Daily Thunder.com All-Star Saturday: A successful disappointment

The Thunder was well represented at All-Star Saturday night, but I’m not so sure they represented well.

Russell Westbrook made it to the finals of the Skill Competition, but couldn’t win it, losing to Stephen Curry. Westbrook’s first round 30-second run was second best overall, only to Curry’s 28.1-second finals time. Westbrook though couldn’t finish as he put up a 44.1-second run to finish. He struggled getting the bounce pass through, then missed his jumper and then couldn’t get the outlet pass. I will say his two dunks to finish were neato though.

Kevin Durant was a pretty big disappointment, only scoring six points in the 3-point competition. He never got going and didn’t seem comfortable with the pick-it-up-and-shoot-it rhythm. He finished with the lowest score of the evening, behind Daniel Gibson who had just seven and actually ran out of time leaving three balls on the rack.

Serge Ibaka though, showed up pretty big.

You knew Ibaka was going to bust out the free throw line dunk because that’s his bread and butter. And he used it to start off. He nailed it perfectly. The reaction the crowd gave originally was lukewarm, but upon replay, there was some serious buzz. Plus, the presentation before was neat with Serge coming out representing NBA Africa. Nice touch. The fact he only got a 45 was ridiculous. The judges need to consult the replay before giving out their score.

Ibaka’s second try was, um, not my favorite thing ever. We’d heard Serge was planning to use a prop and he went up and grabbed a little Rumble doll for this kid that ran out looking for his toy. He missed on the first try which really killed the buzz of it. But upon replay, wow. His face really was at the iron as he pulled the toy down with his mouth.

A lot of people felt like Ibaka would disappoint and while he didn’t move on to the finals, he showed well I thought. He was completely robbed on the free throw line dunk and while his Rumble doll move lost its buzz when he missed the first time, watching the replay was insane. The elevation Ibaka got was just nuts.

Overall, a ton of fun to see three Thunder players competing on All-Star Saturday and despite the semi-disappointing results, the fact Oklahoma City was so well represented is a massive victory in of itself. And to think, we’ve still got two more guys to go in the main event Sunday.

31 comments

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DJ R7

Royce Young :@Kcic66

Haha no problem.

hey man anyway i can still get the um original. *Cough Cough* not saying you don't have any extra laying around.

Royce Young

@Kcic66
Haha no problem.

Kcic66

I know all about it, sorry to bring it back but you gotta admit it's a pretty cool shirt

Sorry I went back and looked at it and it says Serge Ibaka on it. I guess I just assumed it said Air Congo......my bad

@Kcic66
No nothing against you. Just that Adidas and Serge's agency made us pull ours just to rip it off. It's weak.

What do you mean by that? I already have the original I just want that one too.....it's sweet!

Kcic66 :
Did anyone else notice Ibaka’s shirt air congo from addias I need to get it!

Oh that just pisses me off.

Did anyone else notice Ibaka's shirt air congo from addias I need to get it!

TaoMaas

I think this article is titled well..."A successful disappointment." I would have loved to see the Thunder win one of the events, but I think they gained a lot of attention in the process. A lot of the talk in the slam-dunk contest was about Serge being robbed and Thunder players were by far the most visible on the sidelines, I think. Seemed like every cutaway shot that wasn't Kevin Garnett was either Harden, Maynor, or one of the Thunder's contest entrants.

Scott

@DJ R7
@osano-whoa one of the reasons some of these contenders have so much money and are ok being well over the luxury tax is that they win in the post season. Our owners won't let Presti go over b/c they can't afford it (or don't want to), but they will see the money pouring in if they can put together a team that's in the NBA Finals.

@DJ R7 That is something I'll never fail to understand. Players act like they gotta make more and more money failing to realize that a lot of their greatness and potential "lifetime earning" will depend on if they've won titles. Nothing builds your "brand" like titles, especially when you've won multiple championships. Look at the Lakers and Celtics. (Obviously bigger markets, but also the most titles).

Thomas

@Royce Young
I don't know how taking this thing to the limit would be beneficial to the owners. I mean, won't their equity stake in their respective franchises take a massive hit after something like that? The league's popularity tanked after just having a strike shortened season in 1999. Imagine what skipping an entire season would do? That in mind I'm hoping it is just bluffing.

Thomas :
Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated just said on ESPN that there’s a “groundswell of support” amongst owners to skip next season altogether. What a debacle.

It's all bluffing right now. The owners will say, "We can handle missing a season, no problem." Then the players will say, "Oh yeah? We can miss FIVE seasons!"

The two sides are pretty far apart and while they will definitely lock out, I don't really think we'll lose games.

Loud City Jimmy

Thought Serge did really well in the contest. In truth, he was the 4th best dunker, but in a lot of years, he would have won with his two dunks. The real person getting robbed there was Derozan. Both of his dunks were ridiculous, and I am sure he would have busted out something crazy in the finals. Happy for Blake though and I loved his alley-oop dunk to the elbow.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated just said on ESPN that there's a "groundswell of support" amongst owners to skip next season altogether. What a debacle.

Sege represented well. I really wonder what he had planned for the finals in the event he made it. Maybe next year. I think that bite the bison and dunk would have been massive if he'd hit it on his first attempt. But when you have this whole staged thing going and you have to bring a ladder out to reset it definitely kills the buzz. I think a lot of the judge's scoring is based on the crownd's instant reaction. That's why dunks that are hard but lack flair like Howard's "sticker" dunk don't do that well even though they are very impressive when you see the replay.

RWisMyFavThunder

Blake talked to them as well after one of his dunks

Kevin

It is nice to see Love sitting next to the Thunder guys (Harden and Maynor) in the first video though.

I'm not sure the Thunder should get Kevin Love. His defense sucks, so Scotty would never play him, and he just adds to the logjam at power forward. Would we still have Jeff Green? Who would start: Kevin Love or Serge (there's no way we get rid of Serge)? Would Love take away from the minutes that Cole isn't getting anyways? Nick Collison always needs more minutes.

He would spread the floor, at least.

innocent bystander

this is cool...

"Ibaka robbed" is now my new favorite Google search

lots of interesting comments on this. Not every one agrees, but it definitely stirred up some controversy and interest.

and I wonder how many watching the dunk contest were literally seeing Serge for the first time

wow, Blake Griffin won the dunk contest!!!!!!!

I can't believe it!!!!

this is amazing!!!!

I'm in total shock... seriously

C_Dub

Kevin Love would fit this team like a glove. He's already buds with some of the players and it showed tonight. We need to pull the rabbit out of the hat and make it happen. THIS YEAR. Only then will we truly compete.

this years contest is the best i've seen in years.

osano-whoa :@Scott

He’d have to take a pay cut to come here, and that’ll never happen, but we can dream right?

You never know, rings sometimes are more important to players than money. I much rather win ring after ring and get payed 5 mil a year than maybe never win it and get payed 11 a year.

osano-whoa

@Scott
He'd have to take a pay cut to come here, and that'll never happen, but we can dream right?

Anybody catch the Kevin Love and Thunder connection tonight? Sat courtside during the events with Russ, Maynor, and James. During his ESPN radio interview he said, "It's just amazing getting a chance to play with the best players; Durant, Westbrook, Kobe..." I have felt for a while like the dude's first choice would be OKC; oh and I forgot to mention he and Russ were roommates at UCLA...