Oklahoma City Thunder Regular Season 2015-2016 Part 2

[getrichordie]

12/31...vs PHX - W
01/02...@ CHA - W
01/04...vs SAC - W
01/06...vs MEM - W
01/08...@ LAL - W
01/10...@ POR - W
01/12...@ MIN - W
01/13...vs DAL - L
01/15...vs MIN - W
01/17...vs MIA - W
01/19...@ DEN - W
01/20...vs CHA - L
01/22...@ DAL - W
01/24...@ BKN - W
01/26...@ NYK - W

...My predictions for the next 15 games. We go 13-2 and lose a close home game to DAL (who plays CLE at home the night before) and maybe drop a game to CHA at home after flying back home from DEN the night before. That is, of course, barring injuries.

I hate this. We can lose any to every single one of those teams on any given night, and 8 of the 'wins' are away games.

Yep. They just had to outscore a bad Bucks team 2 nights ago and gave up over 120. I wouldn't be surprised if they split these games, and they're due to cough up a bad one too. They haven't played well as a team in a while, and are winning off sheer talent, I don't really feel good about tonight vs. a Suns team I think will be a little mad.

I think you are over-reacting a bit, mate. Phoenix should be one of the easiest games we've had all year. They just got done playing SAS last night. We are fresher, more talented, have a better coach (imo), and we are deeper.

[bondom34]

I hate this. We can lose any to every single one of those teams on any given night, and 8 of the 'wins' are away games.

Yep. They just had to outscore a bad Bucks team 2 nights ago and gave up over 120. I wouldn't be surprised if they split these games, and they're due to cough up a bad one too. They haven't played well as a team in a while, and are winning off sheer talent, I don't really feel good about tonight vs. a Suns team I think will be a little mad.

I think you are over-reacting a bit, mate. Phoenix should be one of the easiest games we've had all year. They just got done playing SAS last night. We are fresher, more talented, have a better coach (imo), and we are deeper.

When was the last time OKC played a good game? They gave up 121 to a Bucks team with a bad offense on a back to back. They gave up 112 to a bad Nuggets team on a back to back. Lost to Chicago not showing up on Xmas. Beat the Lakers. Played a bad 3.5 quarters and had the Clips choke a game late. Beat the Lakers. Lost to the Cavs. Beat the Blazers and Jazz twice, both mediocre/bad teams. Beat Atlanta. That was the last "good" game, 3 weeks ago. Phoenix has talent and is due for a good game. OKC has talent and hasn't played well in 3 weeks.

[KD35Brah]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ErikHorneOK/status/682328767348355072[/tweet]

Hopefully we see progress tonight.

[Pillendreher]

Come on now. Phoenix is bad and you know it. The only way we lose against the Suns is by not paying attention, but not because they're a good team. They suck and they've just lost Bledsoe. Their second best player is... Jon Leuer? Come on.

[bondom34]

Come on now. Phoenix is bad and you know it. The only way we lose against the Suns is by not paying attention, but not because they're a good team. They suck and they've just lost Bledsoe. Their second best player is... Jon Leuer? Come on.

Brandon Knight. Chandler can give them problems if the defense isn't clicking. They're better than the Bucks or close, and OKC just struggled w/ them.

[Dadouv47]

Without Bledsoe they are definitely not better than the bucks... This should be an easy win but everything can happen. Chicago was struggling and in ''crisis'' between players and staff and they came angry to win on christmas day. We can expect the same motivation and energy from this phoenix team, but i still think it should be an easy game if the thunder plays the way they have played last weeks (which isn't good)

[Pillendreher]

24th SRS
22nd ORtG
22nd DRtG
23rd NetRtG

This is not a good team. Only Leuer, Bledsoe and Knight contribute at an above average level. They only have 3 guys (Bledsoe, Leuer, Teletovic) with an positive RPM.

OKC struggled with the Bucks because the team was lazy defensively. KD was especially bad. That happens and we got away with it. The only reason they were even a part of that game was because of our bad defensive rebounding, lazy defense and MIddleton hitting everything. If we just show up a little more focused, we beat them by 25+.

[spearsy23]

Yep. They just had to outscore a bad Bucks team 2 nights ago and gave up over 120. I wouldn't be surprised if they split these games, and they're due to cough up a bad one too. They haven't played well as a team in a while, and are winning off sheer talent, I don't really feel good about tonight vs. a Suns team I think will be a little mad.

I think you are over-reacting a bit, mate. Phoenix should be one of the easiest games we've had all year. They just got done playing SAS last night. We are fresher, more talented, have a better coach (imo), and we are deeper.

When was the last time OKC played a good game? They gave up 121 to a Bucks team with a bad offense on a back to back. They gave up 112 to a bad Nuggets team on a back to back. Lost to Chicago not showing up on Xmas. Beat the Lakers. Played a bad 3.5 quarters and had the Clips choke a game late. Beat the Lakers. Lost to the Cavs. Beat the Blazers and Jazz twice, both mediocre/bad teams. Beat Atlanta. That was the last "good" game, 3 weeks ago. Phoenix has talent and is due for a good game. OKC has talent and hasn't played well in 3 weeks.

I think beating the Lakers by 35 points qualifies as playing well. They are an NBA team. We've had a good December.

[bondom34]

I think you are over-reacting a bit, mate. Phoenix should be one of the easiest games we've had all year. They just got done playing SAS last night. We are fresher, more talented, have a better coach (imo), and we are deeper.

When was the last time OKC played a good game? They gave up 121 to a Bucks team with a bad offense on a back to back. They gave up 112 to a bad Nuggets team on a back to back. Lost to Chicago not showing up on Xmas. Beat the Lakers. Played a bad 3.5 quarters and had the Clips choke a game late. Beat the Lakers. Lost to the Cavs. Beat the Blazers and Jazz twice, both mediocre/bad teams. Beat Atlanta. That was the last "good" game, 3 weeks ago. Phoenix has talent and is due for a good game. OKC has talent and hasn't played well in 3 weeks.

I think beating the Lakers by 35 points qualifies as playing well. They are an NBA team. We've had a good December.

Actually that's fair. But against decent teams. I just have a feeling, don't know why.

[KD35Brah]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfqWNhxOvVs[/youtube]

[getrichordie]

When was the last time OKC played a good game? They gave up 121 to a Bucks team with a bad offense on a back to back. They gave up 112 to a bad Nuggets team on a back to back. Lost to Chicago not showing up on Xmas. Beat the Lakers. Played a bad 3.5 quarters and had the Clips choke a game late. Beat the Lakers. Lost to the Cavs. Beat the Blazers and Jazz twice, both mediocre/bad teams. Beat Atlanta. That was the last "good" game, 3 weeks ago. Phoenix has talent and is due for a good game. OKC has talent and hasn't played well in 3 weeks.

I think beating the Lakers by 35 points qualifies as playing well. They are an NBA team. We've had a good December.

Actually that's fair. But against decent teams. I just have a feeling, don't know why.

Well, I hope you are usually wrong about your feelings. I would like us to ring in the new year with a Thunder W.

With that being said, Jazz do play some tough defense and we were able to get 2 wins back-to-back. Not every win needs to be a blow out win or win by 10 or 20. As long as we are getting the W. Losses to the Bulls and Cavs, while frustrating, I don't really care about those as much because everyone slumps off around the holidays. I mean, I slump off around the holidays at work as well.

Last games:

vs MIL...131-123...coach still playing with line ups...coming out of holiday slump
@ DEN...122-112...playing with line ups as well...I guess 90-80 sounds better than 122-112, but that's just how we play
vs CHI...96-105...lost to a good NBA team on Xmas, sucks yeah, but holiday hangovers

beat the clips in a close game
killed the lakers in 2 games
lost by 4 to CLE who is a good NBA team and donovan was still playing with rotations and we were minus AMMO
beat POR by 16
13 point victory over a good ATL team
whooped MEM @ home by 37 points
only beat SAC by 3
lost to MIA by 2

...

Overall, I'd say the early games in december are more of our guys just getting to learn the system and get a basic feel for it. Donovan has started to get a better feel for our team as well.

We will be 12-3 after tonight's game (fingers crossed) in the month of December. You can't ask much more from a team who is still learning a new system and a coach who is still warming up to his team. Ibaka's coming back from injury this year as well as Durant. Don't forget that.

We will be fine.

[KD35Brah]

Mitch is active tonight.

[Pillendreher]

Payne becoming the backup PG - check
McGary becoming a rotation player - check (hopefully)
Dion gone - TBD

[saintEscaton]

There's no reason for our guys to even suit up and take the court. Just take the easy W already we'll be waving the white flag of surrender. Won't even go down with a fight because this team plays with no heart and is a joke. Wish the NBA had a mercy rule so our fans wouldn't have to watch these massacres

[OkcMagic]

There's no reason for our guys to even suit up and take the court. Just take the easy W already we'll be waving the white flag of surrender. Won't even go down with a fight because this team plays with no heart and is a joke. Wish the NBA had a mercy rule

Dion has heart... How about trading pj tucker for him

[saintEscaton]

There's no reason for our guys to even suit up and take the court. Just take the easy W already we'll be waving the white flag of surrender. Won't even go down with a fight because this team plays with no heart and is a joke. Wish the NBA had a mercy rule

Dion has heart... How about trading pj tucker for him

We have enough boneheaded heroballers. How bout a second rounder instead?

[NaturalThunder]

Warren has already hit a three and a heavily contested 18-foot fader over Durant. Looks like we've found our opposing player that will go off for a career night because he's playing the Thunder.

[bondom34]

I think beating the Lakers by 35 points qualifies as playing well. They are an NBA team. We've had a good December.

Actually that's fair. But against decent teams. I just have a feeling, don't know why.

Well, I hope you are usually wrong about your feelings. I would like us to ring in the new year with a Thunder W.

With that being said, Jazz do play some tough defense and we were able to get 2 wins back-to-back. Not every win needs to be a blow out win or win by 10 or 20. As long as we are getting the W. Losses to the Bulls and Cavs, while frustrating, I don't really care about those as much because everyone slumps off around the holidays. I mean, I slump off around the holidays at work as well.

Last games:

vs MIL...131-123...coach still playing with line ups...coming out of holiday slump
@ DEN...122-112...playing with line ups as well...I guess 90-80 sounds better than 122-112, but that's just how we play
vs CHI...96-105...lost to a good NBA team on Xmas, sucks yeah, but holiday hangovers

beat the clips in a close game
killed the lakers in 2 games
lost by 4 to CLE who is a good NBA team and donovan was still playing with rotations and we were minus AMMO
beat POR by 16
13 point victory over a good ATL team
whooped MEM @ home by 37 points
only beat SAC by 3
lost to MIA by 2

...

Overall, I'd say the early games in december are more of our guys just getting to learn the system and get a basic feel for it. Donovan has started to get a better feel for our team as well.

We will be 12-3 after tonight's game (fingers crossed) in the month of December. You can't ask much more from a team who is still learning a new system and a coach who is still warming up to his team. Ibaka's coming back from injury this year as well as Durant. Don't forget that.

We will be fine.

Honestly, I try not to get my hopes up too much at this point. The last few seasons have worn on me lol!

[NaturalThunder]

Suns doing Thunder opponent things and making tough, BS shots.

[KD35Brah]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/anthonyVslater/status/682730797946646530[/tweet]