Daily Thunder.com

 vs.

Philadelphia 76ers (30-30, 13-16 road) vs. OKC Thunder (16-46, 12-20 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)
Time: 6:00 CST

Offensive Rating: Thunder: 103.8 (28th), Philadelphia: 106.4 (22nd)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 109.9 (21st), Philadelphia: 105.7 (7th)
Pace: Thunder: 93.7 (8th), Philadelphia: 90.8 (17th)

UPDATE: Thabo is a go, Green is not.

I wonder what Shaun Livingston is doing tonight… think he could come down and chip in 15 or 20 minutes?

Coming off a game last night in New Orleans with only eight healthy bodies, OKC has to turn around and lace ‘em up again tonight with Jeff Green and Thabo Sefolosha being question marks. Kevin Durant said recently that he’ll maybe be back against Denver Wednesday, but “definitely back against Phoenix.” Scott Brooks did a really good job of distributing minutes against the Hornets, but with only eight players on a back-to-back, there’s probably going to be some heavy legs.

It’s just going to have to be another one of those hustle and grit efforts to stay in it. Russell Westbrook did a solid job of creating opportunities last night, but his mates didn’t cash in. The biggest issue will be defending the Sixers who have long, skilled guys all over the floor. But they are a below average road team (13-16) and OKC has played well at home in 2009. So don’t count the Thunder out just yet. You might be able to count them out 24 minutes in, but not just yet. Keep Reading…

I remember a few Thunder fans calling for Presti to bring in Shaun Livingston and that’s exactly what happened. From NewsOK:

Livingston, the fourth overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft, chipped in six points and three assists in just over 18 minutes of playing time as the Tulsa 66ers dropped their eighth straight decision with a 99-96 loss to Rio Grande Valley in an NBA Development League game.

The Thunder has an open roster spot due to waiving Joe Smith, but who knows if Presti will try to bring Livingston up to the Thunder before the end of the year. He did suffer a horrific knee injury just two years ago that forced him to basically re-learn how to walk. But he was a top five talent and a potential solid contributor at point guard and if he’s healthy, there’s no way he’d hurt the Thunder at back-up point guard (I’m not saying anything about anyone specific… but I think you catch my drift). I know I wouldn’t mind seeing him on the roster by the end of the year.

It’s a strange thing when your team gets beat by 18 and you sort of feel good about it. Because you know it could have been much, much worse.

Though a 108-90 loss isn’t good by any means, we all know it could have been much, much worse. The game was 76-72 with the Hornets leading at the end of the third and we were all thinking the same thing: How in the heck are these guys hanging in this? Damien Wilkins is like 2-41 from the field, Nenad Krstic isn’t scoring and oh yeah, no KD, Uncle Jeff or Thabo. How is it just four heading into the fourth?

And I think Byron Scott was probably asking his team that same thing after the third. Why are these guys only down four to us right now? Anybody? A lot of it was because Chris Paul had to sit for most of the third because he picked up his fourth foul, so that definitely helped OKC stay that close. But once he came back in to start the fourth, the Hornets ratcheted things up and went on a 15-3 run to start the fourth, eventually stretching out to a 20-point lead. Maybe the New Orleans was just pacing themselves, saving their energy to turn it on in the fourth. Or maybe they expected to be up 20 going into the fourth and they collectively though, “Oh crap, we better get going or we’re going to lose to this rag-tag bunch.” Whatever it was, by the end of it, the score looked about like it was supposed to. But OKC made it interesting there for a while.

But like I said, I still feel a little encouraged about this game. It was just a total scrappy effort with guys diving all over the floor, hustling to take charges and doing their absolute darndest to put the ball in the basket. They tried hard. I definitely want to give it up to them for that. They were in the game until the fourth quarter when they all either ran out of gas (hit just 3 of 18 from the floor in the fourth) or the Hornets woke up, but that’s all we could really hope for going into it. I know I didn’t expect to keep it any closer than 20. I figured NOLA would roar out to at least a 15-point halftime lead and maybe the Thunder would close to seven or eight, but then the Hornets would win by 25. I didn’t think there’d be any way that I’d be actively watching and rooting after 36 minutes. But there they were, right in the thing. And that’s saying something when at times, your main offensive weapons are Damien Wilkins and Malik Rose. To be within four going into the fourth is pretty dang good. Keep Reading…

vs.

Thunder (16-45, 4-25 road) at New Orleans Hornets (38-22, 22-9 home)

TV: KSBI-52 (Cox 9, HD 715)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)
Time: 7:00 CST

Offensive Rating: Thunder: 103.9 (28th), New Orleans: 109.5 (9th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 109.8 (21st), New Orleans: 106.4 (10th)
Pace: Thunder: 93.7 (8th), New Orleans: 87.8 (28th)

I don’t know where vengeance ranks in Tyson Chandler’s book, but let’s hope it’s low. I really don’t want to see him miffed and put up 35 points and 26 rebounds or something. I would feel sad if that happened. The Hornets are undefeated with Chandler back in the lineup so it would be kind of nice if OKC could hand them a loss.

But how about this: We’ve got a game with two hot teams as the Hornets have won seven in a row and the Thunder three in a row (how cool is that?). Right now, Jeff Green is a game-time decision and Thabo Sefolosha is listed as questionable. Kevin Durant is stil day-to-day but I’m guessing there’s about a two percent chance he plays. Keep Reading…

So we all know that the last four games have been a big success for the Thunder. The first of the four was the overtime loss to Dallas where KD went down in the fourth, and the Thunder almost pulled one out, but played surprising basketball without our big time scorer.  The following three games were equally surprising considering that Jeff Green only played in the first, and Kevin Durant didn’t play in any of them. The Thunder’s play was so inspiring, that it resulted in Mark Cuban  lambasting his team and threatening the players jobs for their effort against the lowly Thunder without it’s stars.

The Thunder did it with defense. If you watched, you noticed. No longer were the Thunder’s opponents in those last four games making big shot after big shot. No longer were they scoring at will. Now, suddenly the Thunder were making these other teams work hard to put points on the board-something we haven’t seen much of this year.

I crunched the numbers for the “four factors” for the last four games to illustrate just how these wins have been coming.

First of all the big picture. In the last four, OKC has had an offensive efficiency of 107 points per 100 possessions. That’s not too bad, league average is 107.9, so we are still right there even without our big guns. The Thunder’s defensive efficiency has been 101.35 points allowed per 100. That is really superb by any measure. The league average defense is also 107.9. Keep Reading…

Will it ever end? From Darnell’s blog:

Thabo Sefolosha has sustained a sprained MCL and is listed as day-to-day.

Sefolosha only shot free throws during today’s practice and his status for Saturday’s game at New Orleans is unclear. Coach Scott Brooks labeled Sefolosha a game-time decision.

If Sefolosha is unable to play against the Hornets, he will become the fourth injured player on the Thunder’s roster, joining forwards Desmond Mason, Kevin Durant and Jeff Green.

Also, he had an update on Jeff Green, who said his sore back feels “great” but was unsure if he’d be cleared to play tomorrow night. Kevin Durant took part in some shooting drills and is walking without a limp, but is still likely doubtful against New Orleans.

If there’s no Thabo to go along with no Green and Durant, then this winning streak may make it to four. Because the more Thunders that go down, the more we win. That’s how it works, right? But seriously, the thought of Damien Wilkins playing 44 minutes makes me shiver. Get well soon Thabo (and by soon, I mean, like now) .

Man I wish I could get away from this subject. I just want to pack up, jump in my car and drive away from it. But it’s always in my rear-view mirror. It’s like Walker, Texas Ranger. Per usual, Bill Simmons has been referring to Oklahoma City as “The Team That Shall Not Be Named” and taking it so far as to bleep “Oklahoma City” in podcasts when he slips. You know, keeping up with his shtick. He gets these shticks and themes and he runs with them. And a lot of times, I love him for it. It’s funny, it’s witty and it’s clever. Not so much this time. In his latest mailbag, he let a question from a guy in Tulsa slip through.

Q: You are unfairly killing an entire fan base with your refusal to call the (Team That Shall Not Be Named) by its name. In your attempt to make another state feel better (rightly deserved) you are coming across as a pompous jerk to another one. Can you please start calling our team by its proper name?
– John H., Tulsa, Okla.

SG: No way. It’s like (TTSNBN) was a married couple and couldn’t conceive a child on their own, so they went and stole another couple’s kid (in this case, Seattle’s) after proving in court that the kid was living in an aging house and deserved to live in a new one … but then, in the insult of insults, it turned out they lived in a house that was just as old and decrepit as the kid’s old house. How would you expect me to support this? You stole their team. I will continue to call it The Team That Shall Not Ne Named, the Bennett City Hijackers and the Seattle SloppySeconds. And if it costs me every reader in Hijack City, so be it — I have 49 other states and hundreds of other countries to work with. I’ll be fine. You stole someone else’s team. If you were friends with a buddy who stole another buddy’s wife, you would not be friends with that person anymore. Hijack City is not my friend. At least until Seattle remarries.

Bill’s wrong here. It’s more like what happened in Gone Baby Gone. (If you haven’t seen Gone Baby Gone, stop reading and do it. It’s good. Plus, I’m about to spoil it.) The ending to that movie caused instant debate among friends. You had Group A (Oklahoma City) that thought the little girl was better off staying with her new parents even though they stole her. Morgan Freeman was going to be able to give her everything Amy Ryan couldn’t. She would be loved, cherished and even spoiled at times. She’d have a nice house, nice clothes and grow up happy and healthy. Her new parents would give her attention and love and have everything she deserved.

But you had Group B (Seattle) that thought the little girl should stay with her rightful mother. She birthed her, she raised her and no matter how terrible of a mother she is, it’s her daughter dadgumit! So what that she lived in a cramped apartment and it was a mess all the time. And so what that the mother was a crack addict that ignored her baby and went out on dates with strange men. She gave birth to her and that’s that. Doesn’t matter if she left her at home by herself while she went out and got high. She came from her, so she can’t go anywhere, no matter what the situation. Keep Reading…

Evidently, there’s some big comic book movie coming out today. The only way you wouldn’t know that is if you were trapped in a coffin the past month.

How D.J. White is dealing with his lost season: “The three-inch scar on the left side of D.J. White’s neck, nestled just below his swollen jaw, might someday fade away. For now, the mark left by the doctor’s incision serves as a daily reminder of the Thunder forward’s lost rookie season. White, the 29th overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft, has been sidelined all season after undergoing surgery to remove a benign growth in his jaw. And with 21 games remaining, it’s beginning to look like White will miss the entire year, turning what should have been a dream come true into an unimaginable nightmare. White has a doctor’s appointment scheduled for March 16. Only then will he know if he’ll be cleared to resume full-contact practice and possibly be able to join his Thunder teammates for the home stretch.”

Kevin Durant checks in at No. 4 in the NBA’s plays of the week with his ridiculous double-cross on Josh Howard.

I’ve been avoiding the NBA financial situation because frankly, I just don’t want to think about it, but Shoals writes a really interesting piece about five signs of the NBA Apocolyspe: “Granted, some version of these dire pronouncements has been with us since last summer. But seeing them together all at once, with little or no mitigation, or appreciation for the finer points of, say, Detroit’s search for a new identity, did what it was supposed to do: Scare me and make me believe that really, anything could happen in the NBA as the economy continues to bring us all down to our knees. With that in mind — or rather, going on the possibility that I’m missing the forest for the trees — here are Five Signs of the NBA Apocalypse we should all watch for. Or expect, if you’re the WSJ:” Keep Reading…