Oklahoma City Thunder vs Orlando Magic 2/25

[dream_catcher_9]

I think Thabo will be the new Green.

I figured he would become the new scapegoat for when Westbrook and Durant jack up bad shots and show no effort on defense and/or Ibaka is a non-factor.

I thought Durant played very well. It's tough to make the offense work when it's 2 against 5...

7-22 with 4 turnovers is playing very well? He had 16 rebounds so he wasn't useless like Westbrook was, but him and Russ were both bad. Actually as a whole, the whole team played bad and one of the worst losses of the year. Not much continuity both on offense and defense.

[Krodis]

Would have been nice to at least have Nazr.

I also think we probably should have minimized the time Ibaka spent guarding Dwight. Perhaps played Aldrich some more. We needed Ibaka's offense (as weird as that sounds) and it would have been nice to not have to go small the entire game.

[slick_watts]

7-22 with 4 turnovers is playing very well? He had 16 rebounds so he wasn't useless like Westbrook was, but him and Russ were both bad. Actually as a whole, the whole team played bad and one of the worst losses of the year. Not much continuity both on offense and defense.

7-22 is obviously not good, but a lot of those misses came towards the end of the game when it was out of hand. I thought he took most of his shots in rhythm, but like Russ, there was nowhere to go in the paint.

The team struggled because there was no floor spacing most of the time. Almost nothing was getting done in the paint because the Magic were playing way off our offensive players. Thabo was ignored, Serge gets less attention on the perimeter than Green, and Collison less than Krstic. This left no driving lanes.

It was not a coincidence that the offense tended to fare better when Harden entered. Durant did what he could do to get shots for the most part and took what the defense gave him. I thought Russ was horrible, he made a lot of bad decisions and missed some easy passes.

But it will be an adjustment period. My main concern is whether Brooks keeps Thabo starting or not. If he does, it will be a long end to the season. Russ and KD will have very few clean looks.

[Krodis]

There's simply no way we can expect to play lineups with only one 3 point shooter for extended periods of time.

Thabo and Westbrook simply can't be on the court at the same time for any length of time, unless Ibaka starts stretching his jumper out to the 3 point line (which I'd be more than a little hesitant to recommend mid-season, but he has shown that range).

Harden and Cook need to play almost all the time that Westbrook is in there. Thabo can maybe pick up some extra minutes when Maynor (or Robinson) plays.

[XonezIOIzenoX]

Russ has been frustrated by Nelson's defense. He has done a great job of stopping Russ from penetrating.

Im a magic fan and i have to laugh on this one... Nelson stopping westbrook on penetrating?? It was really dwight howard vs OKC, everyone else in magic side was just on stand by. Nelson and defense doesn't have a tune to it, lol. Good game regardless, OKC is a dangerous team!

[FlatearthZorro]

U need Perk to shut down DH. Even if he doesn't shut him down, most likely he will bring his shooting % down and box him out.

[Mad Guru]

Good game, but you guys were doomed before it started with a pissed of Howard and no one to defend him.

[wiff]

Good game, but you guys were doomed before it started with a pissed of Howard and no one to defend him.

+1

That game was an up hill battle on roller skates from the start. This is a really easy game to simply put in the rear view mirror and move forward.

It absolutely baffles me to see Harden not start.

Hopefully with Perkins and Nate Rob showing up Brooks starts harden and has Nate Rob or even Cook as the instant offense off the bench. I like how Cook has been playing lately. But Harden needs more minutes and more looks period.

[bbms]

Howard put almost the same numbers with Krstic, so I think it's fair to say Cole Aldrich is a better defensive player, despite the anxiety, and our team will be a paint locker with Perkins and Nazr.

Aldrichs +/- is pretty remarkable. I like him as backup defensive center.

And I agree both our team has to play a half court game(Harden start) and Ibaka has to develop some under the basket moves.

[Devilanche]

With Perkins out for 2-3 weeks, i hope this means we'll get more time for Aldrich/Mullens.