Dirk “Diggler” let’s it all hang out with an almost flawless outing

Scottie Brooks and Oklahoma City Thunder Assumedly were hopeful that the Mavericks would come out a bit rusty after a 9 day layoff. There hopefulness was put into a paper sack, beaten with a hammer and scorched by a blowtorch…figuratively speaking.

I kept repeating it in my head, not wanting to shout it out loud, afraid of others might presume about me. And then, I just let it out: “Oh you naaaaaaaaaasty Dirky!!!!” I felt just like the African American lady making a guest starring appearance on the hit TV show “Gigolos,” who originated that saying, which by the way has metamorphosized into one of my all-time favorite sayings. Yep, I felt just like that chick, except I wasn’t getting drilled in front of my husband letting him know how “naaaaaaasty” it was getting. Great show.

Dirk dropped a proverbially load all over OKC tuesday night, in rout to 48 points, shooting 12-15 from the floor, and an NBA playoff record 24-24 from the foul line. May I add that was without even attempting a single 3 ball? Yikes! The German bomber showed no remorse in taking the life out the Thunder. The big guy even added 4 blocks! What a performance.

Jason “the Jet” Terry came off the pine to hit 4 treys in route to 24 points. This dude may be one of the most underrated players in NBA history, no lie. The Washington state product has no conscious, and when he see’s any opening whatsoever, you better believe he is hoisting it up. The most surprising effort came from little J.J. Barea, Dallas’s backup point guard. You may remember him exposing the Lake show’s defense, continuously getting to the paint, even though he’s one of the 3 smallest players in the league. Barea absolutely caught fire, scoring 21 points on a vast variety of moves and jump shots, all in only 16 minutes of play. You’ve got to respect his gangster. Have you heard him talk?? Oh he’s definitely got the streets in him.

I guess Scott Brooks, thought he could match up with Barea’s quickness best with seldom used Nate Robinson. Robinson looked like a guy who hasn’t played all year, which is entirely the case. Barea embarrassed nasty nate with assortment of moves, one of which was a nasty crossover which will be replayed for the rest of the playoffs. Nate even found time in his 6 minutes of play to get up 3 atrociously missed shots. You can’t throw a guy into the fire like that who hasn’t played. Bad form Scottie. Bad form.

Let’s talk a little about the Thunder, who I thought actually played pretty well. They even were able to get within 5 points during the last few minutes of the game, but the Dirk was just too much. One guy you can’t blame is Kevin Durant who tallied up 40 points, 8 boards, and 5 assists. It was good to see that he’s ready for primetime, as if we shouldn’t know that already based on his game 7 performance in the last round. But still, you never know how the young guys are gonna react on a stage they’ve never performed on. He’s ready.

Unfortunately for OKC, K.D.’s partner in crime, Russell Westbrook, looked lost the entire game and had one of the most horrendous outings I’ve ever witnessed from him. If you read my series preview you know that I mentioned Dallas has much more athletic defenders on the interior then Memphis and it really showed this evening. RW did manage to score 20, but 14 of those came from the stripe, as he went 3-15 from the field. Even worse he had a minuscule 3 assists along with 4 turnovers. Let’s just say that’s not what you want out of your second team All-NBA point guard. Is it humanly possible for someone like Chris Paul to execute that poorly in a game of this magnitude? I highly doubt. Russ needs to step up his game pronto, and if the Thunder lose this series there will be speculation about whether or not he should be traded as maybe an offensive minded point guard is not best suited for a squad who employs Kevin Durant. I think he’ll step up.

I have spent a good deal of time writing about how Ibaka just doesn’t seem right and though he managed to score 17 points, I still feel this way. His defense is nowhere near what it was earlier in the playoffs when he was rejecting everything in sight. Dirk abused him like an unwanted step child tonight but then again that could be attributed to Dirk just having one of “those nights.” He had 0 blocks in 31 minutes which is pretty much unheard of for him, but at least managed to throw down a handful of dunks.

Let me talk a little about every media member’s favorite player, Kendrick Perkins. First of all the Thunder were at minus 14 when he was on the court, which was worse then anyone else on the roster. He got a technical foul within the first few minutes of the game, seemingly for no reason other then not wanting to let go of Tyson Chandler after a made basket. What purpose does this serve exactly. Does he realize that nobody in the NBA is scared of him? Enough of the tough guy image please. YOUR NOT A GOOD PLAYER!! The “experts” have definitely quieted down their praises for Perk, although they still seem intent on not bashing him whatsoever. How did the Celtics get OKC to throw in a draft pick that they got from the Clippers along with Jeff Green and Kristic? Obviously Kristic is a chump but Jeff Green and a Clippers draft pick are both valuable assets and Kendrick Perkins is Kendrick Perkins. Imagine if we had gone through with the Tyson Chandler trade last year. How much better would the Thunder be? They’d still have Green and the draft pick and a better center. It huuuuurts, yet nobody ever mentions it except for me. Read about it in one of my older articles. Here is the link.

Other then Westbrook failing miserably at being a point guard, OKC played pretty well around and has no reason to hang their heads. Dirk had a nearly perfect game combined with the performance of Barea’s life and OKC still had a chance to win it. Now, if they could just steal game 2……