All posts by Micah Hixon

A die hard Sooner fan through and through. Micah transferred his allegiance to the Oklahoma City Thunder the year the Mavs won the title (go figure). He believes the Thunder and Sooners have many titles to come in the not too distant future. Most of his comments are not backed up by any sort of fact based reasoning, but you can trust him.
General, Oklahoma City Thunder, Oklahoma Sooners

Weekly Wrap

Welcome to the Weekly Wrap where we dissect recent happenings across the local sports scene and generally whatever is on our minds. Look for the Weekly Wrap published every Friday.

• March Madness got underway yesterday and started off with a bang. Despite my urges to rip into the Sooner basketball team, I'd better stay away from that one. The Sooner basketball team is making strides in the right direction, but their March Madness lasted all of one day before losing to 12-seed North Dakota State. It was the Bison's first ever NCAA tournament victory. I'm leaving this one alone, I promise.

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• Speaking of March Madness, go check out Caleb Hixon's recap from day one. Good stuff in there and quite the bold prediction. Look for more pieces from Caleb in the coming weeks as a contributor here.

• The Thunder took on the Cavs last night and did their best to blow a 24-point 4th quarter lead. KD had taken a seat, the 2nd unit players had checked in for the remainder of the game, and it looked like the Thunder were putting the finishing touches on a solid night of work. Then the Cavs went on a 16-0 run. Durant was forced to check back into the game to secure the victory. A win is still a win, but the end of the bench players nearly got run out of the gym by the Cavs. I'm trying to stay positive today, I really am.

• Last night was win number 50 for the Thunder. Despite the recent negativity, 50 wins still means something. OKC takes on Toronto tonight and Westbrook returns to the line-up once again. The Raptors are currently the third seed in the East, so this would be a nice opportunity for the Thunder to flex their muscles.

• Take the plunge and join Yahoo and Quicken Loans' Billion Dollar Bracket? What's that? Your perfect bracket didn't even make it out of day one? Man…I just knew this was going to be the year of the perfect brackets! Hey, there's always next year for the first ever perfect bracket and new billionaire.

• The kind folks over at Welcome To Loud City wrote up a nice little review on the recently released Sports Insider – Thunder Edition app. If you are a Thunder fan with an iPhone and haven't checked it out yet, well what are you waiting for?

• Jake Trotter thinks the Sooners could have a "scary three-headed monster" in the backfield next season with running backs Keith Ford, Alex Ross, and Joe Mixon. It's crazy to think that Oklahoma is graduating three senior running backs who all played major roles in the offense, yet may not skip a beat with the upcoming young guys.

Oklahoma City Thunder

What’s Happening With the Thunder?

Are you a little concerned with what's happening in OKC?

Yeah, me too.

Something just hasn't been quite right about this team since the all-star break. The team that was once thought to be the favorites coming out of the West have all the sudden surrendered the lead to San Antonio with the Clippers not far behind. So, what exactly is going on?

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The defensive effort has been miserable.
Well, this is probably the most obvious answer. The defensive effort in OKC has been questionable at best lately. What was once a top defensive unit in the first half of the season has fallen off a cliff to now one of the statistical worst. Zach Lowe at Grantland does a good job of breaking down some of the poor defensive tendencies that have been creeping up as of late. To sum it up, the Thunder are over-crowding the lane and leaving shooters wide open on the kick out pass. You could say they were just running into hot shooting teams until Gerald Green and Jodie Meeks each torched the Thunder for career highs in back-to-back games earlier this month. Is it a lack of effort? Terrible defensive schemes? Missing players?

Two of their starters are injured.
Admit it, when Perkins and Sefolosha went down with injuries, you either silently rejoiced or at least assumed it wouldn't have much of an effect (if any) on the team. Despite what most fans thought, Thabo and Perk are important pieces on this team and serve a great purpose. I'll be the first to admit that I've screamed for Presti to amnesty Perkins for years now, but it's become increasingly evident the role he plays on this roster. I hate bringing up the intangibles that certain players bring to the table, but Perkins fits the bill. His stat line is always brutal, yet the defense seems to have a better identity about itself when he's on the floor. Maybe it's the constant communication. Maybe it's the toughness factor. Maybe it's something else. I don't know what it is, but it's something. Oh, and that little thing about missing their best perimeter defender in Sefolosha doesn't exactly help either.

IT'S ALL WESTBROOKS' FAULT!
Just kidding. You're still paying attention, right?

Scott Brooks is in love with the veterans.
What happened to Jeremy Lamb? Remember that time he scorched the Rockets for 22 points back in December? How about when he netted a cool 18 points on 7-10 shooting vs Miami back in January? What happened, you ask? Caron Butler happened. Don't mistake this as a gripe about the Thunder acquiring Caron Butler. Butler is definitely a nice addition to the team, but there's no question that he has stolen away the majority of minutes that were going to Lamb. Lamb averaged 24.6 minutes per game in January, 18.8 in February, and a measly 10.9 thus far in March. Lamb appeared to just begin coming into his own this season and really contributing to the team. Then his minutes gradually dried up. Now it's virtually to the point where he's playing garbage time minutes only. Fisher and Butler have played well, but I'm not sure I agree with their expanded minutes coming at the cost of Lamb's.

It's a long season. Down periods like this happen to every team.
While I understand this line of thinking, there are still certain games that are hard to excuse.  Losses to the Cavs and Lakers stick out the most. Add in a 23-point home loss to the Mavs? Yikes. The same Mavs squad the Thunder had defeated 11 straight times. Brooks chose to sit Westbrook for the game, but this one wasn't lost on that decision. The thing that perplexes me is the loss to the Lakers and then win over the Rockets two nights later. The loss to Dallas and then win over Chicago one night later. Are the Thunder struggling to stay motivated against the league's middling teams? I suppose it's encouraging to see them come out and take care of business against the better opponents, but it is still ultra frustrating losing to teams they absolutely have no business losing to. This is a long and grueling season. Every team does go through lapses where motivation is lacking. I am beginning to wonder how long this lapse will last.

At the end of the day, there's still way too much basketball left to be played before anyone should get too terribly worried. I am definitely concerned though. This is a team that has a legitimate shot at a championship and there's no telling how long that window will remain open. Let's hope there's still a switch that can be turned on when needed be and this team returns to form to close out the season.

General, Oklahoma City Thunder, Oklahoma Sooners

Weekly Wrap

Welcome to the Weekly Wrap where we dissect recent happenings across the local sports scene and generally whatever is on our minds. Look for the Weekly Wrap published every Friday.

• Seems like it's been a bit of a rollercoaster for the Thunder since the all-star break. Lost three in a row. Won three in a row. Lost two in a row. Won two in a row. There's a little more meat to those wins a losses though. Such a two losses sandwiched in there to absolutely terrible teams (Cavs and Lakers). Then there's the win over Houston who had been red-hot coming into the contest. I'm not sure if this Thunder bunch are lacking motivation towards the tail-end of the season or what it is, but they've got to remain focused and motivated or risk losing a top seed in the West. For the first time in awhile, they looked motivated vs the Rockets and it was good to see. I'm sure the whole story regarding James Harden now playing in Houston and the Patrick Beverely/Russell Westbrook incident from the 2013 playoffs was still fresh on the Thunder's minds. Speaking of Beverely/Westbrook…

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• Let's go ahead and add Patrick Beverely to the list of most disliked/dirty players in the NBA, ok? He and Ron Artest are on my short list off the top of my head (though I'm open for further suggestions). Everyone knew it was an unwritten rule Beverely broke when he crashed into Russell Westbrook during the playoffs last year while Westbrook was dribbling across half court to call a timeout. Some wrote it off as "playing to the whistle" or whatever bogus excuse they could come up with, but Beverely removed all doubt of his intentions when he tried the exact same thing again on Tuesday night. Beverely knew exactly what he was doing and the refs immediately T'd him up for his shenanigans. There's a difference between playing hard and just being an idiot. But, of course, Bill Simmons applauds him.

• Can't say enough good things about Blake Bell. Despite taking the backseat to Landry Jones for a couple of years and then having a freshman named the starter over him after Jones departed for the NFL, Bell has seemingly never wavered. He's now set to move to tight end to try and help the team however possible. I'd imagine most college other young college kids would throw a temper tantrum and go searching for a new school. Check out the excellent piece on Bell from my partner in crime penned this week. Highly recommended.

• Are NBA team really tanking? Royce Young over at Daily Thunder has a great piece on team tanking. I think most fans agree that, at a minimum, certain teams start eyeing draft position vs overall record in the latter parts of a season. Royce Young does a good job of breaking down different kinds of tanking and why the whole thing has likely been blown out of proportion.

• Former Oklahoma running back Damien Williams says he has no hard feelings towards the school or coach Stoops after he was dismissed from the team last November. In a classy move, Stoops allowed Williams to return to Norman for OU's pro day on Wednesday. When asked, Williams refused to elaborate on the nature of rule violations that got him suspended and ultimately dismissed from the team.

• While Durant may not be able to repeat his insane 50/40/90 performance of 2013, Ben Golliver at SI.com thinks Durant is on pace to join the possibly more prestigious 30/30 club.

• Oklahoma running backs coach Cale Gundy sent out an awesome tweet earlier in the week and then promptly deleted it. The tweet read: "Looks like someone came up short again. You better take that SEC country somewhere else. Let's Play Faster. #Boomer" Wish he had not deleted it as he's 100% right. Nick Saban was lobbying for a dumb rule change to try and slow down the up-tempo offenses. The talk of the new rule didn't seem to stick and Gundy fired off a nice little warning shot to Saban reminding him of the Sugar Bowl beat down from just a couple of months ago.

General, Oklahoma City Thunder, Oklahoma Sooners

Weekly Wrap

Welcome to the Weekly Wrap where we dissect recent happenings across the local sports scene and generally whatever is on our minds. Look for the Weekly Wrap published every Friday.

• I had a nice little opener already typed up. I went on about how refreshing it was to see the Thunder reel off four straight wins even if they were all over middle of the road to bottom feeder opponents. It still felt good to win. It felt good to see Westbrook finding his rhythm. During the third quarter of last night's showdown with the Suns, the Thunder looked to be heading towards another comfortable win and their fourth straight. Then the Suns finished the quarter on a 21-2 run closing out a 40-point quarter and proceeded to win the game. For as good as the offense has looked, the Thunder defense has looked worse. You can say the Suns "got hot" and "couldn't miss," but that excuse only gets you so far. At a certain point you have to look at the recent stretch of games since the all-star break and realize that this team just isn't getting it done on the defensive end. They are not going to be able to out-score every opponent. The three wins prior felt good, but this last loss, especially in the manner in which it was lost, feels miserable.

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• With all the negatively out of the way, how good has Russell Westbrook looked these last few games? He was definitely rusty in his first two appearances back from injury, but has quickly returned to his former self. On Tuesday, he recorded the second fastest triple-double in the history of the game. Woah. Finished 36-9-9 last night including a red hot start going 6-7 shooting in his first six minutes on the floor. Anyone still questioning if Westbrook's return was a good thing for this team? Good, didn't think so.

• SoonersSports.com does a good job breaking down each position heading into Spring practice. Is it football season yet?

• The Thunder will head out to Los Angeles on Sunday to take on the Lakers before returning home for a three-game home stand vs the Rockets, Lakers, and Mavs. All very winnable games. I don't think it's asking too much to see a respectable defensive performance or two in there.

• One last thing on the Thunder defense. I get that they are without Thabo and Perkins right now, but the defensive issues run much deeper. The Thunder aren't contesting open jump shots. Sure Perk can clog up the lane, but that hasn't been where they've been getting beat. If anything, Brooks likely should have countered last night's ultimate small-ball lineup by Phoenix by sitting Ibaka down more than usual. He didn't have a place defensively as the Suns reigned down long jumper after long jumper with a good portion of those going uncontested.

• Brandon Chatmon at ESPN had a solid write-up regarding Stoops trying to keep young Sooner players hungry despite the Sugar Bowl win last season. It was one of the biggest wins in Stoops career. Here's to hoping for a promising follow-up campaign in 2014.

• Anyone checked out this new Thunder app? I'm enjoying the simplicity of the design, but the the ability to customize it to my liking (adding more rss feeds, twitter handles, etc) is a real boost. The Twitter function gets a lot of use from me during Thunder games. I like to follow what people are saying real-time during the game and this sorts out all the non-Thunder chatter. Good stuff, I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

• With the use computers, smart phones, and almost everyone using some sort of electronic device to check the time these days, I wonder when the last time Daylight Savings Time actually caused someone problems. Admittedly I still wear a wrist watch, but it's more out of habit than necessity. My iPhone will automatically update the time for me and my alarm clock on my phone will auto-adjust with it, but hey, don't forget Daylight Savings this weekend you guys!

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Great Debate: LeBron vs KD

It seems that the media is obsessed with pushing this narrative of LeBron James vs Kevin Durant. Is KD catching up to LeBron as the best player in the world? Is LeBron now back in the drivers seat to win the MVP award after answering Durant's amazing month of January?

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Kevin Durant is not worried about LeBron James.

Continue reading The Great Debate: LeBron vs KD →

Not during the month of March anyway. Not when their only two regular season games with the Heat are in the rear-view mirror. With the way the Pacers have been playing, there's no guarantee the Heat will even make it back to the finals should the Thunder make it out of the West.

Kevin Durant is concerned about winning games. Kevin Durant is concerned about improving his game and his teammates around him.

Would Durant like to win the MVP award? Of course, but he isn't about to sacrifice what's best for the team in order to bolster his own personal status.

In January, with a 12-game streak of 30-point games heading into a match-up with the Brooklyn Nets, Durant torched the Nets for 26 points on 10-for-12 shooting in just 30 minutes of play. Durant took a seat during the third quarter and did not re-enter the game.

On Monday night, with the Heat up 19 points heading into the fourth quarter vs the lowly Bobcats, LeBron stayed in the game and finished with a career high 61 points.

On Tuesday night, with the Thunder up 22 points heading in the fourth quarter vs the lowly 76ers, Durant took a seat and finished the game with 42 points.

This is the difference between the philosophy of the Thunder organization and most others. Durant could've easily eclipsed 50 points and likely made a push towards 60 if he had remained in the game during a fourth quarter blowout.

But for what? To answer LeBron's 61-point performance the night before? There's more to this season than trying to one-up King James each outing. This is about getting the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible and resting up for the next game.

LeBron had no business playing in the fourth quarter of that blowout win against Charlotte and everyone knows it. But James desperately wants to keep a firm grasp on the "number one player in the world" title and knows he needs some style points to close the gap on Durant this season.

Let LeBron run the score up during fourth quarter blowouts. Durant isn't concerned. He's focused on the task at hand and LeBron James has nothing to do with the current task.

LeBron may be concerned with public perception, but Durant is concerned with winning championships. Not one…not two…