(AP Photo/Lance Murphey)
First off, it’s preseason. We all know this and much like the Summer League, it’s smart to keep things in perspective. But the Thunder played a competitive game tonight where score was kept so there are definitely things to take away from it. Of course, we didn’t get to watch but going off of Matt Pinto’s scintillating call and the box score, there are a few observations to be had. It’s always better to win than lose, but I think Scott Brooks was fine coming out on the bad end in order to get a little experience for his youngest guys.
I’m honestly just relieved we made it through this thing with everyone alive. After Dez Bryant being declared ineligible today, I wondered if this sports year was just cursed in Oklahoma. What was built up to maybe be the biggest year of sports ever in this state has now seen Sam Bradford get hurt, Jermaine Gresham get hurt, Ryan Broyles get hurt, OU lose two games, OSU unexpectedly lose to Houston and now Dez Bryant out for the season potentially. I honestly feared for Kevin Durant’s life tonight. One down. 88 more to go.
Guys that did good
He may not have scored a lot (five points on 0-4 shooting), by when you look at Russell Westbrook’s name in a box score and it says 10 assists and just two turnovers, you should celebrate like it’s 1999. If that’s a sign of things to come, then we’re going to be fine. And by fine, I mean pretty good. In Orlando, it looked like he had slowed down and begun to understand the game. And by all appearances tonight, that’s carrying over to this season.
Nenad Krstic was deadly with the jumper hitting 5 of 7 scoring 10 in just 14 minutes. Kyle Weaver was productive with six points and four assists in 15 minutes. Kevin Durant was good scoring 17 on 4-9 shooting. But D.J. White was probably the most impressive offensive player of the night scoring 16 in just 23 minutes. He shot the ball well and scored both inside and out. He honestly may become a pretty deadly offensive weapon off the bench.
Guys that really didn’t
Jeff Green just didn’t really shoot well (3-10) as well as James Harden (4-11, 1-6 from 3). It’s the first game so of course it’s forgiven, but a combined 7-21 isn’t all that awesome from two of your top offensive threats. One thing that bothered me about Green’s box score is that he didn’t attempt a single free throw. In a game where about 200 fouls were called, the fact he didn’t get a single freebie in 26 minutes of burn is kind of strange.
Byron Mullens surprisingly played more than Serge Ibaka (12 minutes to four), and of course, only grabbed just one rebound. I don’t know what the deal is there, but that’s something that has to improve. In fact, the team got outboarded 40-30, with White leading the way with just five rebounds. Not that great.
Also, the replacement referees. Obviously I didn’t see any of the calls, but the numbers are hard to ignore. If this is a sign of things to come, games are going to take forever. Literally. There were a total of 60 fouls called and Memphis shot a total of 47 free throws, including 29 in the first half. Matt Pinto put it plainly: “I see the frustration everyone is talking about in the preseason. There’s too many whistles.” (Speaking of Pinto, he needs to avoid one of his favorite words – “surging”. With Serge Ibaka on the roster, I got confused every time he said, “Kyle Weaver SURGING to the rim!”)
Didn’t play
Nick Collison (ankle), Thabo Sefolosha (mild concussion), Kevin Ollie (hamstring). Michael Ruffin (coach’s decision), Mike Harris (coach’s decision), Tre Kelly (coach’s decision).
One encouraging thing
Through the first three quarters, OKC really took care of the ball, only turning it over 10 times. But with some more inexperienced players playing extended minutes in the fourth, the number finished at 17. Westbrook really just turned it over once (one of his turns was on an illegal screen). And normally sure-handed Shain Livingston led the team with four. The team finish with a 21-17 assist to turnover and like I said, it was much better before the sloppy fourth.
One discouraging thing
While the glass work was bad, I’d say 3-point shooting. Going 2-13 from deep isn’t good, even for a bad distance shooting team. Harden went 1-6 and Durant was the only other guy to hit one. I’m really not that discouraged by the play late in the fourth, as OKC fell apart losing an eight-point lead. Yes, the Thunder was outscored 29-17 in the fourth. Yes, they turned it over seven times. Yes, it wasn’t good. But the last 10 minutes, a lot of the young guys were playing and we didn’t see any Durant, Green or Westbrook in the fourth. It’s just preseason basketball and experience is more valuable than a win. That’s what we tell ourselves.
The Thunder’s next preseason game is Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in New Orleans.
Don't get too worked up about stats or minutes in the preseason guys. It just doesn't matter that much, and it's all about experimentation. If memory serves me Damien Wilkins was our top scorer in like 4 games last preseason.
Nuff said.
I'm all for giving White the starting job if Green continues his assualt from 22 feet all game long and DJ can continue to play like he did last night. In his first 10mins he already had 6pts and 4rebs from like Royce said, inside and out.
Well the mins for mullens and ibaka might change farther into preseason. Most players aside from krstic havnt played a real game in 5 months.
It's not an anomoly. In Sunday's Bucks/Wolves game, there were 94 fouls called (!!!).
Lefty :I’m curious about the penalty issue. Was our game an anomaly, or are games across the country being called that close?
I doubt it's an anomaly. One of the things that the experienced refs learn is that they have to let some contact go (of course, then they un-learn that when Kobe or LeBron have the ball). When the NBA starts using referees who are used to officiating games between smaller, weaker, slower athletes, they are going to anticipate calls that won't happen and call things that don't matter when officiating a game featuring elite athletes.
Nice analysis Royce- I agree with you top to bottom. In wondering about why in the hell Mullins got more minutes that Ibaka, the only rational explaination I can come up with is they want to keep BJ's morale up in anticipation of spending a year in Tulsa. Hard to argue that his numbers merit play anywhere higher than the D League this year, and at least now he can't say that they never put him on the floor. DJ White's game needs to get a long, hard look from the coaching staff. If his performance last night was a good representative sample of what he can bring, and not just an abberation, DJ should be our starting 4. Starting line-up: RW, Harden, KD, DJ, Krstic. 2nd unit- Livingston, Thabo, Green, Collison, Thomas. 6 min per half of up-tempo, pressing, trapping play from "frenzy squad" of RW, Thabo, KD, Green, Ibaka.
I've heard the scabs have been whistle crazy, so I don't think this is a real issue. We never really fouled last year, so I'm not worried.
Closing out games in the 4th was a issue last season. Wish they would use these preseason games to work on that.
I'm curious about the penalty issue. Was our game an anomaly, or are games across the country being called that close? Does anyone know? If they are, there may really be reason to worry. I think it's more probable that this group was just a little quick on their first night as replacement refs, and got a little whistle crazy.
The Thunder didn't lose the game. Ryan Bowen did. Obviously Bowen couldn't contain Sam Young, and Bowen isn't on our roster. So the "Thunder" didn't lose, right?
Westbrook's maturation is the biggest thing to take from this game. Very encouraging, and I think it bodes well for our season.
Now if we just had a decent inside presence...
Westbrook's statline impressed me. It's clear that Brooks told him to focus on getting his teammates good shots, and look at that, he completely ignored himself on offense.
Not only is that a good sign that he's growing as a distributor, it's a good sign that he listens to Brooks so well.
Harden can hit shots, but rookies almost invariably shoot a lower percentage than their will for the rest of their career. I can forgive Harden for one big reason: he was actually taking the right shots. If he's on, he just gave us 9 points from an area where we are incredibly weak. If he's off, I'd rather see him missing looks from three than Thabo, Weaver, and Green missing looks from just inside the three point line after a meaningless two steps.
....and the rebounding... come on!!
I know it's early and only preseason, but it seems to me that the Thunder has not addressed a single need. Interior D is still rough. Three point shooting was, well, horrendous, and turnovers are still an issue (despite better play by Westbrook).
That said, until the "starters" came out and Ryan Bowen did whatever it he does (or doesn't do), the Thunder had managed to stay ahead despite playing poorly, committing a million fouls and missing easy 3's...that has to count for something. A slightly better effort and this game could have easily been a blowout.