Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Phoenix Suns 12/31/2011

[slick_watts]

Steve Nash is off to a very poor start in Phoenix in their first three games, probably even worse than Russ. So the Suns offense has been struggling. What's interesting is that their defense hasn't been half bad. If Nash comes to play and they defend like they've been, the game could easily go their way.

[dream_catcher_9]

prediction: sluggish start, close throughout, but we pull out a win at the end.

[CKRT]

5-0. Hope we're the last ones to lose a game.

[BIG EDDIE]

Should be an easy win. SHOULD be. Kind of a trap game if you ask me.

[fallacy]

5-0. Hope we're the last ones to lose a game.

We're going to lose Monday in Dallas. I also thought Memphis was going to smash us, so what do I know?

[Krodis]

You know, as much as I want Harden to start, I also want to keep him and Collison on the court together as much as possible.

[slick_watts]

Russ is seriously pressing. He's gambling for steals, putting up shots in traffic, just playing for numbers it seems. I think his contract status is affecting his play. The lack of ball movement from him after the first move is really striking especially compared to what the Thunder accomplish with Harden and Maynor running similar plays. Durant has been looking to pass a lot but he also came back into this game and was putting up poor quality shot attempts.

It's a 14 pt lead at halftime which is nice but it seems like it should be larger. The bench played great and Harden is awesome. But at this point Russ' play really concerns me. At any rate it seems like Brooks is content with him shooting this kind of volume, and there's no way in the world Russ at 30+ USG is optimal.

[Krodis]

So the negative for the game is Durant struggled. The positives are literally everything else.

Great performance.

[HeartSouloma]

Did Harden dish out 8 AS in the the game!?

[slick_watts]

So the negative for the game is Durant struggled. The positives are literally everything else.

Great performance.

Russ played a lot better in the 3rd quarter but I'd still like to see him pass more. The only other negative I've got is that Kendrick Perkins continues to try too much offensively, he has more turnovers than made FG's.

Other than that, great to get some rest for Dallas road game.

[Phailadelphia]

5-0. Hope we're the last ones to lose a game.

We're going to lose Monday in Dallas. I also thought Memphis was going to smash us, so what do I know?

I like OKC's chances on a Dallas B2B where they have to fly back to Texas from Minnesota with a team full of guys that are almost eligible for Medicare.

I'm more worried about playing Houston twice next weekend but that's a little too far into the schedule to be peeking into yet.

[dream_catcher_9]

Positives
+ Daequan Cook is just raining three's. I doubt he can keep it up, but its still great to see, even his defense has been great.
+ Nazr Mohammed with a crazy pump fake, fake pass to Collison, plus the and 1. His best play as a Thunder by far. Did anyone think he had that in him? I didn't
+ Westbrook, he still made a few questionable decisions, but after everything he has gone through so far, tonight was a breath of fresh air. Keep it up Russ.
+ Ibaka with another strong game, looked very confident offensively and was solid as a man defender.
+ Harden with some great passing and rebounding tonight, made up for his lack of scoring. dude is one of the more well rounded players in the league.

Negatives
- Durant, he wasn't terrible, but he forced a few too many shots, and was a bit sloppy with his outlet passes. I think he will bounce back next game.