Can't argue with Benny... no excuse for Smoove not scoring a single fourth quarter point last night. Guy was the only one who showed up though, putting up 36, 7 and 7. If the Thunder don't have enough firepower to win when he puts up a line like that, its only a matter of time before they end up Kobe'd. Oh and that guy who OKC got in the Harden deal? 2 points last night on 1/10 from the field. Awesome. Am I the only one who thinks the Rockets are a much better team with Patrick Beverley (burn in hell) at point than Jeremy Lin? The curse of Jeremiah lives on. First he injures Russ Russ then he injures Lin so he gives way to the superior player.
I'm also not going to make any comments on Scotty's ridiculous HackAsik strategy. I guess if nothing else is working, you might as well try to pull a bunny out of your top hat. yaknowwhatimean?
We did get to see an occurrence that prior to last night was thought to share the same real estate as the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, Ben Wallace's offensive game and Marty's self control; the vaunted double flop.
The Thunder found a way to lose to the Jazz last night in a game that they shot 56% from the field compared to the Jazz's 48%. In normal circumstances, I'd put the loss on Russell Westbrook's wild layup clinic, but he was a solid 8/14 from the field last night. Next I'd move to turnover differential, which Russ Russ certainly contributed to abundantly, but once again, I'd be wrong. Though Russ Russ did have 7 turnovers, the Jazz ended the game with only a +3 turnover differential. That leads me to the real answer. An answer that had Russ Russ noticeably upset after the game and a notion that shakes me to my very core. You see in the video below, just off camera, sources close to OKC confirm that a reporter from the The Daily Oklahoman was holding up a cue card that read "where's James"? Short and sweet. Warm and nostalgic. Love and loss. As soon as Russ Russ saw it, it was game over.
The bench lost the game for the Thunder last night, which scares the shit out of me. You know who else it scares shitless? Fucking, Presti. Kevin Martin was invisible, finishing with just 6 points on 3/8, and the rest of the bench combined for a skinny 19 points. Presti made this bed. He cashed this check. He pumped this fist. This was a prime game last year where Harden would put up 30 points on a ridiculous 12/16 from the field and carry the Thunder to a win. They counted on that guy. I'm worried what is going to happen in June when they don't have that guy. I know Smooth J had a rough finals last year, but all signs pointed to a breakout this year. He is having that breakout but not in OKC. Poppa Perk was not happy about the absence of Jeremiah (more so than Smooth J) and he took it out in an elbow to the side of Al Jefferson's dome that would've made Ron Ron proud.
This is why ESPN is fucking stupid sometimes. Look at the headline and then look at the first quarter score to this game. Just looking for a story. Gotta get them page views up. The Thunder are on pace to score 112 points yet the headline says they're struggling on offense... hm....
So the Thunder lost to the Spurs last night on a Tony Parker 20 foot buzzer beater (first loss at the buzzer in OKC team history). A few observations about the game:
1) In stretches, Russ Russ is the most infuriating player in the league to watch. There is no arguing his ability and his place as a game changer, but god damn, there are 4 minutes left in the game and your team is down 3 points, get the ball to the best scorer in the world, K. Smoove. Don't take back-to-back-to-back wild layup attempts without anyone else touching the ball. You're having an off night shooting the ball (6-21!!!!!!!) and you're a point guard, act like it and pass the ball. Durant shot 50% from the field last night, why not give it a try?
2) The last 2 possessions of that game and the result come down to coaching and execution. On one end, you have Russ Russ dribbling the clock down for 15 seconds while the entire OKC team stands around watching him, waiting for the 10 second mark. Durant pushes off Kawhi Leonard to try to get open (no screens), can't, Russ Russ forces him the ball (couldn't have gotten him the ball earlier!?) and Leonard comes up with a huge steal (back to back 5 steal games). Maybe it's on Durant for not getting open, but I put that one squarely on Scotty Too Hottie. You are getting paid as an elite coach, act like it and draw up a play instead of just looking at Russ Russ and K. Smoove and saying "go throw that ball through the hoop so we win and I look like a genius." On the other end you have Scar-Face, setting up a play for that fucking Frenchman that has like 601 screens and gets him a wide open shot. Granted Westbrook made Pop look good with his horrendous defense, completely losing Parker and leaving him with no one in the same area code, but I say potatoes, pototoes.
3) Back to Russ Russ. 5 Assists and 6 Turnovers!? Really? I get that he is not your stereotypical point guard, but he is still THE point guard of OKC. I'm no genius here, but to win games in the NBA I'm pretty sure your point guard needs to do a whole hell of a lot better than a 1:1 assist to turnover ratio (would've been a step up for Westbrook last night). Without Smooth J to come off the bench and handle the point at times, I'm worried that assist to turnover ratio is going to get worse before it gets better.
4) Kevin Martin didn't look bad. He shot 40% from the field, including a big 3 towards the end of the 4th and ended up with 15 points and 5 assists. Stating the obvious, Kevin Martin is not James Harden. The Thunder need to figure out what the hell they are going to do with their second team.
5) The Thunder shot a horrendous 38% from the field including a lower first half shooting percentage than all of last year. Smooth J was on the team last year. He isn't now. Just saying.
Conclusion: The Western Conference is wide open. I give the edge to the Spurs followed by the Thunder and Lakers. The Thunder HAVE to be concerned that they are now the 3rd best team in the West. Everyone is making a huge deal out of LA's slow start, but they're just going through the growing pains that Miami went through in 2010. They'll be fine and I'm sure the Black Mamba will have them right there in May and June.
On the bright side, Poppa Perk seems to be coming around on Scotty Too Hottie's coaching:
14-25 from the field, 4-10 from 3, 37 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and a block in 44 minutes plus an $80 million, 5 year extension. Are you kidding me? Talk about having a good day.
Guaranteed Presti is walking around telling everyone "It was the fucking Pistons" and not giving Smooth J and Jeremiah one once of credit. These execs always have to be the smartest guy in the room...
After the game Harden was quoted as saying the Houston offense allows him much more freedom than the OKC offense had... no shit, you ARE the offense in Houston, J.
Presti is going to look like a real Mark Cuban circa 2004 if Smooth J and Jeremiah keep this up. Should've just given the beard his white woman...
After taking a few days to digest the Harden to Houston trade, I'm no less upset than I was on Saturday night. With the trade of Harden to Houston, Presti traded away almost certain title opportunities over the next 5 seasons (probably more). When is the last time a team had 3 of the top 20 players in the league and those players were all UNDER the age of 25? The answer is never. Houston was able to offer Harden the max contact he desired (5 years, $78M) and a shot at being The Man. Harden never demanded the spotlight in OKC, that's not what he wanted. He just wanted what he was worth. He already sacrificed numbers and a starting spot and now Presti wanted him to sacrifice the money he deserved. Hadn't he already sacrificed enough?
OKC is obviously a small market team, so there will be those that argue this all comes down to the plight of a small market and while there may be SOME truth to that (the Lakers would not have batted an eyelash at the luxury tax they would have had to pay to sign Harden to a max deal in part because of their $150M/yr TV contract, almost 10x what OKC makes on their annual TV deal), I call bull shit. OKC made $35M in PROFIT last year in a shortened season. According to Forbes, they are the 15th most valuable team in the NBA. That being said, their operating income is 5th highest in the entire league, so for those arguing that OKC's ownership is just ensuring that they get theirs, let me assure you, they are getting theirs on a nightly basis. If they would've re-signed Harden to a max deal, they would have been over the luxury tax cutting into their profit greatly, but it only needed to be for one year. At the end of this season, they could've amnestied an aging Kendrick Perkins or tried to find a trade partner for Ibaka (I'll visit Ibaka more later), so for those arguing ownership did not have a choice, you lose. Ownership had to take a cut to their profits for ONE YEAR (pending the right offseason moves) to sure up title contention for the next 5. While I understand sports are a business, by choosing profits, OKC broke up a trio the likes of which we may never see again. A trio that could have competed for championships for a decade. A trio that could have gone down as one of the greatest threesomes of all time.
In return for Harden, Presti acquired Kevin Martin, an established wing scorer who averages around 18.0 ppg for his career but does not play anything resembling defense, Jeremy Lamb, who averaged 20 ppg in the NBA Summer League but doesn't strike me as the superstar type, 2 first round picks, one of which may not happen until 2018 and a second round pick. No piece that was acquired will provide the spark that Harden gave off the bench and no piece will be pointed to at the end of the year as the reason the Thunder went back to the NBA finals. In fact, this trade will be pointed to after the season as the reason the Thunder lost to the Lakers in the Western Conference finals. The Lakers had no answer for Harden in the Western Conference Semis last year... I doubt they are going to have the same problems with Kevin Martin.
An angle that has not been talked about is the negative effect this could potentially have on the psyches of Russ Russ and K. Smoove. The Thunder should know first hand what breaking up such a tight knit group of players can do to a team. When OKC acquired Poppa Perk from the Celtics, what happened to Boston? They struggled. Not because they were dramatically less skilled as a team, but because Poppa Perk was the glue that held that locker room together. I'm not suggesting that Harden was the glue in OKC's locker room or that I think Russ Russ and K. Smoove will struggle this year, I'm just saying to keep an eye on the demeanor of OKC's remaining superstars. If I were either of them, I'd hold a bit of a grudge towards management for breaking up something so special for the dollar signs.
OKC is making an enormous bet on the maturation of Serge Ibaka's offensive game. I'm not saying that can't happen, but all the evidence we have up until now points to that process taking a long time if it happens at all. I understand that Ibaka provides unbelievable contributions on the defensive end, but he is a liability on the offensive side of the floor and anytime that is the case, you put an enormous amount of pressure on the other four guys. K. Smoove and Russ Russ can handle the pressure, but there is no longer a relief valve for when Russ Russ goes into one of his 0-8 slumps.
In a perfect world, Serge Ibaka's offensive game would mature quickly and Perry Jones III and Jeremy Lamb would develop into reliable scorers making Smooth J an afterthought in OKC, but I doubt thats how this will play out. While I desperately hope I am wrong, I fear that this trade will cripple K. Smoove's title chances for the next couple years especially with the emergence of super teams like the Lakers and the development of other teams like the Clippers.
Presti, I hope the boys prove me wrong or you will be my least favorite GM in sports.
