12/7 | G24: Oklahoma City Thunder at Chicago Bulls - 7PM CST

[Dadouv47]

Seriously speaking, Adams could have scored 35+ points tonight.

Somehow the team decided to play at a very fast pace and it was pretty stupid.

[Dn4sty]

Would the bulls do Abrines for holiday? Saves money too.

Unless the Bulls just want to tank, I think they could get something far better than a cheaper expiring for an expiring.

There would have to be incentive.

Give them a 2rp. Bull front office gave us a 2rp, Taj Gibson and McDermott for cam Payne, Joffrey Lauvergne and Anthony Morrow. I fully expect to just scare them over.

Payne was still on his rookie deal. It would be awesome to get Holiday but I think they could do better than Abrines and a second round pick they’d probably sell anyway at the draft.

[ThunderBolt]

Unless the Bulls just want to tank, I think they could get something far better than a cheaper expiring for an expiring.

There would have to be incentive.

Give them a 2rp. Bull front office gave us a 2rp, Taj Gibson and McDermott for cam Payne, Joffrey Lauvergne and Anthony Morrow. I fully expect to just scare them over.

Payne was still on his rookie deal. It would be awesome to get Holiday but I think they could do better than Abrines and a second round pick they’d probably sell anyway at the draft.

Dougy was still on a rookie deal too. Holiday is a nice player but I don’t think he’s worth a frp.

[Dn4sty]

Give them a 2rp. Bull front office gave us a 2rp, Taj Gibson and McDermott for cam Payne, Joffrey Lauvergne and Anthony Morrow. I fully expect to just scare them over.

Payne was still on his rookie deal. It would be awesome to get Holiday but I think they could do better than Abrines and a second round pick they’d probably sell anyway at the draft.

Dougy was still on a rookie deal too. Holiday is a nice player but I don’t think he’s worth a frp.

Me neither, but I could see a team giving a young player still on a rookie deal which is better than Abrines and a 2nd.

[Old Man Game]

I'm just glad if we had to lose it was Markannan that scored the game winner and not Zach. Don't like that guy.

[RalphSampsonJr]

Missed this one. Yuck.
2-1 on a 3 game road trip isnt too bad.
Patterson and/or abrines needs to go. So sick of waiting for them to get it together

[bondom34]

I'm just glad if we had to lose it was Markannan that scored the game winner and not Zach. Don't like that guy.

Any reason? I like Lauri myself

[Dadouv47]

Missed this one. Yuck.
2-1 on a 3 game road trip isnt too bad.
Patterson and/or abrines needs to go. So sick of waiting for them to get it together

Fair...but only one good opponent

Patterson isn't going anywhere because his value his too low and we don't have any back up PF. I would love to trade Abrines but he has no value as a expiring (maybe some Abrines/Ferg package if Roberson comes back, which is a big if)

[Old Man Game]

I'm just glad if we had to lose it was Markannan that scored the game winner and not Zach. Don't like that guy.

Any reason? I like Lauri myself

Ever since that whole deal where his name got called at the draft by Minnesota and he was caught saying "F u c k" out loud I've never liked him.

[bondom34]

I'm just glad if we had to lose it was Markannan that scored the game winner and not Zach. Don't like that guy.

Any reason? I like Lauri myself

Ever since that whole deal where his name got called at the draft by Minnesota and he was caught saying "F u c k" out loud I've never liked him.

Forgot that. I just think he's overpaid.

Unrelated to that, and it sucks they lost but beating worse teams was a thing they couldn't do last year. And I keep saying it but now they're 16-8. Going exactly .500 the rest of the season makes them 45 wins. Which seems pretty solid, and I think they're better than that.

[Pillendreher]

Oh ffs I hate losses like this. Instead of taking advantage of a bad team, we let them take the win even though this should have been over to start the 4th quarter.

The last two games have been poor showings defensively. Through quarters 1 to 3 vs the Nets they had a 118 DRtG. In the quarters 1, 2 and 4 vs the Bulls they had a 116.6 DRtG. That just cannot do. You can't just play defense for one quarter and then expect to get away with it. All this switching they've suddenly been doing is a surefire sign of a lack of effort defensively. Instead of making rotations and covering their assignment, they're just handing over the defensive duties which leads to players being out place and them not being able to actually execute defensively. The defense vs the Pistons was excellent, the defense vs the Nets and the Bulls was horrible.
So maybe this is indeed good for them going forward. No need to get overconfident. They need defense to win games.

Furthermore, something needs to be done about the bench. They were doing well before Westbrook's injury and I gave them a pass for having to play with Felton when Westbrook was out, but this just won't do. Westbrook came back from the ankle injury almost 3 weeks ago, they have been killed with Schröder on the floor and Westbrook on the bench: 80.4 DRtG | 97.8 DRtG | -17.3 NetRtG. The defense is still very good, but the offense is just unacceptable. Even Semaj Christon would be embarassed by those offensive numbers.

Abrines is either 7-11 from or basically 0-11, there seems to be no in between.

If you take away his two 20+ points outbursts, he's actually 15/70 from 3.

[ThunderBolt]

George looked to have 21-year-old Lauri Markkanen covered at the top of the 3-point line in a tie game, but the 7-footer made a quick spin move and got into the lane, floating a hook over George and the late help of Steven Adams.

“I thought I could time his dribble,” George said.

“It put me out of position and gave him the opportunity to make a play.”

Aaron Holiday hit a 3-pointer as Russell Westbrook lost track of him sliding along the perimeter.

When asked about the defense on the play, Westbrook said he didn't know. “I haven't seen it yet,” he said.

“We've done a great job the last 15 or 20 games of just staying locked in,” Schroder said. “We've got to do it for 48 minutes. We just can't turn it on like we did in Brooklyn.”

“We gave ourselves a chance not playing as well as we wanted to,” George said. “A game like this, a loss like this kind of resets things and puts it in perspective that we've got to do a better job when we come out like that.”

https://newsok.com/article/5617229/thunder-cant-produce-enough-stops-in-114-112-loss-to-bulls

[slick_watts]

interesting that george can recount the lauri play and somewhat admit fault while russ is evasive on his own blunder. who's supposed to be the leader again?

[Bergmaniac]

You wouldn't have needed last minute stops if not for all the turnovers. Westbrook with 10 turnovers and the Bulls weren't even playing all that well or aggressively on D. He pushed the tempo too much at times. Also worrying that even with the 10 turnovers and mediocre shooting the offense was still way better with Westbrook on the court which shows what a disaster the bench lineups without him continue to be on that end. Abrines and Patterson really need to start hitting some shots.

[Pillendreher]

You wouldn't have needed last minute stops if not for all the turnovers. Westbrook with 10 turnovers and the Bulls weren't even playing all that well or aggressively on D. He pushed the tempo too much at times. Also worrying that even with the 10 turnovers and mediocre shooting the offense was still way better with Westbrook on the court which shows what a disaster the bench lineups without him continue to be on that end. Abrines and Patterson really need to start hitting some shots.

[slick_watts]

You wouldn't have needed last minute stops if not for all the turnovers. Westbrook with 10 turnovers and the Bulls weren't even playing all that well or aggressively on D. He pushed the tempo too much at times. Also worrying that even with the 10 turnovers and mediocre shooting the offense was still way better with Westbrook on the court which shows what a disaster the bench lineups without him continue to be on that end. Abrines and Patterson really need to start hitting some shots.

oh for sure. close games are essentially random outcomes. the best teams just don't play in close games. i think the nets and bulls games are the only one possession games we've played this year, actually.

but if you happen to find yourself in a close game, it might be a swell idea to stay focused.

[spearsy23]

every excuse in the universe is made for westbrook. it's unbelievable. he will never learn.

Lead the team in points, rebound, assist, and second only to Ferguson in plus/minus. Was he perfect, obviously not even close. Was he the best player on the team tonight? Yep. You've made it your quest to take every bad Westbrook play/game and turn it into some sort of statement while ignoring the failures of others. You're the exact opposite side of the coin you accuse bondom of being.

Does one play win/lose the game?

oh gee willikers i'm glad the $200m+ man was the best player in the game for the thunder. you know, what he's supposed to be. that's a really low bar.

westbrook gets a higher degree of scrutiny from me because i have the highest expectations for him due to his status on the team and salary. i'll gladly call out any other thunder player for having bad games when they have them. russ lost his man for a wide open three late in the game like he's done so many times before. that needs to be pointed out because at some point it is going to have to be corrected. paul george got beat. russ fell asleep.

the thunder landscape needs voices speaking out when there are fluff pieces coming out telling us russ has 'changed'.

You're very brave.

[spearsy23]

interesting that george can recount the lauri play and somewhat admit fault while russ is evasive on his own blunder. who's supposed to be the leader again?

Narrative, narrative never changes.

[slick_watts]

interesting that george can recount the lauri play and somewhat admit fault while russ is evasive on his own blunder. who's supposed to be the leader again?

Narrative, narrative never changes.

surely you can read the quotations same as i can. you're entitled to your own interpretation.

[ThunderBolt]

Everything gets so exaggerated. Of course russ has shown change. He gave up the ball on the final shot two games in a row. He still gets lost defensively. Both can be and are true.