Oklahoma City Thunder Regular Season '15-'16 Part III

[bondom34]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ErikHorneOK/status/689179550299770880[/tweet]

[Pillendreher]

Credit where its due, he's been solid lately.

No man, don't go there. Over the last 4 games, out of his 22 FGM 17 have come with a doulbe-digit lead. 11 of the 22 were in the 4th quarter with a huge lead.

This is like an abusive relationshop: 'He's gonna change, I know it'. No! His numbers looking somewhat OK doesn't mean a thing. Do you know his on/off over these last 4 games? -33.9. That's right.

Don't even go there. Let's get rid of his sorry ass.

[bondom34]

Credit where its due, he's been solid lately.

No man, don't go there. Over the last 4 games, out of his 22 FGM 17 have come with a doulbe-digit lead. 11 of the 22 were in the 4th quarter with a huge lead.

This is like an abusive relationshop: 'He's gonna change, I know it'. No! His numbers looking somewhat OK doesn't mean a thing. Do you know his on/off over these last 4 games? -33.9. That's right.

Don't even go there. Let's get rid of his sorry ass.

Oh, I'm not saying anything more than "he's played well". He has. He hasn't done it for long enough for me to say he's turned a corner or I'm convinced he's a guy I'd keep at all, far from it.

[Andre Roberstan]

I give him props for playing better, but I'll believe he's turned a corner when he does this for more than 3 or 4 games at a time. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, I won't get fooled again.

[spearsy23]

Credit where its due, he's been solid lately.

No man, don't go there. Over the last 4 games, out of his 22 FGM 17 have come with a doulbe-digit lead. 11 of the 22 were in the 4th quarter with a huge lead.

This is like an abusive relationshop: 'He's gonna change, I know it'. No! His numbers looking somewhat OK doesn't mean a thing. Do you know his on/off over these last 4 games? -33.9. That's right.

Don't even go there. Let's get rid of his sorry ass.

I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks, it seems like he generally puts up solid numbers whenever we blow teams out. The question I keep coming back to is if it's correlation or causation, and if it's causation is blowing teams out the cause of Dion playing well or is Dion playing well the cause of blowing teams out? I'm not a hundred percent sure, but it makes sense that if he plays well he is making baskets while up by double digits since the starters generally get double digit leads, and if he is putting up numbers they shouldn't slip away so quickly.

[getrichordie]

Credit where its due, he's been solid lately.

No man, don't go there. Over the last 4 games, out of his 22 FGM 17 have come with a doulbe-digit lead. 11 of the 22 were in the 4th quarter with a huge lead.

This is like an abusive relationshop: 'He's gonna change, I know it'. No! His numbers looking somewhat OK doesn't mean a thing. Do you know his on/off over these last 4 games? -33.9. That's right.

Don't even go there. Let's get rid of his sorry ass.

I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks, it seems like he generally puts up solid numbers whenever we blow teams out. The question I keep coming back to is if it's correlation or causation, and if it's causation is blowing teams out the cause of Dion playing well or is Dion playing well the cause of blowing teams out? I'm not a hundred percent sure, but it makes sense that if he plays well he is making baskets while up by double digits since the starters generally get double digit leads, and if he is putting up numbers they shouldn't slip away so quickly.

I would have to agree with the conclusion that when Waiters plays well, it is a boon to our rotation and gives us the needed edge to "blow out" a game. Often times we win in spite of him having an off shooting night so it would make sense that it only makes leads easier to keep and games easier to win when a guy who gets 20 minutes goes from shooting below 40 to shooting 45-50 percent and actually hits some 3s. Less drop off, more opportunity to build the lead initiated by our starters.


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[Zagor]

Impressive win, but honestly....they need to do it on the road against playoffs team.
If I correctly remember, most impressive road wins are against Memphis and Utah. So I would wait little more to make a conclusion.

I'm eager to see Ibaka in balanced form, process of Adams growth and better team defense. If Donovan can revive Singler, that would be important for bench defense and flexibility.
I expect more form Kanter and Waiters. Enes is blocked to many times, when he was in Utah, he dunked more and with more power.
Dion is too inconsistent, when he plays with huge energy and focus....he is very good 6th man, but when he is off, omg he is so bad.
Coaching staff should press them hard to work, especially Enes.

[NaturalThunder]

Clippers keep being annoying and won't go away. They haven't had Griffin for their last 11 games yet they're 10-1 during that stretch. Granted their schedule has been pretty soft, too, but still.

[getrichordie]

I give him props for playing better, but I'll believe he's turned a corner when he does this for more than 3 or 4 games at a time. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, I won't get fooled again.

I went and saw Bernie Sanders speak tonight and I felt the Bern.

Anyways, just to change the tone of the board and to be a little bit more optimistic:

#UNLEASHWAITERSNONFADESHOT

#UNLEASHKYLESINGLER

In other news, we apparently have two of the top 5 dirtiest players in the league on our team (Ibaka and Adams).

Also, can we all take a moment to pray before tonight's game against Denver? Denver seems to have success beating good teams or atleast giving them fits.

They've beaten the Pacers and Warriors recently and have given the Warriors problems recently as well, only losing by 3, and also only losing by 6 to the Cavs. In our last game versus DEN, we struggled for a hot minute before getting something going late in the game.

#pray

[getrichordie]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ErikHorneOK/status/689179550299770880[/tweet]

The Return of the Reaper?

[getrichordie]

Per 36 (Last 5 games):

Russell Westbrook: 14.5 assists (#1), 4.2 turnovers, 3.9 steals (#6), 38.5 3P% (on 3.2 3PA), 15.5 FGA (6.4 FGM), +/- 17.2

#1 out of starters in assists
#6 out of starters in steals
#3 in Plus/Minus (Adams and Roberson are 1 & 2)

Seems like hes shooting less and passing more

Probably correlation to other guys stepping up and making shots.

Over those past 5 games, our DRtg is almost 96 and our AST Ratio is #6 in the league.

[bondom34]

He's always been a willing passer, its a matter of who's around him.

[bondom34]

SI gives them an A:

http://www.si.com/nba/2016/01/19/nba-midseason-grades-warriors-spurs-cavaliers-knicks-pelicans

Kevin Durant’s recent comments about the media’s “nitpicking” of the Thunder were telling, even though his track record of media criticism is getting fairly long at this point. Only a confident leader, one trusting in his own skills and the collective ability of his team, would push back so directly against perceived criticism or shortchanging on behalf of reporters and talking heads. Although he went out of his way to smooth things over in subsequent comments, Durant doesn’t seem particularly concerned that his words will come back to bite him. And maybe he shouldn’t be. After all, Oklahoma City has the league’s second-best offense and third-best point differential. Since Dec. 1, Durant, Russell Westbrook and company have a better point differential than the Warriors, and the two teams’ records are virtually identical. With a healthy Durant in the lineup, Oklahoma City is 27-8, with all but one of those losses coming by six points or less. That’s pretty, pretty, pretty good.

What Durant didn’t really account for in his explanation, though, was the aesthetic differences between the Warriors, Spurs and Thunder. Golden State and San Antonio rank first and second, respectively, in assist rate, their systems have proven to produce quality shots in the playoffs, and their role players have proven postseason track records. Oklahoma City, meanwhile, is just No. 18 in assist rate, and its rotation is stocked with supporting cast members that are wholly lacking in meaningful postseason experience. Durant can’t expect the media to automatically trust so many unproven pieces and he can’t expect anything but doubt at the idea of beating the Warriors and Spurs in a seven-game series while relying heavily on one-on-one play.

And so perhaps the latest round of “Durant vs. the Media” ends in a draw: Durant rightfully argued that the Thunder have been better this year than has widely been acknowledged, while the media didn’t really need to budge from its general skepticism in relation to the cream of the crop alternatives. In light of those circumstances, a solid “A” here feels like a fair compromise.

[Andre Roberstan]

Interesting to note, since Billy D called out Waiters before the MEM game he's had a .577 TS% and gone 50% from 3. Been burned too many times to assume it continues, but maybe he saw his spot in the rotation eroding and Donovan had a come-to-Jesus talk with him?

[bondom34]

This may be my favorite thing ever:

http://espn.go.com/blog/okc-thunder/post/_/id/1046/westbrook-and-paynes-pregame-routine-sets-tone-for-thunder

[KD35Brah]

This may be my favorite thing ever:

http://espn.go.com/blog/okc-thunder/post/_/id/1046/westbrook-and-paynes-pregame-routine-sets-tone-for-thunder

[tweet]https://twitter.com/hoopshype/status/688483880391708672[/tweet]

[KD35Brah]

Most recent one.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/anthonyVslater/status/688876321292746752[/tweet]

[spearsy23]

He's always been a willing passer, its a matter of who's around him.

Everybody forgets that he was averaging 8 assists per game his second year in the league. That's an impressive number for most guys and it's especially impressive for a guy who came into the league with supposedly no point guard skills at all.

[spearsy23]

This may be my favorite thing ever:

http://espn.go.com/blog/okc-thunder/post/_/id/1046/westbrook-and-paynes-pregame-routine-sets-tone-for-thunder

[tweet]https://twitter.com/hoopshype/status/688483880391708672[/tweet]

Just in case anyone was curious, this was the play where Westbrook got into the lane and faked the behind the back, looked to KD on the wing, and hit Serge in the corner with the no look pass.

[Andre Roberstan]

I can Bernie lean

I can I can Bernie lean