Category Archives: Oklahoma City Thunder

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.

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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…

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.

• So that tidbit I snuck in my last post about the optimism level rising in OKC? Yeah, not so much. A home loss to Cleveland? Giving up 42 points in the 4th quarter? Ugh, I have no idea what's going on now. I'm still not panicked, but definitely concerned. This was a prime game to make a statement, yet the Thunder still appeared a bit disinterested in playing any sort of semblance of defense. Here's to hoping that the Thunder take care of their next three average opponents and get their swagger back.

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• My partner in crime knocked out the second part of his 2014 Sooner football signings class this week that I'd highly recommend checking out. This time he digs into the defensive recruits. Get familiar with their names, these guys are the future of the program.

• The Thunder are 0-4 this season without Kendrick Perkins. Make of that what you will. My mind is blown.

• Former Oklahoma quarterback Kendal Thompson is transferring to Utah. This comes as a shock to exactly no one. Despite an injury just before the 2013 season, Thompson battled back was given a shot to prove his worth. It came during a stretch of miserable play from Bell and Knight with the potential to snatch the starting position with a good outing, but Thompson looked less than impressive. Thompson graduates in May so he will be eligible to play immediately for the Utes next season.

• A funny line from Royce Young over at Daily Thunder regarding the loss to the Cavs: "You could put the classification of the way the Thunder lost this one somewhere between bad, and season three of Homeland." Come on! Season three wasn't that bad!

• Former dismissed Oklahoma running back Damien Williams ran an impressive 4.45 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, good enough for the 4th best among running backs. Color me impressed. I assumed Williams' chances at an NFL career went down the drain when he was booted off the team last season. A public reason was never given for his dismissal, but with that kind of speed he just might find a place on an NFL roster.

• The Thunder are looking at signing a potential free agent or two. If there is anything just in this world, it will not be Metta World Peace Ron Artest.

• Keep your eyes peeled for a new Thunder basketball app that should be hitting the App Store any day now. I'm told it will be called "The Thunder App" and be a one-stop shop for Thunder fans. Very nice. Will do a review on it once I see it show up.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Cause For Concern in OKC?

Since the return of Russell Westbrook, the Thunder are 0-2. Westbrook has looked a bit rusty if not downright awful in his first two games back. Scott Brooks hasn't quite figured out how to make the rotation work with Westbrook back in the lineup. Reggie Jackson has looked lost trying to adjust back to coming off the bench. The team that looked so lost without Westbrook in the playoffs last season were beginning to finally find their rhythm without him. Then something happened and the team with the best record in the league got pumped by the Heat and outran by the Clippers.

Is there cause for concern in Loud City?

Yes and no. Let me explain.

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Is there cause for a little concern? Sure. Is there cause to go into a full blown panic? Not at all.

First things first, it's just two games, people. Relax. The Thunder went head to head with two of the top teams in the league and came away with two very different losses, yet everyone is ready to lose their minds. Have we become that spoiled already?

Need I remind you of the two-time defending NBA champion Miami Heat led by the two-time defending league MVP LeBron James? Or how about the Thunder's number two biggest threat in the West, LA Clippers?

It's so easy to sit back and point your finger to the return of Westbrook as the reason for these losses, but the simple fact is there was far from any guarantee that the Thunder win these games without Westbrook. I would contend the outcomes wouldn't have been any different.

What is it that you are so concerned with anyway? The offense after scoring a season low vs Miami? Sure didn't seem to have any problems scoring against the Clippers. The defense? It's been an issue all season against up-tempo teams. They've scraped by and gotten lucky in a number of high-scoring close games this season already. Their luck was bound to run out eventually trying to out-shoot teams filled with shooters.

There are high expectations for this team as there should be. This Oklahoma City bunch is a good team. They are likely going to enter the playoffs as one of the top two seeds in the West. Westbrook has been rusty, but was thrown to the wolves in his first two games back. He knew he would be roasted unless torched the Heat and Clippers en route to two overwhelming victories. Those expectations were never going to be met. Give the man some time.

Up next? Four straight home games vs Cleveland, Memphis, Charlotte, and Philadelphia. I have a feeling that the level of optimism will return to normal levels in the next couple of weeks.

Let's all step back, take a deep breath and remove our fingers from the panic button. Westbrook will find his groove, the role players will adjust and the Thunder will resume their status as the most feared team in the league.