Daily Thunder.com

UPDATE: Finally, video of the halftime performance nearly gone horribly wrong. Watch and be horrified.

NBA.com Power Rankings: “The Thunder had shown some defensive improvement (104.9 rating over a 10-game stretch) until they lost Desmond Mason for the season with a hyperextended right knee. Then they gave up a combined 232 points in Utah and Sacramento.”

And No. 25 in SI’s rankings: “Kevin Durant was rightfully left off the All-Star team, as a club as bad as OKC probably doesn’t deserve to be represented. But is there any doubt this will be the final time for a while that this happens? Durant is averaging 26.1 points since coach Scott Brooks took over and moved him to small forward in November. “Kevin Durant is a potential Hall of Fame player,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He has the passion. He’s basically unstoppable.”

Update on Serge Ibaka: The Sergeant had one of his best games of the season two nights ago, scoring 16 on 7-9 shooting and grabbing 15 boards against DKV Joventut. He’s getting more and more minutes (almost 19 a game over the last six, up from about 11 in his first 13). Follow Serge here. (Are you might need this.)

The TrueHoop network got together to come up with some ideas for All-Star reform: “I’d like to see the freshmen play the NBDL All Stars. It’s become apparent that the NBDL is a viable source of NBA level talent. I think this would be a competitive game, since each has something valuable to play for. The D-Leaguers will be fighting to show that they belong in the league, and they may have an extra chip on their shoulder playing millionaire rookies.”

SLAM’s top shooting guard prospects – a position OKC definitely needs help at: “Up until the past month or so, Duke’s Gerald Henderson has only shown frustratingly small doses of his talent and potential. He seems to have turned a corner, however, posting 13-straight double-digit scoring games and four games of 20 or more points in January alone. Henderson is NBA athleticism personified.”

Keep Reading…

Because of some duties in fulfilling my requirement in being an American male, I chose to watch the Super Bowl yesterday and not write a recap of the game. And like I told my wife, had we won, I probably would have happily skipped into the office to crank out 800 words, but because of the outcome, I thought using the Super Bowl would be a good excuse to just ignore a really disappointing loss. But here’s all you need to know: Durant, Westbrook, Green = good (95 points). Rest of team = not good (23 points). Well, Nick Collison had a nice game, but geez, what a stinky loss. Although, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a “make the first, miss the second and get a tip-in” work live and I was impressed with Jeff Green’s execution there. Anyway, to the Bolts…

The Durant v. Oden debate is finally able to gain some traction: “Fair or not, Oden and Durant are destined to be linked in history. Like Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, without the gunfire. And a look back at the 1984 draft offers both worst-case and best-case scenarios. Oden and Durant could be remembered as Michael Jordan and Sam Bowie, as a mismatch of a comparison that highlights Portland’s blundering. Or they could be remembered as Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon, who combined for eight championships, eight Finals MVP awards, and six regular-season MVPs.”

Le Basketbawl’s midseason report: “We now know that the Thunder will not have the worst record in the history of the Association. Scott Brooks while an improvement over P.J. still has not shown that he is more than an interim coach.”

Hardwood Paroxysm sums up yesterday’s game pretty nicely: “The Definition of Awesome Futility: Kevin Durant; 33PTS 5 RB, 2 AS, 1 BL, Russell Westbrook; 34 PTS 6 RB 8 AS 1 ST, Jeff Green; 28 PTS, 13 RBS 5 AS 3 ST. And they lost.”

BDL Behind the Box Score:  Timed up against a Cavaliers/Pistons game on national TV, this contest between two of the NBA’s worst teams was blacked out on the dish, and I gotta say, I’m a little cheesed off. Blackouts are something we have to live with every Sunday afternoon; they’re all over the pace as the NBA wants all basketball-watching eyes on what’s happening on the major network of its choice, but an overtime close one with 240 combined points? I’d like to know how, and why? Even the gamer is a little messed-up. Kevin Martin had 37 points on 24 shots, turning it over only twice in 49 minutes of play (that’s a tremendous accomplishment), Jeff Green had 28 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, one turnover, and three steals for Oklahoma City, and Thunder rookie Russell Westbrook got to the line 22 times (making 20), helping to overcome seven of 18 shooting and five turnovers. He had eight assists, and all six of his rebounds were on the offensive end. Keep Reading…

UPDATE: Chris Sheridan’s top 12 trade assets (OKC’s got a couple):”The Thunder are constantly being asked if they’d be open to trading the rights to the athletic Ibaka, currently playing for Ricoh Manresa of the Spanish League, as is the case with the Nuggets and Hervelle, who plays for Real Madrid.”

And here are your West All-Star reserves – Chauncey Billups (G), Tony Parker (G), Brandon Roy (G), Dirk Nowitzki (F), Pau Gasol (F), David West (F) and Shaquille O’Neal. Notice anything there? There’s no small forward on the entire roster… and guess what position Kevin Durant plays. Not sayin’, just sayin’.

TrueHoop looks at the snubbed. Women may love the snub, but I don’t think NBA players do: “One of the worst ways you can analyze a player is to cherry pick a handul of statistics that don’t even mean all that much without a broader context. But it’s fun, so I’m going to do it anyway. 35 points, ten rebounds, and six assists. 46 points, 14 rebounds, and four assists. 28 points, 12 rebounds, and four steals. 41 points and ten rebounds. You see what I mean? These kinds of stat lines are not hard to find in Kevin Durant’s body of work. Granted, his team came out of the gate terribly. But if they had played the entire season like they have played the last month, there is no way that Kevin Durant would not be on this team. I don’t know precisely what the qualifications are to be an All-Star, but I know that just about everyone who puts up those kinds of numbers consistently for any length of time seems to make it.”

Rob Peterson of NBA.com says the coaches got it mostly right: “Team success — or the lack of it — also may be the reason Durant, who is averaging 24.8 points per game (sixth in the NBA), wasn’t named to the team. The Thunder are 11-35. Usually, a team’s record plays a large part in whether a player is considered All-Star worthy. But in the East, Toronto’s Chris Bosh and Indiana’s Danny Granger play for sub-.500 teams. And they both made the team.” Keep Reading…