TrueHoop Network
An ESPN Affiliate

Daily Thunder.com

Blazers vs. Thunder: Pregame Primer

by Royce Young on March 18, 2012 at 4:05 pm 661 Comments

vs.

Portland Trail Blazers (21-23, 7-16 road) vs. OKC Thunder (33-11, 18-4 home)

TV: ESPN (Cox 29, HD 720); FS OK (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 754)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:30 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 109.2 (2nd), Blazers– 105.2 (10th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 102.9 (13th), Blazers – 102.9 (12th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.5 (4th), Blazers – 91.5 (16th)

View from the enemy: Portland Roundball Society

Lose tonight, and there will be panic. Probably justified panic. The Thunder have dropped two straight at home, are 1-3 in their last four at The Peake and have a Blazers team coming to town that they should completely handle. If they don’t show up ready and excited for this one, then I think there’s good reason to wonder what’s going on. Keep Reading…

TGR 73: The Godfather makes it all better

by Thunderground Radio on March 18, 2012 at 1:24 pm 33 Comments

Rough week for Thunder fans. TGR hooked up with Royce of Daily Thunder & CBSSports.com to council us through our doubts and fears.

Topics covered:

Westbrook’s relationship with the press

Brooks’ development as a coach

Harden’s status as a merging star in the NBA (top three shooting guard?)

Denver’s weird trade

How much Blazers fans hate the Thunder

All this and tons more…

Download, listen and comment.

DOWNLOAD

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

What’s in a middle name?

by Royce Young on March 17, 2012 at 5:16 pm 58 Comments

Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images

Besides learning last night that the Spurs are probably a horrible, terrifying matchup for the Thunder, we learned that Eric Maynor’s middle name is Demarqua. Maybe you knew that already, but it certainly caught me off guard. I don’t know why, but middle names are always kind of interesting to me. Especially when you have as normal a name as “Eric Maynor” but the middle of that is something like Demarqua.

So naturally, I spent the afternoon looking up every player’s middle name. Keep Reading…

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Grant Long, basketballer

by Royce Young on March 17, 2012 at 11:55 am 22 Comments

Happy Saturday. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. Chin up.

During a Thunder broadcast, you’ll often hear analyst Grant Long recall upon his past playing days. But he played before YouTube mixes or highlight videos, so this will have to do. One thing I learned? Grant could dunk on people, big time.

OKC digs deep hole and can’t get out against the Spurs, 114-105

by Royce Young on March 17, 2012 at 12:18 am 183 Comments

Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images

BOX SCORE

I certainly understand the frustration. The Thunder have not played all that well post All-Star break. They’re 6-4, have lost three at home (including two straight now) and certainly have lacked a few of the important things you need to win an NBA championship. Namely consistent defense, consistent offense and consistent everything else.

Two big moments stick out: Tim Duncan’s and-1 and James Harden’s terrible inbounds pass. And while both certainly greatly contributed to the Thunder dropping this one to the Spurs, Oklahoma City lost this game in the second quarter. The first was worse in terms of the box score, but OKC let itself go in that second 12 minutes. The defense got lazy, the Spurs got every loose ball and the offense got sloppy. Said Kevin Durant postgame: “[The fans] should’ve booed us in the first half.” He’s probably right. The effort just wasn’t there.

Consider this: To start the second quarter, the Spurs scored on 14 of their first 16 possessions. The Thunder actually went almost six minutes without getting a stop. That’s not acceptable. I’m a pretty anti-panic person, but even I had to stop for a second and take that one in. Keep Reading…

Spurs vs. Thunder: Pregame Primer

by Royce Young on March 16, 2012 at 3:00 pm 1,337 Comments

vs.

San Antonio Spurs (28-13, 11-9 road) vs. OKC Thunder (33-10, 18-3 home)

TV: ESPN (Cox 29, HD 720); FS OK (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 754)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:30 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 109.3 (2nd), Spurs– 108.4 (4th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 102.6 (12th), Spurs – 103.9 (14th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.3 (4th), Spurs – 91.8 (13th)

View from the enemy: 48 Minutes of Hell

The Thunder are well past measuring bar games. They’re good. We know this. It’s not going to take a win over the Spurs to further illustrate that. But here’s what tonight’s game means: It means the Thunder will have a 2-1 season series lead on the Spurs and it’ll put them up five over them for the top seed. Lose, and things tighten a bit and what was once taken for granted a bit, that No. 1 Western seed could be up for grabs. Keep Reading…

Friday Bolts – 3.16.12

by Royce Young on March 16, 2012 at 11:19 am 140 Comments

Berry Tramel: “The addition of Jackson gives the Spurs a thorn in the flesh of Kevin Durant, should OKC and San Antonio engage in a playoff series. Jackson is a productive scorer (16.1 points a game, over 12 NBA seasons); not a good shooter (41.6 percent, career). But the Spurs didn’t get Jackson for offense. They got him for defense. The Spurs had no matchup for Durant. Now they do.”

George Karl on KD: “I don’t see a weakness in him,” said Nuggets coach George Karl. “What athleticism and skill doesn’t he have? He can dribble, pass, shoot, dunk, run the court. And he’s becoming a better defensive player. If I had to list the top two players in basketball, I’dsay him and LeBron James.” Keep Reading…

OKC takes care of Denver 103-90 in Thabo Sefolosha’s return

by Michael Kimball on March 15, 2012 at 11:21 pm 221 Comments

BOX SCORE

Oklahoma City’s mini-funk seems to be over. At least for one night.

The Thunder welcomed back Thabo Sefolosha with a 103-90 win in Denver on Thursday against a shorthanded Nuggets squad and didn’t seem too tested doing it. Sure, Denver made some runs, but that’s what NBA teams do. But this felt more like the OKC team that entered the All-Star break as opposed to the lethargic team we’ve seen for most nights since.

Sefolosha only played 12 minutes, with Scott Brooks only using him for his customary first- and third-quarter shifts and not re-inserting him for his second stint in either half. So it’s tough to say whether Sefolosha’s presence alone settled the Thunder into a good rhythm. More likely, Oklahoma City just came out with the focus it typically shows after a loss, particularly a bad one. But there’s no doubt the Thunder played with the defensive intensity and effort from the start that has seemed so lacking in the sluggish performances over the last couple of weeks. Keep Reading…

Portland Trail Blazers (21-23, 7-16 road) vs. OKC Thunder (33-11, 18-4 home)

San Antonio Spurs (28-13, 11-9 road) vs. OKC Thunder (33-10, 18-3 home)

Headlines