May 1, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Reggie Jackson (15) attempts a pass against Houston Rockets center Omer Asik (3) during the second half in game five of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Rockets defeated the Thunder 107-100. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
The Thunder lost game 5 last night 107-100 and this series will continue on. The Thunder played one of the worst games I have ever seen them play and serious things will have to be fixed if they want to win friday night in Houston.
Game Grades:
Kevin Durant- 45 minutes, 36 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds- A+
KD will continue to get an A+ until some of the pressure is taken off of him. Until Reggie Jackson starting making some plays in the fourth quarter the entire Thunder offense was “give it to KD and watch”. Nobody helped him at all and I really felt bad for Kevin. In the third quarter KD was absolutely balling, and nobody could manage to help him out, and that is where the game was lost. Granted, Durant did have an awful fourth quarter but with all of the other things he was doing for OKC throughout the game, I can’t blame him too much.
Serge Ibaka- 35 minutes, 14 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks- B-
Ibaka played much better than he did in game 4, but it still was not nearly enough. He was pretty effective on the defensive end, but he has to step up on offense. He needs to hit those mid range shots to take some of the pressure off of KD, and unless he starts to do that consistently, the Thunder will be in trouble.
Kevin Martin- 23 minutes, 3 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist- F
That’s right, I give Martin an F. That is how bad I thought he played, and I think everybody that knows basketball would agree that Martin deserves an F. He did not do a thing offensively for OKC, and that is the main reason why they lost this ball game (along with Ibaka). Martin wasn’t aggressive in taking the ball to the hoop, and he couldn’t hit a perimeter shot to save his life. He was 1-10 from the field and 0-5 from the three point line. The Thunder will lose this series to the Rockets if Martin continues to play like this. This performance was downright pathetic.
Thabo Sefolosha- 36 minutes, 9 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists- B
Thabo played three quarters of really bad offensive basketball, but then knocked down a few threes in the fourth. However, I think if he had been able to hit a few perimeter shots early in the game it would have opened up a lot of options on offense for OKC.
Reggie Jackson- 32 minutes, 20 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists- A
Jackson showed me something in this game. He is a big time player, and he kept the Thunder afloat in the fourth quarter. At times during the fourth, Reggie took over the game on the offensive end for OKC, and it was pretty cool to watch. Jackson is a cold blooded guy much like KD and much like Westbrook. If Jackson were on any other team, I think he would be a rising star in this league.
DeAndre Liggins- 18 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist-B+
It seemed like Liggins played a lot more than 18 minutes in this game, and that is because I thought he played great. Liggins brought a lot of energy to the Thunder, and he played amazing defense on James Harden. It was not Liggins fault that Harden decided to go bonkers on OKC and light it up from deep. Liggins was very solid defending Harden and he should get some credit.
Derek Fisher- 29 minutes, 8 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal- B
Fish made some big plays towards the end of the game, but he didn’t play as well of a game as he did in game’s 3 or 4. He did miss a couple big free throws down the stretch and that is very uncharacteristic of him.
Nick Collison- 7 minutes, 6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks- B-
Collison played much better last night than he had in the previous games, and I thought that he should have been given a few more minutes by Brooks.
Kendrick Perkins- 16 minutes, 2 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal- C+
Perk is just not fit for this series, and he will sit on the bench for the majority of it. This series is all about the guards and Perk is obviously not one of them.
Scott Brooks- C
The whole Hack-A-Asik thing was interesting. I personally don’t like purposely fouling so early in the fourth quarter, but it worked for awhile for OKC. However Brooks made a major blunder by sticking with it for too long. OKC had the lead down to 6 with 4:16 left and they should have stopped it there. Instead they stayed with it, and Asik knocked the Thunder out of the game at the charity stripe. Bad move by Brooks.