Just Make It Clap; Thunder buckle Blazers

Russell Westbrook did the Thunder clap all night long dismantling the Portland Trailblazers with mesmerizing drives and a couple game clinching 3 pointers. In fact, he hit three in the final 5 1/2 minutes, helping clinch Oklahoma City’s second straight playoff birth as the former Sonic fans in Washington state cry themselves to sleep.

With Durant having an off night shooting and getting severely outplayed by a scorching hot Gerald Wallace others were forced to step up. The aforementioned Westbrook had 28-7-7 going 4-5 from 3 point range and Serge Ibaka had another big performance, scoring 18 points and grabbing 8 boards. The only other player in double figures for the Thunder was Kevin Durant who was an abysmal 5-18 from the floor but hit all 8 of his free throws.

As I’ve stated many times getting Serge Ibaka more minutes was the best thing about the Kendrick Perkins trade. They should have been bringing Green off the bench the whole time instead of putting Green at the power forward spot next to “the snowflake” Nenad Krstic. I wouldn’t mind the trade so much with the fact it opened more time for Ibaka and James Harden, but did we really have to throw in a first round pick?

The game was on ESPN and I have to say that Jeff Van Gundy is by far one of the best announcers in the game, especially when paired with Mark Jackson. Unfortunately Mark wasn’t doing the game, but Jeffrey went all the way in, even doing sideline interviews during some timeouts. The little guy was everywhere.

Gerald Wallace is an absolute beast. I’m not quite sure why he wasn’t playing this way in Charlotte this season but he dropped 40 on the Thunder going 16-28 from the floor, just 2 points away from his career high. Other then the fact he still has the “Predator” braids I am officially a fan of the guy. Unfortunately for the Blazers nobody else on the Blazers came to play besides LaMarcus Aldridge who had 20. If everyone gave the effort of Gerald Wallace Portland might be the best team in basketball, but fortunately for the Thunder not many guys throughout the league can bring that kind of intensity every night.

Van Gundy was going off on the fact that Aldridge had 1 rebound before halftime. He’s right. How is that possible. What a cupcake.

I feel bad watching Brandon Roy limp up and down the court playing the back up point position for Portland. I’m thinking he should just sit out the rest of the season unless this is the way he is going to be for the rest of his career. What a sad story. Add another player to the list of career’s ruined by injury.

What’s it like being a Blazer fan? Just a couple years ago they where ranked #1 in the ESPN future rankings which I have mentioned in this blog before. They had a healthy Roy and Greg Oden, the player who was picked ahead of Durant, ready to lead Portland to 2 or 3 titles. Now they have to settle for just being a competitive team that can put up a good fight before getting dumped in the first round of the playoffs. You gotta give it to owner Paul Allen though, he doesn’t mind spending money to get players. The guy buys an extra draft pick every season. It just never seems to help the franchise. Former lottery pick Jared Bayless has already been shipped off and I have no idea where Sergio Rodriguez AKA Spanish Chocolate. I know I could find out quickly but I just don’t care enough. Where is first round pick Luke Babbit? The guy has hardly played after all the draft expert’s said he was ready to come in and contribute right away. I hope he doesn’t have American white player syndrome. It can be deadly.

On a little side note why is Bruce Bowen working for ESPN, and why is do they allow him to keep up the bow-tie act? He looks ridiculous and is so boring he makes Stuart Scott seem like Chris Tucker in comparison.

During the game Van Gundy had this to say about Perkins; ” he’s better in the post then people give him credit for.” I had to stop and think how bad people think he could possibly be for him to be underrated in the post. He cannot knock down a 5 foot shot. He has no post moves. His hook is horrible. I’m not sure where Van Gundy was going with this but I didn’t like it.

Enough about Perk. Let’s move to the future. There was a playoff atmosphere in Oklahoma and the fans are frothing at the mouth for a deep playoff run. The Thunder have steadily gotten better with each season and I think they have a chance to grab the #1 seed as early as next season. They’ve become what the Blazers thought they would be.