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Oklahoma City closes late to catch Miami, 96-91

by Royce Young on October 14, 2009 at 10:04 pm 14 Comments

Not the most exciting game ever. At least for the first three quarters. Kevin Durant was in foul trouble and didn’t play a ton. The Tulsa crowd was a little sparse mainly because of the competing Boise St./Tulsa game (but the official attendance was over 10,000 which is pretty nice). Scott Brooks was tinkering with lineups and a lot of deep bench guys saw action. And it just felt like a preseason game. Lots of whistles, lot of turnovers and quite a bit of sloppy play.

But it picked up very nicely in the final 12. Durant had 18 of his 30 points in the fourth as the starters came in and played well leading Oklahoma City to make up a nine-point deficit to win 96-91. What was good about this game was that it was an ideal demo for closing a tight game. The Thunder needed stops, needed quality execution and needed to make smart plays down the stretch. Check, check and check. Both coaches saw the opportunity to get some serious work in, as the starters played almost all the key minutes. And the Thunder were the ones to finish it out.

The best part? The defense. The Thunder got close by Durant going off. Then hung tight moving between down one and down three for a few minutes. But what won the game was OKC got a few stops, capitalized on the stops and did what needed to be done to win. While just a preseason game, encouraging it is. Keep Reading…

Heat vs. Thunder: Preseason pre-game primer

by Royce Young on October 14, 2009 at 2:34 pm 43 Comments

vs.

Miami Heat (0-3) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (1-2)

TV: Thunder TV – KSBI 52 (Cox 15, HD 715)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 AM Tulsa, Web Stream)
Time: 7:00 CST

View from the enemy: Hot Hot Hoops

Another preseason game. Sigh. HOWEVA, it’s at the new BOK Center, which is neat. I went up to the new arena a couple weeks ago for a concert and I was really impressed. Very nice. Hopefully events like this can begin to extend the Thunder brand more into Tulsa. It’s a slow process for this team to build a brand, but doing it in two nice sized markets will definitely benefit the team and especially its TV deals.

As for the game, my eyes are on No. 9 and No. 9 alone. He’s all I want to watch. When he gets the ball, in my mind he turns into that little league bench player that never scores. Shoot it! Shoooooot it! Come on, SHOOT IT! If we’re lucky, he’ll knock out a few light bulbs on the scoreboard with a monster rejection. Hopefully this all isn’t a preseason aberration and Sir Iblocka/Chewblocka/King Congo lets us all down. That would break my heart. Keep Reading…

Wednesday Bolts – 10.14.09

by Royce Young on October 14, 2009 at 9:56 am 31 Comments

I said yesterday’s podcast was going to be a two-part thing with another interview coming with director Jason Reid, BUT it appears I suck at computing. Somehow, the interview isn’t there or didn’t record or something. So, apologies to everyone, especially Jason since I evidently wasted his time. It was a nice conversation though.

John Wooden is one of my favorite people ever, so I enjoyed this story very much: ”Wooden, of course, is almost synonymous with UCLA. But here’s the amazing thing. At the time he was offered the UCLA job, he was also in the running to become head coach in Minnesota, which was closer to home for him. There were some complications with the Minnesota position, though, which he wanted to get straightened out first. They said they’d call by 6 p.m. with the details of his final offer. UCLA was due to call at 7. Minnesota didn’t call, so when UCLA called, Wooden said yes to his second choice. As he hung up the phone, it rang, and it was Minnesota. A blizzard had knocked out all the phone lines, so they had been unable to get through, but now they were offering everything he had asked for.”

Just very cool of Alvin Gentry: “Griffin said one of his goals as a rookie is “to be one of the most conditioned guys on this team.” He wants to be ready when his name is called. Speaking of….Griffin was inserted in the starting line-up tonight. Gentry explained that he likes to do that when young guys play their hometown, plus he knew his parents were in attendance.”

Keep Reading…

Sir Iblocka, Chewblocka, The Sergeon… what say you?

by Royce Young on October 13, 2009 at 2:29 pm 64 Comments

Over the past day or two, you incredibly creative Thunder fans have been tossing out excellent nickname suggestions for everyone’s new favorite player, Serge Ibaka. As one reader wisely point out, Ibaka’s name itself is so entirely awesome that it almost serves alone as a cool nickname. But the possibilities… oh the possibilities.

So here’s what we’ve heard so far:
Sir Iblocka
Sir Blocka
Serge Iblocka
Chewbacca
Chewie
Chewblocka
Pantera Voladora (Leaping Panther in Spanish)
King Congo
The Sergeon
Ibaka Blocka
Sergesaurus Rex

I think my vote goes to “Sir Blocka.” Simple, sweet and makes sense. Especially after last night’s absolute shot destruction of Grant Hill’s layup. Your thoughts? Too many options for a poll, but we need a consensus. These are important things people. Very important.

The Rumbling Herd: Ep. 1

by Royce Young on October 13, 2009 at 11:02 am 36 Comments

(Now officially begins the Daily Thunder weekly podcast and it’s tentatively called The Rumbling Herd. Lame? Heck yes. But what is a guy to do? Stealing from Colin Cowherd just made sense to me. It was between that and The Rumble Report, which my wife liked. Or just Thundercast which is almost as boring as Daily Thunder. But I’m the paterfamilias so I choose. Anyway, we’ve had podcasts here on Daily Thunder in the past, but this here marks the start of a weekly one that will run through the season and on into the rest of eternity. Hope you like.)

On today’s episode (which is actually going to be a two-parter):

Adam Brown, producer of Sonicsgate, lends some time to discuss the film
A little reaction on the film. Hopefully this movie can kind of wrap up this whole Seattle/OKC issue we’ve faced for the past year.
Talking about the Ford Center’s improvements

In part two, I’ll have a little conversation with Sonicsgate director, Jason Reid. You’re welcome for the oversaturation of Sonicsgate. I enjoyed the film, alright? I’ll have that up later this week. Anyway, hope you like and while there’s some kinks in it (like the 15 second silence after the interview), hopefully it will get better. The sound isn’t excellent, but I’ll try and make the necessary adjustments. And if my voice makes you want to vomit, email me and I’ll transcribe the whole thing for you. (Kidding, obviously. Don’t email me.)

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Tuesday Bolts – 10.13.09

by Royce Young on October 13, 2009 at 9:46 am 23 Comments

Ziller looks at the stastistical war waging with Kevin Durant: ”Some basketball statisticians think Kevin Durant has been overrated through two seasons of work, a tunnel-visioned volume scorer. Others believe him to be The Second Second Coming, a future pantheon invitee getting his sea legs. Where’s the truth? We’ll find out more this season, I’d bet … but not without a war.”

Alvin Gentry on the Thunder: “Everybody here has to be patient,” Gentry said. “The fans have to be patient. The ownership has to be patient and management has to be patient. They have a good guy running the team. They have great assistants I think you’ll see help develop these players. When you look at their roster, they have a really, really bright future.”

FanHouse player to watch, Jeff Green: “Jeff Green is the other-other Thunder. If Russell Westbrook is The Edge to Kevin Durant’s Bono, Jeff Green is one of the other U2 members that you don’t actually know because they aren’t The Edge or Bono. But if you haven’t been paying attention to Green because you’ve been too busy calling your friends to tell them Kevin Durant is breaking your mindskull, take a second look at the power forward for the Thunder. Because if Oklahoma City is going to take the next step this season, it won’t be on the back of Westbrook, but the man they call Predator.” Keep Reading…

Thunder wins 110-105 in overtime over the Su– HOLY CRAP SERGE IBAKA

by Royce Young on October 12, 2009 at 10:15 pm 39 Comments

BOX SCORE

(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Ah, preseason overtime basketball. Nothing better. Except… everything. To recap quickly, the Thunder blew a 17-point fourth quarter lead, the game went to overtime and the backups backups came in and locked in a 110-105 Thunder victory.

The final score was nice and getting a win was fun but there are three very positive things to take from this one: Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and 3-point shooting.

First, Westbrook. How does a triple-double sound? It sounds pretty awesome, but Westbrook fell just short notching 10 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in three quarters. And only three turns including one coming off a rebound that bounced off his foot. He just looks like a whole new player. I loved the Russ from last year but gone are the hair-pulling moments. He’s in control and he plays smart. Two plays stood out: 1) With 1:15 left in the first, he took his time, split a double-team, went to the rack and scored two and was fouled. It was a patient, well calculated move. 2) With 3:30 left in the third, he got inside the lane, drew two defenders and slipped a beauty to Ibaka for a flush. A very slick play. Keep Reading…

Suns vs. Thunder: Preseason pre-game primer

by Royce Young on October 12, 2009 at 2:10 pm 174 Comments

vs.

Phoenix Suns (1-1) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (0-2)

TV: Thunder TV – KSBI 52 (Cox 15, HD 715)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, Web Stream)
Time: 7:00 CST

View from the enemy: Valley of the Suns

The best thing about this game is that it’s on TV. And that it’s at home. One way or the other, we finally have a chance to get a GOOD look at the new players. No more blurry webcam feeds or radio calls. We get it to see it live and for real. That alone gets me excited for a meaningless preseason game. (Though as of right now, the game isn’t showing up in my guide…) Keep Reading…

Miami Heat (0-3) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (1-2)

Phoenix Suns (1-1) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (0-2)

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