Tuesday Bolts - 12.9.08

• Golden State of Mind reaction: "I can't believe that counts as a win. I felt like I was watching a summer league game half expecting Marco Belinelli to go off for 37 points. It was the NBA equivalent of a game featuring the Detroit Lions vs Cincinnati Bengals, somebody has to win, but nobody really cares. It was just two teams playing because the schedule says so. For the Warriors, it was a gift from the scheduling gods to mercifully end their 9 game losing streak. For the Thunder, just another loss, they're used to it."

• John Rohde writes the Thunder "rolled over and played dead": "The 5-15 Warriors came in having lost nine straight and were without starters Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette. Golden State’s best player, guard Monta Ellis, is expected to miss the first 30 games this season. Rather than accepting the Warriors as the get-well card they are, the Thunder remains under the weather (so to speak)."

• Thunderguru knew OKC was in trouble from the tip: "This game hadn’t been underway for very long before I knew we were in trouble. As soon as I saw our guys racing up the floor, and trying to “out-quick” Nellie small ball, I figured we were doomed. It’s very difficult to beat somebody at their own game."

• Try the FreeDarko Russell Westbrook challenge: "No one on the planet can say "Russell Westbrook" four times in a row. Fast or slow. It's the secret to his game, too."

Unrelated to the Thunder, but awesome. After fouling out last night against the Rockets, Darko Milicic walked to the bench and ripped his jersey straight down the middle. This will probably become the basketball equivalent to a baseball player breaking his bat over his knee. I hope this starts happening all the time. Darko must be an Old Testament reader.

• Basketbawful's Worst of the Night: "Holy rusted metal, Batman. The Golden State Warriors, losers of nine straight games, stumbled into the Thunder's home arena without their two leading scorers -- Stephen Jackson (20.1 PPG) and Corey Maggette (19.1) both sat out with injuries -- and it didn't matter. They won anyway. The Thunder are just that bad. The Warriors played eight guys, seven of which scored in double figures...and the eighth guy, Ronny Turiaf, finished with 9. The Thunder were down by as many as 21 in the second quarter and by 19 at halftime. They tried to rally, but of course that rally came up short. Kevin Durant, who played great (41 points, 10 rebounds) against the Warriors non-defense, said: "In this league, when you get down by 20 it's hard to come back." Wow! His basketball IQ is off the charts!"

Kevin Durant wows, but Thunder doesn't in 112-102 loss to Warriors

This was bad. This was just a bad loss. As if the other 19 weren't awful, this one was the worst. I know there was a late push that was pretty good, but it shouldn't have come to that.

Let me break it down this way:
1. Golden State came in to the Ford Center on a nine game skid, sitting at 5-15. In other words, a very beatable team.

2. Golden State was playing without two of its top players, Corey Maggette and Stephen Jackson. Oh, in that case, an extremely beatable team.

3. For most of the night, Oklahoma City trailed by double-digits, was down 19 at the half and by as much as 21.

4. The Thunder turned the ball over 20 times, including 15 in the first half alone.

5. And on top of that, shot 12-20 (60 percent) from the free throw line.

6. Kevin Durant did put up a mesmerizing 41 and we'd like to welcome Nick Collison back (15 and 10), but other than that, everyone flopped. Jeff Green had maybe THE WORST shooting performance I've ever seen. By my count, he airballed five times and barely caught the front of the rim once. On one of the rimless shots, I swear he missed it by a solid two feet. It was like it slipped out of his hand or was throwing an oop to Casper.

7. The first half was a very P.J.-esque performance. No intensity. No fire. Terrible, terrible defense and just an overall lack of basketball competency.

8. After playing his best game as a pro against Miami, Russell Westbrook made me want to run face first into my television tonight. Funny how rookies can do that to you. He was 4-13 from the field, had six turns and on top of it, he missed multiple key shots that could have pulled OKC within a real possibility of winning.

9. This is your home court. You're supposed to be better here, not worse. The momentum was building for a solid home win. The crowd could feel it with the tip. But then for three quarters, OKC tosses out a real stinker.

10. The Warriors shot 50.6 percent from the field and for much of the game were over 60 percent. Oh, and also had SEVEN players score in double figures.

No improvement talk tonight. We have already broken the Oklahoma State Cowboy record for most moral victories in a season. Scott Brooks said enough of those. I agree. The game is at home and you're supposed to win. And you lose. No excuses for this one. It's time to man up and win sometimes.

This was probably the most frustrating game of the season because I'd seen the improvement leading up and expected a good night. Who was I kidding? There's just a complete failure to execute in the most crucial situations. It's plagued OKC all season long and it will likely continue to plague it.

And for your Brian Davis watch, he said "triggers" or "triggered" 11 times and for good measure tossed in three "Rock-a-bye-babys." I don't even know what that's supposed to mean.

One day off and then one of the two Thunder victims comes to the Ford Center as Memphis plays OKC Wednesday night.

Warriors vs. Thunder: Pre-game view

vs.

Golden State Warriors (5-15) at Oklahoma City Thunder (2-19)
Monday, December 8
Ford Center
Oklahoma City, OK
7:00 CST

TV: Fox Sports Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

My apologies on the lack of Bolts today as I'm busy this week (I'm graduating Friday!) and so things are a bit hectic. Hectic in the sense of "I want to make sure I'm actually graduating." Saturday night was a night meant for celebrating OU's third straight Big 12 title and seeing as the Thunder lost - I thought I could skip out on a post game wrapper. Kind of like college: Every now and then you just feel like skipping class, even though I could have easily went. Oh well.

Tonight's game against the Warriors has OKC returning to the Sooner State after a good week and a half spent on the road. Though the losses keep piling up, the team is finally playing solid basketball for four quarters. The pieces aren't in place to win, but it's clear something has changed for the better under Coach Brooks. No more of these 30 point holes to dig out of just to make it respectable.

And how about Russell Westbrook. He played easily his best game as a pro scoring 30 on 10-18 shooting. But lost in that line was his seven rebounds and also the fact he attempted only one three. He finally took smart shots for an entire game, didn't force it to the rim and played within himself. I think this is a sign of things to come from Westbrook.

In the last two games of the road trip, Kevin Durant didn't shoot well at all, didn't assert himself and didn't score. He had just 34 in the two games combined on 11-35 shooting. But even without his contributions, OKC lost by just six and nine, respectively. That's good, I guess. In the sense that the team *tried* to pick up the slack for its off star.

With tonight's game, Golden State wants to run and take quick shots. Under Coach Scotty, the Thunder have done a bit of the same. Jamaal Crawford gives the Warriors a complete other dimension to that run and gun style, because of his athleticism and ability to score in bunches. He's fit right in to the system and is playing well. Though somehow, the Warriors have not. At all. One advantage the Thunder should have is on the boards, especially with the return of Nick Collison. He played extremely efficient against the Heat and adding him back into the rotation could be a big boost. The key is keeping Andris Biedrins off the boards as he pulls down 11.9 rebounds a game and I think the combo of Collison and Chris Wilcox should be able to limit him for the most part. Also, the Warriors play horrid defense, but so does OKC. So there should be some points scored tonight.

Right now, there's just a consistency missing. When the Thunder's playing great defense, they're missing shots. When they're knocking down everything, the defense and rebounding lacks. They're doing enough to stay close for 48 minutes and at least give themselves a chance to win (unlike the first 12 games), but enough of this hanging around. Looking at the schedule, there's some chances to get a few wins this December. The team is without a doubt playing better. It just has to get over the hump and why not start tonight at home against a very beatable opponent. The problem is other struggling teams see "Oklahoma City" on their schedule and they immediately think, "Sweet, here's a chance to get back on track." The Warriors have lost nine in a row. So the Thunder is going to need intensity and effort tonight and good performances and solid contributions from everyone to win this thing, because Golden State is seeing this game as their chance to break it.

Thunder plays better this time around, but still comes up short against the Magic

It doesn't happen very often that a team can go 1-6 under a new coach and you still think, "Boy, they sure are a lot better under this new guy." Clearly, you have to be pretty bad in the first place (and Oklahoma City was) but the improvement under Coach Scott Brooks is obvious.

I know, I know. Another loss for OKC (2-18) tonight in Orlando (15-5), 98-89 to the Magic, dropping the Thunder to a dismal 2-18, but considering the way the first matchup went, this team is different. Completely, 100 percent, totally, different.

The most OKC trailed by tonight was 11 (compare that to the first meeting where the Thunder trailed by as much as 32). The spread was consistently four to eight all night. When you stay close like that, you're going to get some wins. With the way this group is playing under Brooks, there's no way they only win nine games.

The Thunder did some things very well to stay in the game, but also did some things very poorly that cost them.

THE GOOD
1. Forced turnovers - Oklahoma City forced 16 Orlando turns, and cashed those in for 16 points.
2. Did much better against Dwight Howard - Howard still got 21 points and 23 rebounds, but he wasn't nearly the same force he was a month ago at the Ford Center.
3. Russell Westbrook - A complete line tonight for Westbrook: 19 points, nine boards and five assists. He also ripped two steals and I counted, got his hands on the ball eight times defensively tonight (tips, pokes, steals, etc.).
4. Johan Petro - We had a a Johan sighting and he played excellent. 15 points in 19 minutes on 7-9 shooting. Nice work off the bench.

THE BAD
1. Free throws (again) - OKC went 14-21 from the line (66.7 percent). When you're not a good team, you just absolutely cannot give away free points.
2. 16 turnovers - And most of those coming in the second half. Down the stretch there were multiple bad decisions and forced passes.
3. Perimeter defense - The Magic started the game 1-8 from the three-point line, but after that went 12-19. It seemed like the Thunder wasn't getting the hint: Hey, Orlando hits threes. Cover them. Like, get on Keith Bogans. He wants to shoot that.

THE SORT-OF BAD
1. Kevin Durant and Jeff Green - Durant had 16 and shot the ball poorly (5-18), but played solid defense and grabbed 10 boards. Green just never really could shake free and had just nine on only seven shots, but did a nice job on the glass and helping on Howard.

Other than the game itself, I can't help but wonder what's going on with Nick Collison. Last year he averaged 28.5 minutes a game but tonight he saw just four. Against the Bobcats, he had six. He's been completely unproductive this year, so I understand the slash in minutes, but why? Why isn't he playing better? Last season he busted his butt and averaged nearly 10 and 10. Now he's seeing under five minutes a game. Is he disgruntled? Hurt? What's the deal?

Two other things I have to say:
A. Brian Davis makes me hurt. I just can't help it anymore. He's trying so hard, he just overdoes it. First of all, there's no way that is his normal voice. There is no way that when he's blessing a meal or asking for a napkin that he talks in the forced, pretend, announcer voice. Well, it may be his normal voice now, since he's probably trained himself to talk like that, but he seriously sounds like when you or your friends act like an announcer with that thing. Second, enough with saying "Wow." when anything happens. If ANYTHING of note happens that unusual or cool, all he says is "Wow." Bogans hit another three late and he just said, "Wow." The ball got stuck between the glass and the rim and he just said, "Wow." And on top of that, don't say "triggers" every single time someone shoots a jumper. Mix it up. I swear there were four straight jump shots he said, "Durant triggers," "Nelson triggers," "Green triggers," "Nelson triggers." I know it's a catchy, fun and different way to say "shoots" but just mix it up. I appreciate the effort Brian. You're doing your best. I definitely enjoy your upbeatness or upbeatability or whatever you want to call it about the team - but just tone it down a little.

B. I cannot look at Scott Brooks without having a quick, five-second mental debate of "Does he look more like Michael J. Fox or Eric Murphy from Entourage?" You be the judge. I think I'm settling on E.



I'm glad I got those things off my chest. Again, solid effort tonight. I love the way the team is playing under Coach Scotty. Improvement is happening and the effort it better. I think Brooks is making a pretty darn good case to get that "interim" label dropped.

One more game in Florida as OKC takes on the Heat (10-9) tomorrow in Miami - at roughly the same time as the Big 12 championship. I like DVR.

Thunder at Magic: Pre-game view

vs.

Oklahoma City Thunder (2-17) vs. Orlando Magic (14-5)
Friday, December 5
Amway Arena
Orlando, Florida
6:00 PM CST

TV: KSBI-52 (Cox 9)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

Anybody else not really that psyched to watch this one tonight? And no, not because I've lost excitement over the team because its 2-17 (though, I'll admit, I have... a little). It's because of what the Man-Child did to us last time. Holy heaven in a hand-basket, he was dominant. Let's revisit that line: 30 points, 19 rebounds, 10 blocks. Moses.

As I wrote in that post game recap, not having Kevin Durant really hurt. At the time he was really the only Thunder player that could hit a consistent jumper (and still kind of is), meaning OKC had to drive the lane over and over only to to see their shots sent back, over and over. OKC was in a 30-point hole in what seemed like seconds and tried to stage a small comeback when the Magic players were already on the bus.

But the bright spot that night was Jeff Green. He had 25 points, including 3-6 from three. That game was really Green's season breakout night. He found confidence and found his stroke and in a weird way, Durant being out that night may have benefited the Thunder in the long run.

Friday against Charlotte, OKC shot 55 percent from the field and hit 7-11 from downtown. That HAS to happen again tonight for there to be any hope. In the first matchup, the Thunder was without Chris Wilcox which hurt because Robert Swift was doing his darndest to contain Dwight Howard. And by "darndest" I mean "I'm being nice because Swift tried hard, but got dominated in every way, shape and form."

(Speaking of Swift, I love this comment from Clark Matthews of The Lost Ogle: "I love to listen the announcers discuss Robert Swift’s great basketball IQ and understanding of the game, while watching him wander around cluelessly in the offense and bump into Kevin Durant trying to get open." When you've only played about 75 games in a three-year span and haven't contributed anything substantial to the franchise that drafted you in the top 10, people have to find something nice to say about you. It's like in little league, with the token worst kid on the team and the coach is going down the line and saying something about each player at the end of the season party and he gets to Melvin and says, "Uh, the thing about Melvin is, uh, he... uh, always comes to practice with a smile on his face. He has such a great attitude that it was contagious. Real hard worker.")

Tonight, Russell Westbrook must play within himself. He's been doing better at that lately, but hopefully he learned a lesson since the last meeting with the Beast. Pull up from eight. Don't take it to the rim unless Howard is on the pine. In the first meeting, Westbrook was 3-19 from the field. Yikes. Just let the game come to you Russell. If it's there, take it. Don't force it. Let Green and Durant hit jumpers if it's not.

It could be a long night in Orlando, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I like the direction of this team under Coach Scotty and if the team can duplicate the efficiency it had in Charlotte, but add the rebounding, the free throws and subtract the turnovers, the Thunder could be in this one. (That last sentence is pathetic - it reminds me of that Seinfeld where Jerry is on the train to Long Island and falls asleep and wakes up and the guy in front of him is naked. They go on and on about the Mets exchanging things like, "No, the problem is they've got no speed!" "No, the speed is fine. They've got no pitching!" "Well, you've got to like their chances." "Oh, I love their chances.") So yeah, if the Thunder can rebound better, shoot awesome, hit free throws, not turn the ball over, force turnovers, shut down Dwight Howard and play tremendous defense, then yeah, they might have a chance to win.

Friday Bolts - 12.5.08

• Still looking ahead to next June, ESPN's Chad Ford says Blake Griffin is separating and Ricky Rubio is falling: "We began our 2009 Top 100 in July with Griffin atop the list. From the look of things, he's staying there the rest of the year. He has absolutely dominated on both ends of the court -- putting up a Michael Beasley-esque performance in the pre-Big 12 schedule this season. Griffin's combination of size, strength and athleticism, along with his growing offensive prowess, makes him the overwhelming favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the draft. Right now, there isn't a close second."

• Gary Payton talks Sonics with Ball Don't Lie: "BDL: You said recently that you believe Seattle will have another team by 2011, what makes you so sure? GP: A lot of people don't know why the city took the deal ... the NBA guaranteed [Seattle] that they can get a team back in 2011. They can keep their colors, keep their tradition, and they can keep their name, and gave them 75 million dollars. Most people don't know what was in the deal, and that's why the city took the deal because they knew they're gonna get a basketball team back."

• Stan Van Gundy thinks Durant will be a "nightmare" in the future: "Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy predicts Durant, who faces Van Gundy and the Magic tonight at Amway Arena, will be a nightmare. "The key to being great in this league is you have a defined game of what you do well and continue to do it better and better,” Van Gundy said. "Will he become a better post-up player? Yeah. But if he’s spending all his time trying to become a low-post guy, honestly, I think he’s spending his time the wrong way.”

• Chris Silva of the official Thunderblog crunches some numbers: "One way you can tell the Thunder have given maximum effort under Brooks is by looking at some general statistics. For instance, in the season’s first 13 games, the Thunder averaged 88.9 points per game. In its last six games, OKC’s scoring average has jumped to 98 points per game, which backs up Brooks’ point that the team has done a better job of moving the ball and spacing themselves on the court."

• Raptor blog Cuzoogle looks at what each team wants for Christmas - the Thunder: "Five Kevin Durants, four bruising big men, three three point shooters, two All-Star guards and a partridge in a pear tree."

John Hollinger says OKC won't be the worst ever - but may get close

Is this good news? Like, is this supposed to be encouraging? (Hollinger's column and Worst Team Watch, a delightful little thing ESPN has to track where OKC ranks worst all-time.)

At this point, I guess we take what we can get.

The league's worst ever record is held by the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers, a club that went 9-73. Hollinger writes that OKC is actually one ahead (or behind, however you want to look at it) of the Sixers pace. In one of the 5,000 season simulations they ran, the Thunder finished with just one more win - 3-79.

But here's the key statement: "But all these scenarios depend on whether the Thunder continue to play as badly during the next 63 games as they've played in the first 19," Hollinger writes. "And for a variety of reasons, I don't expect that to happen."

Phew.

One thing I'm happy Hollinger pointed out was the clear improvement under Scott Brooks. While OKC has won exactly the same amount of games under Brooks as P.J. Carlesimo, the team is visibly different. Other than that, Hollinger ticked off a few reasons:

- "Oklahoma City's best players are young. This is important, as they can be expected to improve throughout the course of the season. Although there's the so-called rookie wall, most rookies (and second-year players) play better statistically as the season goes on."

- "The Thunder's veterans have pretty seriously underperformed their career norms, to the point that one has to think they'll bounce back sharply in the next 63 games. Most of these guys aren't old, either -- they're mid-20s types such as Chris Wilcox, Nick Collison, Damien Wilkins and Earl Watson ... It's possible that all four players suddenly became awful, but it's far more likely that it's just a 20-game fluke and their numbers will return to something more normal. Because those four are likely to see their numbers rebound, and the three youngsters also are likely to put up better numbers as the season goes on, that gives us seven key rotation players who are likely to play a lot better than they've done so far."

So that's good, right? Durant, Green and Westbrook are just going to get better (which they clearly have - just look at Jeff Green's numbers over the last five), the veterans are sure to stop sucking as much as they have and the team *should* win more than nine games. Yay! Thunder basketball! But as deflating as it may seem that our goal is the not be the worst team ever, OKC can play better. And I think it will.

One thing I couldn't help but wonder is why is only Oklahoma City being tossed about in this regard? Why not the 3-13 Wizards? Why not the 3-15 Clippers? Heck, how about the 4-14 Grizzlies who OKC beat last week?

A three part answer: 1) Because of the eye test. Oklahoma City has just looked worse than those other teams. For some reason, whatever it is, it seems like the Thunder have lost with a little bit different, flavor, if you will, than the those other squads. 2) Because of the average losing margin of the four teams; OKC: 11.1, Washington: 4.8, LAC: 8.1 and Memphis: 6.9. And 3) because of the rosters. The Thunder doesn't really have any eye-catching guys that people around the league know are staples. No Baron Davis or Marcus Camby. No Caron Butler, Gilbert Arenas (though injured) or Antwan Jamison. The assumption is those teams can't be as bad as their record shows because they're supposed to be better.

The hope is the team continues to improve under Coach Scotty and that OKC wins a game here or there until February and March when other out-of-contention teams and players start mailing it in. Seven more wins isn't that far off. If the Thunder had blown it and lost in Memphis last week and was sitting at 1-18, I might be a little more worried. But remember, the 2003-04 Magic started 1-19.

And while they clearly still count as losses, the Phoenix game (where OKC led by double-digits and lost by one) and the second Minnesota game (where OKC led by double-digits and lost on a last second shot) were within a hair of being wins. Not to mention the Atlanta game where the Thunder led most the night and last night's game against Charlotte. With a few breaks and a little better play, OKC could be at 6-13. Which is... better. I think. Coulda, woulda, shoulda, though. Decent teams win those. And the Thunder just aren't even decent.

Hollinger wraps up by saying, "Historic awfulness always requires a confluence of factors -- a perfect storm of horrendous play. In this case, it probably would take multiple injuries, as well as trades of several veterans, for the Thunder to truly threaten the Sixers' mark. So far we've seen just about the worst-case scenario for the Thunder. Unless it continues, they'll be able to escape the notoriety of becoming known as the NBA's worst team ever." Thanks John. I guess.