No Darren Collison miracle 3-pointer was going to save the Mavericks tonight. Unless there’s a 30-pointer that I just don’t know about.
The Thunder didn’t really come flying out of the gate or anything, but more slow boiled their way into a blowout. It really was sparked by a strong 7-0 by the bench to finish the first quarter and carried over by a 39-point second quarter that built OKC’s lead to 68-44 at the half, the most points in a half this season for the Thunder.
Two important factors led to tonight’s result: 1) The Thunder showed up very ready and eager for this one and 2) the Mavs did not show up at all.
“Tonight we came in focused,” Scott Brooks said. “We talked about two things really focusing in our film was defensive basketball, defensive toughness and moving the basketball … It’s a team passing game. It’s not a point guard’s job to pass. It’s everybody’s job to pass. I thought Serge set the tone with a swing pass that he gave Thabo for a 3. That’s what we talked about going into the game.”
To Brooks’ point: The Thunder racked up 25 assists to only 11 turnovers, and held the Mavs to 41.4 percent shooting, including just 3-16 from 3. Check one, check two.
Individually, Russell Westbrook stood out most with a rock solid 24-point, seven-assist, three-steal performance that featured him completely keeping his cool for all 29 minutes he was on the floor. I don’t say that jokingly either — he genuinely didn’t flare up once at anyone. Not at an official, a teammate, himself or an opponent. He was totally under control emotionally. Obviously don’t get used to that, but given recent events, I thought it was a very pleasant display from Westbrook.
“I seen the regular Russ. Regular Russ,” Durant said. “He was no different. Came out did his job, making shots, penetrating, playing defense, getting deflections, getting steals just being a gnat. He was swarming on he ball, he was doing everything for us. That’s the regular Russ, that’s what we expect from him every single day.”
Big positive: The Thunder locked up Dirk Nowitzki. Outside of the ultra-rare Shawn Marion offensive explosion, the Mavs didn’t have any kind of offensive answer. Serge Ibaka had the bulk of the Dirk assignment and did very good staying disciplined, just forcing him to take contested shots. Sometimes Dirk hits those, but all you can do is get a hand up and try and push him as far away from the bucket as possible. Dirk ended up just 3-11 for 10 points, eliminating any kind of major individual threat.
The Thunder are 5-4 in their last nine without any back-to-back wins in a couple weeks. Some nights they’ve been exceptionally focused and ready like against the Grizzlies and tonight. Other games, they’ve been competitive, but lacked that extra edge. What’s the deal with that?
Kevin Martin summed it up like this: “You go through stretches like this. Middle of winter, holidays are over and everybody’s a little angry. We just got to get through this All-Star break and then focus on the second half of the season.”
NOTES:
- KD got his ninth technical of the season. I have no idea what for either. I guess he was arguing something but really, he was more demonstrative arguing the tech than he was arguing whatever it was that earned it. After he got it he walked over to the scorekeeper and said, “That wasn’t a tech. No way that was a tech.”
- Durant on his techs: “I gotta shut up. I’m racking ‘em up man. Sometimes I get too excited and voice my opinion when I shouldn’t. I just gotta shut up and play the game … I thought this one, I shouldn’t have got a tech. I just went up and talked to him and he got me one. That goes back to the ones I got before and I guess they watch and they’re looking for them now. I just gotta shut up and play my game and just fight through it.”
- Before this season, KD had 12 total technical fouls combined. The most in a season was five, last year. And a reminder: Your 16th technical earns you a one-game suspension.
- DeAndre Liggins got no second quarter burn. He only got to play tonight because of the blowout. Something to read into or just the way the game broke?
- Maybe related to that: Westbrook and Reggie Jackson played some minutes together late in the second quarter. Those are minutes normally Liggins would’ve gotten. Brooks trying something new.
- Speaking of Jackson, really nice game from him tonight. He had eight points and six assists in 21 minutes, but really looked smooth and confident running the team.
- Casper Van Dien was featured on the big screen tonight. I think that’s pretty much the cutoff for “Famous Person To Announce At Your Game.” Also, who recognized him enough to put him on there? Someone must be a big Starship Troopers fan.
- Kevin Martin finished an oop. An alley oop. I saw it happen.
- Martin was a +31 tonight. He went for 17 on 7-12 shooting, including 3-5 from 3.
- Play in the third quarter where Thabo went for a steal but recovered to block O.J. Mayo’s 3 attempt. THAT’S why he’s an elite of elite defender.
- In 22 minutes Perk had seven points and seven boards. Very good production.
- Brooks subbed in Perry Jones III early in the fourth quarter and provided him some really great experience getting to guard Dirk for a few minutes. Nothing too notable came from it, but he at least got a quick taste.
- Thunder drummers are basically a headache waiting to happen.
- Eric Maynor scored his first points tonight since Dec. 20. Oof.
- That bounce pass KD threw to Martin.
- Daniel Orton sighting! I continue to be amazed at his stellar running posture.
- Jae Crowder hit a 3 in the third to cut OKC’s lead to 26 and immediately stared down the Thunder bench. Mo Cheeks did not like that. That possibly stemmed from an odd spat between Crowder and Perk earlier in the game. Either way, not a good look for the rookie.
- By my count, Crowder went 0-5 after he stared down OKC’s bench.
- Hasheem Thabeet took his hair in a new direction tonight, throwing a sidepart on it.
- Excellent catch by the Tulsa World’s Bill Haisten tonight: Since the 2011 Western Finals, the Thunder are 10-1 against Dallas.
- Westbrook’s favorite steal move is the one where he goes behind the ballhandler’s back and picks their pocket. It’s not one you see very many guys go for, but it’s become very effective for Westbrook.
- Ken Mauer’s hair >>>>
- Beale Street Flippers: A simple, yet excellent halftime show.
- Just one Thunder player places his hand over his heart during the national anthem (Nick Collison). All but two Mavs place their hands over their hearts (Collison, Mayo).
- Pregame Russell Westbrook was singing “Chocolate Rain” in the locker room. Postgame, he wore a button-up Duff Beer shirt and a hat that said, “Maintain the Mystery.” Complete performance from Russ tonight.
- Brian Davis Line of the Night via @ThunderBDsays: “Natural born scorers — isn’t that a movie with Woody Harrelson? Oh wait, Natural Born Killers.”
Next up: Wednesday at home against the Warriors.
http://dailythunder.com/2013/02/tuesday-bolts-2-5-13/#respond
http://dailythunder.com/2013/02/tuesday-bolts-2-5-13/#respond
Congrats to KD, #1 play on NBATV top ten. (no-look pass to kmart), that was sweet.
Thabeet is really playing well lately. He's having a way better year than Perkins.
@FF_pickups Perk has been playing better than thabeet lately.
@see-mittens I disagree
@FF_pickups @see-mittens @ThunderWins
You dudes overvalue advance stats and your little arugments here is proof in itself even all your advanced stats are hugely flawed and now there's so many of them, no matter what your opinion you can find one congruent to that opinion.
Eye test, Thabeet isn't very good, but sometimes he isn't bad for short stretches. He legitimately picks up dumb fouls, but at the same time refs seem to hate him and he gets tons of cheapy terrible calls.
He was very good last night.
@see-mittens @ThunderWins
"I wasn't saying anything towards Perk's overall ability. I'm saying that he has been playing much better since the turn of the new year. Thabeet is categorically mediocre at his best."
Thabeet hasn't been categorically mediocre at defense.
@ThunderWins I wasn't saying anything towards Perk's overall ability. I'm saying that he has been playing much better since the turn of the new year. Thabeet is categorically mediocre at his best.
@FF_pickups @see-mittens Its amazing Perk playing like slightly below average center is unusual DT thinks he's turning it around. He is what he is.
PER TS% eFG% TRB% STL% BLK% TOV% USG% ORtg DRtg OWS DWS WS S/48
Perkins 8.7 .498 .468 13.7 1.1 3.2 24.3 10.6 97 103 0.0 1.6 1.6 .065
Thabeet 11.3 .637 .612 14.7 2.0 5.7 26.4 10.7 107 99 0.3 0.9 1.2 .120
@FF_pickups You are not being serious. Thabeet is a scrub.
@[censored] "Because it was a huge outlier and obviously not something to expect from Thabeet regularly. I'm not throwing it out, but his boxscore superiority hinges a whole lot on that abnormal month of the season. I'm confident he won't reach that kind of sustained play again."
You can't throw out outliers because they don't fit your hypothesis. If you want to do an alpha-trim mean, you can do that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truncated_mean
Basically if you throw out the best 40% you have to throw out the worst 40% too. Imagine if I threw out Perkins best 40% of his data and called it an outlier. You are completely biasing the interpretation in your favor. Look at Thabeet's career offensive rating, it's 107. Perkins, while in OKC, is 96. Is that an outlier??
@FF_pickups One of those years was 124 minutes against mostly scrubs.
@FF_pickups Because it was a huge outlier and obviously not something to expect from Thabeet regularly. I'm not throwing it out, but his boxscore superiority hinges a whole lot on that abnormal month of the season. I'm confident he won't reach that kind of sustained play again.
@[censored] How can you justify throwing out an entire month of data or 40% of the data just because it doesn't agree with your preconceived notions? He's been above 58.7% TS% 3 times in 4 years. That's fact. That would be 14th among centers.
@FF_pickups Thabeet since November has a lower ORTG than Perkins. I'm going to drop this until the end of the season because by then I'm sure the effect of Thabeet's November will be lessened and this craziness will stop. You have some strange opinions.
@[censored] " Thabeet's higher PER is almost entirely due to his higher scoring efficiency this season,"
His PER is lower, not higher this year. Normally, he's been better and even at this, he's doing better than Perkins who sucks. That's the point, is that we aren't comparing him to an all star. Being better than Perk isn't that hard.
@[censored] "His TS% is 6% higher than his career prior to this year. "
This is the 3rd time in 4 years that he's been above 58.7 TS% which would rank in the top 15 among centers.
@[censored] The link works on my phone but not on my browser
http://web.archive.org/web/20071122115204/http://ballhype.com/story/the_paul_milsap_doctrine/
@FF_pickups His TS% is 6% higher than his career prior to this year. DRB lower, TOV higher. BLK% lower. Thabeet's higher PER is almost entirely due to his higher scoring efficiency this season, and THAT is almost entirely thanks to the hot November. Since November he's at 54.5% TS (and DRB is 17.7%). November represents about 40% of his minutes. Since then he's been way worse and same old Thabeet.
I wish Perkins would get injured for a few games to put this to the test. LOL.
@[censored] I'm re-looking for the article. I read it a couple of days ago. Gimme a sec.
@FF_pickups There's no link to the study the article references, and that article only addresses Paul Millsap who played 20+ minutes a game as a reserve and was not situational.
@[censored] His TS% is right in line with his career numbers. You can throw out whatever you like but his PER is also in line with his career numbers. And he makes plays on D. Again, I am not saying that he's better at everything than Perk, just some things. If I need to stop Lamarcus or somebody like that, I still lean toward Perk but just against an average team, Thabeet is better right now. And he's way cheaper.
@FF_pickups Perhaps also his unsustainable November when he had 70% TS and 25% DRB. His boxscore numbers are buoyed strongly by that November still because since he's played less minutes. Why? Becuase he's not that good and only can play in certain situations reliably.
@FF_pickups @[censored] The only way this can be settled is if Perkins would not be available for extended time and they played Thabeet as a starter which is not going to happen.
@FF_pickups +/- is not 'statistical superiority'. You posted his boxscore statistics earlier. Filter off garbage time on those.
@[censored] "Filter those off and get back to use about Thabeet's statistical superiority."
I did. When Thabeet is matched with KD, the +/- is FAR superior to Perkins.
Second, your entire argument has been disproven by the Paul Milsap Principle. You should read it, it's a good read.
http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=501
@FF_pickups First of all, Thabeet is a situational player. He plays only in situations where he's needed. Perkins and the other starters do not have the luxury of being withheld from the game when a favorable matchup doesn't present itself. Thabeet can play 5 minutes or he can play 15 minutes - all based on the matchup and how well he is performing. This can do wonders for your numbers since you are only receiving minutes if you're playing well, and if you're not you're benched or you're not even played at all.
Secondly, Thabeet's numbers contain a lot of garbage minutes. Filter those off and get back to use about Thabeet's statistical superiority.
Third, DRTG can a non-adjusted +/- component to it that makes it imprecise especially when the minutes are short. RAPM prefers Perkins by a mile, and they are comparable defensively in Synergy - again, keeping in mind that Thabeet rarely is asked to defend good players.
There is no way in the world Thabeet is better than Perkins.
@FF_pickups @[censored] Yes, and he averages 2.5 PF per 36 minutes, not 6.7 like Thabeet. I didn't mention Duncan BTW.
@FF_pickups @Sigmund @[censored] God I wish we could find someone like Tim or KG to teach our guys - such a opportunity wasted.
@FF_pickups @Sigmund @[censored] If you standard is Tim Duncan well we aren't going to find anyone as good this century.
@ThunderWins @FF_pickups @[censored] He also lead the league in dumb fouls.
@Sigmund @[censored] "Why do you think Spurs had the best defense in 00's?"
Because they had Tim Duncan, the best defensive player of the decade.
@Sigmund @FF_pickups @[censored] To be fair Thabeet is getting really cheap fouls lots of times.
@FF_pickups @[censored] Why do you think Spurs had the best defense in 00's? There is a reason why Popovich’s teams foul as less as possible.
@ThunderWins I'm not saying that Thabeet is an allstar, I just like him as a defensive presence. His size and length are extremely disruptive and his upside is fantastic.
@[censored] @Sigmund @FF_pickups Thabeet gets out of position as all our bigs tend to do. Our guards put then in bad places when Wesbrook and KD are playing lazy defense.
@[censored] Everyone hates on Thabeet but he's beating Perkins in every single category. I don't know what else to say. It's mob mentality, confirmation bias. Thabeet has played better period for a fraction of the cost.
@[censored] @Sigmund @FF_pickups He's not but sometimes when Perkins is playing really bad it would worth the swap.
@[censored] Yes he is
@Sigmund @ThunderWins @FF_pickups FF_Pickups uses DRTG as defensive gospel for some reason. Thabeet is not a great defensive player.
@Sigmund "Rebound on defensive glass more, foul much less, don't get out of position on defense all the time."
He has a higher rebound rate than Perkins and our defense is rated a LOT better with Thabeet on the floor. His rebound rate is too high but he's got potential. Perkins is what he is, let's go with the guy who is outproducing him AND has upside.
@ThunderWins @FF_pickups You don't want to foul another team. Free throw is the most efficient shot. That's why our offense isn't better, we foul too much.
@Sigmund @FF_pickups If he fouls out so what then you go with Ibaka and Collison - its not an issue usually.
@FF_pickups Rebound on defensive glass more, foul much less, don't get out of position on defense all the time.
This is where we will never know how things would actually go starter vs bench because Perkins would have to be out for a few games and likely it would be Collison who would get the nod over Thabeet.
@FF_pickups @Sigmund Thabeet does he get to play with Russ and KD all the time. That helps Perkins.
@Sigmund What measureables does Thabeet have to achieve before we say he's serviceable? 20 pts a game?
@FF_pickups are we really have this discussion? Damn our centers are terrible :(
@Cold-Blooded Have you ever heard of the Paul Milsap principle. It's a study that shows that in general an increase in players minutes don't lead to a decrease in their overall production.
@FF_pickups did you take a good look at that list? Those are all starters, which means they're playing alot of minutes.
@Cold-Blooded He's sixth among centers in defensive rating
http://bit.ly/YAszCi
@FF_pickups i say insert him in the starting line up, then you see how terrible he his
@Cold-Blooded Thabeet's defensive numbers are excellent.
He's basically better across the board except marginally worse in TOV% and substantially worse in assist%. Also, when paired with Durant, his +/- is far superior to Perkins.
@FF_pickups he has good stretches, and then bad ones.
@FF_pickups quantify that .