Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus: “This is all at least as much a credit to the Memphis defense as it is criticism of Durant, but to ignore this factors in comparing Westbrook’s shot attempts to Durant’s is folly. Scott Brooks did a much better job of mixing in some other offense down the stretch, using Daequan Cook’s shooting ability and giving the ball to Harden to run pick-and-rolls at times, but often the Thunder’s offense came down to Westbrook improvising after the play broke down. Given the circumstances, he did more than a credible job.”
John Hollinger of ESPN.com: “It also marked one of the first times the Thunder had dictated the match-ups, and while it didn’t work quite as well in the fourth quarter against the Grizzlies’ starters, it afforded Oklahoma City a series-saving advantage in the second quarter against the Memphis bench. One presumes they’ll go back to the well in the second quarter of Game 5 unless the Grizzlies can adjust.”
Chris Mannix of SI.com: “The truth, Brooks said, was that somewhere along the line the Thunder forgot how to close out games. Westbrook got sloppy. Durant struggled to get free. But when Mike Conley and Greivis Vasquez tossed in improbable shots to prolong Game 4, Oklahoma City refused to fold. In the second overtime it was Westbrook (seven points) taking over and in the third OT Durant (six) was there to close the show. In each Thunder huddle in the overtimes was Perkins, his low voice bellowing “lock in” over and over in their ears. “I saw toughness in their eyes at the end,” Brooks said. “They could have easily said ‘this isn’t meant to be.’ They were exhausted. Our guys have an amazing ability to play with a competitive spirit. I haven’t been around many young players like that.” Oklahoma City reclaimed home court advantage on Monday. Keeping it, however, won’t be a simple task. They know Memphis will be there on Wednesday, pounding the ball inside, beating on them with blunt force and brute strength.”
NBA Playbook details the real reasons KD didn’t get the ball late: “On these three plays, Kevin Durant takes a total of zero steps when moving off of the basketball. Despite the Thunder scoring on two of these plays, this isn’t good for Oklahoma City, because Durant is developing a bad habit of standing behind the three point line and watching. The most interesting aspect of this is that Durant’s man leaves him (or at least turns his head) on all three plays. Durant needs to make the defense pay for this and cut right off of his man’s back. Instead, he stands and watches.”
Kurt Helin of Pro Basketball Talk: “And then they ran in to the same problem — a nine-minute stretch where Kevin Durant did not get a shot off. Russell Westbrook took a lot of heat for this the last few days around the Interwebs, and he deserves some of the blame. He can get tunnel vision on shots. But Durant becomes a spectator, not moving to get open, not doing his part to get into position. Coach Scott Brooks deserves part of the blame. Everyone deserves some blame for not getting James Harden the ball as a shot creator more in this situation because he is the best passer, best pure point guard they have. Harden was a beast in this game.”
KD’s nasty dunk over Zach Randolph.
Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com: “Russell Westbrook – the Thunder’s sometimes unstoppable, other times unwatchable point guard — had shots to win the game at the end of regulation and second overtime but missed both jumpers and finished 15 for 33 from the field for a game-high 40 points. The UCLA product alternated between creating incredible plays and inexcusable possessions, and if it’s possible to frustrate while scoring 40, Westbrook did it, because he couldn’t stop trying to close the game — even though he’s not Oklahoma City’s best closer. That title belongs to Durant.”
Crest Foods is rooting for OKC.
An amazing Thunder graffiti wall from Dusty at Tree and Leaf.
Tom Schrapling for GQ on KD: “I have no idea why Durant isn’t standing up to Westbrook. I can only speculate that on some level he feels that everything else is ultimately secondary to the game itself. He’s not wrong—after all, everybody is a fan of music, but only assholes are fans of the music business. But he’s not right, either. No matter how much he keeps his head down and just PLAYS—to the extent where he’s the first player of color in ages to get the crypto-racist term “gym rat” favorably tossed his way—the unfortunate and frustrating part of the equation is not going to go away no matter how many points you score.”
@justSTUit
A lot of it does depend on what Russell learns, what he is willing to learn or not, what he is forced to learn or not. And how quickly. Before his next contract decision or not, whenever that really happens. One way or another it starts when the next fiscal year starts after the new CBA. It also matters whether he learns / changes or how much and how effectively before other key players' (Harden and Ibaka) next contract decisions or not.
Duunk? No :(
Daniel :@DC
The Thunder should have gotten the ball. Mayo’s foot was out of bounds when he jumped up to throw the ball off Harden’s head. That means he didn’t reestablish possession inbounds before touching the ball. The refs, however, must not have seen it. If they thought that Mayo was inbounds before he jumped, then I can see why they gave Memphis the ball. Mayo threw it off Harden in time.
+1
5 game suspension for Bynum. Meh. I was hoping it would be more.
since everybody is consumed by talking about the game i would like to mention how AWESOME that wall mural is..
Regarding Westbrook...I heard this quote once, "In youth we learn, in time we understand..." Russell is still only 2 years removed from a team that won only 20 something games, he still thinks the Thunder have a lot to prove. He still wears jersey number 0, because he still thinks people don't respect him. He's still learning and given his surrounding cast I'm sure he'll "get it" soon. Plus I'd rather have a a point guard with a tenacious mean streak, that you can work with to "tone it down", rather than a point guard you HAVE TO TEACH a mean streak to, that it may never come naturally.
@Joey Gladstone
Not sure he's athletic enough to take on Nate's role.
Next year (well ideally NOW) Thabo should have Nate Robinson's current role. Harden starting and Cook the backup SG.
I never want to see Thabo again. Ever......unless he's waiving a towel from the bench celebrating a spectacular dunk by Harden or a big 3 by KD.
Since many things have been covered well, here is something else:
For the playoffs the best Thunder player pair on raw +/- per minute is Westbrook-Cook, followed be Durant-Cook.
Westbrook-Durant is not top 10 nor is any player pair involved in the starting lineup but Westbrook-Durant is 11th at +6.5 per 48.
What else is in the top 10 per minute? Collison with each of the non-Star starters and Cook, Harden with Westbrook or Cook. Cook gets a 5th appearance with Ibaka, Ibaka's only one. 9 of 10 best performing players had Collison or Cook. Westbrook and Durant only appearance involve a SG who is not Thabo or involve Nick Collison. Perkins only appearance is with Nick Collison.
The player with the best individual raw +/- is Cook. I guess he is probably being inserted at good times in a good role for him. Second best Collison then Westbrook, Durant, Harden, Ibaka, Thabo, then Mohammed who is mildly negative. The 2 players with the worst individual +/- so far are Perkins and Maynor with Perkins at -2.6 per 48 minutes and Maynor at -10.4 per 48.
Mostly small sample happening or something to think about more? I don't know for sure. But there is if anyone is even interested in this aspect.
Smokey :
“gym rat” is a crypto-racist term? Good grief.
LMAO, I thought I was the only one floored by this.
This is yet another example of one of these cocktail party circuit self-righteous white liberal pricks playing the game of "spot racism" as a means to not actually combat legitimate racism but to show themselves off as "not like the other whites". It's a cry for people to pat them on their back for being so "tolerant" and "worldly."
There is nothing worse than these race-baiting white liberals.
Im glad we dont have to wait 4 days for another game
Well I was actually talking about it last night with my friend, just how amazing it is that he still keeps his head up. He went from being completely shafted, to pouring in incredible bench numbers, to starting, to a solid bench role, to the last seat on the bench. In timeouts he doesn't even approach the huddle. He hangs out with the towel boy watching the Grizz dance girls. But for him still to be enthusiastic and into the game when he's on the bench after all that does blow my mind.
Theres some talk of Nate Robinson as a glorified fan on these comments and it really is sad for the guy. Guy lands in NY with a coach that hates him and 3 minutes of playtime a week. Finally gets a consistant 6th man role in Boston, starts to figure out the system but is stuck behind Rajon Rondo and a returning Delonte West. Then he gets traded to OKC, which on the surface is a perfect fit (young team, headed to the playoffs) but because Eric Maynor is so talented and the 2 spot is so deep (Cook) hes not going to see any minutes.
I'm not sure what Maynor's contract is like but his value is going to be pretty high after these playoffs and I think Nate would actually be an okay back up for this team despite his similarites to Russell.
Probably not the best move, but it just saddens me to see his talents go to waste. Nate really showed some spark in last years Celtic playoff run. Would be nice to see him get a couple minutes here and there, but it won't happen.
Great article over at Truehoop about Westbrook's shot attempts. At first I thought it was going to attack Russ, but it actually shifted a lot of the blame away from him and onto some coaching problems/Durant struggling to get open.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/28874/russell-westbrooks-itchy-trigger-finger
@RedDirt717
Link?
You know what was better than Durant's dunk?
Russell's reaction to it. Go back and watch it 30 times in a row like I just did.
@Sammy
Ibaka - 17, Allen - 33, Conley - 38 (that's still quite a bit). Point being, perimeter-oriented players such as Westbrook and Durant playing 50+ minutes isn't as worrisome as Gasol and Z-Bo playing 50+.
Maybe it will have absolutely no effect on the next game. Who knows? Can we beg Darnell and the likes to persistently ask Brooks about starting Harden? Especially after last night.
@Heysloth
Unfortunately, Allen and Conley also played relatively few minutes.
Blessing in disguise that Ibaka played so few mins. Gasol and Zbo should have lead in their legs on Wed. Hopefully Chewbaka can dominate the paint.
“On these three plays, Kevin Durant takes a total of zero steps when moving off of the basketball. Despite the Thunder scoring on two of these plays, this isn’t good for Oklahoma City, because Durant is developing a bad habit of standing behind the three point line and watching. The most interesting aspect of this is that Durant’s man leaves him (or at least turns his head) on all three plays. Durant needs to make the defense pay for this and cut right off of his man’s back. Instead, he stands and watches.”
^^^ That is what I was talking about during the game. KD needs to get open to get his touches.
@clarkem
you have to remember that in game 3, where they shot 21 more free throws and were called for 13 less fouls (nearly half as many as the Thunder) they were chanting "refs you suck". They don't quite have a grasp on reality....
Mark! :
Westbrook will be incredible, be patient.
He has the ability to create momentum on his own. That is a real talent.
He doesn’t have a strong sense of when to turn that momentum over to his teammates once he’s generated it (and subsequently sometimes he’ll shoot us right back out), but he’ll get it. I’m confident. And we’ll all love it when he does.
-nods head violently-
Daniel :@DC
The Thunder should have gotten the ball. Mayo’s foot was out of bounds when he jumped up to throw the ball off Harden’s head. That means he didn’t reestablish possession inbounds before touching the ball. The refs, however, must not have seen it. If they thought that Mayo was inbounds before he jumped, then I can see why they gave Memphis the ball. Mayo threw it off Harden in time.
Could memphis have gotten the ball bc mayo was out when he jumped, so the last player in play was Harden? not sure what the rule is on that but if Mayo was inbounds when he jumped and threw it off harden it should still have been OKC's ball because harden had 1 and probably two feet out of bounds when he was hit
As it's somewhat irrelevant since OKC won the game, the officials clearly had no idea of simple out-of-bounds principals. And neither did Fratello or Stockton, because neither brought up the fact that Mayo's foot clearly was out of bounds when he jumped to grab the ball and bounce it off Harden's head.
[quote]NBA RULE #8 SECTION I: The player is out-of-bounds when he touches the floor or any object on or outside a boundary. For location of a player in the air, his position is that from which he last touched the floor.[/quote]
So because Mayo's foot was on a boundary, his position in the air should be from his last location on the floor--out of bounds.
[quote]NBA RULE #8 SECTION II: a. The ball is out-of-bounds when it touches a player who is out-of-bounds or any other person, the floor, or any object on, above or outside of a boundary or the supports or back of the backboard... c. The ball is caused to go out-of-bounds by the last player to touch it before it goes out, provided it is out-of-bounds because of touching something other than a player. If the ball is out-of-bounds because of touching a player who is on or outside a boundary, such player caused it to go out. [/quote]
As soon as the ball touches Mayo (or Mayo touches the ball), the ball should be ruled out-of-bounds because May is a "player who is out-of-bounds." As May is also "a player who is on our outside a boundary," he caused it to go out. Thus, the ball should've been awarded to OKC. it is irrelevant that it hit Harden's head, despite the officials insistence on looking the replays of the ball bouncing off Harden's head.
The only way this works is if they ruled Mayo was never out of bounds. Which I guess they could have (his heel was off the line), but to me it seemed like the officials weren't even looking at whether Mayo was out before he grabbed the ball to throw it off Harden.
I can't believe the memphis blog complained about Harden travelling. Do the not see Gasol take 5 steps everytime he does that sweeap across the paint hook. (1 dribble, takes 2 steps, bumps into a defender, shuffles three times to create separation, throw up a shot.) It happens every single time. I don't care that he does it,(I'm honestly just glad they don't call a foul on every bump.) I just think its silly for them to claim one of our guys travels as egregiously as DWade.
DC :Also does anyone of an explaination of why the Thunders did not retain the ball after Harden block OJ? When OJ grab it and through the ball against Harden’s head… Harder was clearly out of bounce.
What's the rule on that? Harden was never back in-bounds after blocking the shot.
Jimbo Slice :Nate Robinson is an awesome fan with even awesomer seats. The dude doesn’t even look like he anticipates EVER getting into or being part of the game at any moment.
Love Nate. It's such a shame he doesn't play. But I love his enthusiasm on the bench. It's amazing considering that he was traded to OKC after the All-Star break and gets almost no playing time. By all rights, he should be bitter and disgruntled. Instead, he's the most gruntled player on the bench.
Lefty :I would like to see some Thunder fans show up tomorrow night with a big Russ cut-out head or, like, some kind of big show of appreciation for Russ. He deserves it.
Word. I hope OKC singles Russ out for a lot of love.
Westbrook will be incredible, be patient.
He has the ability to create momentum on his own. That is a real talent.
He doesn't have a strong sense of when to turn that momentum over to his teammates once he's generated it (and subsequently sometimes he'll shoot us right back out), but he'll get it. I'm confident. And we'll all love it when he does.
@DavyTheWise
Hawks have the worst PA announcer IMO
Joel :
I can respect the Grizz, but their PA announcer has to go. That is the most annoying dude I have ever heard.
I have much more angst for the miami PA dude. his style just rubs me the wrong way...
Every article seems to have posters comparing Russ to Rose. They're different players on different teams with virtually nothing in common. I understand people are butt hurt over Rose winning MVP. But must we break down every good or bad play he makes and compare it to Westbrook.
Westbrook is a very good PG with a lot to learn. He's 21, he'll get there soon enough. Same with Rose. Tremendous talent with room to improve. But neither will improve if they listen to their respective apologists (for which there are many).
@JJJ
ahhhh crap, my mistake.
@DC
On the contrary, Harden seemed to have plenty of bounce in his bounce reserve.
@DC
The Thunder should have gotten the ball. Mayo's foot was out of bounds when he jumped up to throw the ball off Harden's head. That means he didn't reestablish possession inbounds before touching the ball. The refs, however, must not have seen it. If they thought that Mayo was inbounds before he jumped, then I can see why they gave Memphis the ball. Mayo threw it off Harden in time.
Also does anyone of an explaination of why the Thunders did not retain the ball after Harden block OJ? When OJ grab it and through the ball against Harden's head... Harder was clearly out of bounce.
Can I make a quick comment... did anyone watch Gasol in yesterdays game?
He stayed in the key, for 5, 7 9 seconds at a time.... mutiple times... no wonder he grabed a bunch of rebounds...
Royce--
FYI, your link on the KD dunk sends instead to KD's cross-over on Battier.
*carry the load, or carry the burden.......what was I writing?
Cowherd is making a Rose-Iverson comparison. And using USG% while doing it. First smart thing he has said in years.
@kfmsooner
Rose has losers like Deng, Korver, and Boozer around him, while Russ has offensive superstars to pass to like Kendrick Perkins and Thabo Sefalosha. Rose has to burden the load because of the inferior play, while Russ is selfish and unwilling to pass
I can respect the Grizz, but their PA announcer has to go. That is the most annoying dude I have ever heard.
Can anyone explain the difference between Derrick Rose's game 3 performance and RW's performance last night?
If we don't run the James Harden PnR 10-15 times Wednesday night, I will scream.
I would like to see some Thunder fans show up tomorrow night with a big Russ cut-out head or, like, some kind of big show of appreciation for Russ. He deserves it.
Kevin Pelton's article is good too.
@AC
Pelton was good too, but read the NBA Playbook link, which Pruiti runs.
@anonymous
Do you mean new Jeff Green?
And being in Boston, its like I can't get away from being disappointed by Jeff Green. I want to like him, but I just can't.
anonymous :I’ve said it before. Westbrook is the new Landry Jones. The media will blame him for every loss and every win will be in spite of him.
Then he better win a fookin ring and shut them up. :)
@justin
Pelton you mean. And Yes. Watch Durant, and he is rarely if ever "open".
I don't know if its possible to set some back picks, or even alley-oop lobs if Allen is on him, but he needs to get open, or at least start the play sooner, so the thunder has 10 seconds to panic and figure out what to do instead of 6 seconds.
@justin
Haha....beat me to it.
Pruiti is awesome.
He needs to show that article to all these deplorable journalists and analysts who solely bash Westbrook for our troubles