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We Crawled Out of Our Hole!!!!
Yahoo! Box Score
Who needs Nenad Krstic?
Honestly, this was the game of the year at the Ford Center. After so many close calls, so many losses, so much dissapointment....there is no feeling like getting a victory. Sure, the victory was over a team that is absolutely imploding. Sure, this only improves our record to 3-24. Sure, this game is absolutely meaningless going forward. But nobody cared. This was our time, our party. I'm sounding like a broked record at this point, but who care about Boston, LA, and Orlando winning all of their games? I mean, for them, winning is an expected thing. You win, so what? Only a select few really count. In our case, every win is oh-so-sweet.
Anyway, back to the game. The Raptors looked like they had 0 purpose tonight, even when they were coming back. At about the midway point of the first, the Thunder had mounted a sizable lead, and they did a great job of stopping the Raptors inside. Scotty Brooks finally took my advice and never played Chris Wilcox at Center. He's a good scorer and a good rebounder, but he can't bang inside with the big men of the NBA. He kept Joe Smith and Nick Collison on a constant rotation, and it worked quite well. I called into the post game show tonight, and the hosts cleverly avoided the point I made about Weezys horrible defense and just talked about the Raptors imploding. Great way to be homers, guys.
We had a big collapse going into the second, but managed to keep our lead at the end of the second half. Going into the third, we kept in consistent, but in the 4th it looked apparent that we were headed for a collapse. The Raptors were coming back, mostly on the wings of Bargnani. He got a lot of hate from Oklahomans, who thought that he was significantly, "over rated". After the game was tied, the Thunder kicked it into high gear and never looked back. It was different from our Grizzlies win in that this was a team who thought they could coast into the 4th and then turn it on, but they simply couldn't turn it on long enough. The Grizzlies were a team that thought they could win, but they collapsed down the stretch.
After the game, Chris Bosh refused to talk to the media, and apparently had a fight with Torontos Public Relations guy. I talked to about the only guy in the arena with a Raptors jersey (he had a Jamario Moon one on, not sure if he was the guy waving the Canadian Flag in the uppers as well). He was pretty nice, but I can't imagine the dissapointment he must feel. Stuck in Oklahoma City, one chance to see your favourite team, and then your team blows it against the Thunder. Wow. Nevertheless, I talked to him about what happened in Vancouver (since that is where he was originally from). I said, "Were you surprised to get an NBA team in Vancouver?" His response, "I guess, but it was more surprising to lose it in 5 years." Lets hope that we're not the next Vancouver.
Also, we got to hear a rendition of, "O, Canada" tonight before the game. It was a nice change of pace, because I hear the United States National Anthem way too often. It was really nice to see Desmond Mason start tonight. He was really pumped going through the introductions, and so were the fans. Still, it would have been better if we could have benched Wilkins altogether. I mean, what's happened to this guy? All he does in clank shots. Chris Wilcox had a bad freethrowing night, missing 4 in a row, 3 of them being pretty wide to the right or left. When he stepped up for his final freethrow, I shouted, "You can do it Weezy! I believe in you!" Everybody else was pretty encouraging as well. hen he sank it, there was the loudest cheer for a freethrow that I've ever heard.
On to the awards....
Grabbing the Thunder Wonder tonight is Nick Collison. He did an excellent job guarding the paint, shot 100% from the field to get 10 points, and got 9 rebounds. He was a major reason we won tonight, and he deserves props.
The Thunder Down Under award goes to Joe Smith, our other man in the paint. 7 Points, 8 Rebounds, 1 Block, and a whole lot of heart, hustle, and hardwood bring this man to his award.
The 3rd Star goes to Russell Westbrook for his 19 Points, 7-12 Shooting, 4 Rebounds, and 8 Assists. Only his 5 turnover kept him from getting a higher honour. Kevin Durant was left out tonight because of his horrible shooting.
The Thunder Blunder is a tie between Damien Wilkins and Chris Wilcox. Wilkins had a bad game with 4 Points on 2-6 Shooting with 4 Rebounds and a turnover, but Weezy missed 4 free throws in a row on his 7 Point, 3-8 Shooting, 8 Rebound, 2 Turnover, and 2 Block night. That can't go unpunished.
The Thunder Plunderer goes to Andrea Bargnani. He had a bad shooting night, but he really helped his team come back in the 4th. 16 Points, 6-16 Shooting, 1-5 3 Point Shooting, 5 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 3 Turnovers, and 1 Block round out his night.
Next Game: Sunday, December 21st Vs. The Cleveland Cavaliers
Side Note: There's a rumour going around that we're going to fill out an offer sheet for Restricted Free Agent Nenad Krstic. I've never seen him play much in real life (who watches the Nets?) but in some basketball simulation leagues I run, he's a good player. So lets hope that he plays and we have a magical rebound for the playoffs! Or....at least win a few more games.
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