Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Washington Wizards 01/28/2011

[dream_catcher_9]

Durant yelled at Ibaka for taking an open jumper with 6:12 left to go in the game. He says to Ibaka word for word. "No, you can't shoot that ****, I don't give a ****, that's me, not you, you can't shoot that ****."

Really KD? Some leader we have........Maybe he should take his own advice sometime....

[cajun joe]

I don't think Brooks has much of an idea how to coach defense. I mean, look at the facts. Brooks focuses so much on defense yet they are a terrible defensive team. It seems Brooks' idea of good defense all comes down to effort. But if one gives maximum effort, yet still makes the same mistakes over and over, then this maximum effort is really nullified. What is really disconcerting is that the mistakes that they are making seem to taught, most notably over helping off the perimeter.

The really unsettling thing about last night's game though is the Ibaka thing. Apparently, Jeff Green is entitled to play 50 minutes in an overtime game no matter how many offensive rebounds he gives up. He has Scott Brooks' back for sure. He can not defend and not rebound. He can chuck and brick wide open jump shots. It's okay though. He's in a "slump". And with that Durant and Ibaka shouting match that occurred in the second half and relegated Ibaka to the bench for the rest of the game, one has to wonder if Brooks has Green's back partially because Durant does. Durant had no business getting on Ibaka for that sequence (if he was being fair, he would be yelling at Green 15 times a game) and he certainly shouldn't have been benched for the game by Brooks. Why is Jeff Green protected and coddled by team, yet others are not? Makes me think Jeff Green is with this team for the long haul, primarily because Kevin Durant likes to have his best friends in the lineup.

[slick_watts]

Durant yelled at Ibaka for taking an open jumper with 6:12 left to go in the game. He says to Ibaka word for word. "No, you can't shoot that ****, I don't give a ****, that's me, not you, you can't shoot that ****."

Really KD? Some leader we have........Maybe he should take his own advice sometime....

He was open, so he was probably angry. I don't blame KD being angry about that. I think it's stupid that Brooks kept Ibaka out of the game, though. It's not a bad shot by Ibaka but an extra pass to get the ball to your best player is a no brainer.

I actually like that KD gets into him a little bit. Haven't seen that out of him much, all the best players do that. Have to have a hierarchy...

[cajun joe]

Durant yelled at Ibaka for taking an open jumper with 6:12 left to go in the game. He says to Ibaka word for word. "No, you can't shoot that ****, I don't give a ****, that's me, not you, you can't shoot that ****."

Really KD? Some leader we have........Maybe he should take his own advice sometime....

He was open, so he was probably angry. I don't blame KD being angry about that. I think it's stupid that Brooks kept Ibaka out of the game, though. It's not a bad shot by Ibaka but an extra pass to get the ball to your best player is a no brainer.

I actually like that KD gets into him a little bit. Haven't seen that out of him much, all the best players do that. Have to have a hierarchy...

I disagree. Better ways to have handled that. But yeah, Brooks is really the most at fault for benching him. There probably always is some kind of hierarchy, but why Jeff Green is so much higher up than Ibaka, I really do not know.

[dream_catcher_9]

Durant yelled at Ibaka for taking an open jumper with 6:12 left to go in the game. He says to Ibaka word for word. "No, you can't shoot that ****, I don't give a ****, that's me, not you, you can't shoot that ****."

Really KD? Some leader we have........Maybe he should take his own advice sometime....

He was open, so he was probably angry. I don't blame KD being angry about that. I think it's stupid that Brooks kept Ibaka out of the game, though. It's not a bad shot by Ibaka but an extra pass to get the ball to your best player is a no brainer.

I actually like that KD gets into him a little bit. Haven't seen that out of him much, all the best players do that. Have to have a hierarchy...

I agree that Brooks shouldn't have taken Ibaka out of the game. However Its frustrating to me to hear KD say things like that. Aren't we trying to develop trust in our teammates, and not rely on just KD and Westbrook late in games? I wish KD took a more positive approach to Ibaka. Because when we are competing for Championship we need Ibaka and other role player to hit open shots.

JMHO

[dream_catcher_9]

I don't think Brooks has much of an idea how to coach defense. I mean, look at the facts. Brooks focuses so much on defense yet they are a terrible defensive team. It seems Brooks' idea of good defense all comes down to effort. But if one gives maximum effort, yet still makes the same mistakes over and over, then this maximum effort is really nullified. What is really disconcerting is that the mistakes that they are making seem to taught, most notably over helping off the perimeter.

The really unsettling thing about last night's game though is the Ibaka thing. Apparently, Jeff Green is entitled to play 50 minutes in an overtime game no matter how many offensive rebounds he gives up. He has Scott Brooks' back for sure. He can not defend and not rebound. He can chuck and brick wide open jump shots. It's okay though. He's in a "slump". And with that Durant and Ibaka shouting match that occurred in the second half and relegated Ibaka to the bench for the rest of the game, one has to wonder if Brooks has Green's back partially because Durant does. Durant had no business getting on Ibaka for that sequence (if he was being fair, he would be yelling at Green 15 times a game) and he certainly shouldn't have been benched for the game by Brooks. Why is Jeff Green protected and coddled by team, yet others are not? Makes me think Jeff Green is with this team for the long haul, primarily because Kevin Durant likes to have his best friends in the lineup.

great post. I agree with everything. Brooks is not an X and O's guy. He is a cheerleader and motivator. I guess that's good for young teams to play hard, but even that doesn't happen all the time.

[slick_watts]

Of all the players I get the impression KD and Ibaka have a great relationship. I wouldn't read too much into this, I think that misunderstandings like this are bound to happen when you don't run an offense and there is no structure. I think it's Brooks' responsibility to instill that in the players and it seems like he doesn't have any control over them. It isn't KD and Westbrook that decide to keep the ball and do their own thing, it's Brooks. That last play in regulation? It's Brooks.

KD gets along with his teammates pretty well for the most part, I'm not going to jump down his throat over this. I'm more annoyed that Brooks kept Ibaka out and continues to rely on Green when Green makes the same mistakes.

The issue about role playing hitting open shots is a coaching issue. Either Brooks has no control over his team, or his gameplan is to have Russ and KD wing it and the offense "take care of itself". I think it's the latter. This team is definitely less of a team these days.

[MrWHYNOT]

Watching this team play is like watching my nephew play NBA 2k11. Pointless movement and constant isolations.

tell your newphew to run plays in 2K... thats whats so great about the game its sophisticated.. but most kids just like to play cheese ball style and drive to the basket or shoot 3's with a dominant player.. thats just the AAU culture thats infected basketball

[Thunder4]

I would not read to much into what KD told Ibaka. If you were watching the game , that was a horrible shot by Ibaka. It was late in the 4th and Ibaka got a offensive rebound and just heaved up a corner jumper. Brooks wants him to shoot when he is open but he wasn't open. Ibaka is only in his 2nd year and he has alot to learn. He will be fine sunday vs the Heat.

[Devilanche]

I don't even know if Brooks sees it. I've never seen an NBA level team collapse the defense off the perimeter every time no matter what the context (i.e. who the shooter is, who the ball handler is).

I think the Wizards only had six turnovers in the whole game, and even Darnell is crying about the defense now saying it's never coming back. No, the whole defense thing is just lip service from Brooks and the players. The defense has been terrible.

It's definitely a problem when your beat writer is writing negative. And about the defence collapsing, the coaches aren't blind. If everyone has been doing it and nobody has made any adjustment it's probably a function of the team gameplan.

Durant yelled at Ibaka for taking an open jumper with 6:12 left to go in the game. He says to Ibaka word for word. "No, you can't shoot that ****, I don't give a ****, that's me, not you, you can't shoot that ****."

Really KD? Some leader we have........Maybe he should take his own advice sometime....

I think it''s just a small problem.

The 2 ways i see it is that he's either disappointed that it was a close game against a winless on the road wizards and as such would like the team to take care of the ball better on offence. Though with this line of reasoning, it would have been better if he had rant off when one of the defensive function failed since the team 'preached' defence first afterall.

Either that or he's concentrating on getting points to be the scoring champion. Possible because there's some game we seen his assists went up as he find the open man but i believe it's more of a young guy who's good at shooting believing in his own shooting stroke most of the time.