2015-16 OKC Thunder

[Laramie]

Oklahoma City Thunder 109 - Dallas Mavericks 106

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Dallas Mavericks - Box Score - January 22, 2016 - ESPN

[Mel]

^^^^^^
Winning squeakers demonstrates a toughness that heretofore has been absent in the Thunder. I don't want to get carried away, but with this win streak you're starting to get the sense that they may finally be gelling.

Agreed. The bench is getting more time and confidence and it's starting to show. I hope Adams bruised elbow is not too bad. Singler is starting to show some promise. Payne is turning into quite the hotrod. When these guys are firing on all cylinders I see the Team going pretty far.

[Anonymous.]

Lopez dominated us. Really missed Adams tonight. Also Roberson would have been nice.

Our defense is deplorable without those two.

[SoonerDave]

Lopez dominated us. Really missed Adams tonight. Also Roberson would have been nice.

Our defense is deplorable without those two.

I don't understand this team's penchant for just taking a night off.

I don't see GSW taking nights off.

I don't see the Spurs taking nights off.

But this Thunder team, good grief...you lose to a .250 Nets team?

You want to be elite, but you're not elite when you do crap like this.

[adaniel]

To be fair, they barely made it to NYC (and were quite late in doing so), could not practice, much less leave their hotel rooms, and were without Adams.

Third best record in the league, and second best since mid December. All on a 1st year head coach and wildly different lineup. Keep it in perspective. Outside of this game they were gelling quite nicely. I'd consider them elite.

[SoonerDave]

To be fair, they barely made it to NYC (and were quite late in doing so), could not practice, much less leave their hotel rooms, and were without Adams.

Third best record in the league, and second best since mid December. All on a 1st year head coach and wildly different lineup. Keep it in perspective. Outside of this game they were gelling quite nicely. I'd consider them elite.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. If you're elite, you don't lose to that team. You just don't. Understand where you're coming from, but in this circumstance, those notions just sound like really bad excuses. And it's not like this is the first time we've had to explain away stupefying performances against grossly inferior teams.

Like I said, I don't see GSW or the Spurs phoning games in like that.

Just my opinion.

[gopokes88]

I don't understand this team's penchant for just taking a night off.

I don't see GSW taking nights off.

I don't see the Spurs taking nights off.

But this Thunder team, good grief...you lose to a .250 Nets team?

You want to be elite, but you're not elite when you do crap like this.

I do. Warriors lost to Denver a week ago and the Pistons a few days before.
Pop is known for sitting his starters for rest. That's literally taking a night off.

It's an 82 game season, these things happen. Lose to the Knicks and there's more cause for concern.

You can have that opinion but facts say its wrong.

[Roger S]

I don't see the Spurs taking nights off.

Hmmmm... I seem to remember a big brouhaha back in 2012 when Pop rested his starters against Lebron and Miami.

San Antonio Spurs sit 4 of top 5 scorers vs. Miami Heat

And here against the Warriors.

Spurs' Gregg Popovich decides to rest stars for nationally televised game vs. Warriors | SI.com

[Throckmorton]

Our top story tonight:

The sky is falling!

In other news, one of our best defenders, Andre Roberson, is probably out until after the All Star break with a sprained knee, but this one-game-out-of-82 aberration of a loss to a horrible team is a much more pressing concern right now.

[dankrutka]

I don't understand this team's penchant for just taking a night off.

I don't see GSW taking nights off.

I don't see the Spurs taking nights off.

But this Thunder team, good grief...you lose to a .250 Nets team?

You want to be elite, but you're not elite when you do crap like this.

FYI: Brook Lopez missed a lay up to beat Golden State earlier this season.

[Thomas Vu]

GSW lost to MIL and nearly lost to BRK, in addition to the Denver loss.

Whether you take it as a positive or negative, Duncan's absence from tonights game will have an affect on the game.

Spurs lost to WAS, NOLA, and HOU.

I do agree that OKC has a habit of dropping unusual games. As if they're sleeping on bad teams.

[dcsooner]

GSW lost to MIL and nearly lost to BRK, in addition to the Denver loss.

Whether you take it as a positive or negative, Duncan's absence from tonights game will have an affect on the game.

Spurs lost to WAS, NOLA, and HOU.

I do agree that OKC has a habit of dropping unusual games. As if they're sleeping on bad teams.

Watching GS v SA and the absolute truth is that the Thunder can not beat either of those teams in a series. They are too skilled, too deep, too disciplined too well coached, too unselfish for the Thunder to win. Time to accept the reality that the Thunder once had a window to a championship, but that window has closed.Oh and another one of our former players is contributing big time. Livingston.

[dankrutka]

Watching GS v SA and the absolute truth is that the Thunder can not beat either of those teams in a series. They are too skilled, too deep, too disciplined too well coached, too unselfish for the Thunder to win. Time to accept the reality that the Thunder once had a window to a championship, but that window has closed.Oh and another one of our former players is contributing big time. Livingston.

What about the Spurs being down by 30 points in the third quarter led you to the conclusion that OKC "can not beat" them?

The Warriors might legitimately be the greatest team of all time. There's no shame if OKC (the 3rd best team) can't beat them. They've absolutely destroyed the 2nd and 4th best teams in the NBA in the last week. It's not going to be surprising if they do manhandle OKC. But I'll sure as hell be there to cheer OKC on.

[Thomas Vu]

Anybody want to take any bets on whether or not it'll be worse? I think we wouldn't lose by 30

[Laramie]

Oklahoma City 128 - New York Knicks 122 - OT

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. New York Knicks - Box Score - January 26, 2016 - ESPN

[FighttheGoodFight]

Going to be at the game Friday against the Rockets. Only been able to go to five games this year.

This one is going to be in the box..... My friends are too nice.

[SoonerDave]

Hmmmm... I seem to remember a big brouhaha back in 2012 when Pop rested his starters against Lebron and Miami.

San Antonio Spurs sit 4 of top 5 scorers vs. Miami Heat

And here against the Warriors.

Spurs' Gregg Popovich decides to rest stars for nationally televised game vs. Warriors | SI.com

There's a monumental difference between a coach making a conscious decision to sit starters versus your *starters* and *bench* just decide to go win "on form." Those are entirely different kinds of "nights off." The Thunder, for whatever reason, check out mentally some games before they ever hit the floor. Heck, they should have lost last night.

[SoonerDave]

Our top story tonight:



In other news, one of our best defenders, Andre Roberson, is probably out until after the All Star break with a sprained knee, but this one-game-out-of-82 aberration of a loss to a horrible team is a much more pressing concern right now.

It wouldn't be a big deal if it really were an aberration. We just gave up 100+ to an offense that hadn't averaged, what, 90 a game?And didn't have Anthony...

[SoonerDave]

I do. Warriors lost to Denver a week ago and the Pistons a few days before.
Pop is known for sitting his starters for rest. That's literally taking a night off.

It's an 82 game season, these things happen. Lose to the Knicks and there's more cause for concern.

You can have that opinion but facts say its wrong.

And if Afflalo doesn't get what was for him an unlucky rim-out last night, that's exactly what happens.

Like I said before, there's a huge difference between a coach making a conscious decision to rest starters versus your starters (and bench) just selectively choosing not to show up against supposedly grossly overmatched teams. That's the kind of "night off" I'm talking about. I honestly didn't think I'd need to make that distinction.

Right or wrong, this Thunder team has a *horrendous* attitude about playing defense, and right now is all about racking up wins against lesser teams. It's a good team, to be sure, very good, but winning a 7-game series against either GSW or SAS? c'mon. Heck, the expectations for this team are epitomized in the poll at the top - are the Thunder going to win it all? The choices were "yes" and "xxxx yes" - but does anyone really think that can happen right now? Yeah, saying that makes me a bad guy or whatever, but I'm not the one losing to the Nets because of the cold or the snow or the wind or the evil spirits or whatever the reason-du-jour is for putting out crappy effort against a crappy team.

Look, I'm not trying to start a fight or anything, it's just frustrating to see this team just have to continually put out excuses for not comfortably beating teams they should be beating. The, ah, "explanations" sound like they come from the Thunder broadcast team.

[Bellaboo]

And if Afflalo doesn't get what was for him an unlucky rim-out last night, that's exactly what happens.

Like I said before, there's a huge difference between a coach making a conscious decision to rest starters versus your starters (and bench) just selectively choosing not to show up against supposedly grossly overmatched teams. That's the kind of "night off" I'm talking about. I honestly didn't think I'd need to make that distinction.

Right or wrong, this Thunder team has a *horrendous* attitude about playing defense, and right now is all about racking up wins against lesser teams. It's a good team, to be sure, very good, but winning a 7-game series against either GSW or SAS? c'mon. Heck, the expectations for this team are epitomized in the poll at the top - are the Thunder going to win it all? The choices were "yes" and "xxxx yes" - but does anyone really think that can happen right now? Yeah, saying that makes me a bad guy or whatever, but I'm not the one losing to the Nets because of the cold or the snow or the wind or the evil spirits or whatever the reason-du-jour is for putting out crappy effort against a crappy team.

Look, I'm not trying to start a fight or anything, it's just frustrating to see this team just have to continually put out excuses for not comfortably beating teams they should be beating. The, ah, "explanations" sound like they come from the Thunder broadcast team.

Not really, Afflalo couldn't throw it in the ocean last night...shot about 20 % for the game.

I think the Thunder are playing down to talent level competition, but it doesn't help when your best wing defender is out for 3 weeks.

[Bits_Of_Real_Panther]

https://vine.co/v/iiUqmb6dhzL

^some bad defense from last night

[SOONER8693]

LIke everybody on here, I assume, I am a Thunder fan and try to watch every game and go to some. But, until this team learns/decides to play with max effort, intensity, and focus on both ends of the floor, most specifically the defensive end, I'm having a hard time getting really excited about them.

[dankrutka]

Everyone realizes that OKC was a top 10 defensive team -- top 3 over the last month -- before Roberson went down, right? The defense has been terrible the last four games, but the comments on here are way over the top. The NBA season is long and this road trip -- where the Thunder went 3-1 -- saw two starters miss time with injuries and serious travel delays. I want the Thunder to play better defense also, but saying they don't ever play defense is reactionary.

[Throckmorton]

The sports media blog AwfulAnnouncing.com recently did a reader poll on each local broadcasting crew around the league. Davis and Cage ranked 29th out of 30. Ouch. Only the Rockets crew was ranked lower.

The NBA local TV announcer rankings

Over the last week, we polled the Awful Announcing readers on their opinions of each local broadcast team around the NBA. The polls were broken down by division to gain the perspective of both fans and rivals for each broadcast team.

The votes are in, and we weighted your grades on a four point scale for each broadcast crew and sorted them to determine who your favorite and least favorite broadcast teams were. Each “A” vote received 4 points, 3 points for a “B” vote, down to 0 points for an “F” vote. The total points scored were divided by the total number of votes to calculate what amounts to a GPA for each broadcast booth.

After everything was tabulated, the end results may end up surprising you, but we feel that they’re a pretty accurate ranking of the 30 broadcast crews in the league. Without any further ado, here we go.

~~~~~~~~

29. Oklahoma City Thunder – 1.56
-Brian Davis (play by play)
-Michael Cage (analyst)

Most popular grade: F (31.91% of voters)

Analysis: Nearly one-third of the voters flunked the Thunder because of the exhausting top-down organizational stance that, “It’s us against the world.” Watching Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant go to work shouldn’t be a chore, but every Thunder broadcast is filled with uncomfortable, defensive remarks against anybody not wearing Thunder colors.

(Rattlesnake jam joke goes here)

[Laramie]

Oklahoma City Thunder 126 - Minnesota Timberwolves 123

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Minnesota Timberwolves - Box Score - January 27, 2016 - ESPN