3/2 - POSTGAME | Oklahoma City Thunder (124) - (116) Phoenix Suns

Thabo Sefolosha · Post #1 » by **Thabo Sefolosha** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 4:30 am

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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER at PHOENIX SUNS

• Record: 37-27
• Standing: #7
• http://www.nba.com/games/20180302/OKCPHX
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SUMMARY
BOXSCORE
OKC:

Spoiler:

PHX:

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Thunder Upcoming 3

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HIGHLIGHTS

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| NBA.com |

| Thunder.com |

| ESPN.com/NBA

Post #2 » by **slick_watts** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 4:32 am

melo ts watch: 50.2%. in grave danger of dropping below the mendoza line. unreal!

NaturalThunder · Post #3 » by **NaturalThunder** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 4:32 am

Hot damn, we eked out another close win over a really bad team.

But hey, we did close the game on a 10-0 run in the last two minutes to do it and Russ went ham tonight so, at least there's that.

On another note, does Elfrid Payton have the worst haircut/hairstyle in NBA history? At the absolute worst it's top five.

Kizz Fastfists · Post #4 » by **Kizz Fastfists** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 4:46 am

Phoenix had to be reminded by their coaches in the 4th that they were supposed to lose. I heard there were some threats of fines for good play in the 4th if they won. If only OKC could playing teams that are tanking they could rack up enough wins to sneak into the playoffs.

Dn4sty · Post #5 » by **Dn4sty** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 4:53 am

NEVER A DOUBT

Dn4sty · Post #6 » by **Dn4sty** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 4:54 am

Kizz Fastfists wrote:Phoenix had to be reminded by their coaches in the 4th that they were supposed to lose. I heard there were some threats of fines for good play in the 4th if they won. If only OKC could playing teams that are tanking they could rack up enough wins to sneak into the playoffs.

Please stop. There is a ton of issues with this team, but they Thunder haven’t had success in Phoenix and this goes way back.

Pillendreher · Post #7 » by **Pillendreher** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 10:07 am

Read on Twitter

Can we please give effort 48 minutes a game? Most of the night, the defensive effort by our starters was just straight out disgusting. The bench came in and suddenly we looked like we could lock them up every possession. Our bench has like two above average defenders. :noway:

Pillendreher · Post #8 » by **Pillendreher** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 10:16 am

Ferguson 7/10 from 3 over his last 7 games. Before this 'stretch', he was 13/54 from 3 since that Lakers game. Probably just variance, but I'll take it. We've also outscored the opposing teams 3 games in a row with him on the floor. Baby steps.

Post #9 » by **ThunderBolt** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 12:53 pm

Pillendreher wrote:Ferguson 7/10 from 3 over his last 7 games. Before this 'stretch', he was 13/54 from 3 since that Lakers game. Probably just variance, but I'll take it. We've also outscored the opposing teams 3 games in a row with him on the floor. Baby steps.

Ferguson is the most exciting thing about last night. Regardless of what happens from here on out with this team, if he plays well it will give me a little optimism beading in to next year.

Pillendreher · Post #10 » by **Pillendreher** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 1:14 pm

slick_watts wrote:melo ts watch: 50.2%. in grave danger of dropping below the mendoza line. unreal!

The last time Melo made more than 50 % of this shots was the 148 Cleveland game. Since then he's

22/47 in the restricted area
10/22 in the non-ra paint
29/84 from midrange
28/93 from 3

It's tough to see him struggle like this. He's not just chucking shots because he doesn't care. He's trying. He's trying to get more to the rim lately and he's just getting hammered without getting calls (.095 FTr since the Cleveland game). He's 47/143 on uncontested shots for 32.9 % and 42/104 on contested shots for 40.4 % over that 16 game stretch. He made more than 40 % of his uncontested shots in just 3 games (Cleveland, Memphis, Sacramento) and missed more than 60 % of his uncontested shots in 13 games.

At some point something's gotta give, right?

hardenASG13 · Post #11 » by **hardenASG13** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 2:50 pm

Well, 4-0 vs. Bad teams since the all star break.........some other thoughts from this one

Russell Westbrook is the reason I'm so optimistic of this team in the playoffs. Hes really, really good. He is one of the few guys who can single handily win several games in a playoff series, and will be playing almost the whole game. This time time he'll be doing it with Paul George, too.....who will also play almost the whole game.

Grant has to play more, on a consistent basis. Hes been great, ignoring his massive improvement, particularly lately, is just kidding yourself. He is Playing with by far the most confidence of his career. Making some $$$

Ferguson is on a nice little stretch. Guys literally go right through him on defense, but he could play spot energy minutes.

Brewer should replace huestis, and for the most part Ferguson, in the rotation. He could even eat into abrines minutes, if needed. He was in a tough spot in LA, especially if he still has game, where he wouldn't play much regardless. Hes only 31. Hes going to be a big upgrade over those guys, I've always liked his game.

Melo just can't get right. Hes gotta play less. Seems like he's been getting hit on drives lately, gets no love. He can still be streaky and I expect him to have his moments in the playoffs, but when he's the helpside paint defender he just moves out of the way as guys dunk. He is and will be extremely well payed, and the franchise doesn't really owe him anything. Either bring him off the bench (starting abrines, brewer, or patterson), or if Billy doesn't have the balls at least play him less. He should be happy to still have a big role (key spot up shooter, can go 1 on 1 at times vs. smaller players) on a playoff team.

George has amazing hands on defense. If him and Westbrook are rolling in a given playoff game, they are going to be very hard to beat that night. that could happen almost every night come playoff time, with them both playing 42 minutes.

Post #12 » by **slick_watts** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 3:35 pm

we're not winning **** in the playoffs performing on defense the way we have. doesn't matter how well russell westbrook plays.

hardenASG13 · Post #13 » by **hardenASG13** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 4:30 pm

slick_watts wrote:we're not winning **** in the playoffs performing on defense the way we have. doesn't matter how well russell westbrook plays.

Agree (at least vs. Houston or golden state).....brewer will help in that regard, as would less melo. Maybe they could trap instead of switching the high screen occasionally as well? Not that crazy of a notion, haters.

CROklahoma · Post #14 » by **CROklahoma** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 4:54 pm

But, I mean, these are terrible terrible wins, but whole statistical samplesizes are telling, our road to greatness is simple. The statline clearly says our DRtg is up a lot when PPat is on the floor with the starters. We could get some better results with Brewer there instead of Huestis.

What is going on with our coach ? Is he freaking mental ? This is MINDBLOWING for me. I cannot believe we are destroying our chances to get a good seed in the playoffs, meaning home court and advantegous conditions against first round opponent. Do we really wanna sacrifice something that looks like showing ourselves to our biggest get ever, PG, in the playoffs ?

He clearly said his decision will be factored by how far we go in playoffs.

Get the **** off off that Melo stuff and get him going as a true 6th man of the team. He is not doing dog **** on the floor.

Pillendreher · Post #15 » by **Pillendreher** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 4:59 pm

https://streamable.com/k24jz

This was the most exciting sequence of the game. I like it when our wings get possessed by Andre Roberson's spirit.

hardenASG13 · Post #16 » by **hardenASG13** » Sat Mar 3, 2018 6:01 pm

CROklahoma wrote:But, I mean, these are terrible terrible wins, but whole statistical samplesizes are telling, our road to greatness is simple. The statline clearly says our DRtg is up a lot when PPat is on the floor with the starters. We could get some better results with Brewer there instead of Huestis.

What is going on with our coach ? Is he freaking mental ? This is MINDBLOWING for me. I cannot believe we are destroying our chances to get a good seed in the playoffs, meaning home court and advantegous conditions against first round opponent. Do we really wanna sacrifice something that looks like showing ourselves to our biggest get ever, PG, in the playoffs ?

He clearly said his decision will be factored by how far we go in playoffs.

Get the **** off off that Melo stuff and get him going as a true 6th man of the team. He is not doing dog **** on the floor.

Yea melo needs to be reduced, for sure. But why are they such bad wins. It's the NBA!!! This is what gets overlooked by all the critics on here. All the teams are good. Look at last night. Golden state wins by 5 in Atlanta, Denver barely wins in Memphis. This happens all the time. They aren't going to consistently blow these teams out. It happens to everyone! But they have the top tier talent to win these games at the end, which is what they have started to do