Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com in a 5-on-5: “This feels like his year. With his improvement as a rebounder, defender and playmaker, Durant’s all-around game no longer pales in comparison to LeBron’s. Statistically, KD has been the most valuable player so far this season. Despite the threat of Chris Paul, the annual summer Durant MVP hype will finally translate into an actual trophy this spring.”
Rob Mahoney of SI.com says KD is winning MVP: “But Durant and the Thunder — despite a great start after the departure of Sixth Man Award winner James Harden — have been almost completely eclipsed by the Knicks’ shiny success, the Lakers-inspired schadenfreude and the Heat’s occasional malaise. Durant may have years of feel-good coverage working in his favor, but in the most impressive season of his career he’s been oddly under-covered. That quiet isn’t likely to last, but in today’s world of minute-to-minute reporting it’s almost refreshing to see Durant very quietly close the gap on three-time winner LeBron James to the point where he makes for a credible MVP choice.”
Ben Golliver of SI.com has resolutions for every team: “Start an All-Star campaign for Serge Ibaka. Kevin Durant is on track to be an All-Star starter, Russell Westbrook is a no-brainer reserve selection and there’s no question who is Oklahoma City’s third-best player after the Harden trade. That would be Ibaka, who is in the middle of a career year with exceptional numbers across the board: 14.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, three blocks and a career-best 56.5 percent shooting, even though he’s expanded his range this season and is taking more shots than ever before.”
Old friend P.J. Carlesimo returns tonight.
Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com on corner 3s: “The Thunder are a juggernaut already, but they only dabble in this area. One of the rare teams in NBA history to abandon the corner 3 and still put up monster numbers. Scary thought: What happens if the Thunder realize that Martin might be the best corner 3-point shooter in the league?”
With the Clippers finally losing, the Thunder are back on top of the West.
Zach Lowe of Grantland on MVP: “This is a race, for now, between James and Durant, the two finest players in the league. And we have to start here: James is just better, even as Durant has closed the gap with what may end up as one of the greatest shooting seasons in league history — a 50/40/90 tour of NBA destruction. Durant is no. 2 in Player Efficiency Rating, and he has made incremental progress in every aspect of his game. He’s increased both his assist totals3 and the quality of his assists, threading some smart passes out of the pick-and-roll and occasionally whipping one-handed cross-court lasers that make you rewind your DVR to make sure it was Durant.”
http://dailythunder.com/2013/01/tgr-86-thunder-in-2013
The Thunder are finally back on top with the best record in the NBA. It took forever for that Clippers winning streak to end
@MostJadedGamer They played one of the weakest 17 game schedule I have seen in awhile.
@ThunderWins @MostJadedGamer They were winning games they should, which is good for any team.
Thunder fans should we cheer or boo for PJ Carlesimo
@tydude
introduce him as the nets starting 2 guard.
Kobe told reporters last night that they reason why they keep loosing is that they are old as s*&#&
@tydude woah, you have 2013 pts. Did you have 2013 yesterday? Weird...
@BallSoHard@tydude
"Cause we're old as s---," said the 34-year-old Bryant when asked why a lack of energy has been a problem for L.A. all season. "What do you want? We just got to figure out how to play when we don't have that energy. We got to change things up a little bit defensively. We got to figure out what we want to do offensively, figure out what we want to do on nights when we don't have those legs or have that energy."
You just saw an old damn team," Bryant continued. "I don't know how else to put it to you. We're just slow. You saw a team over there that was just younger and just had fresher legs and just played with more energy, and we were just stuck in the mud. I think individually we all have to figure out how to get ourselves ready each and every game to have a high level of energy. That's all that is."
@Patrick OKC @ThunderWins @BallSoHard @tydude I love it. If the Thunder were mired in the same mediocrity as LA is with so much talent, I would sure as hell want KD to call people out the same way Kobe has.
@dollarbillrussell @ThunderWins @BallSoHard @tydudeWhen keepin it real goes wrong...
@ThunderWins @BallSoHard @tydude Say what you want about Kobe, but he always keeps it real.
Hey Tron, I was wondering if you had any advice for someone who's looking to lose some weight. Any food suggestions? Workout plans? Or whatever. Lol
@novelisticbee0 dieting is the key my current favorite diet is lean gains exercise and weight lifting helps as well
@novelisticbee0 Eat less, exercise more, be realistic.
@justin_mia @novelisticbee0 Eat less processed foor, more fruits, exercise
@justin_mia @novelisticbee0
80% of it is diet.
@novelisticbee0 I can tell ya how I did it, if you like. I'm certainly no expert though.
@Tronchaser That's fine. Just trying to find another way to go about it, I guess. Lol
@Lambchop @El Prez @Tronchaser @novelisticbee0
Remember though . . . El Prez thinks mac & cheese is a vegetable. :)
@El Prez @Tronchaser @novelisticbee0 Vegan? Its liek I dont even know you anymore
@novelisticbee0 So.. food, yummy, delicious, ever-inviting food. I love it. But, what are we putting in our bodies? A bunch of processed, over-chemicaled (I made a new word there) JUNK. Just look on the back on the food labels sometime. I'm sure you have, but think about it. If you don't know what it is, why are you putting it IN YOU? It's crazy once we think about it like that.
Keep the carb intake between 50-100 carbs a day. That's tough to do, but we over-carb ourselves into oblivion everyday. For you just starting out, I would keep a log of what you eat for the 1st two weeks. Then go back and calculate how many carbs it is. I think you may be surprised by how much your taking in. The .gov recommended 300 carbs/day is a joke. You'll gain weight and then wonder why since you've followed the "plan". Bah, I say!
So how do you cut down to 50-100 carbs per day? Get rid of the grains. Bread, rice,pasta all of it. Eat veggies, meat (like chicken and fish), nuts, and some fruits.
Like I said, a mindset change will be required. Here is the shopping list I used. If it's on here, I can eat it. You'll notice it's from a site called MArk's Daily Apple. Now, I don't do exactly what he says. I kinda modified it for me, but it works.
http://cdn.marksdailyapple.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Primal-Blueprint-Shopping-List.pdf
If you wanna go into all the theory of what he does, you can read about it there. All I know is this. I lost 58 pounds in 7 months with about a month break in the middle there due to a couple of trips overseas. I know it works.
As far as workout goes, I road a stationary bike for 30 minutes 4 days a week, and then did some light weights on Saturday. Nothing intense, and low impact. More to come!
@El Prez @Tronchaser @novelisticbee0
two months is a long time. good luck
@Tronchaser @novelisticbee0 Tron, have you ever tried the vegan diet? I started it two days ago. Quite a bit to give up. I'm gonna try it for two months and see how I feel overall...weight loss, energy, joints, ect.,
@novelisticbee0 First off, you really are what you eat, and that requires a hard look at yourself. And like PP says below, 80% of it is diet. The other 20% is exercise and genetics. So do not feel like you have to be a gym-rat, you don't!
This is how I did it. Pretty simple to do, but requires a mindset change.
I cut out all the junk, including my arch-nemesis, Coke. That alone cuts out tons of sugar and empty calories that don't do anything for you. And don't think that the diet sodas are any different. Think about it, what chemicals are in that stuff that are good for our bodies? Nothing, absolutely nothing.
Second, and hardest for me, I cut out the going out to eat. I made my own meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner (although most nights I would just snack on an approved food) However, I did allow myself one going-out meal a week. I do it at Friday for lunch, and we call it "Free lunch Fridays" here at work. We all don't bring our lunch that day, and go out. Gotta give yourself a break, and to socialize too. It was weird because all the guys in my shop ended up doing the same thing. Guess what? Even though they weren't specifically trying to lose weight, they ended up losing too! It was definitely pretty cool.
So, what to eat. I'll go to another post for that!
@novelisticbee0 Ohhhhhhh.
DC got released by rockets. Would we have to pay his full salary, if we wanted to bite?
@neo12 We cant re sign him.
@Bryson @neo12 We don't want him - overlaps with Martin Lamb
@neo12 @ThunderWins @Bryson forbidden, no need to argue..
@ThunderWins @Bryson Yes that's true, he would be taking away minutes from Lamb. But i sense that brooks would utilize him more than he does lamb. KD and Russ playing heavy minutes, probably need to get another scorer on the bench.
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8802288/kobe-bryant-blames-age-los-angeles-lakers-lack-energy Made me audibly laugh.
@Bryson "Cause we're old as s---," said the 34-year-old Bryant when asked why a lack of energy has been a problem for L.A. all season. "What do you want? We just got to figure out how to play when we don't have that energy. We got to change things up a little bit defensively. We got to figure out what we want to do offensively, figure out what we want to do on nights when we don't have those legs or have that energy."
You just saw an old damn team," Bryant continued. "I don't know how else to put it to you. We're just slow. You saw a team over there that was just younger and just had fresher legs and just played with more energy, and we were just stuck in the mud. I think individually we all have to figure out how to get ourselves ready each and every game to have a high level of energy. That's all that is."
I just saw the Huge billboard outside the CHK Arena,..... "KD is Not Nice" - Nike.
@Skyline Yeah, I noticed that too a while back.. posted a picture here. It's a new promo thing I guess. But we all know how nice KD is, so it's kinda weird.
@Tronchaser @Skyline When you are a fan of another team, your team can't stop KD with your best defender, double teams, zones, or anything. KD is not nice when he's destroying YOUR team.
@Tronchaser @Skyline Saw some T-Shirts at Champs yesterday with this slogan on it. It was pretty sweet.
Per Royce: KD at shootaround today on Reggie Jackson: "If I scream at him and tell him to pass me the damn ball, he just tells me to relax".
I really wonder if that conversation happened or KD is making it up ..
@lethalizer I can believe it KD use to always yell at him probably one of the reasons for some of his nervousness
@Lost Ones @lethalizer I just hope that Jackson's "relax" sign isn't something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKnYLu78EQA
@lethalizer There is no context to this post. What was the questions KD was asked?
@BallSoHard @lethalizer Royce didn't point that out. Probably some general statement regarding Jackson's game and leadership abilities.
@lethalizer @BallSoHard So is that a good or a bad thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ah4Z7LadZx0
That's some crazy dunking..
@lethalizer HELLO!!!
@lethalizer Wow.
@lethalizer it looked like he boosted himself up halfway through the jump lol
@ThunderPeakes @lethalizer Because he did
@ThunderPeakes I caught myself shouting "DUNK IT" just when he was about to get up :)
" Ibaka has improved more on offense than on defense, where he remains a frightening intimidator who still struggles with positioning in space against elite-shooting big men and smaller teams." Lowe
Still cant guard the perimeter. Maybe he should play center.
@PerkPunt Against small-ball teams, sure. Brooks usually prefers Nick for that role currently though..
@lethalizer @PerkPunt We say against small ball teams, this has become a small ball league. How many teams are there that could exploit Ibaka at the 5? LA and Memphis? It's time to quit treating the league like it's 1990. Ibaka at the 5 should be the rule not the exception.