OKC’s No. 1 in NBA.com’s power rankings: “Last season, the Thunder scored 5.3 points per 100 possessions more than the league average. This season: 9.2, making them the best offensive team since the 2003-04 Mavericks. On Sunday, they rolled through the Pacers’ defense, which ranked No. 1 before the game started. The only teams that have held them under a point per possession are the Spurs and … the Pistons.”
Ian Levy for HP on shot selection: “Durant definitely seems to trend towards the shooting himself into a rhythm thread as well – nearly 40% of his shots in the first quarter come from mid-range. From there to the third quarter his mid-range attempts steadily decline while his three-point attempts and shots in the restricted area climb. In the fourth quarter his distribution is fairly consistent but his efficiency is particularly note-worthy – his eFG% is at least 53.0% from every area of the floor.”
Enjoy. Forever.
Darnell Mayberry: “Eric Maynor played some solid ball during that early stretch, which was significant for this reason: he’s still the backup point guard. Some might have had questions coming in after Reggie Jackson was sent to Tulsa for a game, perhaps a sign the team wanted to allow him to knock the cobwebs off. Couple that with the fact that Maynor got 20 games as the primary backup and, well, you start to wonder, I guess. But Maynor came in and scored six points on 3-for-4 shooting with four assists and no turnovers in 14 minutes. His defense was great, but if you’re surprised by that you must not have paid attention to Eric Maynor over the years. Considering how Maynor’s played much of the year, it was an encouraging performance, one that showed he’s still can run the offense effectively, get teammates involved score when called upon.”
Congrats to friend and boss Henry Abbott for running a marathon in under three hours.
Jenni Carlson: “On a night when the Thunder found itself locked in a grinder with the defensive-minded Pacers, it was the boys in blue who turned into defensive Dobermans and won going away. Thunder 104, Pacers 93. People might talk about Kevin Martin’s big first half or Kevin Durant’s monster fourth quarter or Westbrook’s offense down the stretch. But the Thunder won this game because of defense. It started with that Westbrook block.”
I had the opportunity to write for the Sunday edition of the New York Times.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com ranks OKC second: “More evidence to suggest that the post-Harden healing process is moving at a brisk pace: OKC has just reeled off 12 straight 100-point games. Have to rewind all the way to the 1994-95 season, when the GP-and-Kemp Sonics did it 19 straight times, for the last time this franchise has managed that.”
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/12/thunder-player-power-rankings-rolling/
And just like that Lamb and Orton Recalled.
@<--Not About Dat Lyfe Up, down, up, down.
@Tronchaser @<--Not About Dat Lyfe Not another Tulsa game until Friday
@Tronchaser @<--Not About Dat Lyfe Perhaps it's a Thunder cheat code?
@Tronchaser @<--Not About Dat Lyfe Wonder if the league office gets annoyed at Presti.
@f5alcon @justin_mia As far as I can tell, benching your three best players for a game is also allowed under the new CBA, but that didn't stop Stern from fining Pop for doing it.
@justin_mia It is allowed under the new CBA, so not like they can do anything about it.
@Thunder S @justin_mia @Tronchaser TEARS loooooooooooool
@justin_mia @Tronchaser @<--Not About Dat Lyfe Presti isnt about that life
@justin_mia @<--Not About Dat Lyfe Maybe, but I bet they'd be more annoyed if he were 3-21 and doing it, as opposed to 17-4.
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@BlakeR yeah, totally a grammatical error and not a type-o that slipped past some of the most expensive proofreaders in the world.
@BlakeR I noticed that and thought ' you'd think the Times could afford a proofreader'
thunder recalled lamb and orton from tulsa
http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=11689
Early concerns about record against top 10 opponents, it appears now may have just been caused on very small initial sample size. Couldn't ask for too much better from team at this point.
@Crow Crow, I was at the game last night and specifically watched KMart. It appeared to me that he was trying to create offense by driving to the hole. He's not Harden obviously, but are there any stats to support/disprove his effectiveness going to the hole compared to Harden?
Martin is at career high on at the rim FG% (71%) but such attempts are only 40% of his career high rate and only half the per minute rate of Harden's at the rim efforts from last season. Harden's rate is up another 50% this season though his FG% is down from 70 to 60%..
@Crow So Harden is headed one way, and KMart the other. It will be interesting to see how KMart ultimately fits in with our offense. I've been pleased with Kmart so far, and I think he'll get even better as the season rolls along.
Martin's FTA rate per minute is up slightly from last season and up a bit in December compared to November but still about 35% below his career average rate and about 40% below Harden's current FTA rate per minute, which is up more than 20% from last season. Harden may face less lane clog in Houston.
@Tronchaser @Crow He's consistently been one of the best at drawing fouls in the NBA so there's that. There are Synergy #'s that show he's been elite at scoring in isolation and in pick and roll, but we do not use him often that way (we should).
@justin_mia @Crow It seems that a) We are still trying to figure out what role Martin will play and b) the rotations with Kmart on the floor.
If we ever do figure all that out, watch out. We're not even at our maximum capability offensive-wise and we're number 1? Geesh.
Watched a full game of Lamb's yesterday at Tulsa. Observations:
1) Lamb is a very good prospect, has just about every skill and athletic ability needed to be a starting NBA shooting guard. Looked like he had much more natural ability than anyone else on the court (as would be expected of a lottery pick).
2) Lamb's energy rises and falls with the rest of the team. When the team started out slow he also played with little energy. When Coach Darko got on his team to play with more energy he started playing like a man on fire.
3) Great potential on the defensive end. Got a lot of deflections, contributing to steals and blocks. Still needs to stay fundamentally sound on every possession. Takes possessions off and his man will blow by him. Won't play for Brooks until he's 100% locked in on defense.
4) Doesn't take bad shots on offense, which is half of the battle. He plays within the offense, his shot selection is good and a lot of those shots will start dropping eventually. Has a suddenness to his game, especially when skying for rebounds. Didn't make a bad pass all day. Crisp, easy passer and seems to have good court vision.
5) In case of injury to Martin or Thabo I'd be comfortable right now with Lamb playing 10 to 15 minutes a game. He's going to be fine.
@DXL I'd be uncomfortable with him playing 15 minutes a game LOL. That was one game.
@<--Not About Dat Lyfe Lamb's role would be simpler as an NBA role player. Daequon Cook 2.0. Play hard on D and catch and shoot wide open 3's. He can do that right now.
@OBoy Jones III @DXL I dont doubt the potential....
But im just saying they pointed out that its not there.
@<--Not About Dat Lyfe @DXL he has a 7ft wingspan, which means he has potential to be a good perimeter defender.
@DXL Before he came into the league it was pointed out the Defense was definitely not one of his strengths. His size also doesnt let me believe that its true. He's barely bigger than KMart....
Orton doesn't look good. Too much fumbling of the ball and uses his body like an out of control bull.
@DXL Perk 2.0?
@DXL @Keith00 @KellOne Orton looks like he could be really good. If he can develop the Thunder work ethic he's got a lot of potential he just isn't very developed at this point.
@Keith00 @KellOne Exactly, Perk has athletic limitations but he really does know how to use his body on defense and set screens etc. Orton hasn't learned how to use his body, even against D-League competition. Was getting killed by Tim Ohlbrecht, who last played on the German National Team, ahead of Pleiss.
@KellOne @DXL Except without the vast defensive knowledge and experience of Perk. I'm not please that a young player is failing, but I did say Orton was a waste of space ever since we brought him in.
@DXL How was his lateral quickness on D? And does he have a quick release on his shot? Good recap though all in all, thanks.
@Mr_posey He's quick enough to stay with NBA guards, but he definitely got beat by Singletary, his counterpart, when he lost focus. Happened 2 times.
Lamb's release looks fine.
@Crow he's a good passer, effort was off and on. More on than off but he did fall asleep a few times. Results were good for the most part.
@DXL @Mr_posey I watched yesterday's game as well. You can tell they've told him "we know you can score 50 if you shoot it every time. Make good plays." I think he just needs to get a little stronger (his body looks like it will take it easily) and get just a little more consistent with his shot. I think he had like 21 7 and 6 in his last game. his points translate to to the NBA game too. most of his shots were mid range or floaters. i dont think a lot of the shots at the rim in that league really translate because the NBA bigs are so much better at defending the rim. Lazar averaged 26 a game last year on 56% shooting then he comes up and gets his shots blocked like a mad man. If Lamb can be a consistent 3 point and mid range shooter he can have a long NBA career. He's already got a really nice mid range game he just needs to get a little more consistent. Like I said a little strength will help him a lot on defense and getting to the hole. He's got the ability. He just needs to develop it a little more.
Passing vision, effort and results?
@DXL This is really encouraging to read. Appreciate you posting this.
Thanks for the notes.
I am impressed with Abbott's marathon time. I have run up to 20 miles in the deep past but not for any notable time.
The Thunder are so fun to watch, as a team, it really doesn't get much better. Thunder up!
i feel like we killed the Bobcats' hopes and dreams after we beat them by that gaudy number. Will they get back on track or will they fall in like with Tor?
@PerkPunt Their early success has a lot of fluky signs (at one point they were the fifth seed with something like a -4 differential). Not a lot of good players on the team. I think they are comfortably a bottom 5 team short of MKG or somebody truly breaking out.
@Jooseppi @PerkPunt MKG isn't really a breakout candidate in the way they would need. MKG is more of a complimentary player next to a big scorer. The Pippen comparison is a little much because Pippen was actually a star scorer in his own right. MKG is more like a young Gerald Wallace or Tony Allen.
@<--Not About Dat Lyfe @justin_mia @Jooseppi @PerkPunt He's also averaging 42% from the field and 31% from three. He's scoring because they have no one else, not really because he's adept at it.
@justin_mia @Keith00 @Jooseppi @PerkPunt Kemba Walker is averaging 18 points 6 assists. Thats decent.
@FF_pickups @justin_mia @<--Not About Dat Lyfe @Jooseppi @PerkPunt Important point, FF_pickups. No one should be expecting them to turn things around in a year. MKG is the best player, and he's the kind that will consistently help his team, but he's not the kind of superstar they need to pull out of the cellar. They need an elite shooter and some measure of a post presence. They also seem to really need new management.
@justin_mia @<--Not About Dat Lyfe @Keith00 @Jooseppi @PerkPunt
The Bobcats had the worst team in NBA history last year. They've made a ton of progress but they are still miles from being a playoff team.
@<--Not About Dat Lyfe @Keith00 @Jooseppi @PerkPunt None of their guards can throw a basketball into the ocean except Ben Gordon and he's Ben Gordon. That team just can't generate offense and they've been bad on defense ever since our game against them.
@Keith00 @Jooseppi @PerkPunt I watch a lot of Bobcats games. MKG is just a rookie. He has some growing but i think he's doing well for what its worth.
They have good guards. Iono...they will be okay as things get better
@Keith00 @PerkPunt I don't so either.
@Keith00 @Jooseppi i can see the Wallace comparison
@PerkPunt They've been worse since Henderson came back and he's played well. Doesn't look good for them.
@justin_mia system issues and of course personnel.