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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER at LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
• Record: 22-17
• Standing: #5
• http://www.nba.com/games/20180104/LACOKC
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SUMMARY
BOXSCORE
OKC:

LAC:

Thunder Upcoming 3

HIGHLIGHTS

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| NBA.com | | Thunder.com | | ESPN.com/NBA

Didn't see this one coming.

Nice win? I mean our offense was good. Just a bad matchup considering our list deficiencies. Need to play Dakari or get a big man.

And another example of how our 'switch everything' tactics don't work without Robes. But that's Billy. Suggesting he adapts to anything once he's decided on something is out of the question.

The Clippers aren't very good this year, although they're better than their record due to the number of games Blake has missed. Blake was healthy tonight which makes the Clippers a terrible matchup for us because of our lack of a second frontcourt presence. The Clippers were/are trending up, too; winners of four in a row and six of their last seven before tonight's game.

Still, we had a dominant fourth quarter and got a second straight road win on the second night of a back-to-back. I'll take it.

first six minutes of 4Q this game was won. even saw patterson / adams for a bit. it's the only defense this team played all night. 5 foul melo came back in and there wasn't any more defense, and we played them to a draw thanks to some decent shooting.

perfect game to sit out melo at the end especially with the foul excuse. patterson was doing fine on griffin and there was much better energy defensively. melo had zero interest.

slick_watts wrote:first six minutes of 4Q this game was won. even saw patterson / adams for a bit. it's the only defense this team played all night. 5 foul melo came back in and there wasn't any more defense, and we played them to a draw thanks to some decent shooting.

perfect game to sit out melo at the end especially with the foul excuse. patterson was doing fine on griffin and there was much better energy defensively. melo had zero interest.

He's beginning to really coast on that end again, and it's a real weak link to have when one of George or Robes is out.

Hey I’ll take any win at this point.

slick_watts wrote:first six minutes of 4Q this game was won. even saw patterson / adams for a bit. it's the only defense this team played all night. 5 foul melo came back in and there wasn't any more defense, and we played them to a draw thanks to some decent shooting.

perfect game to sit out melo at the end especially with the foul excuse. patterson was doing fine on griffin and there was much better energy defensively. melo had zero interest.

I'm not sure why this wasn't a game Billy wasn't bright enough to try Patterson and Adams together throughout the entire game.

Melo F bomb post game on Fox Sports lol.

https://streamable.com/3967l

dakomish23 wrote:

Thabo Sefolosha wrote:

Read on Twitter

3-0

2 down. Keep it going.

Every win counts.

This a win against a team trending up. Melo shot 9-12. But y’all want to focus on what everyone already knew - he is the weak link on defense, especially when out in space and the guy he’s on attacks him off the dribble after a close out.

Maybe what I told was true. You guys are never happy

Just box score watching but Melo didn't seem to be an issue, and wasn't early on in the game. I voted PG and him.

dakomish23 wrote:This a win against a team trending up. Melo shot 9-12. But y’all want to focus on what everyone already knew - he is the weak link on defense, especially when out in space and the guy he’s on attacks him off the dribble after a close out.

Maybe what I told was true. You guys are never happy

Defense is a legitimate issue with him. I don't see how there's anything wrong with pointing that out. Offensively, I admit, he's been playing great. But sometimes I don't even see any effort from him defensively and between that and Donovan blindly switching everything in any and every circumstance he can get exposed. It's a problem, just because it's obvious doesn't mean it should be ignored.

BobThunder wrote:

dakomish23 wrote:This a win against a team trending up. Melo shot 9-12. But y’all want to focus on what everyone already knew - he is the weak link on defense, especially when out in space and the guy he’s on attacks him off the dribble after a close out.

Maybe what I told was true. You guys are never happy

Defense is a legitimate issue with him. I don't see how there's anything wrong with pointing that out. Offensively, I admit, he's been playing great. But sometimes I don't even see any effort from him defensively and between that and Donovan blindly switching everything in any and every circumstance he can get exposed. It's a problem, just because it's obvious doesn't mean it should be ignored.

I’m not saying ignore it. I’m saying be happy for the win and a great shooting night that helped you get there. Unfortunately, Patterson is an absolute non factor on offense or he’d probably close a lot more games.

bondom34 wrote:Just box score watching but Melo didn't seem to be an issue, and wasn't early on in the game. I voted PG and him.

he was a huge liability on defense.

slick_watts wrote:

bondom34 wrote:Just box score watching but Melo didn't seem to be an issue, and wasn't early on in the game. I voted PG and him.

he was a huge liability on defense.

No he wasn't

When the Clippers took control of the game during the 3rd, I was beginning to feel a loss coming. That stint by the bench unit to start the 4th was crucial to holding off the clippers down the stretch. Which is funny considering just how bad the bench was for the first 3 quarters of the game.

Melo was very productive during the game and I have to give him credit for sticking with his fga over this recent stretch of games. I don't hold Carmelo to the fire defensively on nights he has to match up with big PFs like AD, Blake, LMA, etc.

PG seems to have found the key to being able to score on a night by night basis which was a big question mark earlier in the season.

Russ deserves a huge pat on the back for the revelation regarding his 3pta per game recently. I don't know if Donovan talked to him, PG or Melo, or if he just decided on his own to stop jacking up threes, but that has probably been the biggest reason for the turnaround that I can think of. He can take as many mid range jumpers as he wants as long as he shoots no more than 3 3pt shots during a game.

Huge props to the bench for actually gaining a lead to start the 4th quarter and for Terrance Ferguson being a positive despite not shooting well to start. Its a lot to ask of a rookie to have his 2nd ever start be against the Clippers.

Fun game to watch. To put it lightly, it's great to see the offense finally having some flow. Much more action involving the big 4 together. They're cutting. There's an actual offense. Without getting too in depth, if Melo's handling the ball, it would be extremely wise to do more 4/5 pick and rolls. Off a screen, he's a much more efficient scorer, especially vs a 4 or 5.

Regarding his defense, it wasn't the best, but I think he tried early. He was in foul trouble (1 bs call) since the 1st quarter, and that will effect him much more playing true bigs. That's just common sense. No problem calling him out on it, but to pretend its a trend isn't exactly right. Fact of the matter is, he's going to be a liability vs a Blake Griffin or DJ. But he creates as much of a mismatch on the other end, that in turn can creates mismatches on switches for other teammates.


That being said. Why in the hell doesn't Dakari get more play? He starts and plays well whenever Adams is out. He should be the backup C or at least get a few minutes vs this team.

I also like what we're seeing from Ferguson generally, but I can't help but think that Patterson could start in place of Roberson.

I voted for Terrance Ferguson, hes the only guy that needs anybody else's approval to go higher on this team I think.