- Guess who’s not the worst in the league anymore: The Thunder are now a half game in front of
Washington who is 9-35 on the season, while OKC is an awesome 10-35.
- OKC has moved up to No. 26 in Marc Stein’s most recent rankings: “Why does Durant have no All-Star shot when Bosh and Granger are seen as locks from sub-.500 teams? OKC is making tangible, as is KD’s, but the Raps and Pacers are on the playoff fringe. There’s a difference.”
- Thunder vs. Nets was Ball Don’t Lie’s game to pay attention to last night: “While the defense rested and Devin Harris grimaced, the Nets lost five in a row before beating the hapless Grizzlies on Saturday, and while I submit that the Thunder aren’t exactly much of a challenge to behold, they can beat you. Any of you mugs. Right now. Sure, they’ve only won nine times. In 44 tries. But they try, now, the team defends much better under Scotty Brooks, and he’s pretty close to earning a full-fledged head coaching spot, instead of this interminable purgatory. Remember, “purgatory” doesn’t mean “hellish.” It just means “interim head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder.” Devin Harris and Russell Westbrook. I’m down.”
- And now, BDL’s Behind the Box: “The Thunder nearly found a way to give it up, entering the fourth quarter up 82-54 and finishing the game with a nine-point lead, but a win is a win, especially over a team like the Nets. That’s not a joke. New Jersey can play, and the Thunder will take what they can get. Former Net Nenad Krstic (11 points, six rebounds, two blocks in 18 minutes) provided a first half spark, the entire team seemed willing to make the extra pass, and Oklahoma City truly looked like a bunch of world-beaters for the first three-quarters. And I didn’t see much of the fourth quarter while I watched other games. So, as far as I’m concerned, the Thunder are about to peel off nine consecutive wins. He may have been hurting, but I credit OKC for the way Devin Harris finished with 10 points on 17 shots, as rookie Russell Westbrook did a great job keeping the should-be All-Star starter in front of him.”
- NBA recognizes teams for season-ticket sales: “The teams this year eclipsing the 10,000 full-season-ticket sales mark are the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Hornets, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Toronto Raptors and Utah Jazz. New to the list this season are the Celtics, Bulls, Hornets, Blazers and Thunder. Dropping off the 10,000 full-season sales list are the Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat.”
- Fantasy – would Kevin Durant be the third player picked if you could fantasy re-draft?: “Durant, to me, is by far the most interesting player in fantasy right now. Certainly, you’d take LeBron over Durant in a heartbeat, right? Maybe, but Durant plays more minutes, gets more rebounds, is a fantastic free throw shooter and provides you with positive value in every single category (assuming your league, like the Rater, ignores turnovers). OK, but you’d take Chris Paul over Durant 100 times out of 100, yes? Well … maybe, but Paul doesn’t hit very many 3-pointers, and Durant has been a deadeye shooter from long range all season. Oh, and Paul doesn’t provide you with the blocked shots Durant does.”
- Sean Deveney of Sporting News says Blake Griffin would be a perfect fit for the Thunder. Well, duh: “If ever a team was desperate to win the lottery, it is the Thunder this year. Griffin is a sure-thing No. 1 pick, and would have been a top 3 pick if he had come out last year. He is exactly the player the Thunder need — a tough, versatile big man. Scouts say picture Karl Malone, only more athletic. A starting five of Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Griffin and Nenad Krstic looks promising. The fact that Griffin is an Oklahoma kid only makes him a more perfect fit for the Thunder.”
- Two really, really bad points from Basketbawful’s Worst of the Night: “This game was nowhere near as close as the 9-point margin would lead you to believe, as the Nets got their butts kicked up and down the floor for the first 40 minutes of the game, trailing by 28 with 7 minutes to play. Only a furious rally by New Jersey made the game look somewhat respectable, but you know it’s bad when you outscore the opposition by 19 in the 4th quarter and still lose by 9. P.S. THEY WERE PLAYING THE THUNDER … Klahoma City fans: Their team stinks all year, and when they finally put on a clinic to become only the second-worst team in pro ball, a mere 5,000 people were there to see it due to bad weather. That faint sound you hear in the distance is the basketball fans in Seattle cursing in unison.” *NOTE: 1) The “They were playing the Thunder!” stuff really doesn’t mean anything anymore. If you’d been paying attention, OKC’s playing pretty stinking good ball right now and 2) There were 18,264 tickets sold for tonight’s game. Seems like he just tries to whisper the “because of bad weather” line. If I-40 didn’t look like the Devon Energy Ice Rink, then a solid 18,000+ would have been there. Geez.
Chris, you're awfully defensive for someone who took the first shot. Man up, dude.
Chris :
Now you’ve called me idiotic and negative. I’d appreciate it if you’d stop acting familiar. Not even addressing you, dude.
Wow, I really didn't mean to insult you. Though observing that you're view point is negative is hardly insulting, and more of a... observation. I apologize if I've offended you in any way, I just disagree with your take on the team. Believe me, back when we were 1-15 I was screaming for blood probably just as much as you were.
If you read back Chris, I'm only optimistic because of the recent success. Go back and check out some of the posts during the 14-game losing streak or when we dropped to 3-29. I wasn't as happy. But you've got to be out of your mind if you don't see a bright future for this team. The average age is 24 and there's a strong core to build around. We knew they weren't going to be good now. But that doesn't mean we can't be excited when they play well.
My problem with what Basketbawful said was the whole, "They lost to the THUNDER!!!" thing. This isn't the 3-29 team anymore. These guys are competitive on a nightly basis and can hang with anybody and beat most.
And I don't really view this as a "happy blog." But I'm a pretty happy person for the most part, so I guess that makes sense.
Now you've called me idiotic and negative. I'd appreciate it if you'd stop acting familiar. Not even addressing you, dude.
I agree, in all likelihood this team won't win 20, but I really wasn't expecting them too, I'm just trying to be realistic. The author of this blog is expressing his excitement of this team playing competitive basketball, which it didn't for the first 35 odd games. It's better to be positive and realistic, than negative and realistic.
I was simply disputing the conclusions of this blog's author, which I found unfair, that basketbawful wrote an uninformed piece. Do your readers generally go all paternalist on legitimate questions about this team's direction? Has there ever been an NBA franchise (expansion or otherwise) that had such a happy blog after winning 10 of their first 45? Wins against formidable opponents (among more than a few setbacks) came due to injury-riddled and shaken-up rosters. Here's hoping they get to 20, but as June nears, and teams galvanize for playoff position, it doesn't seem likely. Not hating nor spouting idiocy, just trying to be realistic.
The kind of comments that Chris makes are the ones that baffle me. When the team unveiled it's name I drove across the state to be their, it was a great experience and I loved every minute of it... BUT! It seemed as though many of the people I talked to honestly believed this team was going to win 30-40 games because they won 20 last year, thus they will be better. I mean, look how good the Hornets got. It's an idiotic attitude. A whole team was uprooted, all of it's good veterans were traded away before or during last season. I told everyone I talked to, to be ready for another 20 win season, but most didn't believe me. They will get better next year, but this is a process; a long distance run and not a sprint. We support this team through the good and the bad.
So Chris, did you expect this team to win 40 games or something this year? I honestly don't get what you're trying to say here.
I would rather go to a game I paid for than one I didn't (18,000+ tickets sold was Royce's quote I believe). Nobody's hating Alex, just hoping for stinking better than 2 wins against winning teams all year, and holding our team to a certain standard. If you cheer a losing team like nothing's wrong, where's the incentive for change? Hiring Brooks full-time would be the final straw for me in rewarding futility. In summation, we need to follow more cautiously rather than revere every move made or game played whatever the outcome. This isn't a test of our faith, so there's no need to follow this thing blindly.
Tickets to Bedlam were free to anyone who would come out to the game and the game was on a college campus...Stop hating Chris...
Is "stinking good" actually good? I'm confused. Also, don't get mad when someone calls the Thunder the Thunder- stop jumping the gun on this "stinking good ball" tip dude. Lastly, relax, Basketbawful's been doing this much longer than you, sir. OU/OSU brought 10,000 plus all the way to Stillwater yesterday, so obviously more than a few braved the cold. Lets save our enthusiasm for when we start beating winning teams on a consistent basis. Still waiting for #3 in that category.
I remember that. And I think we won that night against the Warriors. But now we're 10 and FREAKING 35. And that's a good FREAKING. Kind of unbelievable how far we've come in just a few weeks. I remember at one point we were all resigned to wondering how long it would be in between wins. Now I feel like we can win every night.
Durant's stats have been sick since December and they keep getting better. 3rd in the league seems a little ridiculous, but when you break it down (and ignore turnovers, that's the biggest part) who else really is there?
Oops, I guess that was a "pre-game analysis". Not sure what a "grame" is.
;)
Double digit wins! Woohoo! I was so tired of looking at a spindly, scrawny single digit number in the W column.
Royce, remember your post (from when, a little over a month ago?) where you were posting a pre-grame analysis (forgot which) and after noting the Thunder's record, which was 3-29, you couldn't help writing in exasperated disgust afterwords... "3 and FREAKING 29!"
Well, let's update. Now at 10-35. Which means we've gone 7-6 since then. Hmm, that's a 0.538 record.
WE'RE A FREAKING 0.538 TEAM!!! (well, for the moment anyway)