NBA Finals thoughts - Game 3

Whoa - didn't see that one coming!  After getting blown out and run out of the gym in a game 2 loss, everyone wondered how the Spurs would respond.    Well it turns out pretty well, as the Spurs returned the favor to the Heat by absolutely dismantling the Heat, winning 113-77.  San Antonio was lead by playoff career games from both Danny Green and Gary Neal.  Didn't see that one coming either.

NBA Finals thoughts - game 2

So after game 1 of the NBA Finals, most of the knee jerk reaction (including from yours truly) out there was how Miami might be in trouble with San Antonio.  And then the 2nd half of game 2 happened, and the Heat went nuclear on the Spurs and we end up with a series tied at 1 apiece with the Heat taking the 2nd game, 103-84.  This was the classic "the game wasn't even as close as the score indicates" games, and the score indicates the Spurs lost by 19.  The first half was well played by both teams, but the 2nd half was absolutely brutal for the Spurs, as the Heat took it to them in pretty much every way imaginable.

NBA Finals thoughts - Game 1

The NBA Finals have begun, and game one of the series was a well played, exciting game that ended with the Spurs taking game one on the road with a 92-88 victory.  I hope you had a chance to catch it, but whether you did or didn't, here are a few of my thoughts on the important themes from the first game in this series.

What it means...

Yeah, its been a long time.  But it's hard, you know?  Maybe you do...maybe you don't.  I've talked before about what it means to be a fan (still short for fanatic) which is usually the highest of the highs and lowest of the lows.  And (despite how hard it is) I'm okay with the thought of another team beating the Thunder.  I mean, if they played their best, and lost...everyone knows, sometimes you just tip your cap to the other guy and move on.  But - that's not what happened here.  And that's what makes this season such a strange, bewildering, depressing and significant one.  Because of what it all really means.

Thunder/Mavs recap - aka the KD35 show

Kevin Durant is an All Star.  I know, big shocker there.  No one really had a doubt about it...heck, I didn't even bother to fan vote.  But to make it, you have to be a star among a league of stars, and find a way to stand out.  And in Friday night's game against the Dallas Mavericks, KD did just that.  Just as the Thunder Nation RISES, so does the brightest of our young stars.  KD went off for a season and career high 52 points in a thrilling overtime win over the Mavs, 117-114.  This wasn't an easy one; playing the Mavs seems to never be for the Thunder.  But that just makes the winning that much sweeter.

Thunder/Nuggets Recap

Russell Westbrook brought it tonight.  He only played 28 total minutes is a blowout Thunder drubbing of the Nugs 117-97, but managed in that 28 minutes to drop 32 points on 12-20 shooting.  The 4 assists, 2 rebounds (both offensive) and 1 steal seem like almost an afterthought, as the Thunder were never really threatened in this one.  KD had a "ho-hum" 20, and KMart had 20 too, marking his best action in a while.

Leading by 20 at the half 67-47, the Thunder were on cruise control in the second 24 minutes, and once again the super subs saw plenty of minutes.  Perry Jones got 14 minutes of play, Thabeet got 19, and even Jeremy Lamb saw 10 minutes of action.  I'm really hoping OKC can keep this trend up, as I'm sure it will pay nice dividends during the playoff run.  Not to mention that it keeps the starters fresh and keeps their minutes down.  All the starters had double digit adjusted +/-, and KMart also had a brisk +18 (the highest on the team).  Ibaka only played 27 minutes, only recently returned from his chest contusion, but had 6 boards and 5 blocks during this stint on the hardwood.

Next up - the Dallas Mavericks, on Friday night - #ThunderNationRISE

Thunder/Suns Recap

Its hard to imagine that two guys by themselves could win a basketball game.  I mean...hoops is team sport played by 5 guys, who come together for a common purpose.  But the two dudes you see in the photo above this article did just that very thing on Monday night - won themselves a ball game all by themselves.  And it wasn't even really that close...as OKC picked up a 102-90 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Thunder/Blazers Recap

An ugly win is still a win.  And that's pretty much what the Thunder got here, with a 87-83 slugfest win over a scrappy Portland team.  Thanks in large part to Mr. Kevin Durant, the Thunder played poorly and still pulled this one out.  KD scored 33 of the teams 87 points, with Russ Westbrook and DeAndre Liggins being the only other Thunder players in double figures.  OKC was without Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefalosha in this one, both down with injuries.  Serge got hurt in the Laker game (see my notes here) but Thabo's being out was news to me.

Thunder/Lakers Recap

Since before OKC was in Oklahoma City, the Sonics/Thunder rivalry with the LA Lakers was legend.  Many were the battles between these two teams in their heyday...but that was then and this is now.  And now, the Thunder have dominated the recent matchups, and last nights dismantling of the short-handed Lakers 116-101 was no exception.  Hard to find joy in beating a team missing 2 of its best 4 players...but you know what?  A win is a win however you slice it.

Will NBA basketball soon return to Seattle?

or




As a basketball loving boy growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I had two choices: the Blazers, or the SuperSonics.  I picked the team in Seattle because they weren't the closest local team, but they were close enough for me to call myself a real fan.  When I relocated to Southern California in the late 80s, my fandom followed me there.  The subsequent years saw the Sonics have a great deal of success - even an NBA Finals appearance in 1996.  After that, they had some up years and down years, but you stick by your team as a fan through thick and thin.  And I did.  Even when the hordes of Lakers fans living around me gave me grief for it.  All of that changed in 2008.

Thunder/T'Wolves Recap

The Thunder apparently were back home for a game against Minnesota (while I foolishly thought they were on a 7 game roadie) and it was sweet, sweet payback for a loss just a few weeks ago against a really short handed Timberwolves team.  Without Kevin Love and with a still recovering Ricky Rubio, the Thunder manhandled the T'Wolves, 106-84.  KD dropped 26 in just 34 minutes, and Westbrook followed his lead with 23/8/7 line in just 30 minutes.

I'm on Twitter!

Well...always have been kinda.  But now if you want my news and views and you happen to be on Twitter, feel free to follow me @TheCorner3Blog on that little blue birds website or app.  I'm going to keep my focus on hoops, but there will be other sports related stuff there as well from time to time.

If you like my work, feel free to follow me there as well.  And thanks.

Thunder/Wizards Recap

This article should be subtitled - how I learned to say "how the heck did THAT happen?" or "how I learned to hate 7 game road trips."  Either way, this game had all the makings of a "trap" game...anyone who follows the NBA regularly knows what I mean.  And a trap game it ended up being, with the Thunder losing to the Wizards 101-99.  This is what I meant when I said that the game against the Raptors didn't mean much....as long as you don't then go out and drop the next game to an equally bad team like the Wiz.

Thunder/Raptors Recap (sort of)

Ok...I know that I said just a few articles ago that "any team can beat anyone on a given night" (more on this later, but let's be real here - the Raptors aren't a very good team.  And without Andrea Bargnani, they're even worse.  Not that Bargnani is even an All-Star or anything.  But still...I follow the Raps pretty closely for my fantasy team, and when your best line up includes Amir Johnson, Kyle Lowry, Ed Davis, and Jose Calderon...you're in trouble against most other NBA squads.  So the fact that the Thunder took this one 104-92 on the road doesn't really mean a whole lot.  Especially when you consider the next game they played...but I'll discuss that in the next article.

The Thunder outscored the Raps in 3 out of 4 quarters, and the Raps were really only in this one due to the Thunders defensive lapses in the 2nd quarter, allowing the home team to score 32 (thirty-two!) points.  In the 2nd half, the Thunder did what they do, and put down a team that was on the ropes almost from the first tip.So - keep on moving, nothing to see here.  #ThunderNationRISE

Thunder/76ers Recap

Not every game is the same...and its the NBA, no one takes any nights off.  Regardless of what your record is, or the record of the team you might be facing, anyone can beat anyone on a given night.  Great times find a way to win.  And the Thunder right now are a great team.  After not playing inspired basketball in the first half, they found a way to win in and ended up putting a 109-85 victory on the Philadelphia 76ers Friday night.  Largely due to to the play of Russ Westbrook.

Thunder/Nets Recap

Yes...I too would have the same look on my face that KD has in the picture to the left if I had just been told that I'd be ejected from a game for the first time in my professional NBA career.  And yet this actually happened, in the Thunder loss to the Nets 110-93 on Wednesday night.  Why this extremely rare event occurred is anyone's guess...if you asked KD - it was merely for saying that a referee Danny Crawford had made "a bad call" by issuing Kendrick Perkins a technical foul in the 2nd quarter.

Thunder/Suns Recap

When the Thunder play the Suns, its always magical.  Not magical like the "sword and sorcery" type of way, but magical in that something crazy always goes down.  This game was no exception, and while the Thunder rang up a 114-96 win just before the new year, the crazy thing that happened was Russ Westbrook getting his face busted open.  No, seriously...check the video:  ESPN Video - its kinda ridiculous.  AND...no foul on this play.  When I play on the playground, we usually say "no blood, no foul" so I'm pretty sure Russ should have got 2 FTs.