Monday Bolts – First Win Edition
Joe from Thunderguru breaks down the win: “This was one of those ugly, back and forth, nobody can really deliver the finishing blow types of games that Thunder GM Sam Presti must have envisioned we would gut out on occasion when he put together the pieces on this team. I bet he dropped his ice cream cone in his lap when the final buzzer sounded (is he old enough to drink)?”
- Kelly Dwyer goes behind the box score of OKC’s win: “Oklahoma City’s offense stunk on Sunday night, as its level of efficiency was right around its 2007-08 league-low mark of a hundred points per as many possessions. What the Thunder did kick a little tail on was the defensive end, both in getting stops and demanding crucial turnovers from the Timberwolves.”
- Berry Tramel on the collective sigh of relief cast after the win: “But after a dudsville opener against Milwaukee, a home loss to Minnesota would have made everyone — players, fans, Thundershirt vendors — wonder exactly who this team could beat.”
- Mr. Monday of the Oklahoman on the win: “As you would expect, the crowd was pretty pumped. Either that or they were just glad to be somewhere not watching election coverage. Mr. Monday was tempted to run out to halfcourt and give some Electoral College projections, but nixed the idea when future Secretary of Agriculture Brad Henry walked by. Don’t want to ruin the surprise for the guv.”
- Game reaction from Canis Hoopus, a T-Wolves blog: “If you were watching this game at home, there was one fairly obvious theme throughout: OKC’s 2nd unit was murdering the Wolves’ 2nd string. Have you ever seen a box score where a team’s entire 1st unit had negative +/- while the 2nd string went nuts? It happened last night in OKC. The 2nd string troubles were noticeable from the get-go, yet if you look at PopcornMachine’s GameFlows, you see the Wolves doing very little to adjust their match-ups against OKC’s effective backups. Not until late in the 3rd do you see any movement beyond not leaving Craig Smith in the game with the starters during the 2nd quarter.”
EDIT: And I meant to point it out but forgot, no sign of Never Been to Spain following the victory. Instead, Kool and the Gang’s Celebration was played. Exactly what I didn’t want. Boo.
