Preseason Suns @ Thunder

Post #1 » by **slick_watts** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:35 am

Been watching this game on and off. The guys hung with the Suns' first team pretty well, KD had a great night shooting but was real careless with the ball. Watching Westbrook play today, it's obvious he's approaching the game with a different mindset so far this preseason. 10/9/10 from him and only 3 turnovers. I'm really excited about how he's playing.

Jeff Green has not shot well so far, and James Harden has been very underwhelming. OKC giving the game to the opposition in the fourth quarter again with the scrubs playing.

It's looking to me like Thabo is the starter at SG barring some inspired play by Harden to end the preseason.

Backup PG might be a huge problem this season. Livingston and Ollie have not looked sharp at all.

premiumsqueezed · Post #2 » by **premiumsqueezed** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:45 am

Ibaka, when on the floor, was all energy. I haven't seen him live before, but he is pretty imposing, and I always had this nagging feeling telling me that his athleticism has been overrated. It's not. He's legit. I hope he has plenty of opportunities to showcase what he has in the regular season.

Clangus · Post #3 » by **Clangus** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:11 am

Durant put in a great game. Shame about teh 7 turnovers. But 30points 11boards 2 blocks in 31 mins! Great stuff KD

Westbrok nearly had a triple double in 26mins and only 3 turnovers to 9 assists. @ stealls also!

Ibaka got into foul trouble and turned it over a few times, but 10 point and 6 boards to go with a block and a steal (and 2-3near blocks) another solid effort!

Harden was underwhelming again. A bit worried about that. not shooting well. Even his FT's are off. That part gives me some hope actually, I think it means that his entire stroke is a bit off at the moment - just a slump - once he adjusts he' should improve a fair bit

And Thabo! almost forgot how great he was.
2 steals 2 blocks 5/6 from the feild and 2/2 from down town. He played great defense!

wiff · Post #4 » by **wiff** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:58 am

I only watched the highlights but man did Ibaka get up for that block.

dre_1614 · Post #5 » by **dre_1614** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:48 am

some random thoughts after watching the game......

Serge Ibaka is going to be really really good in a few years. Still a bit raw in terms of IQ, but gives great energy and is a presence in the post.

Russell Westbrook's game has slowed down, and has matured quite a bit. Still has a way to go but the kid is the real deal and helps this team tremendously even with him not shooting great because he does pretty much everything else well.

Kevin Durant had a great shooting night but the thing that impressed me the most was his intensity on the defensive end. His guy blew by him once or twice but he was really into it pretty much everytime down the court on defense. THAT is a great sign.

We are going to be a much better defensive AND offensive team this year. Our help defense is so much better, and our ball movement on offense is a lot better. 15-20 game win improvement is not out of the question and is most likely.

Ollie, Livingston, Harden, Sefolosha, White cost us the win in regulation because none of them can create offense, and the ball movement was static with them. We need at least one of Westbrook/Durant/Green out there when those guys are on the floor.

One thing we have to realize with Harden is he has a passive mentality and has the I cant turn the ball over mentality. Which means when a team plays good defense he will look like he isn't even on the floor because of his passiveness. With KD Green on the floor its not a bad thing, but even coach Brooks has said he needs to shoot when he is open and be more aggressive and not back up and regroup. I think he is still adjusting to the 24 second shot clock. His shooting will come around eventually.

Post #6 » by **wizkid27** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:54 am

I was at the game. My thoughts:

Ibaka was the story of the night to me. I hadn't gotten to see him play anything other than summer league ball, and tonight he convinced me that he can play the backup 5 role if we need him to. He brings a much different skill-set than anyone else we've got. He seems to have a similar impact at the 5 as Thabo does at the 2. Neither one puts up crazy stats, but really just changes the tempo and the other team's offensive approach.

Pretty much agree with you guys... Harden wasn't anything spectacular, that combined with having enough offense in the starting 5 and none off of the bench spells sixth man role to me.

Backup point guard play was really bad. I want Livingston to be that guy really badly, but it seems like when he's in the game with Harden, Weaver, or even Thabo at the other guard spot he's been playing the off guard role. You can see that he still has that flash to his passes that made people love him a few years ago, but he just doesn't come across as a legit backup PG. This all behind a non-true PG in Westbrook can be a little concerning.

Joel Embust · Post #7 » by **Joel Embust** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:06 am

15.000+ people in attendance during a preseason game, gotta love the dedication!

Post #8 » by **slick_watts** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:25 pm

And yeah, Ibaka does seem like he plays at a higher gear than everyone else. I'm just not sure they should throw him into the fire or not. We definitely don't have anyone else that blocks shots in transition like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFsF5KUmFoo

Post #9 » by **slick_watts** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:13 pm

One other observation I forgot about, does it seem to anyone else that Jeff Green has put on some weight? Even though he's not scoring efficiently, he's looking better on defense.

Post #10 » by **wizkid27** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:14 pm

Green definitely looked good early in the game against Amare. Amare is a beast to guard, but not necessarily your typical low-post power forward. Still, the way he was guarding him right up in his face gives me a lot of hope for the year. Green's preseason has started out a bit like Westbrook's to me... I've seen some things I really wanted to see, but then on the other side they haven't seemed to really excel at the stuff that made them solid players last year.

Clangus · Post #11 » by **Clangus** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:24 am

I heard in the radio interview with Green, that Scott Brooks said he is the strongest player on the team, and Green confirmed it. So it certaionly sounds like he put in some work over the summer on his size, and strength.

Post #12 » by **wizkid27** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:46 am

Good to hear. I don't see any big reason why Green couldn't play the 4 like Milsap with an outside shot. But I'm sure slick has some numbers to shoot that down

Post #13 » by **slick_watts** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 3:36 am

wizkid27 wrote:Good to hear. I don't see any big reason why Green couldn't play the 4 like Milsap with an outside shot. But I'm sure slick has some numbers to shoot that down

Putting on useful weight will definitely help in those endeavors! The preseason has been encouraging.

wiff · Post #14 » by **wiff** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 12:59 pm

Hey how did Earl Clark look from the Suns? I watched the Suns/GSW game about a week ago and Earl Clark looked ferocious. He looked good enough to send back PHX pick if he can keep doing what he was doing in that game.