Oklahoma City Thunder @ Minnesota Timberwolves 02/21/10

[slick_watts]

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

@




Jonny Flynn / Corey Brewer / Ryan Gomes / Al Jefferson / Ryan Hollins

Matchup

Trap game against a young Wolves team. Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Russell Westbrook all played 47 minutes last night in a high scoring up and down game. The Wolves played us to the final possession in our last win in Minnesota, and we'll see Kevin Love obliterate us on the boards this time.

Al Jefferson against Jeff Green is one of those matchups where you wish Jeff Green was not your starting PF. Jeff will have his hands full against Big Al, who really hasn't looked himself this year after the injury. Russell Westbrook must do a better job defensively against Jonny Flynn than he did against Eddie House / Sergio Rodriguez.. I know you're on fire, Russ, but please try to stay in front of your man.

Finally, I'm looking forward to Thabo exacting some revenge on Corey Brewer, who looked more like LeBron James against us than Corey Brewer last time.


Some Numbers

Even after the defensive let down against the Knicks, we're still #1 in the league in Defensive eFG%.

Russell Westbrook's FG% is up to 41.2%, his TS% has eclispsed last seasons' toal.. These aren't great numbers but he's making some progress. Minnesota doesn't really have active shot blocking so Russ should try getting to the rim like he did against New York.

A Question

So we took care of Dallas, who were debuting Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood. We escaped New York where they unveiled a rejuvenated Tracy McGrady, Eddie House, and Sergio Rodriguez. Do we stand a chance against Minnesota and the return of Darko Milicic?

[wiff]

The term "beat down" comes to mind.



I just don't think the T-Wolves are going to put up much of a fight tonight.

Sure 47 minutes is a lot of minutes to play when you are 30 not so much when you are 21.

I'd like to see Ibaka cover Jefferson a lot tonight.

[wizkid27]

Started out like a true beat down. TWolves went on a bit of a run and made it interesting again. The Brewer half court 3 at the buzzer didn't help us out too much either.

Westbrook has had a really nice game in the low post. Durant has scored well but hasn't done much else. Green has played well, but not as good as his near first half double-double would indicate.

We've gotta do something to slow down Love. He's a good player, but really messed us up with him coming off of the bench.

[slick_watts]

Guess a win is a win. I was very unhappy with the defense again. Second game in a row where the opponent just waltzed into the lane and got corner threes or baseline drives. Our lack of an intelligent shotblocker inside exposes us against teams like these. Russell Westbrook in particular was very poor on defense continually allowing penetration.

Nice game for the stats.. Russ with the triple double and Kevin Durant with the 25+ again. Green had a nice game statistically. Our bench was really bad, though, except for Collison at the end.

An interesting twist is Ollie getting minutes over Maynor.. Maynor's been pretty bad since coming here, a ton of turnover and not many assists. Definitely not as advertised. I think that might be the reason we are taking a flyer on the D-League guard. I still question whether or not Maynor was the best guy we could have gotten with our cap space.

[dream_catcher_9]

Guess a win is a win. I was very unhappy with the defense again. Second game in a row where the opponent just waltzed into the lane and got corner threes or baseline drives. Our lack of an intelligent shotblocker inside exposes us against teams like these. Russell Westbrook in particular was very poor on defense continually allowing penetration.

Nice game for the stats.. Russ with the triple double and Kevin Durant with the 25+ again. Green had a nice game statistically. Our bench was really bad, though, except for Collison at the end.

An interesting twist is Ollie getting minutes over Maynor.. Maynor's been pretty bad since coming here, a ton of turnover and not many assists. Definitely not as advertised. I think that might be the reason we are taking a flyer on the D-League guard. I still question whether or not Maynor was the best guy we could have gotten with our cap space.

I know you don't like Maynor but you are wrong. Maynor's assist to turnover ratio since coming here is 2.8 to 1.2 which is very good for a rookie IMO. that's over 2-1 ratio.

Yes he is in a slump, but I guess you forgot when he was playing great and making things happen when Westbrook was playing bad earlier in the year? You even commented on how good his defense and passing game was.

He is a rookie, no need to say it was a bad move especially when we are doing very well as a team right now.

[slick_watts]

I know you don't like Maynor but you are wrong. Maynor's assist to turnover ratio since coming here is 2.8 to 1.2 which is very good for a rookie IMO. that's over 2-1 ratio.

Yes he is in a slump, but I guess you forgot when he was playing great and making things happen when Westbrook was playing bad earlier in the year? You even commented on how good his defense and passing game was.

He is a rookie, no need to say it was a bad move especially when we are doing very well as a team right now.

I dunno why you're assuming I don't like Maynor. I like him, I just question if he's worth what we gave up for him and I'm not sure how good a player he is.

Eric Maynor's A:TO ratio is 2.35:1 since arriving here, which is just a bit below average. My problem with him is the frequency that he turns the ball over. 20%+ TOV% is exceptionally high, and his scoring efficiency is down the tubes. He did play well his first couple weeks but has faded and looked mediocre. I'm not sure you could argue that point..

I hope he turns it around but I'd be concerned if this is just who Maynor is. I think there's definitely a need to question the move considering what went on at the deadline and what we could have gotten as the only team with significant cap space.

[Jimmy76]

westbrook destroys and the game is close and durant was doing his thing...

defense was lacking my guess i couldnt catch it tonight

and maynor is a rookie lets see how much he improves this offseason

[dream_catcher_9]

I know you don't like Maynor but you are wrong. Maynor's assist to turnover ratio since coming here is 2.8 to 1.2 which is very good for a rookie IMO. that's over 2-1 ratio.

Yes he is in a slump, but I guess you forgot when he was playing great and making things happen when Westbrook was playing bad earlier in the year? You even commented on how good his defense and passing game was.

He is a rookie, no need to say it was a bad move especially when we are doing very well as a team right now.

I dunno why you're assuming I don't like Maynor. I like him, I just question if he's worth what we gave up for him and I'm not sure how good a player he is.

Eric Maynor's A:TO ratio is 2.35:1 since arriving here, which is just a bit below average. My problem with him is the frequency that he turns the ball over. 20%+ TOV% is exceptionally high, and his scoring efficiency is down the tubes. He did play well his first couple weeks but has faded and looked mediocre. I'm not sure you could argue that point..

I hope he turns it around but I'd be concerned if this is just who Maynor is. I think there's definitely a need to question the move considering what went on at the deadline and what we could have gotten as the only team with significant cap space.

I understand that he has regressed since coming here, and is not playing very well at all right now. But when he first got here I saw some really really nice things our of him, and well as when he started 2 games for Utah he looked great.

He doesn't have the upside of Russ but I think he will improve enough to be a very good backup to Russ. I think he is just not used to the long season and its wearing on his body IMO.

[wiff]

Minny made it somewhat interesting late but even when the Thunder coughed up the lead I just had a feeling they were going to get the win.

Hats off to Westbrook with the triple double and to KD with the streak.

I thoug Maynor whe he first showed up was lights out for a back up. I don't think he missed a three in his first fours games or so. At least it seemed like it.

He's a rookie and in a slump, he will snap out of it. I do think it was smart of Brooks to put in Ollie. Let Maynor think about what's happening, get in the gym early and keep working at it.

I am curious to see what Kahn does in Minny to figure out their roster. It's a little redundant.