The Thunder played surprising, inspired basketball for most of three quarters before finally succumbing to the excellence of the World Champs on the road. It might have been that the Celtics didn’t really expect much of a fight from a 20-53 team, but nevertheless, they turned it on when they needed to on both sides of the ball. Judging by the Celts dominance, it was sort of like a shark with blood in the water. The crowd got going, the defense tightened and the Thunder folded, only able to score 16 points in the fourth to the Celtic’s 32.
The Thunder came out and played fairly well in the first quarter, especially after Durant went to the bench with his second foul at around 4:oo in. The Thunder were down 7-4 at the time, but immediately went on a run without him closing out the quarter 21-13 and ending with a 5 point lead. Kyle Weaver was the key in that run, getting 4 assists and a steal and being the glue guy in the quarter.
The two teams battled mostly even and ended the half tied at 45, with neither team shooting terribly well. The Thunder vacillated between some fantastic defensive plays to some real bonehead defensive lapses.
In the second half the Celts began getting some traction and hitting more of their shots. Paul Pierce was as dead eye as they come scoring 13 points in the third. As previously noted, the Thunder could only score 16 points in the fourth, and were outscored in the second half 39-58, getting handily out rebounded 36-48 for the second game in a row.
| Pace | Eff | eFG | FT/FG | OREB% | TOr | |
| OKC | 92.0 | 91.3 | 36.7% | 27.7 | 25.0 | 13.0 |
| BOS | 112.0 | 51.8% | 20.5 | 37.5 | 14.1 |
Randomness
- I thought Russell Westbrook had a very nice game that the stat sheet didn’t record. He was really effective hitting his pull up jumper, driving to the lane and driving and dishing to open team mates, who didn’t seem to finish. Russell only got credited with two assists.
- Tommy Heinsohn is just a little bit more than biased as the Celtics color man on the Celtic tv broadcast. He complained bitterly when Durant used his little “sweep through” move and attempted to get the foul call in the first half. Tommy said “how can that be a foul”? He again complained when RW got Rondo into the air and jumped up into his arms and got the foul. Later when Paul Pierce used the exact same move on Weaver and got the foul, he said it was a “smart play”.
- One of the coaches really needs to get to Durant and get him involved in the offense when he is on the weak side. When the ball is away from him he often just stands at the top of the arc with his hands up calling for the ball. The offense opens up exponentially when guys move without the ball, creating space and getting close to the basket for quick passes. When he just stands there, he allows the defense to sort of cheat off him and guard two guys with one man instead of getting on the move and forcing the defense to cover.
- A noteworthy play by Westbrook to close out the half. He drove and dished to Green, all alone in the corner. Green missed, but RW got the offensive board, and made a fall away jumper with 6/10ths of a second left, getting fouled along the way. It didn’t get called, but Coach Brooks was ranting enough about it to get called for what I believe is his first technical foul as a head coach.
- Kevin Durant also made some very strong defensive plays, followed by bonehead ones. On one possession, guarding Pierce on a drive and pull up, Durant didn’t bite and stayed down, forcing Pierce to pass back out. The very next possession, he got lost on defense and didn’t even come close to being able to close out on Pierce’s long jumper.
- Durant inadvertently caught Big Baby Davis with an elbow on the top of his head. Blood was squirting out between his fingers. 13 stitches and back in the game.
- Speaking of big Baby, he had 19 points and 10 boards in 32 minutes on 8-14 shooting. Krstic and Collison combined went for 13 and 10 in 46 minutes on 5-16 shooting. In case you didn’t know, we drafted big Baby with the 35th pick a couple of years ago and included him in the Green/Ray Allen trade.
- Another stinky defensive play that caught my eye in the fourth: Starbury had the ball at the top of the arc and Eddie House was in the left corner guarded by Westbrook. House took off across the court for the opposite corner and Westbrook ran into a screen by Davis. It took Westbrook probably close to 2 seconds to get around the screen, and then he basically jogged to get over to House. Malik Rose tried to shed Moore and help, but Moore held him and House had a wide open three, without a defender within 8 feet at least. That was just terrible effort by Westbrook, and great effort by House, and that is what I am talking about when I talk about Durant not moving without the basketball. He could be doing just as Eddie House did.
- We again were outrebounded, rebounding having been one of our strengths most of this year. Tonight we allowed the Celts to gather in 6 more rebounds than their nightly average, while we collected 6 fewer than ours.
- Can anyone remember the last time we dropped say 110 points on an opponent? Our offense is still just as MIA as Earl Watson.
- Ok, I just checked. We haven’t had a good scoring game (either points or efficiency) since the two Dallas games at the beginning of this month.
- Thabo and Weaver might be the best basketball players on the team. Certainly Durant is the best scorer, Westbrook has maybe the most potential and athleticism, Green is the smoothest big man I’ve seen in a while, but Thabo and Weaver just do a little bit of everything that makes a team function like a team. Thabo had 6 points, 4 rebs, 4 blocks, 2 assists and a steal, 3 fouls guarding Pierce and Allen; Weaver had zero points, 7 assists, 2 steals and a rebound, and only one foul in 19 minutes also guarding all the wings. Someday, this team will get a big time scorer at the two, and he will get the starters job and Thabo will go to the bench. My guess is that the coach will have a hard time justifying keeping him there. And Weaver should be getting Atkins minutes at the backup 1, and still getting his usual minutes backing up the two and spot three minutes.
- In keeping with the cry for more three point shots, a quick bit of math tells me that: Boston scored 62 points on two’s, 24 points on three’s, and 17 points from the line. The Thunder scored 58 points on two’s, 3 points on three’s, and 23 points from the line.
The Thunder need a coach like Spo (Heat), Nate (Blazers), or SVG (Magic) that is not afraid of benching any of these three (Durant, Westbrook, Green) should any of them put little effort on defense and/or take bad shots (which happened a lot), instead of keeping cuddling them. Only then, your team will have a hope to become an elite team. Otherwise, the Thunder will be a bottom team next year again. Don’t get me wrong, I like all of these three and really hope them, Thabo and Thunder to be successful; that’s why I take the time to write long comments.
Watch some of the well-coached teams (eg, the C’s, Cats…) play games; they often have 5 or more players took double-digit shots (despite the C’s have 3 potential future HOFs). Even the T-Wolve and Kings start playing better team ball lately. In recent games, the Kings shared the ball - having 6 players took double-digit shots and 7 players scored in double digits, resulting in winning these games. When is the last time the other Thunders (except Durant, Westbrook and Green) had the chance to take double-digit shots? Thabo, Krstic, Collison and Weaver all have adequate offensive ability (as good as Green). Westbrook currently is the least offensive talented player in your starting five; he just has green light to shoot and often shot below 40% and doesn’t look like a PG.
The Blazers do not have a single ball-hog. Coach Nate starts Blake over other PGs and Batum over Outlaw because they are better defenders; this inspires everyone puts effort on the defense end. The Heat coach Spo doesn’t care where you were drafted; you have to earn your playing time by playing defense. Chalmers (drafted in the 2nd round) plays great defense and he gets plenty of playing time. There is no way Chalmers would let Rose shoot 10 for 10. Beasley (drafted as the 2nd pick) get limited playing time until he improves his defense. SVG starts the rookie C-Lee at the 2 position because he is a better defender than other 2 guards and he is not even afraid of calling out the superstar D-Howard should he not put effort on defense. That’s why all of those teams improve (a lot) each year. You team hardly improves from last year because you don’t play team ball (share ball), although you have individual talents.
“…and Thabo will go to the bench. My guess is that the coach will have a hard time justifying keeping him there.”
This is a great way to prevent this team from improving - benching your best defender Thabo who puts the most effort on the defensive end and is the most unselfish player in your starting five. What signal does the coach send? – whoever score more (by taking a lot of shots) get to start and play more min…whoever plays better defense goes to bench. Don’t they say “DEFENSE win championships”? If anything, the coach should put one of the aforementioned three ball-hogs on the bench (coming in with the 2nd unit).
The Thunder will lose Thabo if you bench him (after his contract up). Why would he want to sit on the bench of a lousy team? There are teams out there that can see Thabo’s value as a starter (eg, the Spurs, Rockets, Cats; Larry Brown would love to have a versatile defender with adequate offensive ability like Thabo). If Thabo sits on the bench, he would rather sit on the bench of a championship contender.
“Someday, this team will get a big time scorer at the two, and he will get the starters job…”
Do you realize that the Thunder have 3 ball-hogs – Durant, Westbrook and Green in your starting five? The Thunder’s game is very predictable – the aforementioned three take most of shots (70-80% shots; FG-A in double digit); basically it’s your turn (Durant), my turn (Westbrook), his turn (Green), and they ignore the rest – Thabo, Collison, Weaver, (Krstic, to a less extent) on the offensive end (FG-A: single digit). If you add another so-called “a big time scorer” at 2, where do the shots come from? Who (among Durant, Westbrook and Green) is willing to give up his shots?
Thabo scored only 6 pts (3/5 –60% shooting) because he only took 5 shots (looking at some of the other starting five’s shooting%; they score more by taking a lot of shots). When Durant was out, they shared the ball better and Thabo scored 15-17 pts with easy.
What about the reb/stl/blk numbers of Durant and Green? Sometimes your starting SF and PF only got 2-3 rebs each (and no stl, no blk). Your 2 guard is often your better rebounder/stl/shot blocker. They expect Thabo (and Weaver) to always guard the opposite best offensive player and do little things, but they don't share the ball with Thabo.
I love Westbrook, but I find it really hard to believe that he has more "potential" than Durant. Westbrook is a monster, but other than LeBron I'd say Durant has the biggest upside of any player in the league.
Weaver's turnover rate has come down a lot after getting acclimated to the NBA challenge. That was essential to realistically talk about him at the point even some. I think he can be the #3 PG option. Maybe #2 if they worked at it. Why not try it instead of just wondering? Summer league and practice aren't enough if they are thinking that way. Odds are it doesn't work well enough to rely on but if there is even a 1 in 3 or 4 chance of finding something that would help fit him in and keep time available at SG for a shooter then I'd explore it, roll the dice and find out.
Maybe Joe means "best all around" which I think is pretty much the same thing as "most complete." Weaver could easily be considered the best all around player in Pac 10 modern history, having been the first Pac 10 player ever to amass 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 175 steals and 75 blocked shots over his career. I'm very glad to see that his abilities have translated to the pros, at least to some extent. He also was a far better defender in college than Westbrook and that is showing in the pros as well. Westbrook obviously has potential but Weaver is better right now. I'm definitely among those fans clamoring for Kyle to get some minutes at the 1 as well as his normal 2 or 3 minutes. Although he really needs to be a consistent threat from 3 in order to be the player we need him to be in the future. The ideal would be for either Kyle or Thabo to amp up their offensive game, even just one facet, to be the sort of player Bruce Bowen used to be or Artest is (sort of) now, and force their way into a starting role.
That said, there are a lot of things that Durant, Westbrook and Green all "need" to learn how to do before they can be true stars. This offseason we will really see how good of a coach Mr. Brooks really is, not just as a strategist or motivator but also as a teacher. There are good signs already, let's just hope the team keeps on improving.
I think, what your trying to say, is that Weaver and Sefolosha are the most complete players on the team right now, not the best though.
Joe you are right about the defense not keeping up in the 2nd half. When I noted Thabo and Weaver's defensive mistakes, it was during that period late 3rd/ early 4th . . .
@Kev
I liked the way the team played when KD went out with foul trouble in the first. But it didn't duplicate the defensive prowess when KD took a blow in the second half. The team went +8 when he went out the first time, but then later when he went out the team had the lead but went -5 with Durant out and never got back.
Sefolosha, Weaver and Green were all double digit on "Help value", Durant was the lowest among the starters by far, just a point ahead of Atkins at +2.
http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20090329&game=OKCBOS
@Kev
Your point number 2 Kev is the play I was talking about in the post game on the bullets. It floored me also.
Defensive Dealings
1) I actually liked it when Durant was out. I like having two good defensive perimeter players on the floor at the same time. Thabo and Weaver only see the court together when Durant is either hurt or in foul trouble. They played well, but still had a few slip ups. Again, both tended to over help when guarding the Celtic’s hot shooters. In the 3rd , when House was on fire, Weaver took a false step away from House to go help on the weak side. It was over – House hit a wide open three. Thabo did a similar thing in the 4th. Thabo had a great defensive stat line, but he gave up a baseline (something he very rarely does) late in the game. I hope he hadn’t called it a day before the final horn.
2) Westbrook is pegged as a defensive force, but one play just floored me. Again, when House was ablaze (play on words) RW ran into a baseline pick set by Glen Davis. No problem, Weaver and Thabo had been chasing the shooters around baseline picks all game – just go around RW. No - he stops!!! Unbelievable – I rewound it three or four times and still couldn’t believe it. Unreal.
3) Green continues to do little when defending on the outside. In 18 possessions, he had two deflections, and he successfully contested Pierce at the end of the shot clock. He also left his feet once, and went well underneath a screen twice. Another time he backed well off Pierce to give Pierce an easy open look. At this point I’m ready for him to be a super sub off the bench.
"Can anyone remember the last time we dropped say 110 points on an opponent?"
Thabo's first game, the second of 2 high scoring losses to Golden State and Phoenix and the end of 6 of 10 games with opponent scoring 110+ . I think the staff tried to use Thabo's arrival to turn the corner back to defense. They probably let the guys play around with that high pace shoot out style too long in my opinion. Especially if they are serious about the defense first talk. If it was just a learning stage, no biggie: but which way do they want to play fast or slow, shoot out or tough D foremost? It doesn't have to be all one or the other but it can help to make a choice and building accordingly.
Once every 4 games on average Westbrook has a 3 assist or less game. You want to cut that down and it probably will go down but Weaver might be an important 2nd or 3rd passer especially those nights. Or Durant does it. Or the new guard added to the mix. With all 3 helping Westbrook you should be able to avoid going too low, too often.
If you want outside shooting from a guard Rubio is not at the head of his class. I have doubts how soon he'd be ready to step up to NBA league or big minutes. I'd guess it would be several years til he is truly ready. Can they wait for his year 3? I don't think so. That would Durant's year 5.
Most parts of his game have dipped significantly especially shooting and passing. His ok but surprisingly low given the hype 2.2 assist / turnover ratio in ACB league has dipped to 1.1 in higher euroleague play.
Carlos Arroyo is 4th best, Aaron Miles 9th. Sr citizen Travis Best 13th. Rubio is between Raul Lopez and Pepe Sanchez.
Sonics looked at Earl Calloway in some fashion. I can't recall the specifics. Right now he is ranked 2nd best PG in euroleague play. Rubio off to a real slow start ranked 43rd, playing 11 minutes a game in first 4, getting 1 pt 3 assists a game and missing all 4 of his shots.
Durant - Thabo were -13 and the whole starting unit not much different. If you want to follow it further, I'll leave that to you for awhile. Since other folks see and acknowledge it too.