Oklahoma City Thunder @ Memphis Grizzlies 01/22/10

[slick_watts]

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

@




Mike Conley / O.J. Mayo / Rudy Gay / Zach Randolph / Marc Gasol

Matchup

Zach Randolph has 50 points and about 80 rebounds in the third quarter of our last game against Memphis to make it a real nail biter. I felt we played good defense against them except for our medicore effort on the defensive boards. KD and Russ played well also.

We might really struggle in this one if Nick Collison isn't back. It'll be a prime situation for us to give Etan Thomas a little run, but I'm afraid Brooks will stick to his shortend Nick-less rotation and we might get crushed on the offensive boards by a bigger Memphis team.

I like our matchups in the backcourt and at SF. The Memphis front line gave us a huge problem last game, hopefully we can bounce back. An effort like the one we put out against Minnesotat won't work against a hot Memphis team.

Some Numbers

We're 2nd overall in opponent eFG% and Memphis is 29th. Good defense / poor offense against good offense / poor defense. Something's gotta give.

A Question

Can Russ shake of a couple poor outings and put a good game together like his last one against hte Grizz?

[Jimmy76]

z-bo is destroying the undersized front court

[Jimmy76]

maynor looks so much more like a pg than westbrook

that said once westbrook puts it together i dont care how he looks hell be good

[slick_watts]

Russ got pulled because for three games he's been awful on defense. He's been mediocre on offense too, but his defense has just been the worst I've seen.

Eric Maynor came in and ran the offense well, but more importantly he played defense. Conley had 11 points on Russ I think, and zero on Maynor. He stayed in front of his man, didn't switch off needlessly, etc.

Strong move by Brooks pulling Russ.. maybe it'll help him out and get his head back on straight because it seems most of his problems are mental. Maynor doesn't have the tools that Russ does but he's definitely steadier and won't make as many mistakes, we needed his influence on this game.

[slick_watts]

I'm also impressed by Jeff Green's defense on Zach Randolph, getting him to shoot jump shots and contesting him. It's basically over when Z-Bo gets position near the basket but he's been on the perimeter more often in this game, hopefully we keep it that way.

[Jimmy76]

jeff green has been slowly improving overall lately

[Jimmy76]

westbrook's inconsistency is just annoying

he should really stop with those wild layups and pull up midrange shots

[slick_watts]

Maynor came in for Russ and we instantly had two easy shots on offense and a fast break dunk by Durant.

[Clangus]

been a few bad calls against us lately

[Jimmy76]

russ -13
maynor +13

says it all tonight

[Clangus]

Thabeet will have career highs in rebounds and Blocks tonight

[Jimmy76]

Thabeet will have career highs in rebounds and Blocks tonight

hes been way better than i expected so far

doesnt matter if we get the win though

[Clangus]

**** you Jeff Green. I officially on the trade Green wagon. Can rebound cant defend and can't fooking shoot.

[Jimmy76]

their interior d is solid

[Clangus]

Ely Row might as well put ona Grzz jersey for this one. Another terrible call there.

[Clangus]

**** you Jeff Green..388

[Jimmy76]

good game just didnt work out for us

[dream_catcher_9]

as well as Durant played we needed a few more plays out of him tonight. Our defense was great in the 2nd half, but our offense was brutal at times, some credit goes to Memphis D but we missed some shots. Frustrating game we could have won if Durant holds on to that rebound or he makes the 3.

[slick_watts]

Kevin Durant wasn't great but he still had a better game scoring (53% TS) than what most of our players AVERAGE on the year. This loss doesn't go on him, it goes on the rest of our players who continue to come up short and brick open jump shots. Jeff Green had a WIDE OPEN three that would have really swung the momentum in our favor and it was way off, Thabo had an airball, the whole first part of the fourth quarter was ridiculous against such a poor defensive team. The Grizzlies are good on offense but they're 29th in opponent eFG% and we shoot 40% against these guys? That's not acceptable.

Jeff Green will get respect in the stupid papers and other places but he had 15 points on 18 shots for 41.7% TS. What a horribly efficient offensive game from him. KD got into some foul trouble and sat a portion of the fourth quarter and our offense looked pitiful. Our supposed second option on offense did nothing. Russell Westbrook did nothing. The only guy that was doing any damage (James Harden, who played great after a few poor plays) didn't get any looks until he hit that big three pointer.

Games like these illustrate why we need a legitimate second option. Kevin Durant isn't going to have 60% TS games every night, it just isn't going to happen and it's an unrealistic expectation.

James Harden's had some great offensive games lately and has looked good on defense. I think it's approaching the time where he should start. Kevin Durant needs help on offense and he's not getting it.

[dream_catcher_9]

I guess the thing that pisses me off most was that Durant had the rebound and Gasol just took it away from him pretty easily. he secures that and its totally different at the end.

I agree that Green wasn't efficient but he did a LOT of other things well slick. Like a couple of huge blocks again, and some tough defense. the kid has a lot of heart.