Oklahoma City will be back on the road tonight at Golden State which isn’t an easy place to win. The Warriors beat Portland in their last game at home behind a strong performance by Stephen Curry who looks to be back to full strength after missing nine games with an injury. Under new coach Mark Jackson the Warriors play a different style this year not running as much and trying to focus more at the defensive end. The Thunder actually run more than the Warriors this season and are the best in the league when they do so. Golden State has no one they can throw at Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook. Expect big games from them and hopefully Durant can get back on track from three-point land in this game. I also would expect James Harden to continue his strong play even on the road. Continue reading this post »
The Thunder’s offense has come out in full throttle on this shortened lock out season. Many people point to Durant’s improved scoring efficiency (61% true shooting), Harden’s amazing points per shot stats (best in the league), and Westbrook’s continued improved shooting percentages. Everyone looks at Thunder’s big three on offense, which they should, as they continue to improve on what is already the 4th most efficient offense in the NBA. However, Thabo is much improved in his limited offensive role, which should not be overlooked.
Thabo takes offense a little more serious this year bballmatchup.com
Known primarily as a great wing defender, Thabo is the shooting guard in a starting lineup that has glaring offensive weaknesses. Perkins and Ibaka are great on the defensive end, and combined pull down about four offensive boards per game, but have a very limited scoring ability on offense to say the least. The Thunder starting five is also not very good behind the arc either. Westbrook is taking over 2 threes a game and shooting 26%, while Durant is taking 4.5 threes a game and only shooting 33%. This really creates some offensive problems since teams can help off the bigs down low, and don’t have to worry about any true three point threat behind the arc.
Thabo does a great job of spacing the floor while still deferring to Durant and Westbrook for the majority of the shots. I am not saying I want Thabo to shoot the ball ten times a game, but just the threat of the improved Thabo gives Durant and Westbrook more space to work. Thabo has one job and one job only on offense, catch the ball and shoot. For all his three point shots this year, 92% are assisted. But unlike most years, Thabo is making them. Thabo is shooting at a blistering 50% from three, a 23% increase from last year.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are Oklahoma City’s two best players. They made All-Star teams and All-NBA teams last year. But the Thunder’s James Harden is emerging this season as a possible third All-Star on the roster.
Harden is second in the Western Conference among shooting guards in PER. His 23.84 PER rating this season is second behind only Kobe Bryant (26.44).
Harden is averaging 16.8 points per game, 3.3 assists per game and 4.1 rebounds per game this season. He’s shooting 48 percent from the field, 40 percent from three and 87 percent from the line while getting to it 6.5 times per game.
Harden is much better when playing at home however. In the same amount of minutes (29), Harden is averaging 19.8 points per game at home while just 14.0 on the road. He’s shooting 55 percent at home and dropping down to 39.5 percent away from home.
Harden is also attempting one free throw per game more at home and averaging 2.2 more assists per game.
The Sixth Man of the Year award race might as well already be done. Harden has pretty much wrapped it up. Does he to deserve to be an All-Star? Continue reading this post »
Serge Ibaka scored 10 points and had 7 rebounds last night vs. New Orleans. This year, that’s usually been a stat line you’d see for a whole game from Ibaka – when he plays well.
Ibaka would only finish with 14 points on the night but his early spark containing a few physical dunks were enough to get the Thunder on track early as they went on to beat the Hornets 101-91.
Kevin Durant also got off to a good start early on with 10 first quarter points. Durant had 16 at halftime and hadn’t missed a shot yet (5-for-5 FG’s and 6-for-6 FT’s). He finished with 25 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Continue reading this post »
The Thunder have already beaten the New Orleans once this season, 95-75 in New Orleans on Jan. 11. Kevin Durant had 29 points and 10 rebounds in that game and Russell Westbrook 22 points. James Harden was the only other Thunder player in double-figures with 14 points. The Thunder returned home two nights ago to beat the Pistons and looked significantly more comfortable on their own floor than they were on the road the previous three games. The Hornets have the worst record in the West coming into this game and Oklahoma City is of course still stop the West standings. There aren’t a lot of reasons why the Thunder shouldn’t easily win another one tonight. Continue reading this post »
James Harden scored 24 points and made 5-of-6 three-pointers in the Thunder’s return back home last night after a three-game road trip. Harden’s “back-to-form” play was of the most relief after averaging just over 11 points per game on the road trip.
The Detroit Pistons came into town and they had nothing to throw at the Thunder. I wrote earlier how Oklahoma City was better in every way than Detroit and that proved true as the Thunder held the Pistons to 34.2 percent shooting from the field while shooting 53.3 percent themselves. Continue reading this post »
This was the highlight of last game for me. Just another look here at how nasty Kevin Durant can look. People don’t talk about his defense but he has pretty good hands and a 7-footer making a play like this is amazing.
The Thunder got an ugly win two nights ago as they took care of the New Jersey Nets. Oklahoma City returns home tonight after a 3-game road trip. Kevin Durant has been off shooting lately so the return home will hopefully cure that. The Pistons like Washington and New Jersey before them are among the worst the NBA has to offer. Getting up for this one may not even be necessary for the Thunder. While all three of the previous Thunder games seemed like sure things this one probably is the surest. Detroit may have the worst roster in the league and has yet to score 100 points in a game this season. There’s no area where they have an advantage over the Thunder. This should be an easy one.
This game felt a lot like the one a few nights ago that Oklahoma City lost to Washington. New Jersey was equally as bad as the Wizards and did not challenge Oklahoma City in a way that would yield their best effort.
The Thunder were more focused this game however on the heels of their 105-102 loss to the Wizards.
Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden led the way in the scoring department, accounting for 57 of the Thunder’s 84 points. Durant had another “out of rhythm” shooting night however going 9-for-22 from the floor, 0-for-6 from three and a very uncharacteristic 2-for-6 from the free throw line. Continue reading this post »
The Wizards shocked the Thunder with the upset two nights ago. They caught the Thunder sleeping as the game was a matchup between first and worst in terms of record in the league. I wrote before the game that the Thunder were a team that cared about winning every night they play this year. After a disappointing loss last game, expect an inspired and focused Thunder team tonight versus another team they should beat easily, the New Jersey Nets. This is the Thunder’s third straight game on the road and they’ve noticed a drop off in their bench production, especially James Harden who is averaging just 9.0 points per game and shooting less than 33 percent from the floor the past two games. Continue reading this post »
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