The Denver Nuggets and the Oklahoma CIty Thunder are heading towards a Face/Off and this has nothing to do with any Nicolas Cage movie.
Both teams have been rolling since the all-star break though OKC has lost 2 consecutive games on the road including one to the lottery bound Clip joint.
The Nuggets, on the other hand are coming off a big time win over the Lakers on the road and are one of the hottest teams in basketball, going 15-4 since the all-star break. Should the Thunder be worried about a team many felt would fall out of the playoff race after trading all-star Carmelo Anthony? In a word; Absolutely.
This is shaping up to be the most exciting first round matchup of the playoffs which I suppose it should considering the 4 and 5 seeds are the closest to each other record wise but thats besides the point. Thunder fans should be extremely nervous as they attempt to move on to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since moving to Oklahoma City from Seattle.
By the way this just has to be killing former Sonic fans. The Thunder have built a possible dynasty and the team would still be there if the Starbucks boy didn’t sell the team to an Oklahoma City businessman. Thunder owner, Clay Bennett, surely planned on moving the team from the get-go, using the excuse that the facilities were not up to par. Ummmm, has anyone seen the arena in OKC? It’s most definitely not an upgrade. Bennett must be thanking the good lord that Durant turned into the best scorer in the NBA and the team has become a contender, otherwise it’s very difficult for teams in smaller markets like that to make a large profit. Oh well at least Seattle has the Pacific Science Center. Great place.
Back to this matchup that seems to be building to something even more fierce then the one between Nicolas Cage and John Travolta in the aforementioned flick “Face/Off.” Actually wait. Before getting back to the matchup may I ask what the hell happened to Nic Cage and John Travolta? In the late 90’s these two studs were the “it” actors in Hollywood. I just watched “The Rock” the other day. Fabulous movie. I will never forget Johnny Travolta in “Look who’s Talking.” This was actually before he blew back up again into a star but thats not the point. The point is these guys were legends. They were hit makers and I didn’t see a reason for that to end. They were not stuck in one genre of movie like a Steven Seagal(one of my favorites), with the ability to possibly make hit movies till they died like a Paul Newman. “Phenomenon” anyone? “Michael?” “Con-Air?” Now Travolta is dropping bricks like “Wild Hogs” and that other movie I don’t even care to look up with him and Robin Williams? Nic Cage can’t buy a hit and it seems like only a matter of time before he is releasing straight to DVD films with the likes of other fallen greats like Val Kilmer and Ray Liotta. His hair alone is an embarrassment to actors everywhere. The video below is an absolute must watch. WHAT HAPPENED????
Now seriously back to the matchup. Denver doesn’t have a true superstar anymore after trading away a selfish Melo but are one of the deepest teams in the league and get seemingly get double digit points from almost anyone on the roster other then they legend that is Timofey Mozgov. Big men Kenyon Martin, Nene, “birdman” Chris Anderson are “long” and can be very physical. Point guards Ty Lawson and Raymond Felton are interchangeable and are both capable of having big games. J.R. Smith can go off anytime and has the most most talent of anyone on this team and always needs to be accounted for. I haven’t even mentioned Gallanari, Wilson Chandler, or Arron Afflalo and all three are very talented in different ways. Al Harrington is another scorer off the bench. Wow, this team is even deeper then I first thought.
“Experts” are already talking that the Nuggets could easily upset the Thunder matching them up with the Lakers in the second round and hopefully OKC uses this as motivation. The Thunder have Durant and Westbrook who are both more individually talented then anyone on the Nuggets and a supporting cast that fits in nicely. My main man Ibaka and James Harden are going to have to come through in a major way for them to win this series. Either way I can most definitely see this series going 7 games. Would that be comparable to a “Wild Hogs 2” movie ever being released?