Oklahoma City Thunder @ Los Angeles Lakers 12/22/09

Post #1 » by **slick_watts** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:21 am

Russell Westbrook / Thabo Sefolosha / Kevin Durant / Jeff Green / Nenad Krstic

@

Derek Fisher / Kobe Bryant / Ron Artest / Pau Gasol/ Andrew Bynum

Matchup

We all know what happened last time, and I don't think anyone is expecting a win here. Our best bet is to probably get one of their bigs into foul trouble, but even then Kobe killed us last game.

One interesting wrinkle is that we will have no backup PG on the roster tonight. Livingston and Wilks were waived, so I'm assuming we'll see a lot of James Harden at PG. Probably not the best matchup to get your first point guard action against..

We'll have to play some perfect basketball to be able to pull this one off.

Some Numbers

Here is something I wrote on 11/22 in the previous Laker game thread:

"Russell Westbrook is currently sporting a 19.2 PER, good for 7th in the league among starting point guards. He's also shooting 37.5% from three point range."

Since then Russ has really struggled and his PER has dropped to about 15.2, barely average. His 3pt% has obviously fallen as well.

A Question

How will James Harden do as backup tonight?

wiff · Post #2 » by **wiff** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:34 am

Thunder get spanked. Their front court is simply too tall, too long, and too beefy for the Thunder to hang with.

Westbrook is due for a good game pretty soon. Maybe the news of Eric Maynor being the new back up will light a fire under him.

I know Westbrook has a ton of potential but Maynor can actually run the point.

Looking forward to seeing Harden with the ball in his hands.

theokie · Post #3 » by **theokie** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:13 am

Thunder up 33 -25 early in the 2nd quarter. Hopefully they can keep this up

wiff · Post #4 » by **wiff** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:36 am

So far sogood they have looked great pretty much everyone has played well.

Thabo was just draped all of Kobe and forced a miss. He is so good at "D"

dream_catcher_9 · Post #5 » by **dream_catcher_9** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:37 am

OKC is looking pretty good. I am really really liking Ibaka. He has grown up so much in such a short time. This kid is going to be special.

As long as we give this effort in the 2nd half and keep playing smart basketball we will be right in it at the end.

Unsung · Post #6 » by **Unsung** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:44 am

wow you guys don't deserve a team. You are kicking the Lakers butt and only like 5 replies?

Post #7 » by **slick_watts** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:55 am

Unsung wrote:wow you guys don't deserve a team. You are kicking the Lakers butt and only like 5 replies?

Obviously this is the only place OKC Thunder fans talk about basketball..

Anyway nice half. I think the Lakers are going to come out and spank us some in the paint, but the offense and defense in the majority of the half has been excellent.

Ibaka and Harden are continuing to play great ball, add Maynor to that bench.. man it could be good for awhile. Three rookies too!

Russ with 10 assists and one turnover (that he didn't deserve, bad pass by Green IMO).

Don't think we'll take this game but man what a half.

wiff · Post #8 » by **wiff** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:56 am

Unsung wrote:wow you guys don't deserve a team. You are kicking the Lakers butt and only like 5 replies?

Actually it's more like three replies. A few of us were at the Sonics forum.

theokie · Post #9 » by **theokie** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:02 am

Unsung wrote:wow you guys don't deserve a team. You are kicking the Lakers butt and only like 5 replies?

Yeah. The fact that we are 10th in league attendance and 7th in percentage filled means a lot less than how many people post on this forum.

Someone should inform David Stern of the lack of activity and get this team out of here quick and put a 2nd team in Toronto as they get a lot of hits on their subforum.

Unsung · Post #10 » by **Unsung** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:20 am

theokie wrote:
Unsung wrote:wow you guys don't deserve a team. You are kicking the Lakers butt and only like 5 replies?

Yeah. The fact that we are 10th in league attendance and 7th in percentage filled means a lot less than how many people post on this forum.

Someone should inform David Stern of the lack of activity and get this team out of here quick and put a 2nd team in Toronto as they get a lot of hits on their subforum.

OK that make sense, but is Oklahoma city a big or small city?

theokie · Post #11 » by **theokie** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:24 am

Big enough to have and support an NBA franchise

OzThunder · Post #12 » by **OzThunder** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:57 am

hopefully we can pull something out here and win but tonight has been a good look at the russell westbrook ceiling. if he can keep going towards the rack, draw players and drop it off for dunks under the ring, we will start to dominate

OzThunder · Post #13 » by **OzThunder** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:01 am

that sefolosha 3 would've been handy

Tirion · Post #14 » by **Tirion** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:13 am

Ibaka needs to start!

Post #15 » by **slick_watts** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:13 am

Very disappointed in this loss.

We had this game. We made a lot of stupid decisions in the closing minutes that cost it. That Serge Ibaka put back attempt with Gasol draped on him off the Westbrook miss made me want to throw my remote at the TV. James Harden was wide open. The Sefolosha three with 16 seconds left on the shot clock made me want to throw up.

This can be a great team, and they have the talent. But just silly, stupid play to close this one out. I can't believe how many mental errors we made in this game.

Unsung · Post #16 » by **Unsung** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:15 am

Anyway hat off to you guys. Beside the Rockets, you guys have been very impressive. Your coach for someone who doesn't have a name yet is quite something else.

Beside LeBron, I believe Durant is the next big things. I haven't seen Evan play for the king so Idk but Durant can be on my fantasy team anyday of the week.

Post #17 » by **slick_watts** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:16 am

Don't be so hasty to claim Serge the starter. He was 4-12 from the field and took horrible shots. He doesn't pass the ball, and can't make basic basketball decisions. He had a nice game, but he's still not there.

Unsung · Post #18 » by **Unsung** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:19 am

slick_watts wrote:Very disappointed in this loss.

We had this game. We made a lot of stupid decisions in the closing minutes that cost it. That Serge Ibaka put back attempt with Gasol draped on him off the Westbrook miss made me want to throw my remote at the TV. James Harden was wide open. The Sefolosha three with 16 seconds left on the shot clock made me want to throw up.

This can be a great team, and they have the talent. But just silly, stupid play to close this one out. I can't believe how many mental errors we made in this game.

Don't beat up on yourself, you team is very young but have lot of potential. You guys gave the champs a run for their money, and no team in the league now is overlooking the Thunders. Even Lakers make dumb play, except we got Kobe who really barely save us from a lost. On the other hand you guys got Durant he is already big right now.

OzThunder · Post #19 » by **OzThunder** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:23 am

slick_watts wrote:Very disappointed in this loss.

We had this game. We made a lot of stupid decisions in the closing minutes that cost it. That Serge Ibaka put back attempt with Gasol draped on him off the Westbrook miss made me want to throw my remote at the TV. James Harden was wide open. The Sefolosha three with 16 seconds left on the shot clock made me want to throw up.

This can be a great team, and they have the talent. But just silly, stupid play to close this one out. I can't believe how many mental errors we made in this game.

You're not talking about the wide open 3 with about 2 minutes left are you?

Although we lost a very winnable game (as happened in the OT game against them earlier) you gotta be happy that we are competing with these teams. Lakers are the best in the comp by a good margin. I think each game you start to see less of these mistakes, though we are a young team and it does happen a hell of a lot. You gotta take alot of solace from the performances of Westbrook, Ibaka and Durant. Westbrook was playing like a true PG and penetrating then finding the right option under the ring, aswell as limiting his contested pull up jumpers. Durant looked like he was actively getting to the ring instead of settling (esp. in the second half). I think he hit 5 in a row at one point and 3 of them were dunks. That's how Durant will become an MVP player, not by hitting 10 mid range jumpers a game but using his speed and length to get easy dunks, and using the jump shot as a way to keep the defense honest. Ibaka rebounded....that's all we've ever needed. Cut down on the 2 fadeaways in the crunch and he would've been perfect. Who and why was he trying to fight anyway?

If those 3 continue to play anything like that we will be a 4th-5th seed for sure, and start becoming a contender before this year is out. Especially if Westbrook can play anything like that.

Post #20 » by **slick_watts** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:36 am

Yeah I'm talking about the wide open three.. don't think he should take that with 16 seconds left on the clock. If it's Harden, then yeah.

There are definitely a lot of good things to take away from this game; Russ Westbrook finding the range on his jumper and making things happen was nice to see. We played the Lakers real hard, and I'm happy about that. And our bench is really producing lately (though Nick Collison was terrible).

I just don't like basic errors. Those shots by Ibaka, the shot by Sefolosha.. if one of those possessions is a scoring possession we probably win this game.