erratic, ala last night with Robert Swift, ala the Celtics game with Kyle Weaver. Not that these guys should never see the light of day, just that we don't need to be playing them when the game's close. Trust me, the Thunder will See it's fair share of blow-outs this year.


The talk of Robert Swift reminds me of a Brian Davis moment last night. During the game, Robert Swift had one almost block, ONE, which prompted Brian Davis to say "The Pacers are going to have a hard time getting shots like that when a guy like Robert Swift is on the floor." What? Where the hell did that come from? If Robert Swift was that great at establishing an impregnable defense inside the paint, don't you think he'd be starting over Johan Poopo?

Of course, the Thunder would continue on to not win another quarter, and finish with a decent beat down, not too bad, but it wasn't really close. It wasn't exactly a rockin' crowd, only some 10,000 showed up at Conseco Fieldhouse. I mean comeon, who wouldn't want to see the amazing Thunder-Dults in action?!?! Oh, and as a side note, Johan Petro made his first free throws of the season, in fact, he was 2-2, making him 100% on the year.

So, time for some awards.

Thunder Wonderof the night goes to Kevin Durant, much to the dismay of Zorgon. There's really no denying it though. The guy had 37 points off of 13-27 shooting, 2-3 from three-point land, 9-9 from the charity stripe, and 8 rebounds, by far making his best game of the season.

What should make Zorgon happy though, is Joe Smith coming through as Thunder Down Under. He played the second least minutes, but still had 12 points of 6-8 shooting and 5 rebounds. He has definitely been the Thunder's best option off the bench thus far this season.

Desmond Mason was tonight's clear cut Thunder Blunder. Get this, 2 points with no field goals, 2-4 free throws, 1 technical foul, and a foul out. Somehow I missed the technical, or else I would elaborate upon it. Still, anytime you don't make a shot, you know you're going to have a good shot (no pun intended) at making Thunder Blunder


To conclude the night's awards, I'm giving the Thunder Plunderer title to T.J. Ford. The guard shot 10-19 with 24 points, 10 assists, and was only 3 rebounds short (7) of completing a triple-double. His talents are wasted on a sub-par team, but I still think he's under-rated at point guard.

Next Game: Thunder at Magic

Game 6 Recap: Atlanta 89, Oklahoma City 85

Nick Collison tried some Kung Fu tonight, but he ended up just as stinky as me, with only 2 points and 5 rebounds in 19 minutes.
Yahoo! Box Score

Before I get into the game, I committed a cardinal sin at the Ford Center Today: Being stinky.

Basically, I woke up today around 4 or so, and didn't do much before I went to the game. I didn't even think about how I hadn't showered. Big mistake. I go to the game and two people to the right of me left for better seats I didn't supect anything, until the end of the 1st, when somebody notified me that everybody around me was noticing my stink, and that I shouldn't jump around like that if I stunk so bad. Now, I'm all about letting the fans enjoy their experience, so I promptly left. No hard feelings to everybody around me. Probably the most embarassing moment of my life. But, the guy with the Brick mask was back (and sitting right in front of me) so he made up for me. I'll be back next time though. Yes, I'll be showered. Sorry if that was too much information for some of you folks. But, on to the game.

Man, what a game I missed. The first quarter was really really ugly. The Thunder kept shooting ill-advised midrangers with the Hawks right up in their grill. Luckily, the Hakws were only faring slightly better. Once the Thunder pounded it inside (like I was advising the whole time), things got better. After a slammin 2nd quarter that I didn't see, it was back and forth the whole game.

The end of the 4th saw our hopes crushed. The Hawks jumped out to a quick lead, and we almost free throwed our way back into it....until Earl Watson missed an essential layup that would have had us down by only 2 with a few seconds back. Ben had a good predicting day again, being only 4 points off of the actual score. You go, man!

Lastly, tonight was the debut of Robert Swift, courtesy of the Chris Wilcox injury. I'm glad we have Swift and Sene, becuse they can easily step in capably should one of our bigs get hurt. The same can't be said if our guards are hurt, as the only real backups they have are Kyle Weaver and Damien Wilkins. If our Point Guard is hurt, I smell trouble. But I digress. I hope Weezy is okay, as he was doing pretty well with 2 points and 2 boards before he went down. Swift looked okay, with 2 points and 3 boards. Well, his performace looked okay, but I had a hard time believing that he was the same guy who fouled out at the Hornets-Sonics game 2 years ago. He looked so....different back then.

Sadly, Joe Smith had his best performance of the season while I wasn't there. He almost had a double double with 14 points and 9 rebounds. He only shot 3-10, but he more than made up for it, shooting 8-10 from the free throw line. He really pulled through in the final seconds of this game, getting fouled at crucial times and grabbing critical rebounds. Thus, he gets tonights Thunder Wonder.

The Thunder Down Under award goes to Earl Watson. He would have gotten the Wonder award had he not missed that last layup. Still, he shot 5-11, went 1-2 from 3 point territory, had 11 points, 6 assists, and 3 rebounds, and only had 2 turnovers. These past two games Earl has really pulled through. He has started to create ball movement (rather than just dribbling it at the top of the key) and has had some hustle plays that have really put him over the shadow of Russell Westbrook.

The Thunder Blunder award goes easily to Jeff Green. 37 Minutes, 3-12 Field Goals, 1-4 3 Pointers, 9 Points, 8 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 2 Turnovers, and 1 Steal. He did better than Kevin Durants whopping 6 turnovers, but 25% shooting is just inexusable. A lot of his ill-advised shots just may have killed it for the Thunder early on tonight.

On the Flip (Murray) side, it's hard pinpointing one performance. Everyone was equally bad in their production. Thus, the Thunder Plunderer award goes to Joe Johnson by default. 25 Points, 9-25 Shooting, 3-6 3 Point Shooting, 4-6 Freethrow Shooting, 2 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 4 Turnovers, 4 Steals, and 1 Block round out a full stat sheet for Mr. JJ.

Overall, a par for the course night fo the Thunder.

Next Game: Monday at the Pacers. Prepare for some Murphy Madness.

Game 6 Pregame: Hawks at Thunder

Perhaps the first toss-up of the season. Yeah, the Atlanta Hawks were a playoff team last year, but they were still the 8th seeded team in the Eastern bracket with a sub-.500 record. That being said, they still almost knocked off a team in the first round that would turn out to be the eventual champs and still finished leaps and bounds better than the the then-Sonics, who were one of the worst teams in the league. All things considered, though the Hawks are stocked with fantasy hoops front-runners like Joe Johnson and Josh Smith, we should be in for a slug-fest tonight in Bricktown.

Backstory: The Thunder found themselves in a seemingly insurmountable hole last-time against Utah only to close valiantly to make the game seem respectable. If they want to beat the 4-0 Hawks tonight, they're going to have to avoid a sluggish start against a Hawks team who, at times, can be offensively explosive. Also, when, if ever, will shooting on this team improve? They're shooting 41.1% from the field (not something to be proud of), 38.3% from downtown (not too bad, but keep in mind only 5 Thunder players have even attempted a 3, and KD is 1/6 this season), and 72.3% from the free throw line (definitely should be improved upon, and somehow in some paradoxical conundrum, our starting Center, Petro, has yet to even attempt a FT. That's not a good sign)

Match-Ups:
Earl Watson vs. Mike Bibby
Edge: Bibby
Mike Bibby isn't what he was a few years ago, but Earl's game hasn't been anywhere near even productive, underachieving in nearly every statistical category and the worst shooting stats for a player with any decent amount of minutes.

Kevin Durant vs. Joe Johnson
Edge: Johnson
Sorry Thunder fans, but Joe is simply having a better season thus far. 25 PPG and shooting 42.1% from beyond the arch, that's pretty impressive.

Jeff Green vs. Maurice Evans
Edge: Green
Normally, this would be a Smith/Green match-up, in which I'd easily go with Smith. Evans is a decent player in his own right, but he certainly doesn't bring anything to the table that Jeff Green doesn't already. On top of that, Jeff Green has been the second most reliable scorer on the Thunder thus far.

Nick Collison vs. Marvin Williams
Edge: Collison
Marvin Williams has always been a model for inconsistent play in the NBA. Not that Collison is a rock, but you never know what Marvin you're going to see, even though the past couple of games he has looked good.

Johan Petro vs. Al Horford
Edge: Horford
Horford was much better at grabbing boards and scoring last season, but still he's only a couple of each away from averaging a double-double.

Battle of the Benches
Edge: Thunder
The excellent play of Desmond Mason and Joe Smith needs to carry-over to tonight if the Thunder want a chance at beating a play-off team.

Coaching and Intangibles
Edge: Thunder
Though it's always hard to get very pumped when the Hawks come to town, the Ford Center is almost always rockin'. It's a stark contrast to the crowd the Hawks are accustomed to, as their city is wrapped up in Georgia 'Dawg football and the resurgent Atlanta Falcons.

Player to Watch: How 'bout Zorgon's boy Joe Smith? His offensive game has picked up recently and, surprisingly enough, is leading the team in FG%. He should provide a spark off the bench against a Hawks team that isn't very deep down low.

God of Thunder's Pick: Hawks lose the glue of their team, Smith, so Thunder pull off some OKC magic: Thunder 90 Hawks 88

Game 4 Recap: Boston 96, Oklahoma City 83

Somebody forgot to tell PJ it wasn't 80s night. Still, I wish I had that jacket-tie combo.

Yahoo! Box Score

Well, the master picker strikes again. His 95-81 prediction was only off by a total of 3 points. Again, why go anywhere else?

So, The Thunder played valiantly tonight. And, what's better, they didn't look like the typical "young team" at all. Let me elaborate.

The first quarter was epic. We lead the Celtics almost all the way through, and even though they didn't look stunned, the fans sure were happy. The 2nd and 3rd quarter saw our lead slowly diminish into a 12-17 point deficit. But, unlike most young teams, who completely give up in the 4th, we stayed strong. In fact, a couple more defensive stops, and the game might've been ours.

But when it's all said and done, the Celtics just had better ball movement. They usually did one of two things: 1. Kick it out to Ray Allen/any other sharpshooter. 2. Make a gaping hole in the centre of the lane and watch the generally quicker Celtics make an easy layup.

On top of that, our big men were really mismatched. Joe Smith is known for his hustle, rebounding, and offense, but his defense is slightly below par. And he was getting burned by Kevin Garnett all night. Nick Collison and Chris Wilcox didn't far much better. Johan Petro tried his best, but he was getting scored on down low even by Kendrick Perkins. If the Thunder tried to double team, the other team would just pass it to the other big man for an easy two. Not a good picture.

The face of confidence.

The small men were equal in driving, but Ray Allen and Paul Pierce could shoot 3s, unlike our plethora of non-shooting small men. Even if our guys could shoot 3s, it wasn't helped by the fact that we were giving heavy minutes to Earl Watson. Earl Watson is sometimes notorious for bad jumpshots or ill-concieved drives to the basket. Rajon Rondo, on the other hand, is known for his excellent defense and slick passing. Is the picture becoming slightly clearer now?

Paul Pierce is satisfied because nobody takes pictures of any Celtic but him Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen.

All of that being said, tonight really was an off night for the Celtics. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce both shot terribly, and Kevin Garnett just didn't look like the dominating force he usually is. Rajon Rondo did what he uaually does and was extremely efficent with 100% field goals and 11 assists, but tonights Thunder Plunderer has to go to Leon Powe. With 11 Points, 3-6 Shooting, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and a +18 +/- ratio in 18 minutes, he really helped out his team tonight. He was a big reason that the Celtics took a commanding lead in the 3rd, and it was clear he was giving it his all while everybody else looked lackluster or disinterested.

On the Thunder side of the ball, nobody deserves the Thunder Wonder Award. I'm serious, nobody. This is partially because today was mostly a defensive effort and partially because almost everybody had a horrible day offensively. But, it has to be given to someone, so here goes. The only people who might even remotely deserve it are Earl Watson, Johan Petro, Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith, and Desmond Mason. Desmond Mason had a horrible +/- ratio, so he's out. Johan Petro was extremely efficent offensively (4-5) but he totally sucked defensively and had a measly 1 rebound, so he's out. Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith performed almost identically, but neither of them quite up to the standard of Earl Watson, who is tonights Thunder Wonder. 7 Points, 7 Rebounds, and 5 Assists sounds like a typical Mike Dunleav, Jr. scoring line, but not for a 6' 1" Point guard. He couldn't do much offensively, but his sheer amount of heart, hustle, and hardwood gets Earl Watson the Thunder Wonder Award tonight. This is the first time this season he's really outperformed Russell Westbrook, so he should be proud.

The Thunder Down Under award then, by logic, goes to either Wilcox (5 Points, 2-5 Shooting, 8 Rebounds) or Smith (9 Points, 4-9 Shooting, 5 Rebounds). Trying to decide is pretty much splitting hairs. It's all a matter of if rebounds or points matter more. The thing is, I think that Joe Smith came through in more critical times. He had some pretty fancy shots in the 4th, and one of his missed shots was a halftime lob. Still, he forced himself into bad one-on-one situations, and, again, got torched defensively by Garnett. But, in the end, Wilcox missed a freethrow, Smith got the same amount of offensive rebounds, and Wilcox was torched equally as bad defensively. So, the Thunder Down Under Award goes to Joe Smith.

Now, the Thunder Blunder. For me, it's between Russell Westbrook and Nick Collison. Now, you may be saying "But Russell Westbrook got 13 points!" Well, 6 of those were meaningless. He hit 2 meaningless, undefended 3s at the end of the game. Now, his stats, instead of being 13 Points, 4-13 Shooting, 5 Rebounds, 1 Assist, and 1 Steal, it's 7 Points, 2-11 shooting, 5 Rebounds, 1 Assist, and 1 Steal. A whole lot less impressive, huh? Still, his lack of assists are made up by his rebounds, which are almost as many as Nick Collison had (6). On top of that, Nick Collison played 5 more minutes, and was only 1-6 of the floor for 2 points. While 2 blocked shots are impressive, they're not enough to keep Nick Collison away from tonight's Thunder Blunder.

Next Game: Friday at the Utah Jazz

Lets prepare for another beatdown.

Game 3 Recap: Oklahoma City 88, Minnesota 85

Halloween may be over, but Pumpkin pictures are cool year 'round!

NBA.com Box Score

Before I start this recap, let me just iterate the genius of my partner in crime. Okluschen (Ben Luschen) of Blue Blitz predicted the score of this game....EXACTLY. Exactly right. Why even go to other sites at all now? You might as well just forget it, captain. We got the experts up here in this crib.

The game tonight was awesome for Thunder fans. The presentation? Not so much. Now that all of the shine and glimmer of the home opener is gone, one realizes just how paper thin the game entertainment is. The drumline (by far my favourite part of the overall presentation) wasn't used during team introductions, and was only used once the entire game. During timeouts, the team really didn't have much to show. There was the Midfirst bank shot contest, but aside from that the entertainment mostly consisted either of looking at crazy fans or watching the emcee give free stuff to some guy who probably paid to get on camera. The music during the game was also horrible. Most of it just contisted of playing "Charge", "De-Fense", or "Everybody clap your hands". I swear, I think I'll have to kill whoever keeps playing "Everybody clap your hands". I mean, they played it literally 6 times, and thqat was only when I counted! Get something new! I think I'll get sick of Thunderstruck by the time the season is through, too.

Presentation aside, you've gotta love this game. The first 3 quarters went by a specific formula. The Timberwolves would get off to a huge lead, make things look like same-old, same-old for the Thunder. Then, the Thunder would come storming back to tie it by the time the quarter ended. By the 4th, the Thunder had things figured out, and a defensive battle ensued.

Needless to say, we we killed by Al Jefferson. Things never seem to change in Minnesota, becuase if you changed "Al Jefferson" to "Kevin Garnett", "Mike Miller" to "Ricky Davis", and "Craig Smith" to "Mark Blount", you couldn't really tell the difference between now and back in the day. But I digress. Al Jefferson with 24 Points, 11-17 shooting, 13 Rebounds, and 1 block easily earns the Thunder Plunderer Award tonight.

On our side of the ball, Kevin Durant had another horrible night with 18 points on just 7-21 shooting. While Darnell Mayberry thinks that his shots will start going in, it's my opinion that we're going to see a lot of off nights this season. About 1 of every 3 games he'll perform, but otherwise he'll stink it up to the extreme and hurt the team. Jeff Green was a little bit more productive, but was hardly deserving of the award with 13 points on 6-14 Shooting. Ditto for Russell Westbrook with 14 points, 6-13 shooting and only 2 assists. Granted, he did play some SG today, but that was for a short period at the end of the game.

Still, nobody had a worse night tonight than our lovable Frenchman, Johan Petro. In 17 minutes he had 4 Points, 2-4 shooting, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, and a -12 +/- ratio. The closest to him was Nick sollison at -6. He missed a couple of midrange jumpers tonight, and I really think he needs to get in the post more. Somebody give this man a lead pass! Or a screen! Here's hoping to better times, and more Thunder Blunderless nights, Johan,

Thus, the Thunder Wonder award has to go to Nick Collison. He didn't have a totally awesome performace, but he had a solid, liquid, and gas outing with 10 points, 4-8 shooting, 10 rebounds (7 offensive), 2 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. On top of that, he had a really awesome shot late in the 4th to put the Thunder up by 1, from which they never looked back. There's a reason they sell a "jersey shirt" for this guy.

The Thunder Down Under award is a tough one to decide. Whomever I give it to really doesn't deserve it. Since I'm infamous for hating inefficency, I'm going to give it to, you guessed it, Joe Smith. 6 Points, 3-4 Shooting, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal all in 16 minutes. Early on he was getting burned a bit by Craig Smith, but it's nothing compared to the whopping that Jefferson was doing on Wilcox. He made a lot of hustle rebounds and recovering from steals in the mid 4th that really kept the Thunder in the game. Yeah, yeah, I know you guys are gonna call me a homer for this one.

Lastly, before I go, I'd really like to state that I miss Damien Wilkins. He's been getting next to none minutes, and appears to be stuck in Coach Carlesimos doghouse. Here's hoping he gets some minutes. His Pre-Season performance really makes him deserve a chance.

Next Game: Wednesday vs. The Boston Celtics

Game 2 Recap: Houston 89, Oklahoma City 77

KD was like a Globetrotter Tonight
NBA.com Box Score

This is kind of a quickie recap, as I only saw 50% of the game and am really tired.

This is another game in which the final score was not very telling.

The Thunder left it all on the floor tonight in a hostile environment against a team that both Ben and I predicted to win the NBA title this year. They almost had a lead going into halftime before the Rockets scored a quick basket to go up by 1. It was steady until somewhere in the 3rd, where the score quickly dropped off.

The reason? Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant, and even more Kevin Durant. He went 11-20 for 26 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 steals. That is more than enough to secure tonights Thunder Wonder. He will definately be on and off all season. Luckily, tonight he was on.

Aside from him, the team thrived on defense, and offensively productivity was very low. That's why I have to give tonights Thunder Down Under to Joe Smith. 20 minutes, 4-6 shooting, 2 rebounds, and 8 points, most of which were gotten during clutch moments where the Thunder needed to stay alive. He's definately going to be a big help when push comes to shove in clutch situations. Green and Petro were okay but not efficent. Earl Watson distributed really well tonight with 8 assists, but his scoring efficency was also dismally low.

The Rockets were also incredibly poor offensively tonight. Nobody really shined, and their top scorer at 22, McGrady, is the only player on the team to have a negative plus minus ratio. Yaos shooting (6-15) was abysmal for a big man, and his 16 point 11 rebound game don't make up for it when you're 7'6". Thus, the Thunder Plunderer award has to go to Carl Landry tonight. He had 27 minutes, 14 points, 6-11 shooting, 14 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals. Not a excellent line, but games like these never look pretty.

Watching this game made me realise that the Thunder are, in fact, not an average young team. Their ability to play defense really helps them keep things from getting out of hand for too long. If they can perfect this ability, they should learn to be able to keep the game in hand all game long, rather than blow huge leads like some teams would do (the 2005-2006 Warriors, for instance).

Anyway, our next matchup is tonight at 6 PM. I hope you're having an excellent weekend and had an excellent Halloween!

Game 1 Recap: Milwaukee 98, Oklahoma City 87

David Stern: Cutest Commissioner in All of Sports.

NBA.com Boxscore

I got to the game early today. And, me being the media magnet that I am, got onto KFOR again!



Big ups to Marika Lorraine for recognizing me and interviewing me. It starts at about 4:27, and I'm shown twice. Nothing AMAZING, but still pretty awesome nonetheless. I was also interviewed by NBATV. Hopefully I'll be able to show that one too, but its a bit less substantial.

There were a slew of pre-game activities. For main attractions they had a band that did mostly 80s cover songs, a BMX show, and some country-western band which sounded horrible. On the side booths, they had bungie basketball (as Lance West shows in the video above), freethrow shooting, mini basketball hoops, and food. They had the flags of the NBA teams up, and while it looked exciting, it was pretty boring waiting around for the most part.

I finally got in to find out that Bonigi Brothers got taken over by Pizza Hut! They used to serve big slices of pizza (1/6th of a huge one) for $4, but now Pizza hut has tiny Personal Pans for $6. Ultra-Lame. I had some burgers from the Route 66 Grill, but, needless to say, I won't be eating in the arena very often anymore. At least Ben still has the world-famous Slap Shots.

Anyway, I ventured to my seat to see a pre-game performance by none other than....the C&C Music Factory. That's right, the band that made "Everybody Dance Now". And, lo and behold, that's what they played! For 10 straight minutes. I'm not kidding, a 10 minute rendition of "Everybody Dance Now". Well, it was fun!

Then, David Stern and Mick Cornett gave some words. The big moment there had to be when David Stern said, "Oklahoma City, welcome to the National Basketball Association".

Boy, did that ring true tonight. The team looked horrible out of the gate. It was tied twice at 2 and 4, but, before I knew it, the Arena was virtually silent. I looked up, and the scoreboard said 20 to 8. Welcome to the NBA!

The team kind of hovered around 10-15 behind before they fell behind by a full 20 before the 4th quarter began. They tried to give Milwaukee a run for their money, beating the deficit down to 9, but a well-placed timeout and bad substitutions by P.J. Carlesimo put the Thunder away for good.

The +/- ratios in this game tell the story. The starters for the Thunder are all in the negatives, while the bench are all in the positives. Needless to say, every single starter played horribly tonight. I saw a lot of misplaced shots, a lot of misplaced drives, and a lot of times where the extra pass could have made all the difference.

The key to revitalizing the starting lineup here might be benching Earl Watson. While he and Westbrook had the same amount of assists, Westbrooks driving actually helps the Thunder. Watson will sit at the top of the key, hardly creating any ball movement. Westbrook will drive the ball down to the post, and create opportunities for guys like Chris Wilcox, Desmond Mason, and Joe Smith. His method isn't perfect, but every indication I'm getting now is full steam ahead for Westbrook.

I wouldn't blame Johan Petro's performance tonight on himself. He needs someone to distribute to him, as he's completely inept at creating for himself. His defense was a bit off, but Watson certainly didn't help him.


Kevin Durant and Jeff Green were a large part of the problem tonight. As far as I'm concerned, I'd bench those guys from what I saw of them tonight. For the amount of opportunities they got, their production was amazingly weak. If you look at shot percentage, they weren't much better than Johan Petro (they went 5-14 and 2-7, and Petro went 1-5). These guys have got to learn to either make their shots or pass it....which brings me to my next suggestion.

Pass to the open man! There were so, so many times when guys would just go for the horrible shot rather than pass to the guy who had a wide, wide open midrange shot. Granted, these don't walways go in, but they go in a lot more than circus layups do.

Birdcalling.

Lastly, a suggestion to our coach. When a lineup is working, don't mess with it! There was about 5-6 minutes left in the game, we just made a huge run to get within 9, and he makes 2-3 different substitutions! Just because Durant and Green are your franchise players doesn't mean that you have to put them in when their backups are doing perfectly fine!

Without further ado, tonights....

Thunder Wonder
Weezy, 15 points, 6-9 Shooting, 7 Rebounds, 1 Assist

Simply awesome. No big streaks, but he produced all game. Not an all-star performance, but definately a refreshing diamond in the rough tonight.

Thunder Blunder
Johan Petro, 2 Points, 1-5 Shooting, 3 Rebounds, 1 Steal, 1 Block

Really not his fault, but Johan Petro might as well have been a waste of space out there on the floor tonight. Didn't really hurt the team, but didn't help a whole lot either.

Thunder Down Under
Joe Smith, 8 Points, 3-4 Shooting, 5 Rebounds, 2 Steals, 1 Block

He was shaky at first, but he did a wonderful job pulling out key plays down the stretch. He was an instrumental part of the run in the 4th quarter, he served as an endless array of pick n' rolls, and he played excellent defense.

Thunder Plunderer
Charlie Villanueva, 20 Points, 12 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steal, 2 Blocks

The Bucks were almost as inefficent as the Thunder tonight, and Charlie V was no exception, but he did do the best out of his team. His rebounding really helped them out of a lot of jams tonight. I almost gave this to Bogut, but he really did fizzle out after the first.

Lowballing: The Hornets banner thanking them for their support from 2005-2007 is offically gone. That's just sad and lame. It should remain in memory.

Kelvin Sampson's name was misspelled in the program as Kelvin Sampsn. IT was the only grammatical error I noticed. Tsk tsk.

Highballing: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute has to have the coolest name in the NBA.

Next Game: Saturday at the Houston Rockets.

Breaking News: Bart Conner was there.

Pre-Season Game 2 Recap: Kings 94, Thunder 85

Something tells me we're gonna be seeing a lot of this this season....
NBA.com Box Score

And, we are on a 2 game losing streak as the Thunder fall to the lowly Sacramento Kings.

For the second straight night, the Thunder looked like an 80s team. Lots of mid-range jump shots, not a whole lot of 3s. Still, when you can say you shot 50% from the 3 point mark, even if it is only 3-6, it's always a good sign.

The biggest news that could possibly come out of tonight was that Joe Smith played and sucked pretty bad. While me and Ben were pretty high on him having a breakout game, he just looked sluggish out there. 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 fouls on 2-9 shooting isn't anything to call your mom about, especially when you play 25 minutes.

The second biggest news you could take out of tonight is that Kevin Durant didn't play, for obvious reasons. He's a known quantity, and not somebody we need getting hurt right now.

Weezy only had 2 points tonight, but at least they were stylish....

The third biggest news that you could take out of this game is that it seems P.J. Carlesimo doesn't have much of an intention of playing his Pre-Season signees more than one game. Derrick Byars, a late 2nd round pick that the Thunder recently signed, got some burn tonight. Unfortunately, nobody else that's not expected to play did play, including Courtney Alexander, who got some minutes vs. the Timberwolves. He didn't do much but shoot, and had 3-5 from the floor, including 2-3 from the 3 point line, totaling 8 points. Nevertheless, I wouldn't expect to see him again. Shooting is probably the least valuable quantity in the NBA. There's been a whole lot of players who have shot great in the Summer League or Pre-Season, but really sucked it up when it somes to the real NBA. So, unless he shows something else, he'll probably be riding the D-League.

On the other side of the ball, Bobby Brown had a great game, with 22 points on 9-14 shooting, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers. I'm not gonna call him the real deal yet, but when I was in Germany in June, this dude was all over the news. On the subway, they'd have a little thing called the "Berliner Fenster" (Berlin Window) which would show daily headlines. Usually, after the soccer update, they'd talk about how Bobby Brown had a great game or was battling through injury to help out ALBA Berlin in the championship. After that, they'd have actual news. He seems like one of those score-first point guards. Best case scenario, he turns out like Baron Davis. Worst case Scenario, he turns out like Will Bynum or Tyronn Lue.

Now, for tonights....

Thunder Wonder:

Jeff Green
19 Points, 7-17 Shooting, 7 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 2 Steals

Normally I wouldn't put someone with such a low shooting percentage (with no 3s attempted) as the Thunder Wonder. But tonight, Jeff Green showed some real leadership on the floor as he lead the Thunder to within 1 point in the 4th quarter before falling behind. If Kevin Durant ever gets injured, this is what we're gonna need to see out of this guy.

Honourable Mention: Damien Wilkins, 14 points, 6-12 shooting, 6 rebounds.

Thunder Blunder:
Joe Smith
4 points, 2-9 shooting, 5 rebounds, and 5 fouls.

Well, there's not much else to say other than this guy had a horrible game. Given that he's the most experienced guy on the team by far combined with the fact that this is only the Pre-Season give me the impression that he'll step his game up soon.

Thunder Plunderer:

Bobby Brown
22 Points, 9-14 Shooting, 4 Assists, 4 Turnovers, 2 Steals

While not an incredibly effective pure Point Guard, and by no means a Mike Bibby, he's a great score-first Point Guard who has shined so far in the Pre-Season.

And, just for kicks, tonights....
Thunder WTF:
Russell Westbrook
8 points, 0-9 shooting, 8-10 Free Throw Shooting, 4 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 4 Fouls, 1 Steal, 3 Turnovers

Basically, he got fouled a lot but didn't manage to score 1 measly point from the floor. Just a wierd, wierd game.

Sorry for the shortness of these recaps, but hey, it's only the Pre-Season, and if you attempt to read into it too much, you'll find yourself proclaiming Damien Wilkins an All-Star. Stay tuned for a preview of tonights matchup with the Warriors (which I hope the Warriors win)! And remember to watch this mornings matchup with Texas (which I hope the Sooners win)!

To Answer Ben: Sooner! And We Believe 2009!

Preseason Preview 2: Thunder at Kings

As predicted here, the Thunder still have yet to win an organized game of basketball. Now, they head from Billings to Northern California for a series of games against the Kings and Warriors. Can the Thunder get a win in the Golden State, perhaps even against Golden State? We shall see...

Backstory: The Thunder did not look good in their first ever game, and it took a bunch of bench players to at least get the score to look respectable. Fortunately for them , they face the Sacramento Kings, another one of the west bottom feeders, so hopefully OKC will enter the winners circle after tonight (the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets first win was against Sacramento, if that means anything). While Durant and other starters struggled in the last game, Westbrook led a strong looking bench. Also, the Thunders first game in an NBA arena, thank God. Few things annoy me more while watching a basketball game than seeing both the college and NBA 3-point lines together, so I'm glad we're done with that for now.

Analysis: Gone are Mike Bibby and Ron Artest, replaced instead by the formidable John Salmons and Bobby Brown, who will likely get the nod at PG with Beno Udrih out. King cornerstones Brad Miller and Kevin Martin have yet to contribute to their team, but theres a good chance they'll see some decent minutes tonight. As for the Thunder, expect the full starting 5 to take the court and perhaps even the debut of Joe Smith. I definitely think that the Thunder can sneak away with a win here. Sure it's in front of a hostile road crowd (if you can call pre-season game crowds hostile). However, they need to make sure they can contain Brad Miller, because they struggled at times against Minnesota's Kevin Love, basically a rookie version of the center.

Player to Watch: How about Zorgon's boy Joe Smith. If he sees action tonight, I'd expect the veteran to do well, especially after the Kings sit Miller. Also keep your eyes on Chris Wilcox, 'cause he exploded in the last game and had at least a couple of thunderous, no pun intended, dunks.

Predicted Outcome: Thunder 90 Kings 85

And good luck to my boyz in Dallas this weekend, BOOMER!

BREAKING NEWS RIDNOUR TO MILWAUKEE, MASON BACK IN OKC!

News OK NBA in OKC Blog Sponsoered by John Holt Chevrolet

Huge news came down for the OKC NBA team just moments ago. Luke Ridnour, whom many have suspected would be moved before the start of the season, was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three team deal that also involves Adrian Griffin being moved to Milwaukee as well, Mo Williams goes to Cleveland, Damon Jones with the Bucks (he was on ESPN First Take just this morning), and Oklahoma City gets the veteran forward Joe Smith from the Cavaliers and former Oklahoma State and NOK Hornet shooting guard/small forward Desmond Mason.

Desmond Mason has had an interesting career track. Goes to Seattle from OSU first off, wins a dunk contest, the Sonics ship him to Milwaukee, then he's traded to the Hornets for Jamal Magloire to give the fans in OKC a home town boy to cheer for, then when the Hornets leave OKC he goes back to the Bucks for a season, and then finally comes back to OKC but doesn't return as a Hornet as someone might have predicted three seasons ago, but to the organization that started his career, the one formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics.

I think this is a wonderful trade. Mason instantly becomes The City's best defender and though won't be a starter, will fill in nicely as the sixth man. Joe Smith was highly coveted by the Cavs towards the end of last season where they looked to him for his veteran leadership in the playoffs, as well as being a key role player. He'll be the grizzled leader of this team now, which I thin is for the better. Not that Donyell Marshall is incapable of filling that role, but I just think that Joe Smith has already been there and done that, and I just think he's better at the grand-daddy role than a more rambunctious Marshall. I see Smith kind of fitting into that P.J. Brown role back with the OG NOK Hornets, except not as a starter.

As for what OKC gave up, I'm not missing them too much. Luke Ridnour was a solid shooter and distributor but simply could not defend, which seems to be Sam Presti and P.J.'s top concern for this team. With the addition of Westbrook in the draft, the trade for Kyle Weaver, and this acquisition of Desmond Mason, its clear that they want to turn this team into a defensive-minded one, ala, of course, San Antonio.

To truly take the San Antonio strategy into effect though, we really need the third triplet. Durant and Green are obviously two of them, but OKC still needs that one PG or PF/C to really start being competitive. Hopefully that can come sometime during the FA periods coming up. LeBron James, anyone? OK, doubt that, but still, this trade gives OKC a lot of pieces that I think will at least help them be competitive this season, though not truly any good.

As for the rest of the moves, I've always liked Damon Jones, not so much as a player, though I think he's a great shooter, but more as a personality and I think its too bad that hes going to a city where he won't be in the spotlight as much. On the other hand, I really like Mo Williams, I think its a great move for Cleveland. This gives them the twin towers of Big Ben and Big Z up front, King James, Hughes, and then Mo Williams at PG with Delonte West and Szerbiak as solid backup guards and Anderson Varejao backing up the bigs. Its a line-up I like, though I think it still won't be enough to put them over the top in the East though.

For Zorgon

Speaking of Zorgon, Zorgon's Note: Joe Smith and Donyell Marshall are reunited!!!! They were formerly teamamates on the Warriors back in the 90s, and they should form a dynamic veteran duo, something this team needs. If we trade for Erick Dampier and Adonal Foyle and pull Mark Price and Latrell Sprewell out of retirement, we should be in business for our starting 5.

Right now we're really in a pinch for a Point Guard though. With the departure of Ridnour, we currently only have Earl Watson. I'd expect more moves to happen soon.