Thunders vs Spurs

[HeartSouloma]

VS



Sunday, January 8, 2012

7:00 PM ET - Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK



Thunders starting line up:
PG - Russell Westbrook

SG - Thabo Sefolosha

SF - Kevin Durant

PF - Serge Ibaka

C - Kendrick Perkins


Spurs starting line up:
PG - Tony Parker


SG - Gary Neal

SF - Ricard Jefferson

PF - Timmy Duncan

C - Dejuan Blair


All we have to do is just protect that 3 point line, and play some solid defense! Hope we can pull out another win

NOW

[BIG EDDIE]

Spurs amaze me time after time.
They are playing great basketball even with Manu out.
I mean, who do they have??
Its Parker who playes 30 minutes, Duncan who plays 20 minutes, Jefferson, Blair...and some unknown people like Splitter, Neal, Danny Green, TJ Ford.
Comon?! Seriously?

This again shows me how much difference a hall-of-fame coach can make.

So tough game tonight, we need to play much much better than last night in order to pull this out.

[Clangus]

Blair is a god VS us. (pretty sure he had 20/20 vs=us or at least it felt like it.) I hope we shut him down this time.

[IanChang]

Should be a tough match, I'm worried the Thunder get fatigue after b2b and without Maynor there's no solid backup PG. But I still think the Thunder can win this match.

[dopeismarcus]

That Tim Duncan picture is scary.

[HeartSouloma]

Blair is a god VS us. (pretty sure he had 20/20 vs=us or at least it felt like it.) I hope we shut him down this time.

Kendrick Perkins is going to lock him down on D. Don't worry about him, the only thing we should be worry about is Scott Brooks coaching. I mean Gregg Popovich is a hell of a coach, and i wish this team can get a guy like him.

[wiff]

Spurs amaze me time after time.

It's because they are well coached.

[CKRT]

Hopefully Reggie gets some good PT tonight.

As @DarnellMayberry reports, Eric Maynor will miss season with torn ACL. Thunder's been high on rookie Reggie Jackson. Gets his chance now.

[MASH Transit]

Am I the only person worried about Durant's level of play?

[Clangus]

Am I the only person worried about Durant's level of play?

yes

[Krodis]

Am I the only person worried about Durant's level of play?

No, I am as well. I'm sure he'll get over it, but he's starting these games awfully slow.

[fallacy]

Jackson had a pretty good first half, led the team with a +10

[fallacy]

Reggie Jackson is awesome


That is all

[slick_watts]

Jackson's had some rookie mistakes but he's so big, I like him in the backcourt with Harden. Seems great at finding the middle, and he has the length / size to get shots off easier than someone like Maynor in the paint.

Harden's awesome.

[Clangus]

good win. Very nice to go 3-0 in that b2b2b.
Jackson looked great, our starters got some rest, Harden is ridiculous. Durants passing is alot better this year. Westbrook STILL cant find his groove this year.

[CKRT]

Westbrook will come along.


Reggie rules though.

[OzThunder]

Harden and Collison with the perfect stretch of play...that was amazing to watch. Harden is getting to the rim at will lately

[HeartSouloma]

Harden is a beast! If he keeps this kind of level of playing he can be in the all star voting! And Reggie/Collison is amazing. Hope Reggie gives us some solid minutes off the bench.

[slick_watts]

Harden and Collison with the perfect stretch of play...that was amazing to watch. Harden is getting to the rim at will lately

Harden's come such a long way from his rookie year, learning how to use his body in the paint. His rookie season he was very prone to offensive fouls, but his foot work is to the point now that he's keeping defenders off balance and drawing contact himself more often than not. The sweeping move he does with the ball when he is driving the lane gets him to the line a lot and makes it difficult for defenses to poke it away. He had a vicious euro-step on Tiago Splitter that was Ginobili-esque.

And Nick for the first time in a few seasons is healthy. I'm still a little bit worried about his rebounding (although he did much better tonight), but his offensive game seems honed in and he'd getting off the ground better than I've seen the last couple seasons.

I'm excited to see how a Jackson / Harden backcourt functions defensively. Jackson has the build and athleticism to be a destructive defensive player, probably one of Maynor's biggest weaknesses (i.e. against Barea last playoffs). TJ Ford got Jackson on his hip a couple times but I liked what I saw overall from him on defense.

[dream_catcher_9]

Positives
+ the team was focused for the whole game, they played with good effort AND smart basketball for the most part.
+ James Harden with another efficient game. I have noticed he is getting into the heart of the defense more often lately. he still has trouble finishing around the rim on occasion, but with more time he will better understand how to finish more creatively.
+ Nick Collison is such a smart basketball player, his offense is looking really good right now as well. The perfect role player IMO.
+ Ibaka is back to where he was last season. Loving his energy he is bringing, he is even passing the ball back out after getting an offensive rebound. That was unheard of a couple years ago. His IQ is getting better.
+ Reggie Jackson with very solid defense, and generally was under control. He still is rough around the edges, but it was his first game. He has a lot of talent and I think he will fit in right where Maynor left off, even better defensively though.

Negatives
- nobody tonight
- the Spurs were on their 4th game in 5 nights and were without Manu Ginobili, so it wasn't a great win, but a good one.

everyone else were decent.