Take That, San Antonio!

Yes, after many trials and tribulations, we have finally beaten the Spurs in the Ford Center.

Whenever the Spurs have come to town, whether it be with the Hornets or Thunder, I have always had one thought on my mind:

Blow out.

That was the one thing I could count on. I'd pretty much just sit back and relax while the Hornets got trampled. But to actually beat them....while 1/5th of the arena was cheering for them....was just amazing.

The game started out horribly, with the First quarter ending 29-14. They had over doubled our score. But, the Thunder refused to go away, and took advantage of the time that tim Duncan wasn't in the game. I don't think I'm a fool when I say that he IS the Spurs.

The excitement of the game really wasn't there until the end. Most of the Arena seemed sleepy because they had to deal with a 78-76 game, a point total that teams like the Warriors can beat in in merely a half.

The freethrows from the Spurs were horrible. Brick Guy, Me, and the two guys with cameras had to distract the freethrowers all by ourselves until they finally bought the french fries in the 4th, during an intense moment in the game. Why? It was a disgrace, but we held up the fort well, and the Spurs really seemed affected by us. Tim Duncan looked like he was going to cry, poor guy.

Strange is the complete lack of Earl Watson in favour of Chucky Atkins. Maybe we need 3s? Earl is a lot more valuble in my book.

Anyway, I'm off to relish the win. Remember that today is the LAST day you can vote for me in the Ultimate Fan Contest!

Also, check out this article on Jeff Green.

Also Also, Blue Blitz participated in the Top 10 Most Hated NBA Players over at Bust a Bucket. My List? We had to rank 5 guys, and I ranked Kobe Bryant 1-5. Guess which team I don't like?

Via Thunder Rumblings:

Sounds like we've got our hands full against the Hornets. Who now gets the start at SF? Do we move down a big man, or do we (shudder) start Damien Wilkins? I don't even want to think about it....

This image is here not only because I love The Prisoner, but also because I'm the 6th contestant on the voting drop down menu!

Hello most totally radical readers of Blue Blitz!!!!

I'm going to be in the running for being the winner of the Ultimate Thunder Fan Contest! The Winner gets a trip to Boston!

And, get this....if I win, I will chronicle my journey on this website. That's right, I'm going to include a full-write up of the trip, with pictures and insights as to how the trip went. It will, indeed, be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, blog post in Blue Blitz History. Do it for the blog entertainment!

Obviously, I'm the entry that says Zorgon. You have to enter your email address to vote, but I've voted, and they haven't sent anything to my email, so I don't think you're going to get endless Thunder SPAM. If you do, my sincere apologies. You can vote as many times as you like, so if you wanted to hit back, refresh, and vote again oh, I don't know, 500 times, I definately wouldn't mind. :-D

I may not have the most creative costume, and I am indeed the ugliest contestant out there, but I put as much energy and passion I can into my cheering every single night. I never cuss, and always try to create a positive atmosphere that the whole family can enjoy. If someone else wins, then C'est La Vie, but I'd really, really, really, really love to win. If you vote for me and say so, I can give you a personal message about how awesome you are. Or something. Anyway, thanks a lot to those who vote for me!

Also, it's my birthday, so it's probably one of the best gifts you could give me!!!!

Be sure to drop a comment if you voted!

THANKS!!!!

I want YOU to join Zorgon's Army!!!! Well, if not that, than a vote for me would work too.

Dissapointment.

Yahoo! Box Score

What an ugly, ugly win.

If you put a blur over Scott Brooks face and tie, I would have no idea that this team was still not being coached by P.J. Carlesimo. Lots of bad missed shots, less than normal 3 pointers, and doing horribly against a horrible team.

Look, I don't know a lot about the Wizards. Hell, I don't even know who Dominic McGuire or Nick Young are. I don't even want to know whats going on over there. All I know is that when they had a full staff (Re: Butler, Jamison, and Arenas), they would be so good as to be....a 7 or 8 seed in the East. Without them, they remind me of horse manure. They're like a scoring team that's not really set up to score....

The game was pretty back and forth, in a slow way. The Thunder were ahead by 10 once, but it was hard to follow who was leading at any given time. There would just be missed shot after missed shot, and offensive runs would be few and far inbetween. The thing is, I only saw great defense when we were defending against the Wizards. When we were on offense....I just saw bad offense. We played this game like we were basketballs version of the Chicago Bears.

The greatest aspect about this game was easily Nick Collison (Thunder Wonder). He got the rebounds when he needed to, and he hit every shot he took. Namely, his 5 offensive rebounds really kept some poor offensive sequences going. Nenad Krstic (Thunder Down Under) also had a great offensive game, going for 18 points. Without Durant or Green, he's become the go-to offensive guy. Watson was really good at distributing the ball, dishing 7 assists in 23 minutes while managing to not hurt us offensively. Thabo Sefolosha had a monster defensive game, getting 3 steals and 3 blocks while also managing to get a Westbrook-esque 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists.

After those guys, I didn't see much. Kyle Weaver played some great D, but his offense was killing us. 4 of 11? Ugh. Russell Westbrook had some okay assist numbers, but his sheer amount of missed field goals, missed free throws, and turnovers really negate that fact. Malik Rose (Thunder Blunder) had a -11 +/- ratio in a winning cause, and right now it's looking like Robert Swift is better at D than he is. I miss Joe Smith.

In the middle of the spectrum lie Robert Swift and Damien Wilkins. Swift had an average game, while Damien Wilkins looked like, well, Damien Wilkins offensively, but he grabbed what was a season high 7 boards in only 15 minutes.

In the Wizard camp, it was pretty much the "How many bricks can Antawn Jamison hoist?" show, with dashes of "Darius Songaila and Andray Blatche can easily overpower your puny big men". Everyone else played like a scrub. Here's a stat for you: Nick Young shot 3-13. 3-13. Ouch, it's like if we let Damien Wilkins play 35 minutes!

I really don't see it fit to give a Thunder Plunderer to any of the Wizards, simply because all of them had really bad offensive efficency. Even the big men missed a lot of shots. So, the Thunder Plunderer goes to the Wizards alternate logo, which I didn't know spelled DC until 2006 or so. One could rightfully say it "plundered" my mind. Doesn't it look like a headless Wizard to you? Like the Cingular Wireless logo without the head?

Next Game: March 7th at the New Orleans Hornets

Can the Thunder finally pull it off this time?

Via the Sports Animal:

Noooo!!!!

Well, some say they might have known this was coming, but this one hit me like a brick.

With my birthday a mere 5 days away, Joe Smith has decided to accept a Thunder buyout offer, and will most likely sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Blink, and you'll miss Joe Smiths Thunder career. For example, 10 years from now, there will probably be a crappy sports game show on ESPN. There will be a ridiculously hard question, and it will read like so:

Name 5 of the teams that Joe Smith has played for.

The contestant will probably stumble his way to the right answers, but I can guarantee you that one of them will not be the Oklahoma City Thunder, unless the gentleman is from Oklahoma.

Back in the facemask days....

But, if there is anything that Thunder fans will remember Joe Smith for, it's probably for being about the only guy who played anywhere near worthwhile in the P.J. Carlesimo and early Scott Brooks eras. He's the typical "old vet that got stuck on an expansion team" story.

When it's all said and done, this is a good move for both parties involved. The Thunder have one of the leagues larger salaries, and any little bit they can cut off (even if only for a year) is good. Joe Smith has had a long career, and most of that career has been spent on very bad teams. He never even got out of the first round of the playoffs until his 07-08 run for Cleveland.

The only big issue here is the question of why he accepted the buyout after saying time and time again that he would refuse, because chasing a ring was just "not his thing". I missed the Sports Animal interview, but my best guess was that he made that statement under the assumption that he would actually play for the team. After the statement, he's seen no minutes, and probably was eschewed in favour of Malik Rose on the Depth Chart. Thus, he left the team because he wants to play.

More info will be posted here as it comes.

Oh, and on a personal note....I bought a ridiculously expensive Joe Smith Thunder Jersey on Tuesday. Great, just great....

3 Words: What a Waste....

Aww, somebody didn't get their Reeces Cup

Yahoo! Box Score

If you ever sat at a Thunder game wondering how they would do if they didn't have Kevin Durant, then your questions were answered for this game. For those of you who may have missed it, KD had to leave the game after 7:39 seconds of play due to a sprained ankle. He left the game after scoring 6 points and grabbing two boards. That translates to around 36 points and 12 rebounds if he had played the whole game. It is uncertain how many games he will miss.

The real story, I thought, was not Durant missing the game, as I thought it would be when he went down, but how everyone else stepped up so well for him when he went down. Every other Thunder starter scored in double figures, and Earl Watson was able to contribute 11 assists off the bench.

EARL, LOOK OUT!!! Antoine Wright assaults Watson.

It started just like how you would expect a game from these two teams to go. The Thunder found themselves down, but were always within striking distance. When Nowitzki started streaky, many fans were afraid that Dallas might run away with it. He cooled off later though, and the Thunder were able to put up good efforts even after Durant left.

These gives me a sec to talk about new additions Thabo Sefalosha and Malik Rose, who may have both played their best games in a Thunder uniform last night. It is likely that Thabo will spend the rest of the year starting at SG. He scored 12 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, but I thought his best efforts were on the defensive end, where he spent most of his time holding Antoine Wright to little production and keeping Josh Howard in check. Malik Rose did decently on defense when he was on the court and surprised many when he nailed a mid-range jumper to give him 4 points on the night, probably double his season average.

Earl Watson identifies his assaulter

Fastforwarding now, the Thunder went up 12 after the Dallas offense (Dirk Nowitzki) began to slow down. When the Dallas offense (Dirk Nowitzki) decided to stop sitting on the bench and get into gear, they went on a 16-0 run. I thought there was no way we'd win after that. Even when Russell Westbrook hit the three that tied the game, I still thought 17+ seconds was more than enough to get us beat. Still, we held strong on defense, and the Mavs held the ball at first, so after being fouled with slightly over 2 seconds left, all we had to do was D up.

No one accounted for Jason Kidd in OT though. After ending regulation with 0 points, he finished the game with a double-double. The Thunder were without a clutch assasain (Durant) for OT, which probably cost them. Still, I can't give it up to Jason Kidd enough. It takes a real star to come from a scoreless regulation to have enough motivation to drop 10 in overtime. Some guys would have put it on cruise control, but not him.

The Thunder Wonder of the night has to be Russell Westbrook, who really stepped up for the fallen Kevin Durant. He had 33 points on 11-32 shooting, with 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals. On top of all that, you can't forget that he's the one who tied the game in the first place.

Jeff Green also was able to put together a stellar night, including 28 points, 12 rebounds, and 9-20 shooting. These are the kinds of numbers you need to put up when your do-it-all has to sit it out. This performance was good enough to get him Thunder Down Under

It was a tough call for Thunder Plunderer between Dirk Nowitzki (41 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists) and Jason Kidd (10 points after 0 in regulation, 13 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals). I'm going to go with Dirk because he did it all game and because 41 is hard to deny. He also iced the game away on a couple of free throws. Still, I think Kidd did enough for Thunder Plunderer Down Under

Honestly, I could not come up with a single name that deserved Thunder Blunder, which is strange for a loss. Still, everyone was able to contribute, so I'm not going to knock anyone for a game that could have easily been win number 14.

Next Game: Saturday at Memphis (Speaking of win number 14...)