May 15, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) comes off the court after losing to the Memphis Grizzlies in game five of the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Grizzlies defeated the Thunder 88-84. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
The Thunder lost 88-84 to the Grizzlies last night to officially end their 2012-13 season. OKC had a chance at the end to tie it, but Kevin Durant missed a jump shot that sealed the Thunder’s fate.
Game Grades:
Kevin Durant- 48 minutes, 21 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists- B
KD had one of the worst offensive performances I can ever remember him having by shooting 5-21 from the field and committing seven turnovers. He never really developed any sort of flow and it really hurt the Thunder. He was constantly getting double and triple teamed, and that will prevent anybody from getting an offensive rhythm down. Obviously he missed that last big shot for OKC, and it really was as good of a look as you can get at the end of a game. KD just wasn’t feeling it last night and because of it, the Thunder won’t be heading to the next round. I want to point out that Durant played all 48 minutes of the game, and he played his guts out. You would be hard pressed to find a harder working guy in the NBA than KD, and he proved that once again last night.
Serge Ibaka- 37 minutes, 17 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks- B-
Ibaka played a decent game last night. He hit a couple of jumpers on offense, and he played pretty good defense on the two Grizz big men. However, the Thunder needed much more from him throughout these playoffs and he didn’t deliver. You can’t place all the blame on Ibaka, but you sure as hell can place some of it. If he had been that guy that was an automatic mid-range jumper machine in the regular season, then I think OKC would be advancing to the conference finals instead of Memphis. I know that Ibaka is a very talented shooter as evidenced by his regular season, but he didn’t show up in the playoffs and that was a huge detriment to the team.
Reggie Jackson- 42 minutes, 16 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists- A-
Jackson was easily the best player of the playoffs not named Kevin Durant for the Thunder. He showed up pretty much every game as the second scorer behind KD, and his ability to come up big in the clutch moments was huge for them as well. Last night again he was great at getting to the rim and opening up some opportunities for other guys. His three pointer late was huge for OKC, and if KD had hit that shot a few seconds later then Reggie Jackson would be talked about across the nation today. It was awesome to see Jackson really grow as a player in these playoffs, and hopefully we see more of that next season.
Kevin Martin- 30 minutes, 10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist- C-
Again Martin was virtually a non-factor for the Thunder, and it really is disappointing to see a guy as talented as Martin is to be so invisible throughout a game. I wish he had been more aggressive for OKC because they really needed his scoring last night and he could have been the difference between a win and a loss for the Thunder.
Derek Fisher- 31 minutes, 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists- B-
Fisher hit a couple of big threes, but he also missed quite a few of them. He finished 3-11 from three point range and that is not “Fisher-like” in the playoffs.
Thabo Sefolosha– 19 minutes, 5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists- C+
Thabo played some pretty good defense when he was in the game, but he was useless on the offensive end. Sefolosha is a good shooter, but he really didn’t give himself a chance to show it in this game. I think that he has to be more aggressive in taking perimeter shots because it really helps KD and others on the inside.
Kendrick Perkins- 17 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal- D+
I always defend Perk when people say that he shouldn’t be on the Thunder, but the way he played last night and overall in this series really makes me look wrong. Perk’s defense wasn’t very good, his offense was worse than usual, and he wasn’t very effective as a rebounder either. I know that Perk is a much better player than he showed last night, but it would have been nice if the “good Perk” had shown up.
Nick Collison- 16 minutes, 4 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists- B+
Collison played solid defense on Randolph throughout the game last night, but he just could not get a break from the officials. We rarely see Nick get very frustrated with the officials, but he was visibly upset with them last night. I really don’t think that he deserved all five of the fouls that he received during this game, and it shows me a lot about him that he kept his cool. Collison also made some key buckets late in the game when the Thunder were making their comeback in the fourth.
Scott Brooks- B
Brooks did a solid job with his rotations and his decisions of when to go big and when to go small. It isn’t his fault that none of his players could buy a bucket throughout the game. There may be a lot of people calling for Brooks’ job after this series, but that is absolutely ridiculous. Brooks did as good of a job as he could do without Westbrook, and he still is a very good coach in this league.