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Watch out Ben Wallace. There's a new 'fro in town.
It finally happened. A close game at the Ford Center. No, the T-Wolves game doesn't count. Now THIS is the way to lose! Sure, it was much like any other game. The Thunder came out of the gates with a good start, prompting Brian Davis to sing our praises (more on that later), only to squander the lead in a terrible fashion late. Still, despite this being, most likely, the largest lead the Thunder have ever given up in franchise history, I've still never been as proud of them as I was tonight...
Shaq looking classy, but really craving some peanut butter.
It all started when Shaq announced that he wouldn't be playing that night. Apparently he suffered an injury reading to children and collecting peanut butter for his PB & Shaq program. OK, I'm sure the injury occurred at some other time, but I think it's comical that the OKC media made such a fuss about his appearance only for him to sit it out. Anyway, him being in a suit instead of wearing sneakers was a big key to this game even being close. Nobody on this team can bang with Shaq. He'd destroy Collison, Swift, Petro, really whoever we threw out there.
The Thunder had an iron-clad second quarter. They played some fantastic D (in this quarter) and shot excellently (also in this quarter). It was a performance that even prompted me to say, "Hey, we might actually win today." Unfortunately, that assessment would prove pre-emptive, as the second quarter would turn out to be the only quarter where we would beat them.
Let's fastforward to the epic 4th quarter. Somewhere around the 1:30 mark, KD made a deep three to put the Thunder ahead 95-89. This prompted the all-knowing Brian Davis to say, "If that wasn't the dagger, then the blacksmith is forging it right now!" Not only was this statement completely ridiculous, it was equally inaccurate.
Steve Nash went on to score the next 7 points in only 57 seconds to draw the teams even. All of his shots were sick nothin' but net jumpers.
Fastforward again to a few moments later. The Thunder had just gone up by two when Matt Barnes nailed a long trey to put the Suns up one. This is an apology to Matt Barnes for what I said earlier, that shot was nice.
This is really where things fell apart. Coming out of the timeout, the Thunder decided to not go for the last shot, or something that would have been very close to it, and wanted to score immediately. In result of this ingenius strategy by Coach Brooks, the Thunder released two of the most god-awful shots I've ever seen, before losing the ball and fouling Steve Nash. They weren't over the bonus yet, so still had a chance.
The Suns passed the ball in and of course, I anticipate the following Thunder foul. As it turns out, I'm still anticipating the Thunder foul. NO FOUL! This is elementary school stuff! Is there an easier part to the game than FOULING someone! I guess the blacksmith never got to deliver his dagger...
OK, enough of that. I'm excited that for the first time the Thunder were able to put out a performance worthy of being an NBA team. That being said, here are tonight's awards:
Thunder Wonder: Kevin Durant (29 Points, 9-19 Shooting, 3-4 Three-Pointers, 4 Rebounds, 1 Assist) He was spectacular early on. His game has gone leaps and bounds in the right direction since moving him to small forward, though his rebounds and assist numbers are staying the same.
Russell and Kevin in joint celebration for recieving Down Under and Wonder honors, respectively.
Thunder Down Under: Russ Westbrook (15 Points, 6-11 Shooting, 5 Rebounds, 5 Assists) He was actually able to do some damage away from the free throw line tonight, with only 4 attempts (making 3 of them). His game has seen the best improvement under Brooks.
Thunder Blunder: Joe Smith (4 Points, 2-8 Shooting, 6 Rebounds) Not a terrible game, and not so much his fault. The younger Brooks doesn't seem to have the same level of respect for the vet's game as P.J. did. He got the least amount of minutes from the Thunder despite being their most productive bench player. Would have gone with Earl Watson again, but he had double digit assist numbers.
Thunder Plunderer: Stevie "Wonder" Nash (20 Points, 8-14 Shooting, 15 Assists, 8 Rebounds) Amazing performance, at least late in the game. He was really the catalyst for the Suns comeback.
Either he's touched by the honor of Thunder Plunderer, or he's feeling Brian Davis' dagger.
Also, shoutout to God of Thunder, who was able to come very close to the actual score of the game, including missing the Phoenix score by only 1.
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I agree... Last night the Thunder looked and played like a NBA team... the Ford Center was electric... It was worth the price of admission...
GO THUNDER!!!