OKC Thunder @ Atlanta Hawks on MLK Day

[BIG EDDIE]

Oklahoma City Thunder @ Atlanta Hawks



This is extra the Road-edition
Let's discuss.
Go Thunder!

[morgan]

It's going to be a tough game. Would be a great win but the Hawks don't loose much at home.

[Joel Embust]

Plus they match up well with OKC's versatility.

[slick_watts]

Oops didn't realize this was such an early start.

Thanks for saving me some effort.

[BIG EDDIE]

The Thunder match up well against this Hawks team I believe.
Thabo can keep Joe Johnson in check, but on the other side the Hawks dont have anybody to guard Durant. Well no team on this planet does, muhaha
Also Bibby is to slow for Westbrook.
I can smell a 10 point Thunder victory.
The key is that they come out with energy and big effort and take the ball to the hoop and box out the Hawks on defense.

Let's Go Thunder!

[Smash3]

Wow great play by Jeff green! He totally raped josh smith

[fallacy]

Josh Smith just got molested by jeff green! Poor smith, you have to learn not to mess with jeff

[BadWolf]

last quarter was painful to watch
no ball movement, a lot of Durant iso's, mostly the result of unsuccesful screens, Russ was completelly passive, just dribbled the time and tossed the ball to KD.
And Hawks were actually even worse...

[slick_watts]

Our offense definitely still needs work.. but our defense was good enough to overcome our late game offense, the turnovers, and offensive rebounds.

After this game we're probably #1 in the league in opponent eFG%. We'd probably have the number one defense in the leauge if we didn't foul so much.

[Clangus]

i wonder if anyone would be so kind as to give me a recap?
I missed this one.

How was Green? How was Ibaka? etc etc

[wizkid27]

Krstic had maybe the best game I've seen him play. He was a lot more aggressive than usual (on offense, D, and rebounds).

Ibaka looked good, he's got a lot of confidence on offense, which is unusual for a young foreign post player.

Green continued to be the somewhat mediocre player that he's been lately, with the exception of an amazing dunk with like 15 second left right on Josh Smith (and got the foul).

Westbrook was really quiet.

Durant was pretty much himself.

All around, very solid win against one of the best teams in the East.

[Thunderbones]

clangus the game was pretty solid j green had 15pts 11 boards kd 29 pts ibaka 6 pts and 10 boards but nenad was kikin it today 16 pts 7 boards

[Clangus]

Thanks guys. I read the box score, but that doesn't tell you very much.

Glad to hear about Ibaka, and hopefully Krystic can keep up that level of play!

[slick_watts]

Keys to this game were the free throws and the fantastic defense; Atlanta's something like 3rd in the league in offensive efficiency, even better at home, and we held them to 40% shooting.

Nenad Krstic had a good game for him, but otherwise I don't think anyone else was that great on offense. KD's free throws were important but he missed the big one. Jeff Green made a huge play but was mostly ineffective before that. And it came on a broken isolation play to Durant, which I really hope we stop doing to end games.

Russ was quiet and made the defensive blunder of the game helping on defense on the Mike Bibby corner three that gave ATL a shot at the game.

Our defense is just top notch, we get hands up and challenge almost everything. We got beat on the boards and turnovers, Hawks attempted more shots but we won because we held them to 40% shooting.. great defensive game plan and execution for the most part.

The stagnant offense is a concern, especially the turnovers, and we have to do better on the defensive boards, but what a win.

23 wins at the half way point is probably better than anyone expected..

[slick_watts]

Also, James Harden has been great shooting the ball recently; his TS% (takes three pointers and free throws into account) is something like 57% in January. That's great for a SG..

He just needs to look for his teammates a bit more like he was doing early in the year.

[dream_catcher_9]

Keys to this game were the free throws and the fantastic defense; Atlanta's something like 3rd in the league in offensive efficiency, even better at home, and we held them to 40% shooting.

Nenad Krstic had a good game for him, but otherwise I don't think anyone else was that great on offense. KD's free throws were important but he missed the big one. Jeff Green made a huge play but was mostly ineffective before that. And it came on a broken isolation play to Durant, which I really hope we stop doing to end games.

Russ was quiet and made the defensive blunder of the game helping on defense on the Mike Bibby corner three that gave ATL a shot at the game.

Our defense is just top notch, we get hands up and challenge almost everything. We got beat on the boards and turnovers, Hawks attempted more shots but we won because we held them to 40% shooting.. great defensive game plan and execution for the most part.

The stagnant offense is a concern, especially the turnovers, and we have to do better on the defensive boards, but what a win.

23 wins at the half way point is probably better than anyone expected..

all without a dominant defensive presence and rebounder. If we did somehow get that player how good could we be on defense?

On paper it would be amazing but he would have to fit in with this team and not ruin our team defense mentality.....also would we still play the shell defense with a defensive big?

[Clangus]

Thanks Slick!