So last night the surprising Memphis Grizzlies handled the OKC Thunder even as K. Smoove went for his season high in points. The highlight of the game came with 2:09 left when Z-Bo told Poppa Perk he was going to "beat his ass" (0:06 in the video below) and both were ejected.
I don't know why Poppa Perk is trying to sabotage my fantasy team. Maybe he is still upset at my constant ragging of Russ Russ, maybe he is still emotionally distraught about the loss of Smooth J and Jeremiah, but there is no reason to bait Z-Bo, my double double machine, into threatening to beat his ass. It's just not right, Perk. Why would you do that to me? I loved you, man. If the DeMarcus Cousins off court altercation set any kind of precedent, I'll be losing by boi, Z-Bo, for a couple games at the end of the week. Granted, Cousins has a history of stupidity and his confrontation was not with a player, rather an announcer, but I'd still imagine Dictator Stern will react swiftly and harshly.
The ejections led to a (alleged) square off outside of the teams locker rooms that Z-Bo commented on after the game.
Update: As I earlier hypothesized, it was Poppa Perk who baited Z-Bo into the "I'll beat your ass" comment with his preceding comment, "I'll meet you by the bus".
The Thunder laid an egg last night (with the exception of Kevin Martin, who was brilliant, finishing with 28 points on 8-11 shooting including 6-8 from 3). 21 turnovers leading to 31 Atlanta points to go along nicely with giving up 12 offensive boards leading to 16 points. The sloppy play needs to be fixed like yesterday if the Thunder want to get anywhere close to their 2011 campaign.
Without getting too deep on another Westbrook needs to shoot less and pass more rant, Westbrook needs to shoot less and pass more. My reasoning: K. Smoove finished with an impressive line of 22 points on 7-17 from the field with 12 boards, 8 assist, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Full disclosure: he also had 6 turnovers. You're thinking, what does that have to do with Westbrook, right? Well Russ Russ finished with 14 points on an abysmal 5-18 from the field with a season high 9 assists and a season low 3 turnovers. There were at least 4 shot opportunities that Durant passed up to try to play facilitator to get the rest of the team involved. Durant is the best scorer in the world. He should NEVER pass a shot up to facilitate. Westbrook should be the one focusing on facilitating, not taking 18 shots and shooting 27%. Obviously, finishing with 9 assists, Russ Russ did do his share of facilitating, but if he took 5 less shots and fed the hot hand of Kevin Martin or Smoove, the result of this game could have been drastically different. My point is that Russ Russ needs to pick up earlier in the night if his shot is off and use his explosive speed to draw help defense and dish the ball to the open man. Instead of doing that, right now he ends up throwing up wild layups or off balance shots. It's not working and its becoming more evident now that Smooth J is out of town and Westbrook is handling the point even more.
Another issue that is starting to bubble to the surface in OKC is internal conflict. For the second game in a row Sefolosha and Russ Russ had to be separated. Ibaka took some heat from Smoove on the way into the locker room at half about a board he didn't grab and also from Poppa Perk every time they didn't come away with a rebound. The role players on this team need to fall in line. Everyone should be looking to Smoove as the first in line and Russ Russ as his Secretary (until he ups his play, I'm not referring to him as the Vice President). No one else on this team should be talking. Period.
Oh and Jeff Teague has been bringing the hammer dunks this year. Smoove fell victim last night after Teague blew by a flat footed Westbrook on the perimeter. Sorry, Smoove:
LOVE the description of that video. "Teague baptizes Durant."
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:
Sam Presti would not agree to give Jeremiah his white woman. I hope Jeremiah is happy. He and Smooth J are now headed to the mecca of Houston to play alongside Jeremy Lin's sizable IQ, small member and lack of athleticism. Presti could've done worse... Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, 2 first rounders and a second rounder. My emotions are running circles around me. For now, I leave you with the beauty below... when I compose myself, I'll be back for more.
Can only imagine what Poppa Perk is like right now...
Time to address the elephant in the room, Smooth J's expiring contract. The Thunder and Super GM, Sam Presti, have until October 31 to sign Smooth J to a contract extension or he's destined to become a restricted free agent on July 1. The implication here is if Harden gets to free agency on July 1, he will receive multiple max offers (4 years, $60mil) which the Thunder will not be able to match. In interviews leading up to this year, Harden has stated that he is willing to "sacrifice" to keep the Thunder's Big Three intact, just like Westbrook did before the beginning of last year and Durant prior to that. What the Thunder have is special. Never in the history of the league has a team been so good and so young at the same time. It would be a shame if J can't see that.
According to our sources close the situation, the major hold up on getting a deal hashed out is not Smooth J himself, but his beard, Jeremiah. After all the attention Jeremiah has received over the last 3 years, he has become a full blown diva. Demanding a cut of the profits on any beard related sales (in addition to Smooth J's cut), his own personal assistant, his own seat on the bus and even his own white woman, Jeremiah has become the Elton John of basketball; high demands but not much production when the lights turn on.
For now, we all wait with bated breath to see if Smooth J, Jeremiah and Presti can work a miracle. Smooth J would never leave on his own (too scared of Poppa Perk), but with the influence of the power hungry, Jeremiah, no one can say for sure how this saga will end.
