Defense does it for the Thunder; OKC beats Phoenix 96-91

Durant should be a lock for the scoring title. He gets to play Golden State and Memphis, two teams that don't play any defense whatsoever. He could go off for 40 against each of them. Portland, on the other hand, always plays KD tough, so he's going to have to grind it out in that one.

And everyone is saying that you don't want to play the Lakers in the first round. Why not? They are not playing all that well right now. Bynum is a big question mark and wouldn't you rather play them when Bynum is just getting back and still rusty then later on in the playoffs when he might be getting his groove back? Bottom line, if we want to win the West, we'll have to beat the Lakers eventually, so why not in the 1st round?

@dream catcher

Russ averages the same amount of TO's in the fourth quarter as the first quarter, where he plays approximately the same minutes. The problem is he gets fewer assists, and shoots worse. That seems to be a team wide problem, though. More a coaching thing, IMO.

Russ is a clutch rebounder, but on offense his palms seem to get sweaty and he losses the ball quite a bit in crunch time. He panics too much IMO.

The switching grinds my gears, but if I'm not mistaken, the Larry Brown Pistons used a lot of switching as well. That system can work, even though it's not my favorite.

I remember last year when Jeff Green would come out of the woodwork from time to time to make a crazy defensive play. This year, he's so much more consistent and stable. Russell has some jaw dropping defensive plays this year, and it reminds me of Green last year. Russell's block on Steve Nash was out of nowhere and CLUTCH. Here's to hoping that he becomes as consistent as Green did in his third year.

It is not as simple as these numbers, but if you decide to change they are part of the research / guess work.

If you look at triplets it is pretty much the same story.
Going by that you'd want to emphasize Harden, Durant, Collison. After that the choice of the next two is less clear.

If you look at the best "quads" (4 players together)

Durant is in 9 of the top 10 lineups on net raw +/- for the season.

Even with the huge advantage of playing time Westbrook is only in 4 and Green only 3. Maynor and Ibaka both have 4. Thabo 1, Harden 6. Krstic 1, Collison 7. Now they may benefit from easier competition but this is something to watch in the future.

The starting lineup doesn't have to be important but when you play it as much as they do it strikes me as significant that the sub fares better than the starter on this comparison in 4 cases. But they are winning with the bench this way. They be able to do even better, but got to change to know if that is true or not.

Green-Ibaka is one of Ibaka's least strong player pairs but it is early and he hasn't played with Durant-Green at the same time a lot.

Westbrook, Harden, Durant, Green, Ibaka is Ibaka's 5th most used lineup and slightly negative so far.

The big winner lineups so far are all Ibaka-Collison.

If you went Green-Ibaka, the one you mentioned is the best of those with any measure of testing. Maybe it improves. Substitute Thabo into it for Harden and for some reason that lineup sucks. A lot of it is probably random variation and difference in opponents and game situation so you'd have to look at the detail closer.

But Green-Ibaka isn't a early hit. I don't see it as a great fit but Ibaka is still developing so it might look different in a year or two.

justin :@Kev
Brooks had some post game comments about switching which leads me to believe they are mostly done by design.

I figured that - but still, personnel has to account for it because Maynor didnt to it all (to my recollection) . . . it could be that Maynor played alot less than the other two - the fact remains that it (basically) doesnt slow anyone down, and it is one of the main reasons why our defense has slipped markedly . . .

@Kev

Brooks had some post game comments about switching which leads me to believe they are mostly done by design.

Defensive Breakdown

It was a return to “normal” of sorts for the Thunder. The team score came up +38, which is well above average. Give the bulk of the credit to Jeff Green, who came up bigtime. He was everywhere (see below). The guy has his issues, but he is giving max effort – even when most of his teammates (including Thabo) have hit the defensive wall. The Thunder did its usual act – swarming and rotating marvelously, but Green was the key figure in the second half, a period that saw the Thunder only give up thirty four points to the high-powered Suns. Don’t be fooled though - our main problem is at the point, and that problem still persists.

Jeff Green (+20)

Check out all his notes for the game:

1st Quarter

• Contest Amar’e Stoudemire (3:50)
• Forced turnover – Amar’e Stoudemire dribbles off foot (1:00)

2nd Quarter

• Contest Channing Frye (10:40)
• Steal from Channing Frye (10:00)
• Contest Leandro Barbosa (9:00)

3rd Quarter

• Forced Turnover – Amar’e Stoudemire (11:40)
• Contest Steve Nash – forced fadeaway (10:10)
• Bad Transition defense – keyed on Jarron Collins and swiped at the ball when Steve Nash had it – Amar’e Stoudemire is open for the trail layup (10:00)
• Contest Amar’e Stoudemire (9:30)
• Contest Amar’e Stoudemire (9:00)
• Steal in transition on long pass from Jason Richardson (8:00)
• Pulled chair from Amar’e Stoudemire – forced a travel (6:30)
• Forced offensive foul (6:10)
• Contest Steve Nash at rim (3:30)

4th Quarter

• Contest Lou Amundson (10:00)
• Shooting Foul (8:55)
• Shooting foul on Leandro Barbosa (7:45)
• Contest Amar’e Stoudemire (5:40)
• Forced airball from Channing Frye (:40)

Folks, there you have it: the best individual performance by a Thunder player this year. Period. And it was against the best offense in the league.

Kevin Durant (+9)

Kevin had two steals, two contests, two loose balls collected, and no key mistakes.

Serge Ibaka (+6)

I love watching Iblocka play when he isn’t on a scorer. Case in point: it’s early in the second quarter. Suns forward Jared Dudley (Maynor) is in the low post on the left block. Lou Amundson (Ibaka) is at the top of the key. Goran Dragic has the ball on the left wing. Dragic feeds the ball to Dudley. Dudley spins baseline, SEEMINGLY away from the help. Ibaka comes all the way down the lane and swats it away. What helps Serge in this instance is that he doesn’t have to fear the kickout to Lou, because the Suns reserve is not an outside shooter. Therefore Serge can be more aggressive in these types of situations.

James Harden (+5)

Eric Maynor (+3)

Eric returned to his normal form of fighting over almost all the picks at the top of the key, instead of going under them (or worse - switching off to a post) like Thabo and Westbrook do over and over and over and over . . .

Etan Thomas (+1)

Thabo Sefolosha (-1)

Russell Westbrook (-2)

Nick Collison (-3)

I think we'lll still see sefolosha in the starting lineup, but hopefully Harden will get majority of the minutes, around 30 sounds about right.

I'm also hoping to have Krstic or Green going to the bench, but still play roughly the same amount of minutes just for some offensive firepower of the bench and better defensive rebounding from our starting lineup.

@Anonymous
that was me

Mark! :@The DON
I’m going to be upset if Brooks trots out Westbrook, Thabo, Durant, Green and Krstic as our starting lineup for the first game next season.

I actually fully expect it, unless we sign a big man in FA. I really think this lineup has earned it so far this year. There's certainly room to improve it, but I have a hard time complaining about a starting lineup that won 49 games and counting for us so far.

I'd be OK seeing a change, but only if it makes us better.

Mark! :@The DON
I’m going to be upset if Brooks trots out Westbrook, Thabo, Durant, Green and Krstic as our starting lineup for the first game next season.

Don't even joke. Doesn't it seem possible, though? Based on what we know.

@The DON

I'm going to be upset if Brooks trots out Westbrook, Thabo, Durant, Green and Krstic as our starting lineup for the first game next season.

Things are so unpredictable in the west it almost seems like seeding doesnt matter. But in general I agree with justin that 6 seed is best if only to stay away from the lakers until the WCF. I'm still afraid Denver is our worst matchup of all of them though.

Utah and Phoenix are the only ones. We'll have one on Portland too if we beat them.

Which tiebreakers do we hold in W. Conference?

holdmymartian :If we win the rest of the games, Utah loses the rest and Phonenix goes 1-2 with their only win against Utah. Would that put us at the 4 spot? Is that better than being at the 6?

Hmm. Yeah, I guess that is possible. I forgot we own the tiebreaker against Utah. In that scenario we get the 4th seed.

I'm so glad they beat phoenix... looking good Ibaka... Whats up with Harden lately? Hope he pulls it together for the playoffs and it's gonna be fun.

justin :If Kevin Durant got as good as Dirk from mid range he’d probably be the best offensive player ever.

Agree... And he's only 21 and 3rd year, so he will for sure keep improving. :)

Serge Ibaka's story. (Documentary in English)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfFgHcjIC90&feature=related

holdmymartian :If we win the rest of the games, Utah loses the rest and Phonenix goes 1-2 with their only win against Utah. Would that put us at the 4 spot? Is that better than being at the 6?

Home court baby

If we win the rest of the games, Utah loses the rest and Phonenix goes 1-2 with their only win against Utah. Would that put us at the 4 spot? Is that better than being at the 6?

@M.J.
he will be the youngest scoring champ ever

big win tonight, and portland and SA lost, the win improves the suns draft pick for us.

Denver hopefully knocks off SA tomorrow night.

@n

We have 2 of Minnesotas 2nd rd picks, theirs and the one they received from portland , so the 32nd and 50th picks.

But i doubt thats how it looks draft day, probably one or more will be traded

Big news of the night, for me: Kevin Durant now averaging over 30 ppg over the course of the year. To retake the scoring lead at the moment, LeBron would have to drop something like 42 points in his next game...and the Cavs have been sitting him out. With only three games left, if Durant keeps scoring higher than his average, thus pushing it higher, I'd say he's a lock for the scoring title in only his third year (!).

All I know is this, if Serge keeps developing the way he has been so far, he cannot be kept out of the starting line up. At worst, he is 6th man of the year next season and then the year after that we are left with no choice but to start him

question, do the thunder have minnesota's first second-round pick (almost as close as you can get to late first round)? I thought thats what the wilkins/etan trade was about. Most draft website leave that out

The NBA took the unusual step of publicly admitting that an official missed a foul. It said Utah’s C.J. Miles fouled Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant on a 3-point attempt in the final second of Utah’s 140-139 overtime victory Tuesday.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks/crawford-shoo-in-for-447798.html?cxtype=rss_sports_82038

@PNT
NO Kobe,they are still good enough to beat Portland

Just saw that Kobe did not play tonight against Minnesota. If he does not play against Portland, it makes the Blazers job that much easier.

@PNT
That's interesting. I hadn't even seen their final schedules, but you're right. Obviously, the Blazers game on Sunday will be huge.

I still think getting on a 4 game streak heading into the playoffs will be good for momentum and building confidence (especially if we can post some strong defensive efforts over the next few games).

@justin
I agree. Whichever matchup pairs us against Utah seems to be the universal consensus here. (Not that I disagree. We've definitely played very well against them). Unfortunately, 2nd and 3rd may end up having the same record, which might force consideration of tie-breakers, so the best we can hope for might be that whoever gets 3rd comes of a loss in that last game (Assuming we end up 6th).

I'm not so sure we have to win out to get 6th. It's quite possible that Portland and the Spurs may only win 1 more game each.

Blazers have @LAL, OKC, GSW@DEN@DAL
, MIN,

Incidentally, watching the Dallas-Blazers game, Dallas does the same thing to Brandon Roy that they do to Kevin Durant and it clearly bothered the Blazers. They sold out defensively to stop him or make him uncomfortable and Roy never got into a rhythm at the end of the game.

I think I've just come up with a good phrase for the announcer to say whenever Serge gets a block. "UH-OHHHH CONGOOOOO!".

(Anyone who grew up watching the Banana Splits might recognize this one; with a slight deviation in the second word of the phrase. I'm not really old enough to have watched The Banana Splits, but my parents had tons of them on VHS and I think it'd be hilarious to hear.)

Actually, it's mathematically impossible for us to get past the fifth seed, so I think the sixth seed is the best spot for us. Stay out of the Lakers bracket.

S. Livingston 25 pts to beat the C's ... nice job!

justin :
I still think Phoenix is our best matchup, followed by Dallas, Utah, Denver.

They missed Robin Lopez today and i think he is a big factor in their game.

@justin
That might put us... 5?

He has to get stronger. He's going to get hurt one of these days.

@Bob
From number,KD is the No.1.But he is one of best in NBA and he has big space to improve.That is why I like him.No one can say how great KD will be

I still think Phoenix is our best matchup, followed by Dallas, Utah, Denver.

The officiating has been very bad the whole season imo.

justin :@UTH
left on their schedule. If we win out and Phoenix goes 1-2, we’d leap frog them.

I don't know who id want to face most between Utah/Dallas/Denver/Phoenix.

That Portland-Dallas game was the most disgusting game I've seen this season. The officiating was a disgrace.

I just noticed that Phoenix has HOU, DEN, and @UTH left on their schedule. If we win out and Phoenix goes 1-2, we'd leap frog them.

If Kevin Durant got as good as Dirk from mid range he'd probably be the best offensive player ever.