Ben Hochman of the Denver Post wondering how Russ will respond: “Now, Westbrook is a competitor and an angry, fiery dude on the court. He also feeds off the home crowd, as we saw in the first two games, notably the opener, when he poured in 31 points (on 23 shots). So it will be fascinating to watch how the Nuggets defend him in Game 5 on Wednesday, be it with Arron Afflalo, Ty Lawson, double-teams, etc.”
Beckley Mason trying to decipher why Rose and Westbrook are treated differently: “At the end of games, Rose does an excellent job of controlling tempo and makes very mature pass/shoot decisions. It helps that his go to move is going to the rim, but he’s made a number of nice kick-outs, notably to Kyle Korver, for big, late shots. Part of the reason this works so well is because everyone in the gym, on both teams, knows that Rose wants to penetrate. Korver knows where to be. If Westbrook breaks off a play for Durant because KD gets muscled off his cut, it’s less likely that his Thunder teammates will be perfectly positioned to take advantage of Westbrook’s improvisation.”
Berry Tramel says to back off Russell Westbrook: “So sure, it would be good to get Durant more than 18 shots. And James Harden more than five. But that’s on them as much as Westbrook. Harden did a lot of standing around, with and without the ball. One thing you can say about Westbrook, good or bad, win or lose, he doesn’t stand around. “Russell didn’t play well,” Brooks said. “He settled for his jumpshot too many times. I don’t look at Russell’s game and say the sky is falling. He didn’t have a good game. That happens.” Brooks said he hadn’t mentioned the 30 shots to Westbrook. “Russell plays in attack mode,” Brooks said. “He’s an aggressive player. We don’t want to take away his aggressiveness to the basket.” Amen, brother.”
Interview with John Hollinger: “They actually have continued improving more than I expected. I thought as big a step as they made last year, they were going to kind of need to consolidate a little bit those gains. I thought this year was actually going to be rougher than it actually ended up being. Because a lot of times when teams make a big one-year jump like the Thunder did, it’s very hard to continue progressing forward. It’s called the Plexiglas Principle. Most teams that make big one-year jumps actually come back to earth a little bit the next year. So for the Thunder to continue to improving their win total was very impressive.”
KD is from DC and that’s all you need to know.
Jackie MacMullan of ESPN Boston with a great piece on Jeff Green: “In short, Green remains the most skilled player in the transaction with Oklahoma City. Ah, but does that make him the best player? The ongoing vigil for Perkins is understandable. He was a hard-working, intimidating, emotional leader who was beloved by almost everyone. Whether that offset his standing as an offensive liability remains to be seen. Perkins’ trademark scowl and forearm shiver played well in these parts. The blank “nobody’s home” facade of Green isn’t quite as enticing to a sports city that adores Terry O’Reilly almost as much as Bobby Orr.”
Rob Mahoney for ESPN.com on what happens tonight: “Three more series come to a close. Miami, Memphis and OKC all smell blood in the water, and though San Antonio may deserve the benefit of the doubt, I don’t see the Spurs fully recovering from Memphis’ blitzkrieg in order to make the necessary adjustments. Philly and Denver, meanwhile, were merely delaying the inevitable with their Game 4 victories.”
Holly Mackenzie for TBJ on tweeting and bookbags: “From backpacks to broken jumpers, last night’s Twitter conversations served to further the conversation about sports and social media. We’re all communicating within the same medium now, even if some of us live in a world where deciding to wear a backpack creates a ripple over the internet. Having more access to professional athletes has been argued to be both good and bad, but from where I tweet, anything that reminds us that these guys are humans — and sometimes college-aged humans — is a good thing.”
The Nuggets found some confidence.
Nice little name drop of DT from Bill Simmons at 26:40 of his podcast with Jonah Keri.
KD on the “heated” argument during a timeout of Game 4: “We’ve been doing that all season,” Durant said. “That’s a part of a basketball team. You’re not going to always be happy all the time. … Sometimes you have to scream at guys for them to get the point. That’s what we were doing … It’s not on him,” Durant said. “It’s a team effort. When we win it’s not just because of Russell. So when we lose, it’s not just because of him. It’s a team effort. That’s why we lost.”
@HoneyBadger
Agreed.
Kiszla is a tool. Just wanted to add that in case anyone needed confirmation.
@Smokey
Aren't we all?
@james1
I'd be worried going up against Perk tonight. He looked seriously pissed at the end of game 4. What are the odds on a mauling?
Thunder favored by 7 tonight. Largest of the series. Almost looks like Vegas is daring people to take Denver.
@TempBoy Brandon
Good to know I'm not the only El Reno Tribune reader.
@Sammy
You did that on purpose! #undercut
;)
@Sammy
I'll start getting worried when Hugh Hefner gets a team.
@Royce Young
The Ron Adams effect.
Ranking most desirable writing jobs:
writer for the OKC Thunder > writer for Playboy.com > writer for PerkIsABeast.com > writer for El Reno Tribune > writer for Rebecca Black's upcoming album > writer for Denver Post
@Royce Young
Just further proof that OKC is gonna have trouble attracting players and retaining their free agents? ;)
Joel :@Royce
Young
No kidding! Do you know if he was forced out, or did he leave on his own? That would be a badass job I would think (the Thunder one, not the Playboy one……I take that back – BOTH would be hella cool)
He left cause he wanted to. Nothing at all about being forced out. He's not from Oklahoma and has family in Chicago and he wanted to go there.
Snow-crested peaks.
(damn, now I want to go skiing.. Oklahoma sucks!)
You don't get forced out of a web job and then end up at playboy.
@MartzMimic
Cool. Good for him. But man, I'd think that would be a killer job.
@Ozarkhick
Oh yeah there's good rock climbing in spots, and not completely flat.
But I'm talking Rainier-scope mts.
@Joel
Chris and Dan Mahoney talked about it on the live blog they have during games, and there was no indication be was forced out
Oklahoma has mountains, just not in the central part of the state...
So what's the word tonight? Blue or white?
We aren't counting anything from the Oklahoman as "serious," are we?
@andrew
He's from Rhode Island, who cares what he thinks ;)
David :@andrew
Did anyone seriously propose trading Russ?
Unfortunately, yes.
emotionaly = emotional
David :@andrewDid anyone seriously propose trading Russ?
Only emotionaly internet commenters. ;)
So, no.
@andrew
Did anyone seriously propose trading Russ?
Chad Ford's take on Russ:
Don't read into one game. Yes, Westbrook took too many shots. And yes, he's done it in other games. But he's a young point guard. It happens. He's going to settle down. You don't find stars like Westbrook everyday. Besides ... assuming OKC closes out the Nuggets tonight ... I still think they have a chance to represent the West in the Finals. Will we be talking about trading him if that happens?
I pretty much agree with this completely.
doublepost-whoops
But yes, back to basketball.
I'm proud of Oklahoma and wish more people would celebrate her comming of age. Can you tell? :)
Go Thunder
@Joel
fried pepperoni and mushrooms. mmm
Joel :@DcookIsBack
DcookIsBack Daequan Cook
Today is my 23rd bday and it would make my day of you could tell me happy bday! #thunderup
Today is Daequan’s BDay! A nice Bday present, about 5 3′s from the corner.
Doh, got that wrong.. it was just a retweet. My brad.
But we don't have mountains or beaches. So if you mountain climb, ski, surf more than once a month, don't live here. Other than that I recommend OK wholeheartedly.
DcookIsBack Daequan Cook@DcookIsBack
Today is my 23rd bday and it would make my day of you could tell me happy bday! #thunderup
Today is Daequan's BDay! A nice Bday present, about 5 3's from the corner.
@Smokey
I'll add rising sea levels to that too. Of course, this won't affect much in our lifetimes (maybe NOLA).
And now back to our regularly scheduled Thunder talk. :)
I say cook cans 3 threes tonight (his bday is tomorrow), Harden is more aggressive, and people don't even notice RW's 20pts and 10assists...
@Smokey
One medium Thunder pizza all to myself please - extra pepperoni.
@Royce Young
No kidding! Do you know if he was forced out, or did he leave on his own? That would be a badass job I would think (the Thunder one, not the Playboy one......I take that back - BOTH would be hella cool)
Not to mention:
We are located close to the exact center of the nation. We reside in the central time zone (which is actually a pretty big deal concerning televised live sporting events). We have an airport that has almost ZERO thru-traffic (and getting more direct flights by the day). Our weather is reasonably moderate (although somewhat unpredictable). And above all, the ONE thing nobody mentions, is market SHARE. Not market size, which we hear about over and over, but the SHARE.
Would you rather have a large pizza split 4 ways, or a medium pizza all to yourself?
@Joel
Haha that happened a few months ago. The best part is, Chris got engaged a few weeks before he took that new job. I guess he's going to have a pretty understanding wife.
Way OT.. but I wondered what happened to the Thunder blogger Chris Silva. Well, apparently he works for Playboy.com now. Hilarious.
DavyTheWise :@DanielI didn’t find that one all that offensive, other than its very slightly condescending tone. I do think that one thing people do not realize is the vast quantities of Natural Gas Oklahoma has under its surface. Its not something that people really think about since most of their worlds only exist in 2 dimensions (missing depth and time), but no one will be laughing in 20 years when oklahoma companies like Chesapeake, Devon, and Sandridge, Continental, and hundreds of other, smaller ones own the NG markets. Natural gas (and energy in general) is the future, so the future is bright in OKC. Sorry for the rant… lol.
+1
not to mention, I'd take tornados over hurricanes, volcanic activity, or faultline squatting.
Something really cool is going on around these parts. I wish people could get past the funny name (Oklahoma is actually a VERY cool name if you understand its history), past the old stereotypes and embrace it. Its a good thing.
What I dont get about people from Denver calling us a cow town and country and all that, is that Colorado is basically the same just with mountains as drop back instead of fields. Have people from Denver been anywhere else in Colorado? Sure they have their cool ski towns, but other than that its made up of a lot of small country-like towns that just have mountains in the background. True, the mountains make it cooler "looking", but it doesn't change the fact that they are small, hick towns, just like we have. It just confuses me how Denver people have that attitude about Oklahoma, it must be all the people that have come in from LA, bc they do have a lot of those.
@DavyTheWise
Yeah, it actually wasn't as bad as his usual stuff. I think I may just be a little hypersensitive to his articles now, although he did have a pretty condescending tone like you said.
@Daniel
I didn't find that one all that offensive, other than its very slightly condescending tone. I do think that one thing people do not realize is the vast quantities of Natural Gas Oklahoma has under its surface. Its not something that people really think about since most of their worlds only exist in 2 dimensions (missing depth and time), but no one will be laughing in 20 years when oklahoma companies like Chesapeake, Devon, and Sandridge, Continental, and hundreds of other, smaller ones own the NG markets. Natural gas (and energy in general) is the future, so the future is bright in OKC. Sorry for the rant... lol.
@Royce Young
Yeah I just wondered your take since you have a paid and unpaid website to express your views through. (I assumed CBS was paid, hope I didn't make myself look silly).
I wasn't sure I agreed with him either. Not all reporters are rumor mongering liars. He should probably be looking at ESPN about unsubstantiated rumors. I'll never get over them using OrangeBloods as a reference for the "Big XII collapsing"
@clarkem
Cuban's a really smart dude. But he's way off on this. I think my buddy Ken Berger nailed it pretty well:
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/14931877/cubans-proposed-media-takeover-wrong-on-many-levels
@Royce Young
I'm glad to hear that. I heard BBJ talk on the radio about local TV getting bumped from attending local playoff games and did not know if that affected you or not.
what's your take on the whole Mark Cuban wanting to ban some internet reporting sites from his locker room. Justified or not?
Royce Young :@Joel
I don’t feel like it’s much different. At first I think there was a bit of a feeling out as to what I was there for, but I get the same access, good media seats and everyone is great to me.
I’ve really had no issues with it at all.
What were your thoughts on the Mark Cuban rant about internet writers?
http://blogmaverick.com/2011/04/04/whats-the-role-of-media-for-sports-teams/
I cannot believe how bad the writing of both Kiszla and Carlson is. I gave up on my journalism dream awhile ago, but reading their articles makes me wonder why.
@Smokey
haha
There are sleepy little walmart towns in Colorado too, believe it or not.
Kisla and Carlson should just get a room already.