The Side Part: Week Two – Welcome back

Let Mase’s voice Russ’ welcome back into the league.

If last year’s playoffs weren’t enough of an indication, after the recent Timberwolves debacle it was super evident just how short-handed the Thunder are without Westbrook. There’s a struggle to score. Reggie Jackson has to do too much and it throws the rotation out of whack and if Kevin Durant isn’t playing like Maximus Decimus Meridius pre-Joaquin stab then before long Ricky Rubio is skipping and smiling up and down the floor while Kevin Love beards and broods behind him, inhaling rebounds and giving everyone buckets of all kinds from all areas on the floor like he’s Wes.

But now Westbrook is back and the balance of power is restored.

There are things I’d forgotten about him. Or, perhaps, I hadn’t forgotten them altogether. I’d just forgotten the extremity of them. The aggression. The speed. The anger. The physicality. The athleticism. All of it is just outrageous. People have spoken on his having disregarded physics with his play before. It’s true, though, he has no time for it.

Getting to watch Durant and Westbrook play together really is, to hang onto Halloween a bit longer, a treat. The amount of athleticism on the floor when they’re playing together is astonishing. You have to retrain your eyes to deal with the fact that certain things are possible with them out there that shouldn’t be. They’re stallions at times, just sprinting away from everyone. Russ on that coast to coast yam last night shouted a resounding and all caps “YES” answer to anyone questioning whether or not he’s all the way recovered from the injury. There’s rust there, but the explosiveness is back. If Russ ever has a Jordan/Shaq-esque logo, it shouldn’t be just some silhouetted still shot. It should be a GIF. His activity is owed that.

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Dating Death must have really done in Claire Forlani. She’s drinking so much now. She’s hanging out in dangerous warehouses that are clearly abandoned, save a table and cases on cases of Dewar’s. She’s running around everywhere, sexually harassing that drinking glass, laughing like a dadgum crazy person, speaking all this recklessness into the camera.

You never know what’s best till you taste it? Sometimes you do, Claire. Nails look great, though.

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When Derek Fisher enters the game and starts blowing on his hands trying to get them warm I only imagine that something terribly awful is going to happen. Then, once I type that into my computer he rainbows in a three or two, draws an offensive foul, and gets an and 1. He makes no sense and he’s trolling us all every minute of the day. When he plays solidly, like he did last night, it’s astounding. It was only 5 pts, and his defense on Monta left pretty much everything on earth left to be desired, but he was a +3 on the game, made 50% of his shots, and didn’t turn the ball over. He won’t be getting a ton of burn, assuming Jackson leg contusion isn’t serious — knocks on every piece of wood in the whole world — so if he comes in and just doesn’t give the ball to the other team, then I say great success.

Serge finally righted whatever wrongs he was committing and had himself a game last night. 8-10 from the floor. 17 pts, 13 boards, 3 Mutumbos and generally just a whole lot more activity from him on both ends of the floor. That was great to see.

Lamb’s on his lion lately. What a joy it’s been to see him play well early in the season. His jumper is looking solid and he’s not hesitating when he’s open. He had him a 13 piece last night in just 20 minutes and shot a nice little 3-5 from three. Looked comfortable doing it, too. Small sample size style, he’s putting up 19.7 PPG and pulling down almost 6 rebounds per 36 mins. Feel like OKC fans will gladly take that.

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There is a Kendrick Perkins YOLO jumper, and it is lovely. But there is also a Kendrick Perkins YOLO reverse layup, and it is hell freezing. You know the one. It comes after the impossible baseline tightrope and usually finds its way to the bottom of the basket after a couple hands smack the backboard in failed block attempts. You watch that ball fall through the basket, Samuel Dalembert. Watch it and like it. And get an easier last name to spell. One that doesn’t get red on my Word document. Kendrick Perkins is forever.

Then a couple possessions later Perk misses a pass from a foot away and I call for his resignation.

And while last night, in the minutes he got, Perk played well enough, the post-Carter elbow Van Gundy love for Steven “John Henry” Adams did Perkins no favors when it comes to the fan base’s mindset of him. With every flattening screen, every collected rebound, every caught drop off, and every ignored elbow, Adams is making residents of Loud City get a little bit louder in their aches and shouts for more him and less Perkins in their lives. It would appear Adams is on the ascent, and Perkins has been steadily declining since a couple years ago. You can cite rebound rate and interior defense all you want, but Kendrick’s not what he was three and four years ago. I don’t know that this Kendrick has a “Control” verse in him at this point and Thunder fans love Adams. There’s little to hate thus far. He’s like Charlie’s Chicken’s crushed ice and if you don’t get that reference then I just feel sorry for you.

Adams knows his role and he goes beyond what is asked of him. Now we just need that Selek mustache everyone’s crying for to come out so those of us watching on tiny televisions can tell the difference between him and Collison.