John Hollinger names James Harden to his All-Breakout team: “This one feels like stealing because the breakout already mostly happened. Harden before the All-Star break a year ago: 10.3 points, 43 percent shooting; Harden after the All-Star break: 15.8 points, 46.5 percent shooting. A third-year pro who is only 22 years old, Harden could still play more minutes, too; he averaged only 28.6 even in his second-half blow-up a year ago. If he keeps coming off the bench he’s a good bet to win the Sixth Man Award; if he starts his minutes will increase enough that he could win Most Improved.”
Via ESPN Stats and Info on Westbrook’s 0-13 game: “A check of Basketball-Reference.com showed this to be only the fourth time since the 1985-86 season that a team won a game in which it had a player shoot 0-for-13 or worse from the field, the first since David Wesley for the Hornets against the New Jersey Nets in 2001.”
Oh yeah, KD and Russ. Kurt Helin of PBT with a smart take: “It happens, and with the win the two likely will shake hands and move on. But there remains an undercurrent of tension between the two stars of this team that comes out in stressful times, and that should be a concern to Thunder fans and management.”
KD beat out LeBron by two votes in ESPN.com’s Winter Forecast MVP predictions.
I did grades at CBSSports.com for last night’s NBA action and gave OKC a B and Russell Westbrook a D.
One thing to understand about the supposed Westbrook-Durant stuff: It’s not an issue now. But what happens if they stop winning? That’s when things could get scary because of this built-in tension manifested from the media.
Darnell Mayberry with more: “Westbrook and Kevin Durant got into a heated exchange on the bench during a second quarter timeout. It was as fierce as anything I’ve ever seen from the two publicly and the kind of scene that lends credence to the alleged beef between the two. It didn’t appear to have anything AT ALL to do with the rumored rift that so many seemingly wants to be true. But they had to be separated more than once as they lashed out at each other. Fans in the first few rows behind the bench even came to their feet as if a fight was breaking out. The two eventually sat at opposite ends of the five-man unit that was sitting while waiting on Thunder coach Scott Brooks to enter the huddle. But when Durant and Westbrook took the court, Durant walked over and patted Westbrook on the back of the head.”
Here’s the play that supposedly started the Durant-Westbrook altercation with Westbrook very loudly yelling at Thabo to “shoot the f—— ball!” Unfortunately there’s no video of the actual argument.
David Thorpe: “I don’t worry about KD and Westbrook arguing. I worry about Westbrook’s maturation process, it’s slower than it needs to be.”
Doug Gottlieb talking about it. Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith.
Tom Ziller of SB Nation: “The problem with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant is that everyone wants there to be a problem with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. We are a society bored without conflict. We demand drama, and not just of the competitive variety. We are a nation and world that loves to watch sports, but there’s no denying that we gravitate toward the operatic. How else do you explain the Miami Heat’s incredible ratings last season? Every writer in the nation (myself included) rushed to note how clinically boring the Heat usually were on the court; from a purely aesthetic view, there were good teams (the bemoaned San Antonio Spurs, the Thunder, the Memphis Grizzlies) that were much more pleasing to the eye. But everyone watched the Heat, no matter how sanitized the play itself was.”
Ricky Rubio: “What u can do against him? KD35 is just incredible.”
Kendrick Perkins calling out Chris Webber: “and im tired of chris webber hatin on me get a ring first and then i can respect ya comments other wise keep my name out of ya mouth.”
From Elias: “Kevin Durant scored 32 points while shooting 10-for-17 from the field in the Thunder’s 98-95 win at Memphis. Durant has now scored at least 30 points and shot better than 50% from the field in all three Oklahoma City games in 2011-2012. Only two other players in the last 30 years have opened a season with three straight 30-point games while making more than half their field-goal attempts in each: Shaquille O’Neal for the Magic in 1993-1994 and Ray Allen for the Bucks in 2001-2002.”
I agree with Jalen Rose in the clip with him and Gottlieb, Westbrook and Durant are only 23 years old. Is Westbrook perfect? No, far from it, but the kid is only 23 years old! The upside he has is unmatched by most if not all the players in the NBA. This is why I think the Rondo trade would be a terrible deal for OKC. Westbrook has the athleticism to become a top 2 point guard in this league. Aside from the basketball related issues, I don't have any problem at all with Westbrook, including him and Durant "getting into it." Do I think Westbrook needs to work on keeping his cool in games, yes, but I just don't think it's that big of deal when teammates get into it with each other. When you have two extremely competitive guys sitting on the same bench, it is bound to happen.
As much as I love Russell's game and potential, I am really beginning to think that packaging him and Nazer for Rondo and Boston's first round pick would be in the club's best interest. Harden has been beasting, which means he will be demanding big money when it is his turn at the trough. If we did manage to keep Russ and James and KD, I fear the rest of our roster will be thin. Swapping for Rondo's remaining 10 to 12 mill for 4 yrs would allow us to keep everybody else without going crazy deep into the luxury tax. All personality clash non-issues aside, if those are indeed the 2 choices Presti is facing, I would rather take Rondo and be able to re-sign Harden, Ibaka, Maynor and Aldrich.
Skip Bayless is kind of a tool. I'd rather have my team scrutinized by Rick Perry: "That Durant, he's the man! No homo. Westbrook should stick to penetrating and just let Durant handle the ballwork. No homo, of course."
@johnzaga Wow. I'm really glad I didn't watch that. Skip Bayless is the worst
What did C- Webb say about Perk anyway?
@Serghei Ibaka he's said over two nights. Webber said that the media thinks he is a good defender but that players don't. Then again last night was talking about he wants to see if he is just a myth. Also said he wasn't a good fit for OKC.
i think a big part of it is that russ' game seems selfish because he is the point guard. They need his scoring though, at least on the currently composed starting unit. No one has a problem w/ Wade/Lebron alternating possessions. Also, i think its bcuz Russ is worse than Wade, but overall a big part of the criticism is that it seems russ is hogging in the ball when in fact he is explicitly told pass to kd or take the shot urself.
@Thunder S Really? Didnt seem like they needed his scoring last night.
@OkcBaby KD had an unbelievable game yday. He wont always, also people will double him.
Of course we're all in a tiff about a conflict that arose from Thabo NOT taking a shot.
Seriously though-Thabo had a good game last night, at least the first half (led all scorers!).
This conflict feels like a normal frustration thing. Russ is emotional, we all know. Not weird for that to boil over sometimes-though if it becomes a pattern or distracting then it does become an issue. But not yet. He had a really frustrating night, I don't blame him.
I remember seeing the look on his face when the team came to the airport after the WCF loss-it looked like he was already focused on this season. He's just way intense.
Russ was swarming on D the whole night, missed shots and all (and they were almost entirely GOOD shots that didnt fall)-and yes, some gambles cost an open court for MEM. But he wasn't not trying on anything he could.
There are less than 3 or 4 PGs we would even be wise to think about trading for and I don't think any of them are available. So I'm cheering on Russ as long as he is with us-and to keep improving-and I hope it's a long time.
gawd I'm sick of the Westbrook hate, there is not a point guard in the league I would over him for the next 7+ years. I have a feeling we are going to see triple/double Westbrook against Dallas tonight
This video seems appropriate today
http://youtu.be/g0AUkHt95dA
@ultimatesooner I love Russ' game and I am not part of the criticize Russ crowd, but events like last night will effect the team if they continue to occur. Since we probably can't afford Russ and Harden, it may become a factor.
Thabo play was pretty good. Westbrook overreacted but didnt look like he was yelling at Sef. Must have carried over to the bench.
I'm confused by all of the rebirth of "trade Westbrook" outcry. I understood it when CP3 was available, just like it made sense to fire Brooks despite his winning ways when Adelman became available. But for Rondo? Or even DWill? Come on guys lets be serious here. We've gone over it 100 times. We NEED our point guard to score the ball, especially in transition. Why would we trade him for someone who either can't score and pass better than him? Give the guy a chance. He had a horrific game last night. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he goes off for 30+ tonight.
@JimboSlice I agree with you 100% Of everyone on the Thunder, I sympathize with Westbrook the most for the stuff he has to deal with. I think people should realize he's a SCORING point guard and no matter how hard he tries, he can never change that and become a pass-first guy. If you put Westbrook and Harden's skill sets together and could divide them up again, you would emerge with 1 perfect point guard and 1 perfect shooting guard so we just need to make sure we allow them to play together some more and all these problems with Westbrook will start to dissipate.
@JimboSlice yeah but you can't totally dismiss the Rondo idea b/c of the money and the way the new cba will impact us. Rondo might look a lot better if it meant you could plausibly keep Harden.
@JimboSlice I'm not interested in getting rid of Russ at all, but the reality is we can't keep him and Harden in the long run. Eventually that decision will have to be made. The Russ vs. KD stuff is also eventually going to become a distraction. So when the time comes to make the Westbrook/Harden decision, that could be the overriding factor. NOT NOW.
With Russ, I think he has until Harden is eligible for and extension to assimilate. If he cannot find a way to make this all go away by then, then the team will re-sign Harden and trade Westbrook. As a Thunder fan it is an excellent situation to be in.
@Struts10 Agreed. Stay conservative with his extension offer this season and then get into more next summer when you know what its going to take to keep Harden.
Anyone know what Webber said about Perk ?
@anonymous12345 that he's not a 1 on 1 defender.
@Struts10@anonymous12345 and... Webber is smoking crack. You don't hold the opposing bigs to the lowest post fg% in the league without being a good one on one defender
Thabo did screw up big time on that play last night. He definitely was wide open. The play fell apart after he passed up the shot. It was chaos and the Thunder only got bailed out when Mayo or whoever fouled Durant.
@yehoshuagardner How is your best player getting to the line getting bailed out?
@OkcBaby@yehoshuagardner combo of the refs and our best player bailing us out when we passed up a good shot. It would have been all right if he passed up a good shot for a great shot, but he passed up a good shot, blew the play, and left us in a hotly contested situation where, had the refs not made the call, we wasted a trip that we could have gotten something out of.
@ou_sas@JimboSlice@yehoshuagardner Must have wanted to fix his assist to turnover ratio. KD shooting from the foul line seems like a higher percentage shot.
@JimboSlice@OkcBaby@yehoshuagardner It's probably incredibly frustrating for Russ to have everyone telling him to pass to open teammates more, do so, only to have them pass up the wide open look he just created for them and blow up the play.
I'm actually really surprised at how balanced most of the media coverage of this has been. I'm hearing a lot more "This isn't a big deal, the media is inflating it" from media guys than I am from fans.
"I don't know what we're yelling about! Loud noises!!" - cole aldrich (on the bench during the infamous durant/westbrook shouting matching/death struggle of 2011)
The way the Mavs have been playing, I'm ready to see what the Thunder can do. Here's hoping for a blowout.
we could use one along with a good westbrook game, get the media off our backs
I'm interested to see how Westbrook bounces back. He struggled in the following game after his infamous 30 for 30 game against denver.
@f5alcon Is the next step in Westbrook evolution the "Kobe Bryant- You guys think I take too many shots? OK I won't shoot until the second half, let me know how you like it when we're down 20 and I have to shoot us back in it" game?
@gr8ball83@f5alcon If that happens we'll reallllllly be in trouble lol.
@gr8ball83 If that happens we'd be up 20 not down 20
@gr8ball83@f5alcon pleeeeeease no. I also think he might be putting some unneccesary pressure on himself becuase of the contract extension or lack thereof. Brutally suprised, honestly, that more peeps don't point to this as a possible cause of a Russ that has looked disgruntled to me in EVERY game this year. Always bending down, and looking down and just generally acting like a kid that didn't get ice cream before bed. Worries in the long term. Could it be that the Thunder aren't perfect after all? I refuse to believe it. lol