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Saturday Morning Cartoons: Learning Lamb

by Royce Young on November 3, 2012 at 8:42 am 678 Comments

Happy Saturday. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. Onward.

The present piece in the James Harden trade was Kevin Martin. Clearly a gifted, efficient scorer that can fill it up with 30 points in a half. (Here’s a terrific breakdown from ESPN.com’s David Thorpe on Martin, a player he knows very well.) Not many are talking about the other piece in the deal though, 12th overall pick Jeremy Lamb. He’s unlikely to see a lot of immediate playing time with the Thunder, but he’s a talented young player that has a whole lot of offensive skill and a pretty tall ceiling. He could be a terrific young player, especially in the Thunder system that seems to develop players extremely well. So check out Draft Express’s breakdown video of him to get a little better feel on what he’s all about.

Back on track: OKC takes down Portland, 106-92

by Royce Young on November 2, 2012 at 10:39 pm 880 Comments

BOX SCORE

The big takeaway here is, 81-1 is still in play.

The Thunder looked a lot more like the Thunder tonight against the Blazers, pulling away with a very solid fourth quarter that featured crisp execution, smart decisions and nice shot-making. The story circling around this team is clearly still about the former No. 13, but if you just looked at the box score and ignored names, it was a pretty typical night for this team. Seven-four total points from their big three with 32 from Russell Westbrook, 23 from Kevin Durant and 19 from third scorer guy.

It’s only 24 hours later, but it was clear the Thunder are starting to figure themselves out a bit this post-beard world. Kevin Martin is going to fit just fine as a third scorer, Durant took on a bigger role creating and Westbrook threw up a very Westbrookian middle finger at his critics tonight.

“It’s a good thing I stuck with Russell, huh?” Keep Reading…

Blazers vs. Thunder: Pregame Primer

by Royce Young on November 2, 2012 at 2:30 pm 2,280 Comments

vs.

Portland Trail Blazers (1-0, 0-0 road) vs. OKC Thunder (0-1, 0-0 home)

TV: 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: 7:00 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 109.2 (2nd), Blazers– 123.1 (2nd)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 102.9 (13th), Blazers – 112.5 (20th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.5 (4th), Blazers – 94.3 (14th)

View from the enemy: Portland Roundball Society

If there was ever a time to be pumped about a back-to-back, this feels like this is it. The grossness of that finish in San Antonio coupled with the fact the Thunder need to get back on the floor and work on some stuff make tonight’s game against the Blazers much appreciated. Keep Reading…

TrueHoop TV: Missing Harden

by Royce Young on November 2, 2012 at 1:00 pm 2 Comments

Friday Bolts – 11.2.12

by Royce Young on November 2, 2012 at 10:12 am 502 Comments

Andrew McNeill of 48 Minutes of Hell: “On one possession in the first half, Leonard was standing in the lane and defending a Thunder player in the opposite corner. When one of the other Oklahoma City players penetrated and kicked, Leonard was able to deflect the pass to his man out of bounds without having to close out on the shooter. Teams will eventually adjust to this and that’s fine. It will simply make it a little tougher for them to play effective offense without Leonard getting his hands on passes and dribbles. I asked Danny Green after the game if he felt any more prepared to defend against Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant than he did a few months ago, but he said he didn’t. Green cited a better comfort level among the team with its defensive communication and team knowledge in holding Oklahoma City to under 38% shooting on the night. An assessment with which Pop agrees.”

Dave of BlazersEdge previewing tonight: “The bigger worry for Portland is Russell Westbrook. This has a historical basis as well, as Westbrook likes to eat the Blazers, particularly on the offensive glass. But he’s also staring across the court at Damian Lillard having heard about Lillard’s well-heralded performance against the Lakers but also knowing Lillard’s defense is at best untested, at worst unreliable. Smart money says Westbrook will look at the rookie and think, “Fresh Meat”. The guy took 21 shots against the Spurs, hitting only 6. He’ll take that many again. Can Lillard and company keep his percentage as low? It doesn’t help that Westbrook blew OKC’s final possession of the then-tied game last night, leaving the door open for Tony Parker to win it. A fella’s got to take it out on someone.” Keep Reading…

OKC falters late in San Antonio, 86-84

by Royce Young on November 1, 2012 at 11:56 pm 565 Comments

BOX SCORE

You can look at this game two ways:

1) In their first game without James Harden, trying to work in new pieces, with Kevin Durant playing average (for him), Russell Westbrook playing like butt, Serge Ibaka only scoring four points, the team shooting 37.7 percent from the floor, all on the road against the Spurs, the Thunder were a bad turnover and a Tony Parker miracle 3 and a buzzer beater away from starting the season off on a very nice 1-0 note.

Or…

2) The Spurs, playing a second game of a back-to-back, sans Manu Ginobili, led through a lot of the game as the Thunder looked out of sync offensively, shooting only 37.7 percent from the floor, with 18 turnovers and clear offensive issues to sort out in a post-Harden world.

I think where you fall on those two points probably says a lot about you as a Thunder fan. Keep Reading…

Thunder at Spurs: Pregame Primer

by Royce Young on November 1, 2012 at 5:00 pm 3,055 Comments

vs.

OKC Thunder (0-0, 0-0 road) at San Antonio Spurs (1-0, 0-0 home)

TV: TNT (Cox 31, HD 730)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:30 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – N/A (N/A), Spurs– 104.2 (8th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – N/A (N/A), Spurs – 100.0 (12th)
Pace: Thunder – N/A (N/A), Spurs – 95.0 (8th)

View from the enemy: 48 Minutes of Hell

San Antonio coming in: The Spurs last played yesterday beating the Hornets in New Orleans.

So this is going to be interesting. The Thunder kick things off on the road against the team looking for payback. And they’re doing it just days after making a massive trade and shaking up the foundation of their roster. Other than that, no big deal. Keep Reading…

3-on-3: Predictions

by Royce Young on November 1, 2012 at 2:25 pm 462 Comments

Ronald Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images

Things done changed Saturday night. At least in terms of the consensus expectation set on this Thunder team. But while many have downgraded their Thunder’s current title chances, it still should be pretty obvious that this team is very good.

How good?

Well, let’s guess. Er, predict. Keep Reading…

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