Daily Thunder.com Thunder up: OKC’s season ends in Dallas, 100-96

Ronald Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images

Sometimes, it just doesn’t even seem fair. Or meant to be. Or both.

First, I can’t tell you how proud I am of this Thunder team. To come back with that effort in those circumstances… inspiring. They were ready to go from the tip, ready to fight. I think even us fans were sort of ready to pack it in after Game 4′s crushing defeat. I wouldn’t have blamed the team for just going through the motions, for just showing up. I kind of felt like cheering through the motions. Despite trying to talk myself out of it, the mountain the Thunder had to climb was too steep and the cruelty of Game 4 too fresh.

But with their hands on another win — I mean, they were right there — the final few minutes doomed the Thunder. Scott Brooks pulled out all the stops. Russell Westbrook absolutely busted his butt. Nick Collison did his Nick Collison thing. Kevin Durant, Eric Maynor, everyone, put in the work. Losing a seven-point fourth quarter lead makes me want to belly-flop into an empty pool, but sometimes, it’s just not your time. It’s Dirk’s time. It was just meant to be for the Mavs.

It hurts right now, because the wounds were just opened. You all had visions of a Game 6 in Oklahoma City and the thought of a comeback in your head. I know, I felt it too. The way the team was playing, the way they were fighting — they proved over five games that they were every bit as good as the Mavs. The difference? Dallas knew how to finish it, the Thunder didn’t.

What sucks so much about sports is how we’re all going to replay about 50 things from this series over and over and over and over and over again in our heads. Westbrook not controlling that rebound with two minutes left tonight. Collison’s foul on Dirk in Game 4. The horrific start in Game 3. The comeback that fell short in Game 1. We won’t be able to stop thinking about all those things. What if Russ holds on? What if the Thunder closed Game 4? What if, what if, what if? It all kind of shows you just how close a playoff series can be, even when it’s decided in five games. This was close to being 3-2 in the Thunder’s favor coming back to OKC for a Game 6. Really close. But a play here, a foul there and a rebound everywhere kept it from happening. That’s just how fragile the playoffs are, especially when you’re in the Western Conference Finals.

The difference between winning and losing this series is miniscule. A few bounces went Dallas’s way, a few tough shots dropped for the Mavs, a few calls went in their favor. It’s the nature of the fan beast to want big, bold changes to Fix What Went Wrong, but really, with the youth of this group, the fix might just be the experience of this series.

Because there’s absolutely no better experience for this team to have. We’re going to be thinking about every one of those moments until training camp five months from now (well hopefully, you know, lockout and all). But if you think you’re going to be killing yourself a hundred times over about this, think about the 15 guys on that roster. They’re dying right now. This hurts. They’re the ones that put in all the sweat. They’re the ones that put in all the work. They’re the ones that fought, clawed and did everything they could do to bring you a trophy. We did the easy part. We got to watch them play basketball. Which was a joy.

There will be a time for a little more perspective but while it’s impossible to not be disappointed, this season was truly special. An opportunity was there for the Thunder but here’s the beauty of Sam Presti’s master plan — the opportunity should be right there again for roughly the next 7-10 years. They’ll learn. They’ll improve. They’ll evolve. And I have no doubt, they’ll be back.

NOTES:

On the actual game: The adjustment to go small was a good one but naturally it bit the Thunder in the back as Dallas came up with a few critical rebounds. Brooks used Maynor, Westbrook, Harden, Durant and Collison pretty much the entire fourth quarter and it worked beautifully in stretches. I loved the lineup, but my issue was, why did Westbrook still play point the entire time? He handled the ball and Maynor played off it. The value of that lineup is having Maynor distribute to three really, really good scorers. But instead, Westbrook handled and Maynor basically just made Dirk stand near him. I didn’t get that.

Not going to lie, Brooks stubbornness with the starting five is pretty much infuriating. Harden can’t play all 48 and neither can Collison, but this team is just completely different with those two guys on the floor. One hundred percent better.

KD put it best: “It’s kind of shocking that our season is over with.” No doubt about that. It’s kind of weird.

I honestly don’t know what to point at as the reason this fourth quarter lead got away. It really just seemed like holding Dallas off would be near impossible. Scoring got tougher and the Mavs went into the bonus with almost five minutes again. I’ll just say this and leave it: Dallas shot 13 fourth quarter free throws to OKC’s four.

Westbrook was an animal in this game. Some might look at the box score, but along with Harden, he was the biggest reason the Thunder had a chance. He went 11-28 from the floor for 31 points, but he played his style of game and attacked furiously. He was absolutely fantastic. He took a couple iffy shots here and there, but he’s not perfect.

KD on Westbrook: “He was great. He was great all year. He’s been a guy that we rely on to be a good point guard, but he scores the ball really well … It’s kind of frustrating to see the kind of criticism he’s been getting because he led us by playing the way he’s been playing now the whole season. That’s what made him an All-Star, second team All-NBA. And it kind of baffles me that people just start to criticize because he’s playing like that now. That’s how he’s been playing all season. He got us here as our point guard. We lean on him for that. I thought it wasn’t fair, but I can’t control that, he can’t control that. The one thing about Russell is that he kept playing his game all season no matter what people said. And he did a great job man. I was proud of how he kept his composure and never let it get to him.” Freaking well put KD.

Harden, my goodness. His first half was a thing of beauty. He finished with 23 points, six assists, five rebounds and ran the team magically for a lot of the third quarter. Honestly, I think it was a mistake to move him off the ball in the fourth. He’s a natural creator and having him run point opened up a ton. I really think going forward, Brooks needs to be flexible like this more often and let other players handle and move things.

For a little of the game, it really looked like KD was having trouble letting go of Game 4. He was a bit distant. He locked in after he hit a 3 in the third though. I think that’s when he really started believing they could do it.

Westbrook’s technical at the end of the third. Shake my head.

And Westbrook leaving the floor immediately — not good. Not surprising though because Russ is emotional and he was clearly upset, but he’s better than that. Even though it hurts, you’ve got to go through the motions of shaking hands and congratulating.

A lot of people griped about Perk in this series. Keep in mind, he’s maybe about 70 percent right now. He’s not totally healthy and he’s not in shape. Sam Presti didn’t sign him long term to play like that. He’s going to get healthy and get back to his old self.

Harden will start next year. I am 100 percent convinced.

The Mavs won this game at the free throw line. OKC made three more baskets, equaled them in 3s, outrebounded them and turned it over only one more time. But Dallas took 36 free throws to OKC’s 25.

I can’t believe it’s just coincidence that Tyson Chandler constantly finds himself in scuffles. Yet he always pleads innocence. And gets technicals rescinded.

I couldn’t have been more impressed with the way Westbrook came out in this game. He was busting his butt everywhere. He wasn’t about to go down without a fight. I loved that. I think without him doing that, the Thunder might’ve been content to just go through the motions, but Westbrook set a tone.

Question I tweeted about Harden: If he were the No. 1 on a team, what do you think his numbers would look like? Put him on the Cavs. I’m thinking something like 20-5-5. You?

OKC won the boards again though. That was supposed to be a key and they won it in four of the five games. Guess it wasn’t that important.

Looking back, it sure would’ve been nice if the Mavs would’ve missed some free throws. Both Memphis and Denver did that. Dallas took advantage of it every time.

Don’t read into Serge Ibaka not being a factor. The matchup just wasn’t right for him. It’s not a big deal though.

Durant said it best: “It’s tough now, but we’ll learn from it.” That’s truth. The season ends in the Western Conference Finals. Think about that for a minute and it’ll make you feel just a little bit better. The chance was there. Some things could’ve been done different. You can blame whoever you want if it makes you feel better. But this team did some really great things and I can’t tell you how proud I am to be a fan of them and how excited I am to watch them go at it again next year.

Daniel Plainview

@postman35

Thanks for being a fan of the site. I do believe you are trying to be objective and fair, which I believe you fall short on the foul calls, especially when you use the phrase, "balanced out." Case in point:

Game 4, Ft's: Dallas 39, OKC 25
game 5, Ft's: Dallas 36, OKC 25.

This alone should extinguish any further claims of "Balanced out."

I confess that the foul that sat Chandler last night was not a foul.
However, please admit that the Maynor foul was an absolute charge by Marion, and ultimately, a 4 point swing.

I confess that I do believe Dallas played better ball in both 4th quarters of the last two games, however, i do not believe they could have down it without the refs help:

Dirk got away with a decided flagrant on Durant. he never put his hands up in the air.

Game four, KD had been stripped of the ball at least a half dozen times. Admittedly, it is hard to tell in real time. Its even difficult to call it fair during a replay. But the two games combined KD was stripped while driving approx 10 times and not once was a foul called. One was caught on video of Kidd getting all arm and no call. That was like ten straight drives that resulted strips/turn overs that did not result in a foul. It is impossible to think that each time he was not hammered across the hands.

I am not so much against the call in game 4 by Collison that sent Dirk to the line to tie the game. I think it was debateable, Colli barely touched the dude and intercepted the pass - it was a great hustle play. But what irks me, was a mirror image at the other end when Russ took an inbounds pass where Kidd had hooked his left arm around Russ waist and pulled his bicep with his right hand. There was no call. Three strides later, Kidd made an excellent play by stripping, cleanly, the ball away from Russ on a drive and they scored at the other end. This oversight, too assisted the 17-2 run.

Dirk was amazing this series. Dallas did play smarter, wiser ball in both 4th quarters in the last two games. But I'm absolutely convinced they could not have pulled out these comebacks entire without a little help from Sterns stooges

203 comments

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okc baby

Daniel Hawaii :
Eric Maynor had a pretty poor game. He got burned by JJ Barea so many times. Plus he only scored 5 points, had 1 assist, a couple of costly late game turnovers, 4 fouls and was a -7. Not to mention he decided to take it upon himself to fire up the potential game-tying shot with time winding down, barely striking iron. It was his poor defense on Barea that really frustrated me though.
Maynor has to get much more consistent next season. He’s way too up and down from one game to the next.

Did you watch a single game this season? Just wondering. Yea Maynor was great last night. But he was as terrible as you make it out to be.

TaoMaas

I get the impression that Serge has never gotten back to 100% since twisting his ankle. He seemed to have decent movement, but nowhere near as much vertical leap as we're used to seeing from him.

Downtown_fan

Mark! :@justin
You really want to see Maynor-Thabo-Battier-Ibaka-Aldrich on the court at the same time?

do not want to see aldrich at all. think that was a big waste of a pick. would like to see mullens get some floor time. he can actually score in the post and changes direction real well in the open court.

and ibaka is going to 2nd team why? am going to review your posts and see what i missed.

like to see 1st: perkins, ibaka, durant, harden, westbrook and

2nd: collison, Mullens, Free Agent, Free Agent, maynard and

specialty: thabo, cook, nazr

bblake

@Smokey
Hey, I'm a mavs fan and I hate Terry. I love him when he's on, but he's so hot and cold. He'll go 1/8 from three and do the stupid "jet on the runway b.s." He's a terrible ballhandler, dribbles it off his feet at least twice a game, he'll try to penetrate, panic and then just throw the ball up for grabs. He's a frustrating player, and one of the big reasons we lost the finals in '06. Couldn't make a big shot.

@TaoMaas
I think OKC should've extended the series, but I still think Dallas wins the series regardless. Yeah they were in it with 5 minutes left in every game, but that's 95% of NBA playoff games. Look at Heat/Bulls. All but one of those games were close going down to the last few minutes. That's how it works, you trade buckets for 40+ minutes, and then the better team takes over in the last few minutes. The Mavs are just playing really well right now. You don't sweep the Lakers by not playing on an incredibly high level.

@Daniel Plainview
I did read the entire post, but you simply stated the number of fouls called on each team and said "that should extinguish any further claims of 'balanced out.'" Unless there's an incredibly drastic difference in number of foul calls, that's a false claim in my opinion.

Jax Raging Bile Duct

@justin

For as athletic as he is, all of his agility and body control are expressing themselves in weak side blocked shots, and none on offense. With all that athleticism, he should be able to catch an alley-oop and convert with a dunk. He should be able to roll to the rim as well and Tyson Chandler does.

I think he could pass out of the post, but he is as hesitant to pass as James was to shoot at the beginning of the year. I think he's too afraid to make a mistake or a turnover. Probably because it's one of his goals from the staff, not to turn the ball over.

I've never understood why there is so little power in his game. He has it to use, but he doesn't use it. I don't know.

justin

@Jax Raging Bile Duct

At the very least I'd like to see him develop the awareness to either finish a play at the rim or pass it off. He finishes so weak in traffic.

@bblake

And even the Dallas fan conceeded some of my points. Chill

bblake :@Daniel Plainview So, you’re saying there should be an even number of foul calls, otherwise, it’s unfair? Look, they let both of these teams play. Some teams initiate contact better than others, some penetrate more, etc. Westbrook wasn’t even touched on that drive to the hole late in the 4th and they called a foul on Chandler.And Collison was all over Dirk, but they let them play. There were bad calls on both sides, but I’m tired of this “the refs screwed us” crap. Yeah, I’m sure they were intentionally trying to screw OKC over.

My issue was his use of teh word balanced.

I admitted that call on Chandler was a non-foul.

While youre not obliged to read anyones posts, please read them thoroughly before responding

@Daniel Plainview
So, you're saying there should be an even number of foul calls, otherwise, it's unfair? Look, they let both of these teams play. Some teams initiate contact better than others, some penetrate more, etc. Westbrook wasn't even touched on that drive to the hole late in the 4th and they called a foul on Chandler.And Collison was all over Dirk, but they let them play. There were bad calls on both sides, but I'm tired of this "the refs screwed us" crap. Yeah, I'm sure they were intentionally trying to screw OKC over.

I don't think you can judge Ibaka's offense when his only offensive move is a jumpshot. It's like judging Thabo's offense. Those guys don't have plays run for them, and for good reason. Serge does have some potential on that end of the floor, so there may be a couple of plays run for him in the future, and that should put a baseline on his offense. As it is, it's hard to know what to expect from him when he's just asked to score on putbacks or play breakdowns. Jumpshots come and go.

Serge did show us something in game 4. But given the above, and looking at his assist rate, one would tend to believe that an offensive system he understands could help him improve on offense.

I'm just not sure a PF with bricks for hands will ever establish a baseline offense of more than 10 points a game.

Greg :

justin :@GregHe was really bad offensively though…The playoffs have tempered my excitement over Ibaka some.

Overall, statistically-speaking, yes. But it’s hard to expect him to get into much rhythm offensively when he’s chasing Dirk all over the court, and getting abused (that doesn’t do much for confidence).
His jumpshoot is smooth, looking like it could be more reliable in the future. And he’s progressed in the post. To me it’s just a matter of consistency. He’s still 21, after all.

Yeah, I side with this

His immaturity was clear, but I feel like he will learn . hes shown signs of sonme craftiness. Getting burned by Dirk is hardly an offense. I still think he has a high ceiling

Greg

Overall, statistically-speaking, yes. But it's hard to expect him to get into much rhythm offensively when he's chasing Dirk all over the court, and getting abused (that doesn't do much for confidence).

His jumpshoot is smooth, looking like it could be more reliable in the future. And he's progressed in the post. To me it's just a matter of consistency. He's still 21, after all.

I hate the fact that I can see the day when Im justifying KD getting calls casue hes a star vet. I despise this cyclican pandering to teh vets. I will do my best to be objective.

Yes Russ is more out of control but KD gets stripped alot off the dribble, hes so talla nd doesnt protect the ball well like Dirk. Kd has alot to learn, liek post moves and pump fakes. Once he adds that, hell be more composed and not have tp work as hard.

I do appreciate you coming over here and sharing your thoughts.

@Greg

He was really bad offensively though...

The playoffs have tempered my excitement over Ibaka some.

justin :

I’m pretty much omitting Thabo from my thought processes for the offseason…

Haha. Make that two of us

justin :
After starting fast in the first few Denver games, Serge overall had a very disappointing playoffs IMO.

Because of matchups against Memphis and Dallas, and the coach's incompetence, Ibaka was defending on the ball for the majority of his time on the court. That's not where he excels, so I'm not surprised we didn't see many of his high-quality defensive outputs.

Must admit, he at least showed a lot of potential offensively. Just has to put it all together.

PNT

@Mark!
All you have to do is adjust the rotations so that at least one of Harden, Westbrook, or Durant are on the floor at all times. The Heat do this. I don't think there has been a single second this season where at least 1 of their big 3 hasn't been on the floor.

After starting fast in the first few Denver games, Serge overall had a very disappointing playoffs IMO.

kfmsooner

@justin
You are bringing your 'A' game today...

@the_Mont
Mike Steele praised Brooks for his 'adjustment' last night of giving the ball to Harden to let him create with Russ off the ball. I nearly blew my stack. How can you praise Brooks for waiting til the last game of the entire season to make an adjustment that should have been done 2 months ago, or hell, in October? If Brooks were doing his job with Harden, justin's TS% and USG% numbers listed above wouldn't have held true...

That's lower than Perkins and Ibaka with the same group.

James Harden's USG with rest of starters: 11.3%

Starting unit ends the playoffs with 228 minutes played, or over 25% of the total minutes. They finish -7.19 points per 100 possessions. Yet even in the biggest game of the year, playoff elimination game, they still get the same 25% of total minutes.

DPC

I am looking forward to how the team looks next season; I really hope all the players channel all their anger and frustration from losing into working hard and improving their games. From what Durant was saying at the press conference he should have a more complete game. A reporter asked him what he would work on this summer and he mentioned his weaknesses and also developing a more complete game. He mentioned an array of moves, midrange game, and posting up.

If Derrick Rose gets bounced out of the Eastern Finals I imagine him and Russell will be pretty motivated to practice hard with each other this summer.

I want the Thunder to come in next season super hungry, improved, and to dominate the league :-)

the_Mont

@gr8ball83

He had a player option last summer for $12 million, exercised it and was traded to Dallas in July 2010. I'm sure the thinking was TC would be backup as Haywood was signed to a contract worth $55 million over six years just a few days before that deal. Mannix thinks the Knicks are interested in him and Dalembert. Not sure if Dallas can offer another contract, what with the CBA issues and Haywood's deal. TC is an unrestricted FA at the end of the year.

Barrett

I've defended Coach Brooks' decision to continue starting Thabo over Harden throughout the playoffs, but his decision to leave Harden on the bench to start the 3rd last night was absolutely indefensible. And especially waiting for so long to put him in...shakin' my head.

Like you, I don't think it makes much sense to point to the number of free throws as evidence of anything. I also agree that Dirk got absolutely mauled on many, many plays with nary a call. But overall I felt the officiating was slanted in Dallas' favor.

With that said, the officials did not lose this series for us. We lost because your Mavs are playing tremendous basketball right now and we couldn't make shots late after getting stops.

I just hope at this point Scott Brooks and the staff can reign Westbrook in and get the FGA distributed more efficiently. I wonder if they even think it's a problem. Westbrook basically had an Allen Iverson like postseason, except he's playing without handcheck and Iverson wasn't.

gr8ball83

@dylan
It just feeds more fuel to the "I hate dumb people" fire.

justin :
James Harden finishes the playoffs with a 63.4% TS but only 17.1% USG.
Russell Westbrook finishes the playoffs with a 49.9% TS and 34.4% USG.

Wow. Story of the playoffs.

Everyone keeps talking about how nice it's been to finally see Westbrook and Harden clicking together. Sadly, this would've happened much more often, and sooner, had Brooks inserted Harden into the lineup immediately after the trade, like he should have.

dylan

gr8ball83 :
In the latest episode of “how dumb my friends and co-workers are when it comes to the Thunder”. This morning a co-worker said she guaranteed Durant would leave. (Long-term contract extension anyone??). Another co-worker countered with “He won’t leave, he wouldn’t be a star on any other team. The Thunder is his team, he wouldn’t be the #1 option on any other team in the NBA”. After which I repeatedly stabbed myself in the eye with a highlighter.

This is what I heard today: "Trade Westbrook for the No. 1 pick and draft Brandon Knight, and trade Perkins and Ibaka for Blake Griffin."

So much wrong.

@justin
I like the idea of Collison and Jamison off the bench.

@ThunderHorn
Ah, gotcha. Either way, the team wouldn't have been anywhere near what it is now if the chandler trade had gone through, both from players on the roster view and from player development view. so its really dumb to say "if we just hadn't rescinded the trade".

shiki

I want to see Kenyon Martin as our backup.

James Harden finishes the playoffs with a 63.4% TS but only 17.1% USG.

Russell Westbrook finishes the playoffs with a 49.9% TS and 34.4% USG.

ThunderHorn

Dallas traded Dampier for Chandler. Dampier's contract was non-guaranteed until August 1st, so Charlotte was able to waive him and not pay him a dime. They saved 13 million in the deal.

postman35

@Daniel Plainview
I do think Vets get calls that younger players dont, like that nonsense blocking call against Maynor you mentioned.

I'll admit that the strippings of Durant/Westbrook that happened frequently rather confused me as to the no-calls. But they started happening with such frequency that one of two things happened: 1.) Mavs defenders noticed something on tape with how they were taking the ball off the dribble and leaving something open with regularity or 2.) Blown calls. The reality has to be a bit of both. Westbrook is often a tad out of control so the no calls with him didn't shock me, but durant IS a star and should've gotten a little better treatment.

I look less at the number of foul shots and more the number of fouls, which most games was pretty close until the final 6 minutes of the forth. It's why I was never THAT upset that in game three at one point the Thunder had take 24 more FT's than the Mavs.

Either way, I'm more inclined to agree that last nights game result was more the result of bad officiating than game 4. I also factor in not letting Harden play until 6 mins left in the 3rd Q was just silly.

i.e. keep Harden on the court nine man rotation, Maynor-Harden-Battier-Collison-Aldrich isn't so much different from what we've been doing with the bench. Battier's more of a SF than Cook...

I'm pretty much omitting Thabo from my thought processes for the offseason...

Mark!

You really want to see Maynor-Thabo-Battier-Ibaka-Aldrich on the court at the same time?

Antawn Jamison another guy who expires in 2012 who could be auctioned off for cap space. Mehmet Okur. Marcus Camby to replace Mohammed? Blazers probably keep him...

He probably wouldn't come back but Nenad could be a nice backup option to consider.

Shane Battier might be too expensive and Memphis probably wants to keep him.

In the latest episode of "how dumb my friends and co-workers are when it comes to the Thunder". This morning a co-worker said she guaranteed Durant would leave. (Long-term contract extension anyone??). Another co-worker countered with "He won't leave, he wouldn't be a star on any other team. The Thunder is his team, he wouldn't be the #1 option on any other team in the NBA". After which I repeatedly stabbed myself in the eye with a highlighter.

Twistdov

Deo-Durant :
Hi there, I’m a Thunder fan from the Philippines.. The NBA is pretty darn popular here in our country as most of us regard basketball as our “national” sport.. That said, most of the people here are Lakers/Kobe or Heat/DWade/Lebron fans and I’m probably one of the few that really roots for Durant and the Thunder.. Most of my friends even laughed at me (before the postseason started) when I said that the Thunder would get to the Finals this year and have a duel with the Heat.. Well, we almost did it, didn’t we?
I really appreciated what the Thunder has done this season because of the franchise’s recent failures just to even get to the playoffs (been a Sonics fan since ’96).. Following Durant, who is almost the same age as I am, brings joy to me and I watch his every game whenever I get the chance.. Love this team and I even shed a tear when we lost earlier to the Mavs.. It’s just, as Royce said it, Simply Heartbreaking.. But, you could feel it was just Dirk’s year and nothing, not even the Durantula, could stop him..
Here’s to hoping that the Thunder have a great bounceback year next year! Good luck to Presti for hopefully another great off-season ahead!

Welcome aboard! Great to see a fan from the Phillipines. Please stick around and post often

@the_Mont
i may be, i may be wrong, but didn't dallas sign chandler as a free agent this year? did they forget about the 2 injury riddled and under performing years after we rescinded the trade?

I finally had to turn that sh!t off. Fitzpatrick is a douchebag. That TC deal happened (or didn't happen?) over two years ago! They don't think things would have turned out a little different since that time? Plus, TC was playing for a contract, so I'm sure that had a little bit to do with his resurgence this year...

We have this amazing season, and all the SA wants to do is point out our faults less than 24 hours after it's over. We really, really, really need some new blood in the local sports media. I'm lookin' at you, Royce.

Deo-Durant

Hi there, I'm a Thunder fan from the Philippines.. The NBA is pretty darn popular here in our country as most of us regard basketball as our "national" sport.. That said, most of the people here are Lakers/Kobe or Heat/DWade/Lebron fans and I'm probably one of the few that really roots for Durant and the Thunder.. Most of my friends even laughed at me (before the postseason started) when I said that the Thunder would get to the Finals this year and have a duel with the Heat.. Well, we almost did it, didn't we?

I really appreciated what the Thunder has done this season because of the franchise's recent failures just to even get to the playoffs (been a Sonics fan since '96).. Following Durant, who is almost the same age as I am, brings joy to me and I watch his every game whenever I get the chance.. Love this team and I even shed a tear when we lost earlier to the Mavs.. It's just, as Royce said it, Simply Heartbreaking.. But, you could feel it was just Dirk's year and nothing, not even the Durantula, could stop him..

Here's to hoping that the Thunder have a great bounceback year next year! Good luck to Presti for hopefully another great off-season ahead!

@postman35
Yeah Dirk isn't a fadeaway jumpshooter at all.

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Thursday Morning Sketches: Where the Mavs are Money Down the Stretch. | Boston Celtics says:

May 26, 2011 at 7:32 am

[...] DAILY THUNDER: But with their hands on another win — I mean, they were right there — the final few minutes doomed the Thunder. Scott Brooks pulled out all the stops. Russell Westbrook absolutely busted his butt. Nick Collison did his Nick Collison thing. Kevin Durant, Eric Maynor, everyone, put in the work. Losing a seven-point fourth quarter lead makes me want to belly-flop into an empty pool, but sometimes, it’s just not your time. It’s Dirk’s time. It was just meant to be for the Mavs. It hurts right now, because the wounds were just opened. You all had visions of a Game 6 in Oklahoma City and the thought of a comeback in your head. I know, I felt it too. The way the team was playing, the way they were fighting — they proved over five games that they were every bit as good as the Mavs. The difference? Dallas knew how to finish it, the Thunder didn’t. [...]

Thunder up: OKC’s season ends in Dallas, 100-96

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