Saturday, December 27, 2008

So close, yet soooooo close

As one commenter said, the Thunder were only down two at half and he expected them to lose by 8-12 points in the end. That's what I thought. That's what everybody thought. Especially against a good Pistons squad, in their building nonetheless.

And at a few points, it looked like it was happening. Oklahoma City was down by 14 and appeared to be fading, but an 11-0 run pulled the Thunder to within three. While that run was great and all, the following few minutes showed just how far this team has come. In the past, the valiant comeback attempts came up short and by "short," I mean well short. But OKC fought and scrapped and scraped and with Joe Smith's 21-footer, the game was tied at 88-88 with under 20 seconds left.

But then Allen Iverson did what he was supposed to. He challenged Russell Westbrook and hit an impossible leaning jumper with 0.02 seconds left. But again, OKC wasn't throwing it in yet. A lob to Jeff Green was executed perfectly, well, except for Green actually putting the ball in the hoop. But still, the play was ran just how Scott Brooks wanted, but it's kind of hard to place the ball when you only have time to put a pinky on it.

Once again, all you have to do to find out why the Thunder came up short is look at the details. Free throw shooting once again failed them. 63 percent from the line just isn't going to cut it. The hidden points that you missed out on just because of a lack of concentration or whatever the reason, can't be excused.

While Kevin Durant was once again good, the 1-6 from three concerns me a tad. He's been shooting the three-ball so well lately (over 50 percent this month), I fear he's going to have a lapse and get carried away with the moneyball and start chucking like he did the first half of his rookie season. But I think he's come a long way in that. For the most part, the six shots were good looks that just didn't go in. He didn't force it and was still 9-19 from the field. But Durant has been scary good lately - his 26 Friday night made it nine straight outings with over 20 points and six with 25 or more. I'm excited with where his game is going.

And Russell Westbrook should pick up a few slam dunk votes tonight with his two ridunkulous (see what I did there?) rim-rockers. That second one with the little cross and dive into the lane was a thing of beauty until he cocked and assaulted the iron. Very awesome. Brian Davis sounded like threw up on the microphone as he stammered to get the superlatives out after it.



But honestly, outside of the poor foul shooting, I don't see how anyone could complain or bash after this one. Seems to me this is one of those, snap your fingers and say "shucks" type of games. Even if OKC was 20-9 instead of 3-26 coming in, losing to a top five time in the East in their gym on a last-second shot is nothing to be ashamed of. The idea is, in two years when this group has completely matured, these type of games will have been integral in getting the Thunder to the point of being a winning ball club.

Next up is a winnable one in Washington against the 4-23 Wizards. These kind of games concern me because 1) Nothing is a gimme for this group and 2) I hate expecting a 3-27 team to win, because that typically leads to disappointment. But that's what will be the case Saturday night in Washington. If this so-called improvement is really happening, then the team should go out and win one against a sub-par opponent. But again, three and twenty-seven. There's no "should's" involved with the Thunder except "should lose."

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Close doesn't count, you are still losers. Perenial losers. The Blunder too.

Anonymous said...

A loss by 2 is still a loss, no matter how much you want to sugarcoat it. But hey, I guess you can chalk up another W in the "private moral victories" column.

Anonymous said...

Royce, have you ever heard of spell check? Is this writing proper Okie grammar? Okies love displaying their ignorance don't they?

Anonymous said...

Nobody knows more about losing than the "Bennett's Bitches" from Seattle...

Anonymous said...

I have come to the conclusion that this isn't an Oklahoma based blog. It's a spoof making fun of Oklahomans. They are stupid but there is no way they can be this dumb.

Anonymous said...

Great blog, Royce...

Don't listen to the haters...they're obviously just a bunch of bitter losers.

Anonymous said...

Good post game review. This team drives me nuts - either they play really good in the beginning or really good at the end - if we could just string them goods together! Missed free throws (what's up with Mason? Has he always been bad at free throws?) again hurt us and some sloppy misses at the beginning of the game hurt us. Should Kevin Durant been the guy to try the last play? or Russell Westbrook - maybe if he made it he would get in the slam dunk contest!
I'm worried about tonights game. They seem to come out flat after back to backers. If we could just get some win streaks going (even 2) I think that would get us some momentum.

Anonymous said...

Nice write up. You have some good insights and express them well. I enjoy your blog. Thanks

Anonymous said...

Stop saying things like "OKC fought back". OKC didn't fight back, Clay's team the Thunder fought back. The kind posters at okcnbafans.com have been very clear about who owns a team, and it's not the fans.

Clay owns the team, OKC is just renting them. Right Betts? JWill? Doug? You guys were pretty adamant about this, Clay owns the team not you. I understand Royce's excitment, OKC getting to host a team is a miracle but you do not actually own the team and OKC has nothing to do with away games.

If Seattle and New Orleans didn't "own" their respective franchises then OKC most certainly doesn't own the Thunder.

Anonymous said...

Royce, you should pay your mom $5 an hour to proof-read your posts. That will kill two birds with one stone: you stop looking like a retard, and your mom no longer has to give handjobs for rent money. Of course, this whole scheme is predicated on the assumption that your mom is literate; probably a stretch for an OKC resident.

Anonymous said...

Excellent game last night with the Thunder earning more respect. They have been the talk of Sportscenter all day with 3 plays from the game last night making it into the Top 10 plays of the day.

Great Blog, Royce. Keep up the good job

Anonymous said...

Royce, It's a shame that your comment section is infested with Seattle cockroaches. You can tell that they're Seattle cockroaches because they're all male and they're all butt humping each other.

Lucky Duck has the perfect name for them...."Bennetts Bitches". Clay is still dry humping the little sissys.

Anonymous said...

Of course the retards love this blog. It's written in Okie retard which makes it easy for most of you to understand. Anyone with intelligence will struggle to comprehend the retardation written and posted here by Okies.

Someone mentioned Doug from OKCNBAFANS.com. Keep drinking old man. If I lived in Oklahoma City I'd do my best to drink myself to death.

Anonymous said...

I guess Betts, JWill, and Doug only feel safe posting from the safety of their own self-regulated board. Typical okie behavior, they went to both New Orleans and Seattle boards trashing the shit out of them but won't allow outsiders to post at their board unless you are willing to kiss okie ass.

It's no wonder the same 5 people post over and over again at that okienbafan board. They can't get more than 100 or so okies interested in the Thunder, even it's the Thunder's first season. What a joke, enjoy your circle jerk gals and guys.

And to the anonymous poster above calling them out, you will wait an eternity for them to respond because they will refuse to leave the safety of their own little communist shelter.

Anonymous said...

The funny and saddest thing about all of this is that without trolls no one would be reading Royce's crapfest.

How does it feel Royce, no one in OKC cares about your blog and the only people that do hate your subject.

Anonymous said...

Why don't these Seattle scumbags post on their own site?...Oh yea, they don't have a site....because they don't have a team....LOL

Anonymous said...

This is our site. Thank you Royce. We don't even need to post. You Okies make yourself look stupid without much help.

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry for all the broken, bitter Seattle people who come here to spew their hatred. They are completely consumed with the poison of losing their team and it's eating them alive.

It's a shame they didn't just support the team when they had them.

Anonymous said...

Actually, the okies stole our site. You guys went there and trolled until it was unbearable to post there anymore. Can't take a little of your own medicine?

You do have your own site, okcnbafans, where they do not allow others to post unless they are tapped by queen Betts. At least this place is open for everyone, and Royce should be thanked for that because the other site run by Betts is a joke. All okies, only okies, and you have to tow the party line or you will be banned.

So much for free speech loving okies. HAHAHAHA

Anonymous said...

Thank you Royce for allowing free speech. It's nice to have a site where we can call Okies dumb asses without being moderated by Jill, Loadonback and Justin the night watchman.

Anonymous said...

I've really enjoyed butt fucking the plump assed little Seattle sissys. Everytime my team takes the floor it's like I'm going balls deep on them again.

Get down on your knees and bow, my little Seattle sissys.

Signed, Your Daddy

Anonymous said...

Typical Okie grace. Pure garbage and proud to show it.

Anonymous said...

The one thing that was consistant with every one of those Seattle sissys is that they all give good head.

I'm afraid that Slade and Mayor Mcfatty liked it a little too much...LOL

Anonymous said...

Please continue Okie. It's entertaining to watch you fools display your ignorance. It really is ashamed you are trashing Royce's blog like this but you obviously aren't smart enough to understand that.

Anonymous said...

That's it, suck on it, big boy...LOL

Anonymous said...

White trash and proud eh Clay? Typical Okie.

Anonymous said...

You love the feel of my cock in your ass....you can't get enough....you just keep coming back for more and more.

You're like a crack whore, but instead of crack, it's getting it shoved up your crack that you're addicted to....LOL

Come to Daddy, sweet ass...

Anonymous said...

Why are okies obsessed with gay sex? Living in OKC must be like living in Turkey.

Anonymous said...

Betts, Jwill, Doug. Where are you? Please stand up. You can choose to hide behind your wall or you can come out and play. Nothing is happening at your site so you might as well give your friend Royce a little traffic, if you let people express themselves at your site you wouldn't have to lower yourself to giveaways to get okies signed up at your own.

Anonymous said...

Four hundred thousand gay men at the Gay Pride parade in Seattle says that Seattle men are obsessed with butt sex.

The fact that you keep flirting with me and coming back for more of my dirty talk confirms that you're one of them

Anonymous said...

Brian, Steve and the rest of that SOS bunch are the biggest bunch of cock loving bitches i've ever seen....those boys just can't get enough.

It must be something in the water in Seattle.

Anonymous said...

Must be something in the dust in OKC, we know how you feel about gays so how do you feel about minorities? I'm sure the Thunder players feel nothing but welcome in OKC. Didn't one of the players get kicked out of nightclub already?

Can't wait to see all of those free agents turn down Clay and the bigoted people of OKC.

And hey genius okies, this is a public board that can be seen by anybody, I wonder what they think of your little town now.

Anonymous said...

Justin aka Clay Bennett doesn't care. He likes making a jackass out of himself in public. He does the same thing at my site.

Anonymous said...

I'm proud of the way we lost to a horrible Washington team tonight. We are the best losers in the NBA.