2018-2019 OKC Thunder Regular Season Pt 1: A Renewed Hope

[ThunderBolt]

I pity you. I don't think following sports should be your thing.

I believe you have me confused with some troll who is foaming at the mouth to jump into bed with these boys. I think that’s your thing.

viewforum.php?f=29

Na. "20/20/20 only against a non playoff team, not impressive." What a joke, I sincerely hope you are able to find joy and a sense of optimism in other areas of life. Sports and your "favorite team" don't seem to do it for you.

And I'm not trying to hide the fact that I like the kings young guys and direction. Not sure if you think that's an insult? Just embarrassing

As an aside anyone else (who has played higher level ball ) notice this about OKC? Alot of their guys, particularly Westbrook and George, seem to be playing not to get hurt. It looks like it does when you play against a guy in a summer league or tournament who plays pro overseas (and is home for the summer, for those who won't understand this), or who currently plays college. They are still trying, and the best players on the team, but not going all out. Basically avoiding elevating in traffic at all costs. I'm not saying they have a switch to flip that makes them better than GS, but I do think they have one that will make them more like the team they were the first half of the season, and that people will be surprised with what they see out of them in the playoffs.

Once they were not realistically going to catch Denver for the 2, I think this became pretty apparent. I genuinely dont think these guys care about their seed, who they play, or where they play, more than entering the playoffs healthy, and I don't really blame them. Again, is getting the 3 seed, beating a team like LAC in the first round and then losing to Denver in round 2 going to be any different to how this team sees itself than losing to Denver in round 1? They have bigger goals with their payroll.....

And I hope you find your own place to live outside your parents basement. I didn’t say it wasn’t impressive. It was a great game.

[hardenASG13]

I believe you have me confused with some troll who is foaming at the mouth to jump into bed with these boys. I think that’s your thing.

viewforum.php?f=29

Na. "20/20/20 only against a non playoff team, not impressive." What a joke, I sincerely hope you are able to find joy and a sense of optimism in other areas of life. Sports and your "favorite team" don't seem to do it for you.

And I'm not trying to hide the fact that I like the kings young guys and direction. Not sure if you think that's an insult? Just embarrassing

As an aside anyone else (who has played higher level ball ) notice this about OKC? Alot of their guys, particularly Westbrook and George, seem to be playing not to get hurt. It looks like it does when you play against a guy in a summer league or tournament who plays pro overseas (and is home for the summer, for those who won't understand this), or who currently plays college. They are still trying, and the best players on the team, but not going all out. Basically avoiding elevating in traffic at all costs. I'm not saying they have a switch to flip that makes them better than GS, but I do think they have one that will make them more like the team they were the first half of the season, and that people will be surprised with what they see out of them in the playoffs.

Once they were not realistically going to catch Denver for the 2, I think this became pretty apparent. I genuinely dont think these guys care about their seed, who they play, or where they play, more than entering the playoffs healthy, and I don't really blame them. Again, is getting the 3 seed, beating a team like LAC in the first round and then losing to Denver in round 2 going to be any different to how this team sees itself than losing to Denver in round 1? They have bigger goals with their payroll.....

And I hope you find your own place to live outside your parents basement. I didn’t say it wasn’t impressive. It was a great game.

Good one

[Old Man Game]

Westbrook's parlor tricks of goofy random stat lines are pretty much all we have left to look forward to with this team at this point. (not saying it wasn't impressive, I'll defer to the other NBA players on twitter who said as much, but let's not pretend this entire thing doesn't amount to trivia fodder).

[1bigfan13]

I didn't even bother watching last night's game. Didn't even bother box score watching. I opted to watch Spurs/Hawks instead.

I missed only the second 20/20/20 game in NBA history and I'm not even bothered by it. That's how apathetic I am towards this team, ATM. But congrats to Russ on his achievement.

I'll probably end up skipping the next game as well because I know last night was an anomaly against a borderline G-league team. Plus does anyone believe T-Ferg will have back to back productive games? Highly unlikely. It'll probably be another 15 games before he scratches double digits again. That seems to be his pattern. Have a solid game then suck for a month. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

[JustOneFix]

I was just skipping through games to see if Burton's going to get any minutes, and all i saw was Nader, Felton and Morris so i turned it off in the middle of the last quarter...

[slick_watts]

20-20-20 is impressive. it's sorta fitting westbrook shares this achievement with wilt. especially 1968 wilt.

[wco81]

It's impressive and people will remember it since the numbers are memorable.

It's not so much that he did it against a tanking team but that he needed to have this superhuman performance for the Thunder to beat a team it should have handled rather easily.

[NetsWorld]

It's impressive and people will remember it since the numbers are memorable.

It's not so much that he did it against a tanking team but that he needed to have this superhuman performance for the Thunder to beat a team it should have handled rather easily.

Full agreement there, unfortunately, we just have not been able to figure it out in the second half of the season. We always find ourselves having to crawl out of a hole.

[Pillendreher]

Westbrook's parlor tricks of goofy random stat lines are pretty much all we have left to look forward to with this team at this point. (not saying it wasn't impressive, I'll defer to the other NBA players on twitter who said as much, but let's not pretend this entire thing doesn't amount to trivia fodder).

Such a horrible game, my God. I don't know what was worse: Our "defense", our "offense" or this players only travesty. Too stupid to defend anybody. Too uncoached to get a good shot that isn't a 3 that teams are giving us 10/10 times because nobody passes, nobody moves and Adams is the only guy that can make defenses react with his screens.

We are going to get swept in such an embarassing fashion, we're going to have to rename the franchise.

[Dadouv47]

If the spurs wins tonight we should rest PG3 for the last games. Not that it won't change anything but if he can be close to healthy at least we could have a interesting first round series (aka : maybe winning one game)

[JustOneFix]

Hey look, there is still like 20% chance we get the Blazers in the first round...

[Dadouv47]

Hey look, there is still like 20% chance we get the Blazers in the first round...

uh? Don't know how you get this number. It's way lower than that in my opinion.

We have to go 4-0, the Blazers 4-0 as well and the Clippers must lose as least one game. That's not 20% in my opinion

[Pillendreher]

Read on Twitter

Pathetic. 14 months and he's not even close.

[slick_watts]

he basically had the surgery done over and obviously they will be a lot more cautious this time so no surprise. it's just sad.

[ThunderBolt]

This is great. Presti can continue his continuity pitch to the fan base this offseason since Andre will be back next year.

[Pillendreher]

https://go-to-guys.de/2019/04/03/russell-westbrooks-offensiver-impact/

They calculated Russ' PPP while also accounting for points created by his passing. Per this metric, league average is 1.10. Russ is at 1.04 even if you add the points created by his passing. For guys who have used at least 1500 possessions that way, Russ ranks 3rd worst in the league. The only guys worse than him? Collin Sexton and Dennis Schröder.

[ThunderBolt]

https://go-to-guys.de/2019/04/03/russell-westbrooks-offensiver-impact/

They calculated Russ' PPP while also accounting for points created by his passing. Per this metric, league average is 1.10. Russ is at 1.04 even if you add the points created by his passing. For guys who have used at least 1500 possessions that way, Russ ranks 3rd worst in the league. The only guys worse than him? Collin Sexton and Dennis Schröder.

Unreal.

[slick_watts]

https://go-to-guys.de/2019/04/03/russell-westbrooks-offensiver-impact/

They calculated Russ' PPP while also accounting for points created by his passing. Per this metric, league average is 1.10. Russ is at 1.04 even if you add the points created by his passing. For guys who have used at least 1500 possessions that way, Russ ranks 3rd worst in the league. The only guys worse than him? Collin Sexton and Dennis Schröder.

we certainly have a type.

[Pillendreher]

Read on Twitter

This sounds like his career is over.

[ThunderBolt]

Read on Twitter

This sounds like his career is over.

It also sounds like Donovan knows he’s back regardless of what happens. I know they picked up his option but I was hopeful.