Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game: “Westbrook, on the other hand, has been the Thunder’s saving grace in light of Marion’s shackling of Durant and James Harden’s fits of passivity. And, in pitch-perfect fashion: Westbrook is beating the Mavs without even masquerading as the pure playmaker his critics demand that he be. Westbrook hasn’t been selfish by any means, but he’s dominating the game as a shot creator. He’s creating looks for others by way of passing and penetration, but the bulk of his damage is done by getting to the rim, getting to the line, and elevating on — as Matt Devlin did an excellent job of highlighting on TNT’s broadcast — those idyllic pull-up jumpers. This isn’t even Westbrook at his best, and yet he’s put up more points in this series than any other player, and anchored his team’s efforts in two keynote victories.”
Kurt Helin of PBT: “While Dallas is in a tight spot down 2-0 it doesn’t feel hopeless — they are not getting dominated. They could easily take the next two and make this a best out of three. The Thunder win either one of the next two and they will be in total command. But to do that they are going to have to play a better — improve their ball movement, get Durant going, play better defense. The Mavericks are the defending champions, they will not go quietly.”
Darnell Mayberry: “Major credit goes to Thunder coach Scott Brooks tonight. He made the most important adjustment he needed to make tonight. When he inserted James Harden at his usual four-minute mark, he subbed Harden in for Ibaka as opposed to Thabo Sefolosha. That allowed Sefolosha to remain in the game and take the assignment on Jason Terry. Sefolosha didn’t come out for the first time until 1:34 was left in the first quarter.”
Berry Tramel: “The Thunder inbounded the ball under its basket with 2.6 seconds left in the shot clock but got the ball to Durant in a scramble near the corner. Durant exaggerated a bump from Terry, and the whistle-happy crew was more than happy to stop the game again. Durant made two foul shots with 50.4 seconds left for a 98-97 lead. Fortune? Yes. That’s what happens to big brothers.”
Jenni Carlson: “And here we thought Dirk was one of the nice guys in the league. Guess that reputation might hold up in other NBA hamlets, but not here. Not after Monday night. The Dirk devil blew into The Peake and wreaked some serious havoc. And we’re not talking about the kind of chaos he usually causes. This wasn’t Dirk hitting all kinds of crazy, beautiful, mystifying shots. This was Dirk shoving and complaining and flopping. And it almost worked.”
Dirk has been awarded Flop of the Night.
Ben Golliver of CBSSports.com: “Two nail-biters, two must-win-to-hold-serve slugfests, two Thunder victories. OKC won the free throw shooting battle on Monday, knocking down 37-for-39 to edge out Dallas, who hit 38-32. The sheer size of those numbers says all you need to know about how intense this first round series already is. OKC dodged some bullets thanks to a few unexpected Dirk Nowitzki misses late. Holding serve was absolutely vital in the playoff’s best series.”
ESPN Stats and Info: “Kevin Durant was held to 0-4 shooting inside 10 feet of the basket in Game 2. It’s the first time all season that Durant has failed to make a field goal from inside 10 feet and the first time since Game 6 of last season’s Western Conference Semifinals against the Grizzlies.”
Another one from ESPN Stats and Info: “Russell Westbrook took 4 more field goal attempts than Kevin Durant in Game 2, the 28th time this season Westbrook has out-shot Durant. Including Monday, the Thunder are now 23-5 (.821) in games where Westbrook attempts more field goals than Durant.”
Henry Abbott of TrueHoop on the final play last night: “But watch what Dirk does: He wanders inside the 3-point line a few steps. Players are drawn to the ball like moths to flames. He would have looked like a genius had the rebound come to him. But that’s not what happened. Three young Oklahoma players crashed the boards, but somehow an aging Vince Carter was first to the ball, getting hands on leather with four seconds on the clock. As he landed, knowing the Mavericks needed a 3 — and fast — he looked to the perimeter.”
Sekou Smith of NBA.com: “The tennis analogy seems inappropriate, given the mixed martial art nature of the action on the floor in Game 2. And you can bet things are going to get even more intense Thursday night with the Mavericks seeing their home crowd in the playoffs for the first time since Game 5 of The Finals. They’ve been smashing each other from start to finish since the opening tip of Game 1, cultivating a genuine disdain for each other that has grown like a weed out of their testy matchup in the Western Conference finals last year.”
Randy Renner of NBA.com3: “After all the complaining Carlisle did about the physical play of the Thunder after Saturday night’s game and then again during today’s shootaround, the Thunder wasted no time in mixing it up with the Mavs. Perkins body checked Shawn Marion to the court twice in the first quarter, then Perkins and Nowitzki were called for double technicals after shoving each other. The dustup between Perk and Dirk almost started a brawl but things settled down a bit after that. It all added to an intense atmosphere inside the arena.”
Can't stand Dirk on the court, but respect his post-game comments. Unlike his Coach - BS Rick - no whining about the refs or the physical play. He's a pro in every sense of the word...but I still hate him on the floor.
@Smoke Cuban Dirk is a pro Marion is a moron Terry is a jerk
@Grolgar ... and West is a freak
anyone else feel like strangling the next commenter or whomever says that dirk is getting and i quote " MAULED" in this okc series. *smh* HES 7"1 and build like a brick house. jesus.
@Legendary_dork I wouldn't mind it so much of they didn't completely ignore it the other way. Dirk is being played physically, which leads to free throws for great players. But how many fouls are the Mavs as whole getting for no real reason? Apparently a moving screen is only a foul on OKC. Apparently Kidd can't be called for reach-ins. Apparently any time the Mavericks actually work the ball inside and miss, we must have fouled.
KD has looked lost out there in Games 1 and 2. His defense has been at its worst all season during these two games. Just seems unmotivated at times, especially when he is not hitting shots. Is he sick? tired? Hope he snaps out of this funk.
@Brob785 he has 25+ points and has been rebounding like crazy... oh and remember that game winner???
westbrook cant continue to carry james and durant on his back @ dallas they're both going to have to step it up no excuses.
@Lost Ones I thought Beard played pretty well in Game 1. Yeah he had several turnovers and Terry torched him, but the turnovers were mostly while creating and it's kind of like a hey, stuff happens deal. And with Terry, yes the defense could have and should have been much better, but the guy was also white hot, hitting some hotly contested shots. Game 2 I didn't think Beard was bad as much as he just wasn't great.
But Durant though...
@JimboSlice @Lost Ones Durant has a team-high 9 turnovers through these two games.
Things that need to change (aside from that stat):-Beard has only taken 14 (!) shots so far (but is 19-20 from the line)-Thabo has played only 35 minutes across the two games, I want to see a LOT more of him in the 3rd quarter when our team's defensive mentality seems to flounder.
-Daequan hasn't hit a three yet, but he's only had five attempts in two games. This is our sharp-shooter, get him the damn ball
-I guess it's inevitable with the quieting of JET that someone else was going to step up, but if we HAVE to figure out a way to keep Marion off the boards. That dude is essentially keeping Dallas in these games with his play on both ends of the court.
@duhsweetness @Lost Ones Marion is one of the best there is rebounding from the SF position (man think how bad we'd be hurting right now if they had Marion AND a normal Lamar Odom), so honestly I'm not sure there's a ton we can do about it. Instead I'd like to see us shore up everything else that's wrong, and just (hate to say this word) give better effort on Marion on the glass.
@JimboSlice @Lost Ones I agree with you on James, especially all things considering you know having to pull an elbow out of his head.
Popovich to be named Coach of Year
@diddoff so the team that was #1 last year was #1 this year and that somehow makes him coach of the year?
@f5alcon @diddoff The award isn't the Most Improved Team, it's Coach of the Year and Pop is the best coach in the game.
@f5alcon @jojotheindiancircusboy The Spurs best player missed half the season as well.
@f5alcon the spurs are KILLING people
@ElMexiThunder @sammasaaron @shorthorns4 brooks was 6th in voting for COY
@sammasaaron @shorthorns4 The Bulls played the Bobcats, Bucks, Cavaliers, and Wizards a vast number of time(the first three 4 times), thats 16 wins they could have, and even if they lost 4 of that its 12. Thats where the discredit for the Bulls goes, as much as media tries to make you think they're really that good.
@shorthorns4 True, but the Bulls also play in East which was more of a factor in a shortened season and the Spurs pulled off their record with Pop rotating key players to keep everybody fresh.
@Keith00 @jojotheindiancircusboy @f5alcon @diddoff Pretty amazing that the Bulls will end up with the best record in the NBA without their best player for most of the season and no other award winners on their team. Parker will be getting some MVP love, but Chicago has no one who played most of the season getting any consideration for the awards. Pop may be the best coach, but he still has quite a bit better talent at his disposal than Chicago IMO.
@jojotheindiancircusboy not most improved, but certainly did the best, thibs deserves it more for playing half the season without rose.
@jojotheindiancircusboy @f5alcon @diddoff No offense to Brooks, but I'm hoping giving it to guys like Pop and Thibs is a turn toward giving it to the right people, not just the most improved team.
@f5alcon @diddoff DNP: Old makes him COY for me lol
Can KD be considered soft? And anytime someone who has good defensive skill and plays physical scratching and clawing him on every possession, he won't be able to make shots. (MWP, Battier, Allen, MArion) I think the only way he can get off against these guys is bringing the ball up the court like he did some last night, because coming from off the ball he wastes too much of the shot clock trying to get position because he can't get it. And when he does get it they are still able to bump and chuck him off his shot or into a turnover. People blame it on Brooks and the offense not being able to get him better looks, but its the playoffs and its a good defender, KD's got to help his self sometimes! Or is it too much to ask of an MVP candidate?
@jamonit He's fared well against MWP and Battier for the most part actually since the first round loss a couple years ago. It might be smart for both KD and the staff to look back at tape from those games to see how he was able to have more success against them than Allen and Marion, who play a similar style of defense on him.
Marion's been particularly impressive for me though, in that it's not just ball denial. When KD puts the ball on the floor, he's not gambling, he's staying in front of KD and rarely, if ever, getting beat.
@JimboSlice @jamonit Marion is quite a bit better of an athlete than those other guys IMO. MWP and Allen are just incredibly strong while Battier is fundamentally sound but not near the athlete to keep up with KD. The problem I see is that they keep having mismatches on Durant that they aren't taking advantage of. Several times last night he had Kidd or Terry on him and they didn't get him the ball.
@jamonit The easiest solution would be to simply have KD bring the ball up the floor a bit more. Also, when he was out there with the second unit last night he was just standing around, looking like he wasn't interested in calling for the ball. That needs to stop.
@shorthorns4 @JimboSlice They would definitely try to get him the ball but just about every time the Mavs knew KD had switched into a mismatch, they dropped down the man who was guarding the passer into KD's lap making it hard to make the entry pass. And then the few times they did get him the ball against Kidd, Kidd would reach around and steal the ball on KD's post move, while Terry would pressure him into the middle into the double team also for a turnover or a missed shot.
@JimboSlice @jamonit I think a lot of it is KD being worn down. In fact I would be he looks better as the postseason goes on with more days off and hopefully short series.
Since the All Star break the phrase "a rare off night for Kevin Durant" has become far too common.
@Fuzzy Logic 51 % pre all star break 48% post all star break, 48% in April. Not a big difference. If you notice more when it happens that doesn't mean it happens more.
@Fuzzy Logic I think everyone just assumes because he's young that he shouldn't get worn down. It was a tough schedule and KD had some of the highest minutes in the league. And let's be honest, he's not a 6'8" freight train of a human being (Lebron) nor a ripped 6'3" hellion (Westbrook). He's a skinny 6'10" kid that has taken a pounding as teams decide he has trouble against physical defenders.
@Keith00 @Fuzzy Logic Plus, hasn't had a real off season.
@Fuzzy Logic Yet KD went from 3rd leading scorer in the NBA to winning His 3rd straight scoring title.
Not disagreeing about him having off nights, but....
I'm not dogging KD, just pointing out the cliche' narrative writers seem to be falling back on.
@Fuzzy Logic Ok, I gotcha.
@Fuzzy Logic The cliche is certainly getting old. Get tired of hearing, "you know Durant won't have two bad games in a row." That being said, he is hands down the most consistent scorer in the league. 26 points on 17 shots is still impressive when you consider Wade just scored 25 points on 18 shots and Lebron had 19 points on 18 shots. He also passed the ball very well in Game One and rebounded well in Game Two so he's contributing in other regards as well.
@Skyline @Fuzzy Logic Exactly. I'm also tired of these "rare" off nights, but the fact remains that KD is a guy who can contribute very positively even on his off nights. He still scores by getting to the line. And last night he was a huge contributor on the boards.
@Fuzzy Logic I agree. Everyone keeps telling us it won't happen again. Until it does. He's doing pretty well at adjusting by boards and getting FTs at times, but it's still not the dominance and efficiency we are accustomed too. I think he will find it, but I'm hoping it's soon
@walrusmuse @Fuzzy At least he's not Melo. When Melo doesn't score, he doesn't contribute. And he's NY's superstar (excepting Linsanity, of course).
@walrusmuse @Fuzzy Let's hope he trends upward, back toward his mean. Hopefully this slight and unavoidable dip results in a run of incredible play at just the right time.
TWEET! Two shots!
Anyone plan on road tripping to Dallas to watch game 3?
@Skyline My friend (who is visiting from Vegas) wants to go for Thursday's game down in Big D.. Don't know if we are gonna do it yet. There are ulterior motives at work here.
@Skyline i hope some people do, i cant.
I hope the refs stop being so whistle-happy going forward. I'm not going to deny that we deserved most of the fouls called on us, but this is supposed to be playoff basketball. Dirk shouldn't be getting free throws just because his defender is playing close. And our guys probably shouldn't get as many free bailouts on reckless drives.
@Keith00 the fouls that bothered me most were those called when we were fighting over screens. What was more frustrating was that the screen was obviously moving, which is why we had to fight extra hard to get over them (see: 6' 7" Thabo barely able to fight through 6' 3" Jason Kidd's screen and the same for 6' 10" Nick Collison).
But yes, way too many whistles. The block on Collison at the top of the key on Dirk was pitiful. These small collisions, which essentially are somewhat meaningless to the flow of play, should be no-calls, whether it's on us or on them.
And wtf is with the NBA's terrible interpretations of continuations all season long (not just the Dirk one last night) after supposedly making a rule change to address it.
Is it me, or has the officiating been worse overall this year than usual?
@JimboSlice @Keith00 Overall this year then usual. Last Night was terrible and Dirk flopping twice in the same quarter and all the moving screens proves it. The Refs handed Dallas the 3rd quarter, because had it kept pace like it was the first half this would have been a blow out. Its hard for a team to get any momentum when everything they do on D that was actually LEGAL gets whistled, and everytime they drive they get called for a charge.
@ou_sas @ElMexiThunder @JimboSlice Not to mention, our guys were making a large number of boneheaded plays (Thabo jumping into Delonte West at the end of a shot clock comes to mind). I'm not denying that the Mavs are getting an inordinate number of calls relative to their play. But, we are making it easy on them too by playing pretty sloppy defense.
@ElMexiThunder @JimboSlice @Keith00 To be fair, Perk would foul out in a quarter if they called everything tight. He's as guilty as anybody of stretching the rules.