John Hollinger of ESPN.com on OKC’s offense: “Again, this is one of the league’s best organizations, and it’s quite possible that they’re engineering a dramatic response to these issues at this very moment. But as the Thunder strive to win a championship, it’s a bit jarring that the two main issues that were holding them back in the spring of 2011 are still in their way now. They have a commitment to a starting lineup that isn’t working, and a commitment to a starting center who can’t play. At some point they have to rethink those commitments.”
Justin Kubatko for the NY Times on Kevin Martin: “One thing to keep in mind is that it is still early in the season, and it is unlikely that Martin will continue to shoot at his current clip. But the good news for Thunder fans is that even if Martin regresses toward his career norms, he will still be one of the most efficient scoring guards in the league. Harden grabbed the headlines by scoring 37 and 45 points in his first two games with Houston, but Martin has been a steady force off the bench for Oklahoma City. Although it is much too early to make any sweeping judgments, thus far the trade has worked out just fine for the Thunder.”
Zach Randolph discusses his incident with Perk: “I didn’t whoop his ass; that’s the thing about it. Hopefully I get some back. I’m trying to get some back. I was surprised. … They said it was because I went through the double doors. I guess I went on their side. I don’t know … Nah, I didn’t try to go in their locker room. There are some doors … and their locker room was right there to the left and I had went through some doors into the hallway. … Lesson learned. It won’t happen again. I ain’t going to lose now $25,000 again. I’m done with all that bluffing on the court because them guys do a lot of bluffing. I’m from the bluff city; we don’t do no bluffing, man.”
Darnell Mayberry: “Though he got the Sefolosha-Westbrook assignment right, the one thing I didn’t like from Brooks tonight was not using Sefolosha on Jamal Crawford more, if at all. It seemed Brooks could have subbed Sefolosha early and brought him back to corral Crawford. But that didn’t happen. Maybe it was because Thabo was doing such a tremendous job on Paul that Brooks picked Crawford as his poison. Can’t blame him for that. But watching the twin Kevins, Durant and Martin, try to slow Crawford was painful. He toyed with both and walked out with yet another routine 20-point night off the bench.”
Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com: “But the defining quality of Oklahoma City’s win was its ability to shut down the league’s most effective point guard. Even as they climbed atop the Western Conference, the Thunder have never established themselves as an elite defensive team. They ranked ninth overall in defensive efficiency in their march to the NBA Finals last season — nothing to sneeze at — but stand at 13th this season, just above league average. So the hit job on Paul was a notable accomplishment for a team desperate to prove to itself that it can defend.”
What would be in Russell Westbrook’s backpack? Andrew Sharp of SB Nation: “firecrackers, five pairs of hornrims, marching band.”
I hope to have some time to riff on Henry Abbott’s excellent Westbrook piece, but until then, read it.
From Elias: “The Thunder defeated the Clippers, 117-111, in overtime on Wednesday. Oklahoma City has won 19 of its last 32 games against opponents in sole possession of first place in their division, dating back to January 2010.”
Free Eric Maynor!!! Please trade him to a team whose coach will let him play his game and whose fan base appreciates his game.
The most encouraging thing I saw last night was the extra pass made by Serge for a Durant 3 pointer. If Serge is sharing the ball, then that is definitely a sign that this team is playing well together.
i have to respectfully disagree with darnell. id much rather crawford be doing his thing that CP3, if you get paul going its hard to stop him.
Everyone on the planet knows that the okc starting line up just doent work. Thabo is at least starting to play with freaking fire and energy and that helps. But when we play a team that doesnt have a center for perk to guard, its useless for him out there. Hell, last night i saw people blow past him several times...what happen to no easy baskets perk?
KD needs to learn when its a good time to pass and not. he made some hellagood passes last night and then some just straight up dumb ones.
Id like to say i despise the clippers. When they KNEW they couldnt win they resorted to dirty tactics and i hate that Over the backs, jersey tugging, and flopping just to name a few. I hope theres a big stack of NBA flopping fines that get mailed out to the city of LA tomorrow.
Everybody knows the starters are bad offensively. The team lost in the Finals because of defense. They scored 106 in a blowout loss in Game 5. Of course no such mention of defensively efficiency of the starters at all in that article. I expect better from Hollinger. They don't win last night if Thabo doesn't shut down CP3.
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/11/happy-thanksgiving/
@ou_sas Look at ou_sas waiting 10 minutes to post this. Stop hogging the thread!
Can't wait to see Westbrook lock down Rondo tomorrow.
@EatSleepThunder What happened to the good ole days where pgs guarded pgs?
@Podirk / dailythudner @EatSleepThunder Westbrook was the designated defensive stopper when he played at UCLA. He can't stop himself from gambling defensively in the NBA and opposing guards punish him for it.
Westbrook isn't the only guard that struggles guarding speed, that's where the length and determination of Sefolosha makes a difference.
@rednuht @EatSleepThunder I was quoting Chris Paul from last night. Agree Westbrook gambles a lot..but like his offense..he has to learn when to take the risk and when to play conservative.
@EatSleepThunder You mean Thabo?
We look like a totally different team. KD and Russ have matured greatly and the ball movement has been outstanding. Ive seen glimpses, too, of KD challenging shots
@Lambchop yeah, we do. but if we ever get the chance to actually include our center in the ball movement, we may end up looking like an actual offense, and would pretty hard to stop...
@Lambchop Totally different team from earlier in the season or from last year?
@rednuht last year mostly. Teh first three games, russ had played like his worst self, but hes seemed to relax and become a pass firt pg
@rednuht The dividens have been immense. Ball movement is such an anomaly around here, but we can be pretty good at it and if it became teh norm it would become second nature and out us back up among tha favorites
@rednuht @Lambchop from last season, less iso and a little more ball movement and plays.
@rednuht @Lambchop I think the ibaka midrange game and newly found hands helps a lot a ton.
@rednuht @Lost Ones This seems to be the longest duration, and with Harden gone, we dont have any other players thatt HVAE to have the ball in their hand to be as productive. Hence the "isofest."
@Lost Ones @Lambchop I don't know. The team played like this in spurts last season too.
I much prefer it when they have movement and share the ball.
When they both pass teh ball, all the other plaers try to get open and the offense doesnt stagnate. The "isofests" - as royce aptly called it - are kept to a minimum
Does Mayberry have a right to complain that Sefolosha wasn't used to slow down Crawford when Brooks smartly shut down the brain and heart of the Clippers by putting Sefolosha on Paul?
Does it matter how many points Crawford scored since it was in a loss? Most of Crawford's career is scoring while his team loses. Since Crawford didn't propel them to a win with his scoring, Brooks made the right move.
@rednuht To be fair Mayberry actually said that Thabo was the player of the game, and that Brooks made the right move via his blog
http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/2012/11/21/thunder-117-clippers-111/
Is Eric Maynor entered Perkins territory with his ability to not impact the box score but make a couple of plays that made a difference in the game?
Can any team afford to have two such players in the rotation?
@rednuht yeah he has been bad this year
@f5alcon Better or worse than Jackson in his rookie year so far?
@Lost Ones @f5alcon @rednuht wrong, Maynor is still playing much better than Jackson. Maynor is better at getting the team into an offense. Last night the were pressuring the ball so he found the open man. We got several easy buckets and great looks from this. Jackson can't shoot. When the ball hits him the ball movement stops and he has Westbrook tunnel vision. Maynor is much better.
@rednuht @f5alcon well he's not turning the ball over and shaky like Jackson was last year but he's not really creating shots for the 2nd team either. It's up to him to decide if he's going to be on this team or not next year. If he continues to be a non-factor he's not going to get an offer, simple as that.
@f5alcon @rednuht jackson was better as the season went on.. ill roll with a rookie over a vet that plays like a rookie.
@rednuht better, jackson was horrible last year
http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/002/770/707/hi-res-6753120_crop_650.jpg?1353471545
This picture describes the Kings perfectly.
@S4TISF4CTION So just need to convince them to trade us cousins for perk, or thomas for maynor.
@f5alcon @S4TISF4CTION Thompson was doing a really good job of guarding Dwight last night.
Anyone else see Simmons say he's changed his mind on the Harden trade on the half time show?
shocking.
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@MisterJohnsonOKC Not only do the Clippers flop, but apparently their fans do, too. lol
@anonymous12345 it is not first time he did something like this
@anonymous12345 Isn't Simmons a season ticket holder for the Clippers? He knows them very well and I'm sure OKC being up by 10 at the half was impressive to him.
What I like about Simmons is he doesn't take himself too seriously. He's willing to admit mistakes or make fun of himself. He's also very aware that part of his job is to entertain.
@anonymous12345 He's emotional.
@anonymous12345 I am sure he will flip flop a few more times
@f5alcon I guess it depends on whose winning at half time
Went to the game last night...a few observations. 1) during national anthem nick is only player to put hand over heart. Also everyone had their head down except durant, who was looking upward. 2) way too many ppl wearing ou gear. I don't get it. 3) super loud in the arena last night. Louder than normal and I'm talking about music/announcer not crowd. 4) Blake has gotten a lot better IMO 5) I like our chances against this team in a 7 gm series, I would rather play clips than grizz.
@BallSoHard yeah 1 has always been like that, last year fish did too.
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made me laugh
Durant left the arena tonight wearing purple pants. Westbrook rolled up out of here with a polka dot shirt, complete with a red heart for a lapel and red shoes. Can’t say they’re not in playoff form off the court.
Harden gave 20k so some model thankfully he is no longer on our team and he is on a horrible Houston team
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@MisterJohnsonOKC @tydude Im on the 100 squat challenge. Just so that she can stop calling me a basic h0e.
Forget my degrees.... I got #WebCamAspirations. #Ballin
@KeBron @f5alcon The webcam slore game is recession proof. I'd recommend it.. to any female I am not related to
@f5alcon I see that.
@KeBron Guys pay a lot of money for that stuff
@tydude LOL wait what?
Recently? Do you have a link?
@KeBron
http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2012/11/22/sh-blog-dantoni-blasts-lakers-effort-refers-to-their-play-as-muppet-time/3/
A webcam model apparently made $20,000 from James Harden, according to Chris Yuscavage of Complex Sports: “NBA players enjoy spending their free time with hot chicks. We know, we know. SHOCKER! But, apparently, they enjoy it so much that they’re helping keep the bank accounts of a few lucky young ladies afloat. One of those ladies is Jenna Shea, who took to her Twitter account recently to brag about how she pulled in a mountain of cash in one night. Terez Owens claims that the $20K in her Instagram picture came from Rockets guard James Harden. And, while we can’t confirm that, we can confirm that Jenna is making major bank right now and that she’s not afraid to reveal where it’s coming from. ”I get paid by the NBA so much,” she tweeted, “I should be signed to a team #literally while u basic hoes watch from tv FOH.”
@tydude Hmmm...guess that shows Harden's priorities. Giving up cash to chicks from the internet, but can't cut a discount to stay with the Thunder.
@anonymous12345 google it in a room full of family members ;)
Wow! That's Crazy!
@tydude @KeBron What exactly is a webcam model? It has a 'To Catch A Predator" ring to it