Daily Thunder.com Golden State rallies from 20 down, bests OKC 120-117

Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images

At this stage in the season, meaning three games left, I could see how it might be easy to lose a little focus when playing a team 30 under .500. Especially when you jump out to a 20-point lead early in the first half and drop 42 first quarter points. I could see how maybe you coast a bit, letting the other team go on a 16-5 run and get back in the game. Heck, I could even see the game tightening in the third going into the fourth. It’s the NBA. It happens all the time.

But losing this game? That’s just ridiculous.

Now, the panic/overreaction button is a long way away from me. It’s one bad loss and the Thunder hasn’t had one of these in three weeks. The season is nearing it’s end and I’m sure it’s a little easy for a young team to start looking ahead to the postseason. I get that. But there’s just no excuse for it and with the loss, the Thunder essentially sealed their fate for the eight-seed in a showdown tomorrow with Portland.

It doesn’t take Dr. Jack Ramsey to figure out this was a defensive issue for Oklahoma City tonight. One thing you DO NOT want to do against Golden State is let them dictate the flow of the game. And the Thunder absolutely fell into that trap tonight. The pace of the game was a ridiculous 101 tonight with OKC taking 104 shots. And it was just a case of missing them for the Thunder. They were dropping in the first half, but not so much in the second. Without the Thunder’s outstanding work on the offensive glass tonight (22 offensive boards), OKC wouldn’t have been in this game at all in the fourth quarter. The Thunder turned into a jumpshooting team and when the shots aren’t falling yet you still keep chucking, you’re not set up for good offense.

And on the reverse, Golden State couldn’t miss in the second half. Now A LOT of the awesome Warrior shooting had to do with matador defense by the Thunder. That is absolutely for sure. But even if players are wide open, standing alone for 3, shooting the way Golden State did tonight from deep is pretty rare. I mean, hitting 3s on six consecutive possessions? That’s insane. The Warriors went 12-21 from 3 and won a game in which they took 17 fewer shots. Why? Because they made a lot of theirs (51 percent from the floor).

Here’s kind of the game summed up: Kevin Durant was awesome in the first half, scoring 26 points. He went 8-10 from the floor and was hitting everything in rhythm. In the third quarter, when things really unraveled for OKC, he went 4-15. That NEVER happens. And they were good looks too. Monta Ellis switched over to him so OKC got the ball to Durant in the post. It was the right play. KD just didn’t finish.

Notes:

Like I said, a team shooting from deep as well as GSW is a two-part thing. Part bad defense, part stellar shooting. But if I wanted to pull out the blame stick, I’m pointing it at Russell Westbrook. He allowed far too much penetration, which forced his teammates to rotate and it left a man open on the perimeter. And if he wasn’t doing that, he was gambling and overplaying passing lanes, again forcing his guys to help and recover. It didn’t help things that the Thunder’s rotations were painfully slow and in some situations, lazy.

I would like to kick Ronny Turiaf in the face. That’s all.

Thabo rocked a headband tonight. I don’t think it was really that becoming of him. Plus, he went 2-6 from the floor for five points with it. I’d say ditch it.

James Harden was a bright spot. He found his game a bit, getting to the rim (and finishing) and hitting 3s. Eighteen points on 7-11 shooting.

Jeff Green has been so money in big situations all year, but missed out in a crucial place tonight. After getting poked in the eye, he double-missed a pair of free throws that could put OKC up two. That’s not like Uncle Jeff.

As good as Jeff Green finishes and as physical as he is at bullying his way in the paint, I just don’t get why he takes nine jumpshots tonight. That doesn’t make sense to me.

One more thing on Green: He is such an awesome out-of-bounds-saver. He seems to always find the right guy and sometimes tosses it back in from what looks like the fifth row. I just wanted to mention that.

KD went for 40 and 10, but boy, it sure didn’t feel that great, did it?

Serge Ibaka has just been great lately. Another nice game with eight points and 12 rebounds, plus two blocks.

Steph Curry is just gifted. Every time he shoots, it feels like it’s going down. And he really makes some wonderful passes. He’s going to be terrific.

OKC allowed 64 points… in the SECOND HALF. That has to be a season high. That just does not happen much. Very surprising, especially after the lockdown on Phoenix. Doesn’t leave you feeling good with the playoffs coming in less than two weeks.

Regardless of the fact that this is a bad, bad loss, it’s only that in the sense it hurts OKC with playoff seeding. Every team loses games like this when they shouldn’t. It’s life. Now of course that doesn’t make me want to headbutt concrete any less, but its true. The Thunder just went sour. This was the type of game where you just expected OKC to turn it on. You were waiting for the lockdown. We’ve seen the Thunder coast before against bad teams and get away with it. And I’ve said before that would surely come back to get them at least once. Well, here’s that once.

Next up: At Portland in a biggun tomorrow.

Kev

Defensive Breakdown

Well, it’s a recurring theme. Dumb switches led to bad mismatches. Throw in lazy transition defense, and (probably) taking this one for granted, and you give up 120. The team score was +6, which is obviously terrible. Jeff Green (again) did well defensively, while Eric Maynor was a no show.

Jeff Green (+12)

Excellent game for our Uncle. No mistakes; and just solid all around defensive work. While some of his teammates were taking the 4th quarter off, Green was making plays.

With five minutes left, Warriors swingman Reggie Williams (Thabo) has the ball on the right wing. Anthony Tolliver (Green) is in the right corner. Williams drives to the right. Thabo walls Williams off away from the goal, and Jeff Green takes a swipe as Reggie passes. Jeff misses, but since Thabo has cut off the lane, Williams turns and passes it to Tolliver, who is still in the corner. Jeff deflects the ball towards out of bounds. While Tolliver watches, Green sprints to the ball and saves it to Thabo. Seconds later, Ibaka slam dunks the ball home.

Nick Collison (+4)

Serge Ibaka (+1)

Ibaka got a couple of blocks, but had limited chances to be a factor, since the Warriors (largely) avoided the lane, and kicked the ball out often to open three point

Thabo Sefolosha (zero)

Russell Westbrook (-1)

Russell had a great first quarter (+8). He picked up a couple of steals, and he fought over picks a lot more than usual. Then, he reverted to form.

Midway in the third quarter, Corey Maggette gets the ball off a Thunder miss and heads up the right sideline. Right before halfcourt, he advances the ball upcourt to Steph Curry who is on the right wing. Curry is wide open and drains the three. So I rewind it and watch the play again. Westbrook is on the other side of the court guarding no one. He makes no attempt to get to Curry. When you are playing a top ten shooter (in terms of three point percentage) you need to have better focus.

James Harden (-1)

Let’s look at one of these switches. In the middle of the third quarter, James Harden is checking Monta Ellis in the center right past the halfcourt line. Harden smartly looks right and sees Warriors forward Anthony Tolliver coming to set a pick. Harden fades under the pick, and Collison steps out to contest Ellis. Monta Ellis is one of the quickest guys in the league with the ball. This is a nightmare mismatch. Why does Brooks think that this is sound strategy? Is he trying to save his players’ energy for the playoffs?? Anyway, you know what happens. Collison fears the drive, so he steps back. Ellis waits for this and he shoots the three over Collison’s outstretched arm.

Kevin Durant (-1)

Kevin leads the Thunder in rebounds at 7.6 per game. For those that follow advanced statistics, we know that the above is a misleading statistic. He leads the team in rebounds because he plays the most minutes, not because he’s a good rebounder.

In this game, the problem was compounded when he had to guard power forward Anthony Tolliver. Brooks put Green on the ultra aggressive Corey Maggette; presumably to help Durant avoid foul trouble. Well, Green did a good job on Corey, but Durant didn’t fare as well, as he had two BBOs (blown block outs) in the first four minutes of the game. These mistakes led to five Warriors points.

Kevin Ollie (-1)

Eric Maynor (-7)

Early in the fourth quarter, Maynor couldn’t find Monta Ellis with a map

45 comments

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4razr

Just want to say this team has been incredibly consistent all year in winning over mediocre teams. Totally uncharacteristic of a young team, and a big positive. The last few weeks they have been looking more like a young team that is still feeling its way through new situations. They made a big mistake in letting GS get hot--the last thing they needed was a shoot-out. Teams with nothing to play for but being spoilers feeling no pressure often take this kind of game. Another learning experience for the thunderpups. This team has surprised me so many times that I can't count them out of anything. I can't wait to see how they respond to a seven-game series. There is certainly nothing to be ashamed of even in this loss--we should be proud of the team and they should be proud of themselves.

SmackDaddy

Anyone else wish Green had taken that last 3 pointer? Durant, as great as he is, just never seems to make the buzzer-beater.

Bruno

Kev :
I’ve never been there but talk about passionate fans . . .
the Warriors have stunk all year, but they can be down by 20 – hit a couple of baskets and that crowd is LOUD . . . you would think the score was tied . . .
It seems to be turly a homecourt advantage . . .

that was pretty awesome, that town needs a decent team to cheer for.

it was just a horrendous loss, but that's what it is, 1 loss. it doesn't kills everything this team has done this awesome season.

but it definitely shows problems this team will face in the playoffs and that have to be adressed come next year.

this team NEEDS an outside shooter, much more than a post presence, IMO.

a decent center coming as a FA coupled with Ibaka's development should be all we need in the frontcourt.

The DON

dream catcher :

GAP :
All I got to say is, i’m getting really tired of seeing Russ lose the ball without any defensive pressure in the 4th qtr!

He panics in the 4th quarter. Dude has no poise at all. Hopefully Green or some more experience rub off on him.

^^^THIS also

He completely panics and goes haywire under pressure and that is not a skill problem, but a mental one

Mental problems are much harder to fix than pure skill issues

You Can go to the gym and work on a skill, you can't work on a personality trait

^^^THIS x 1,000

f5alcon

I think some of it is krstic being out, collison isnt making up for his scoring production, give krstic his 8 points and we win.

james hardens beard

although this one stings, i'm fairly confident we'll beat a roy'less portland next. we've done it once, no reason we can't do it again... we should rebound from this loss well.

duff :
if we get 50 wins then KD should when MVP hands down and scotty should when coach of the year………..

There is no way in Lucifer's domain that KD deserves to be MVP this year over LeSteroids

t w

Thunder are soft physically, they need to learn how to knock some people on their ass when they are hot. How many times can the other team drive to the basket and not even get touched, and then when we do foul it's a little wrist slap. Screw that start banging some guys when they come in the paint make them think twice. Can we sign Dennis Rodman for a couple weeks.

I've never been there but talk about passionate fans . . .

the Warriors have stunk all year, but they can be down by 20 - hit a couple of baskets and that crowd is LOUD . . . you would think the score was tied . . .

It seems to be turly a homecourt advantage . . .

hurricane_season

Check out the number 1 article on espn.com's nba page - the daily dime. the article is about how the lakers are panicked and distraught and why going 8th seed this time isn't as bad as its meant to be.

also, having been a warriors fan for a quarter of my life, i can say this, the Oracle crowd is SCARY good - throws off the players, makes the warriors better...see 06-07 mavs/warriors for reference. but we shouldn't have lost this game. although the warriors crowd does give an example of how the ford center ought to be in a week when we blitz our playoff opponents.

shiki=4 seasons

Roy is injured and out of last game

dream catcher

GAP

All I got to say is, i'm getting really tired of seeing Russ lose the ball without any defensive pressure in the 4th qtr!

Crow

Modest sized SG scorers are fairly easy to find. Jones is that type too, like Williams. But Jones is listed as a high 2nd round pick. But that is draftexpress' opinion.

Most teams won't take or tolerate more than one of these kind of guys (offense, little defense and no guaranteed contract) but I'd say most teams could live with one. But it comes down to what you need or what you are willing to tolerate to get what you need.

Often these guys come back to what you might expect after a month, but not always.

Nelson often finds these players,but can they live in another team?I dont think so.

bob sacamano

need to draft that jones kid from south florida...need one more reliable outside shooter, scorer...and either udoh/sanders

Williams got "limited playing time in summer league" and "it may have been because of a lack of energy in practice".

You got to decide what means something. Easy to guess wrong.

But maybe he needed the time and the attitude adjustment.

OKC Hunger

Yes KB, you are mistaken. We control our own destiny with respect to the #7 seeding, but not #6. The Spurs have the head-to-head 2-1, so even if we win out, they can beat us out for the #6 spot by winning their last two. Good chance that could happen, since the Spurs likely need to win both to avoid 8th (Ptld has the tiebreak over SA). In any case, Ptld will be very tough at home Monday, even without Brandon Roy (out -- bruised knee). Tonight's game was one we needed and should have won. OKCH

"[Williams] received several invitations to NBA camps, but a contract and a roster spot weren't guaranteed.

That's why Williams signed a one-year contract with JDA Dijon Bourgogne in France's Pro A League, the country's top professional basketball organization.

Williams ... said he didn't want to risk attending a NBA camp and being cut with no place to go but the National Basketball Development League."

Sounds like he made a business decision and perhaps teams may have had a hunch his posture about it before the draft, if they were paying real close attention.

It worked out for him.

As bad as his 3 pt stats were in college throughout, by contrast his 2 pt FG% climbed steadily. So it does seem like a mistake for somebody not to take him in the 2nd round.

But there are guys like this fairly regularly who don't make it. Sometimes it is because they can't adjust to being a role player or teams think that will be the case.

I'll look around and see who if anybody brought him to camp.

good call Crow - shooters improve, so he obviously wasnt the same player he was two years ago . . .

I take back what I said - I was wrong . . .

They measured him at 6-4 in shoes too.

But the ability to score efficiently in the NBA should trump much of the negatives, if not all, at least in terms of getting a deep bench spot.

The Green clutch stat comment was mine.

On Williams going undrafted, draftexpress says a few things in his profile that may account for it:

"The biggest story to report about Williams’ development revolves around the improvement of his perimeter shot. Only a 28% 3-point shooter as a college senior, Williams made just 21% of his 3-point attempts as a rookie in France last season playing for Dijon. This year [in the D-league] he’s upped that to a far more respectable 38%, despite the fact that he’s now shooting NBA 3-pointers (more than 3 feet further back). He has a fairly ugly flat-footed stroke...

"Williams’ biggest weakness as an NBA prospect clearly revolves around his play on the defensive end. He lacks lateral quickness in a major way and struggles badly trying to stay in front of athletic slashers already at the D-League level. While his effort level is usually solid and his wingspan is above average, he can’t be described as anything more than a mediocre defender, something that is clearly holding him back."

And he was a senior and in the draft that seems to hurt. Too much in my mind. He wasn't even 22 at draft time.

Dylan

Sorry, the 8-3 should say "if tony brothers had a sack."

@Kev
8-3 with wins over 5 playoff teams (4 of which are higher seeds than us, 5 if you count Boston) is hot, unless you're trying to be negative on purpose for some weird reason.

The defense hasn't been good over that stretch, but has shown flashes (Held LA, Portland, Denver and Phoenix under their season average.)

I think you've allowed how surprising this season has been to cloud your expectations.

We're not hot at all, and the pilot light is out on the defense . . .

Anonymous :
How many times has a young, lower-seeded team come into the playoffs without being hot towards the end of the season and still pulled off an upset in the first round? Anybody have an idea?
Not pushing the panic button but trying to assess our chances of realistically winning a first round series this year…

Not hot? We've gone 1-3* in our last four. The asterisk denotes the Utah loss that belongs to us. We should be 2-2 in our last four with 2 upset wins against higher seeded teams, a bad loss to GSW and a 4-point loss to Denver.

Before that we were 6-1 in our last seven with wins over LA, Boston and Dallas, with our lone loss being a 5-pointer to Portland.

We're not lighting the world on fire, but if KD had gotten to shoot those free throws @Utah, we'd be 8-3 in our last 11. That's plenty hot.

Bob :

Kev :

Bob :I told you guys that Reggie Williams is something special.

it amazes me how some players go undrafted – the guy has size, and he led the NCAA in scoring and seems to have a great attitude – how do you not give him a look in the second round???

He’s out of VMI… you wont get much attention if you weren’t in a college called duke or UCLA. Matt Carroll and Anthony Morrow were also undrafted…

I know - I saw them play the one time they were on ESPN - They play the uptempo (led the NCAA in pace the last few years) . . . so Reggie is right at home . . .

still, to answere your reply, all these scouts should have plenty of tape on the top scorers - still cant see him not being drafted - and Morrow was an ACC player, so there is noexcuse there . . . meanwhile any big guy with a pulse gets drafted . . .

duff

if we get 50 wins then KD should when MVP hands down and scotty should when coach of the year...........

Bob

I've been watching the warriors almost the whole season and i can tell you you cant defend against them. I remember Reggie Williams against the suns in the last quarter. He shoots over the out-stretched arms of Grant Hill and still makes it. He hit like 4 consecutive trey's over Hill... the suns even double-teamed him. I think the main reason why we lost was Reggie. He came in and the game changed... + monta ellis had a good game what doesnt happen very often.

KEEP HEART:

Usually you say things like "well, they've got a lot to learn" and "defensively, they should be much better" about 30-win teams, not 50-win teams.

The future is bright.

@Joe
It's not always that simple.

I mean, it should be against a team like GSW, but on the other hand we scored 117 points, so the overall problem lies with the defense.

And i forgot ben wallace...

He's out of VMI... you wont get much attention if you weren't in a college called duke or UCLA. Matt Carroll and Anthony Morrow were also undrafted...

Joe

I said it at least 500 times last season, and I've been saying it a bit too much this season, but hey, when the shots aren't falling, how about taking it to the rack guys?

Serenity now.

Sammy

Just dropped by to say this is the most ashamed I've been of this team in the Thunder's short existence.

Deseps

Worst loss ever.

it amazes me how some players go undrafted - the guy has size, and he led the NCAA in scoring and seems to have a great attitude - how do you not give him a look in the second round???

I told you guys that Reggie Williams is something special.

justin

Jeff Green is shooting just over 40% from the floor in 'clutch' situations this season (last five minutes or overtime, neither team winning by more than five points).

Kevin Durant is slightly under 40% and Russell Westbrook is barely 30% (!).

I'd say that's probably why we tend to lose close games, wouldn't you?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t we still control our own destiny with the 6th seed? If we beat Portland (I know, big if) and Memphis then we will still have 6th, correct? If so, who cares about this game? It happens every month where teams lose to teams they shouldn’t and play with no fire. Let’s put it behind us and move on. A lot of fun ahead.

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Wolf Tracks 4/12 | Howlin' T-Wolf says:

April 12, 2010 at 10:43 am

[...] Thunder have been nothing but thunderous these past few weeks when it counts the most. They had to return from 20 down to beat the Warriors last night. They’ll need to elevate their play soon if they don’t plan on getting ousted early from [...]

Golden State rallies from 20 down, bests OKC 120-117

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