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No caption available, although something does stink in here....
Yahoo! Recap
Hey guys, sorry for the late recap, but right now deadlines are killing me.
We all know what happened in the game, so I'll just post some of my immediate thoughts.
The Thunder played horribly out of the gate. Most people cite effort, most people cite shooting, and most people cite defense. Well, I don't. In my opinion, this game was lost because we never had a real big man on the floor. I mean, sure, we put Wilcox on the floor, and we put Collison on the floor, but neither of them did anything. I know, I know, Collison is widely reguarded as better, but this was total domination. I mean, Biedrins could get 2 or 3 more tries at the shot, and it was simply embarassing on the Thunders part that they couldn't stop him. Petro played 4 minutes, but his time on the floor wasn't significant enough to make an impact. Joe Smith might've helped, but he's still out with injury. Our supposed best defensive big man, Saer Sene, sat on the bench, like he always does. Why can't we give this guy a shot?
I mean, I said it in the preview, but Scott Brooks didn't listen. He saw his team getting owned on the inside, yet he refused to do anything about it. I mean, there's no way you can say Golden State won because they're better outside shooters. Here's some numbers to smack on: The Warriors shot 4-13 3 Pointers, and the Thunder shot 8-23. Their guards scored a lot because they were getting inside too! I didn't see any midrange shots? Nevertheless, this is the game that I will point to when I say, "Scott Brooks is not better than P.J. Carlesimo". He's two times as stubborn with his lineups. I mean, sure, we thought his lineup changing meant he was flexible, but he's still just as darn stubborn! This game was worse than any of PJs games. Yes, this means worse than playing the Clippers. The Thunder never got within 5 or so of a Golden State Warrior team that was 5-12 going in, is without it's 3 best players (2 of those who have been playing all season) and a key reserve. The team the Thunder played against was a bunch of role players plus Andris Biedrins, and they got thrashed by simple outcoaching.
On the other hand, the Thunder did do one thing really well tonight. They were excellent at shutting down the Warriors normally famous transition game. It seemed like almost every time the Warriors got a Fast Break, the Thunder counteracted it with a block or a steal, and the crowd loved it.
Before we get to the awards, I'd like to acknowledge the class with which the crowd conducted itself when I was there. I had to be the most loud, obnoxious fan in the world, and I hardly got a bad word said to me. Well, I got a could of "aw, shucks" looks, but they were still very respectful. The true test though will be seeing if they accept me back as a fan when we play the Grizzlies. Only time will tell. Also, I met some of the coolest Warriors fans out there. There was a guy directly behind me in a Warriors hat, and there were people a few rows back and to the right who care season ticket holders in Oakland and came all the way out to Oklahoma City to see the Thunder. Now that's die hard. 10 Billion coolness points go to them.
On to the Awards....
Tonights WARRIOR WONDER (and Thunder Plunderer) goes to Andris Biedrins. 17 Points, 7-15 Shooting (some of those offensively rebounded) , 3-7 Free Throws, 21 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 6 Turnovers, 3 Steals, and 2 Blocks round off a stat filled night for the lovable Latvian. Remember, he was once (and may still be) the youngest millionaire in Latvia to get the money all on his own!
Tonights Thunder Wonder is unquestionably Kevin Durant. 41 Points, 15-27 Shooting, 6-10 3 Point Shooting, 5-5 Free Throws, 10 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 4 Turnovers, 1 Steal, and 3 Blocked shots complete a monster offensive night for Kevin Durant. Now, can we see this same energy against the Grizzlies....?
Our Thunder Down Under for the night is Nick Collison. Although he didn't do a good job containing Biedrins, he had 15 Points, 6-10 Shooting, 10 Rebounds, 2 Assists, and 1 Block in an extremely efficent night where he played only 23 minutes. Welcome back, Nick.
Watch out for the bludger!
Lastly, the Thunder Blunder easily goes to Jeff Green. Sure, other people produced less on the stat sheet, but he had a dreadful 4-13 Shooting, a -20 +/- ratio, and not much else. For the sake of completeness, I'll say that he also had 9 Points, 4 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 3 Turnovers, 2 Steals, and 1 Block.
Next Game: Wednesday, December 10th, vs. the Memphis Grizzlies.
I can't wear my stylish retro Grizzlies jacket today!
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