OKC Thunder 2013 - 2014

[OKCisOK4me]

Due to catching up on sleep last night, I didn't watch the game or find out the score until earlier today. My guess was that Curry probably went off for 46. I was only off by 3. Friend of mine said we need to improve our defense. My thought is, you just can't defend GS, especially on the perimeter. Judging from the stats line, you really see how much of an improvement Ibaka has made...27 and 13 last night. He's going off early this season. I hope that's not due to inferior competition in the paint!

Tomorrow night, I hope we can come out with a victory at the Bucks. We're currently favored by 10.5.

[BoulderSooner]

Curry had 22

[OKCisOK4me]

Curry had 22

Silly me, I was looking at minutes, lol. I'm not a Sherlock Holmes in the AM.

[Laramie]

We have to remember that OKC had a tough lost against the Clippers and then had to play the Warriors in Oakland. Golden State had a day off prior to meeting the Thunder.

Their exhaustive efforts against the Clippers the day before wore down on the team as they entered the contest against the Warriors.

There will be lessons learned and brighter days ahead for the Thunder. You're seeing the development of some key pieces in Steven Adams, Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones as well as continued maturing of Durant, Ibaka & Westbrook.

[OKCisOK4me]

I agree about the bench guys. I'm happy to see them get the minutes this year that they didn't get last year. The departure of Martin helps...

[Praedura]

Nobody has mentioned last night's game against the Nuggets, so I'll take the honors.

Great win last night!

(notice how I didn't say "Great game"...)

You know, taking 7 out of the first 10 games is a darn good start, and I'm happy about that. But goodness gracious, this team needs to get itself organized. Definitely issues to be worked on.

For example, not turning over the ball 10 zillion times per game. And how about playing more than one quarter of defense?

Anyway, Go Thunder!

[Bill Robertson]

True there are issues but November and December are about putting marks in the W column and working on those issues. As long as they have it together by February/March all will be OK.

[Anonymous.]

Revenge night. 7pm on ESPN. Thunder and Clips.

Would be awesome to see Ibaka go off and have a full-length great game against them.

[Praedura]

Tonight we face..........the clippers



Time to avenge past wrongs and slap on some basketball karma.

Go Thunder!

[Laramie]

No, no, not a nail clipper. That's for the nails (manicure and pedicure). Let's do this the right way and get below the belt to backup our payback.

Seriously: Should be a great game tonight with the Thunder winning at home by three...

[Mel]

Our bench strength has really shined this game. Charles Barkley is a weiner.

[Pete]

Funny his comments about the Skirvin being haunted -- without mentioning it by name.

[Praedura]

Now that is MORE FREAKING LIKE IT!!!

105-91 beatdown at the 'Peake!

[ljbab728]

Now that is MORE FREAKING LIKE IT!!!

105-91 beatdown at the 'Peake!

And with Beyonce watching courtside.

[Praedura]

Real defense played for 4 quarters... I love it!

This was a good team win too, as Russell never really got going. KD and Serge were great, though. Nice contribs from Jackson, Lamb, and Adams from the bench.

[Praedura]

This is fun:

Best Tweets from Oklahoma City Thunder Showdown with Los Angeles Clippers | Bleacher Report

Barkley's ongoing clown game with Oklahoma is beyond stupid, but I guess it's some kind of schtick that he thinks is working for him and he doesn't want to let it go.

Oh, and to the fan that thinks KD is heading to the Nets... umm, no.

[HOT ROD]

yes, very nice to see star power at the game. Beyoncé and Jayzee courtside, Charles Barkley, Marv Albert, and Steve Kerr calling the game. Thursday night was shining brightly in downtown Oklahoma City - looked so great on TV.

OKC is really becoming a staple NBA city and the future looks even brighter as the city continues to develop and grow!

Makes me proud up here in Seattle.

[catcherinthewry]

yes, very nice to see star power at the game. Beyoncé and Jayzee courtside, Charles Barkley, Marv Albert, and Steve Kerr calling the game. Thursday night was shining brightly in downtown Oklahoma City - looked so great on TV.

OKC is really becoming a staple NBA city and the future looks even brighter as the city continues to develop and grow!

Makes me proud up here in Seattle.

Next step, All Star game in OKC. I hope we get one soon. Come on Nate Silver, make this happen.

[OKCisOK4me]

Next step, All Star game in OKC. I hope we get one soon. Come on Nate Silver, make this happen.

There would still need to be a ton of hotel rooms added to what the OKC metro already has available. This probably won't happen for at least 10 years. My guess is that the NBA commissioner is going to want to see that the Thunder are here for the long haul, in good times and in bad times.

I did some research. My research consists of all the NBA cities and their metro populations, followed by every location an All-Star game has ever been held (dating back to 1951), and with the league's 8 smallest small market cities (those of which have no other pro franchises ala MLB, NFL, NHL, etc.).

OKC 1.3 mil - never (Seattle hosted once)
Memphis 1.3 mil - never
San Antonio 2.2 mil - twice
Orlando 2.2 mil - twice
Charlotte 2.3 mil - once
Portland 2.3 mil - never
Salt Lake City 2.3 mil - once
Sacramento 2.6 mil - never

I included in my search what I would refer to as small market (metro populations of less than 3 million which is very subjective considering that bleacherreport.com included Miami as one of their small market teams for 2013, going solely off of actual city proper populations) cities.

The other metros with less than 3 million metro but have other pro sports are:

New Orleans 1.2 mil - once
Milwaukee 1.6 mil - once
Indianapolis 1.8 mil - once
Cleveland 2 mil - once
Denver 2.6 mil - twice

The most populous large market cities that have hosted numerous times are Boston (4), NYC (4), Philly (4), Houston (3), Los Angeles (3) and Phoenix (3).

[Easy180]

I was going to say our lovely Feb weather hurts but maybe not since I see a few cold weather cities above...Let me go with cold weather and small market hurts our chances

[Laramie]

What hurts our chances for hosting an NBA All Star event? As OKCisOK4me stated: "There would still need to be a ton of hotel rooms added to what the OKC metro already has available." The last number I heard was when the event was held in Houston--you need 6,000 hotels room within a mile radius of the downtown area.

Last I heard, we are somewhere between 1,250 to 1,500 downtown quality hotel rooms with 12,000-13,000 throughout the metro area. If someone has an update, please don't hesitate to chime in. At the rate we are growing, we will probably exceed 2,500-3,500 hotel rooms downtown come 2020-25. An NBA All Star Game could be a possibility after 2030. Please don't hold your breath.

Many of us will never see an NBA All Star Game hosted here in our lifetime. Hey it's not the end of the world if we never host one. My goal is to see us host another NBA best-of-seven championship series again--followed by a downtown victory championship parade.

[catcherinthewry]

I'm not giving up on the All Star game coming here. In Pete's Downtown Hotel Summary, OKC has 3,673 rooms either built, under construction or proposed within a mile of the Peake. We are getting there!

[Teo9969]

I think we should start making a push for the All-Star game when MAPS 3 projects are finished.

[OKCisOK4me]

I'm not giving up on the All Star game coming here. In Pete's Downtown Hotel Summary, OKC has 3,673 rooms either built, under construction or proposed within a mile of the Peake. We are getting there!

Well, that's only 2,327 rooms away from that minimum room count goal. With the biggest proposed project being 150 rooms and the biggest under construction project being 255 rooms, even if every project from here on out is an average of those two, we're looking at another 11-12 hotels that would need to be built within a one mile radius of downtown.

[Easy180]

Somebody needs Malone and Stockton back....Turrible