****Official 2012/2013 Oklahoma City Thunder Basketball Thread****

[OKCisOK4me]

Oh yeah cause we barely beat them at home lol

[ljbab728]

The starting lineup is +51 on the season or the 10th best +/- 5 man lineup in the NBA. Only three of those lineups ahead of OKC have spent more than 300 minutes on the floor together (Thunder with the second most at 483).

And we don't do well against them playing small because Lebron and Bosh eat us alive. We can't play the matchup game with Miami. We have to find a way to get our bigs more involved on the offensive end. If we are going to beat Miami in a 7 game series, at least 2 of them need to look like this:

Miami Heat vs. Oklahoma City Thunder - Box Score - March 25, 2012 - ESPN

Detroit and Milwaukee seemed to figure out the key to success against Miami fairly well in their last two games.

[Teo9969]

Detroit and Milwaukee seemed to figure out the key to success against Miami fairly well in their last two games.

I mean, sure, they beat Miami...they didn't really find keys to success against the Playoffs Miami Heat. The Christmas Eve game was important to Miami. I'm sure both OKC and Miami used it as the major measuring stick for where they are at for the first 3rd of the season. It looked like playoff basketball. I'm also pretty sure Miami was not concerned at all for Detroit and Milwaukee.

I don't think that Miami cares about having home court, tbh.

[Teo9969]

Our next 11 games are

Phoenix (win)
Brooklyn (winnable)
Philadelphia (win)
@ Toronto (winnable)
@ Washington (winnable)
Minnesota (not a guaranteed win lol)
@ Lakers (probably a loss since they're playing better now)
@ Portland (winnable)
@ Phoenix (winnable)
Denver (win)
@ Dallas (probably a regulation win for Cuban's Contenders)

So based on my opinion, I see us having a solid chance of winning 3 games based on the competition and the fact that they're home games. The others are all toss-ups because we haven't seen our guys play much on the road, other than against inferior teams and even inferior teams have beaten us on the road. If they play like they did against Houston last night, then they'll get to 30 wins easily.

My guess after this 11 game stretch....30 wins with 9 losses... That game in Dallas will be their 10th loss.

I'd say the Denver game is less guaranteed than all of the "winnable" games save for Brooklyn. But I agree, 3 losses, end the stretch 31-9.

[ljbab728]

I'm also pretty sure Miami was not concerned at all for Detroit and Milwaukee.

Right. A team like Miami should be able to beat Detroit and Milwaukee (19 point loss) without being concerned about them. Is that why OKC lost to Minneapolis?

[Teo9969]

Right. A team like Miami should be able to beat Detroit and Milwaukee (19 point loss) without being concerned about them. Is that why OKC lost to Minneapolis?

I don't know that I can really agree to that. The margin for error is not high in any top professional league. In fact, I don't think the spectrum for level of play is very long at all for professional teams. If you don't take your opponent seriously (a luxury you can afford in 80+ game leagues), your odds for winning are not great.

When I say "not concerned about" I mean that the level of focus is not particularly intense. I don't think it's often that a professional team wholesale takes a night off.

[Bellaboo]

Oh yeah cause we barely beat them at home lol

That's why we'll play that game differently the next time. Dallas Sucks !

[Dustin]

Downtown is going to be hoppin' tonight! Thunder game, Barons game, then New Years Celebrations!

[Teo9969]

Didn't get to watch the game, but it seems like Reggie Jackson is really starting to figure it out. If he keeps this up through January, then I think we're seeing the last days of Maynor in a Thunder uniform.

[Bellaboo]

Didn't get to watch the game, but it seems like Reggie Jackson is really starting to figure it out. If he keeps this up through January, then I think we're seeing the last days of Maynor in a Thunder uniform.

I second this, Maynor is not the same player as before the injury, this is his contract year and there obviously was a reason Prestigiocomo didn't offer him a new contract.

[Anonymous.]

Clippers finally lose, OKC best record in the league once again.

[Jake]

Pretty cool:

Media notebook: Oklahoma City Thunder ranks No. 1 in NBA in local TV ratings

[blangtang]

These black and white jerseys-I have trouble telling which player is which. Maybe I need a bigger TV!

[Anonymous.]

Thunder lose to the worst team in the league in DC, for the second season in a row. Something about Washington that has OKC's number.


Granted it was a one handed buzzer beater. But being in that position, the loss is on OKC.

[Teo9969]

They beat Miami fairly frequently too.

Sometimes it's just not your night...when you miss 16 straight shots, not a whole lot you can do to win the game. That OKC was even in the game after not scoring for nearly an entire quarter is impressive.

[Jake]

The Thunder are awful when it comes to perimeter defense, and to an extent, defense in general. It's somewhat concerning.

I don't want the Thunder to be the D'Antoni Suns.

[Anonymous.]

If the team would stop jumping around like goofballs @ every pump fake, things would improve. I think the team gets so amped up on defense, they start soaring all over the court trying to block shots and end up having to avoid hitting the person to commit a foul and then get out of position, or like Russell tonight, hit the guy and he makes it.

[OKCisOK4me]

Based on my earlier prognosis of the next 11 games...they're going to get to 10 losses before 30 wins easily. At least San Antonio lost at New Orleans tonight!

[Teo9969]

The Thunder are awful when it comes to perimeter defense, and to an extent, defense in general. It's somewhat concerning.

I don't want the Thunder to be the D'Antoni Suns.

Awful?

Hollinger's NBA Team Stats - ESPN Insider - National Basketball Association - ESPN

Hardly awful. They've had a bad couple games because honestly, for whatever reason, they seem to be coasting through this stretch. Perkins not playing well defensively is probably driving the lack of great defense...but hey, it's the regular season. They're still a Top 10 team in terms of efficiency. The team, and particularly the defense, will be fine come mid-April.

Also, the lack of perimeter defense has as much to do with bench guards knowing when to help and when not to...Far more often than not, I feel like they are trying to help when they don't need to. Martin is still learning and I still catch him helping inside way too much, but not near as bad as I remember the beginning of the year.

And for all the hell Brooks has caught for not changing up lineups he has done exactly the opposite throughout major stretches of the season. The lineups where Thabo and Russ are on the floor at the same time without KD always seem to be defensive struggles because nobody really knows where to be...Thabo playing the 4 is definitely not something he's used to, and incredibly unlikely to occur come playoff time. However, I don't mind him playing it because it will only enhance his understanding of the defense in the long run.

[Jake]

When you give up 101 points to the statistically worst offensive team in the NBA without their 2 best offensive players, your defense was awful.

I don't really think the Thunder will be the D'Antoni Suns, it's just annoying that the Thunder don't play good defense sometimes when all of their players except Martin have the ability to be at least decent defenders. Obviously the team will have off nights, but the perimeter defense has seemed extremely poor this season. I've watched just about every Thunder game this year and I always seem to hear Brian Davis saying, "And (random opposing shooting guard) with his highest scoring night this season."

Their defensive assignments seem out of whack. Luckily, it's something that's very fixable and most likely will be come playoff time. Hopefully.

[SoonerBoy18]

Based on my earlier prognosis of the next 11 games...they're going to get to 10 losses before 30 wins easily. At least San Antonio lost at New Orleans tonight!

Yes thats why I'll give thunder loss a pass tonight lol

[SoonerBoy18]

Thats 2 consecutive losses to Wizards. Embarrassing.

[OKCisOK4me]

Those two posts totally contradict...

[ljbab728]

Based on my earlier prognosis of the next 11 games...they're going to get to 10 losses before 30 wins easily. At least San Antonio lost at New Orleans tonight!

Let me be the first to tell you that you were wrong. Easily. LOL

[dankrutka]

Based on my earlier prognosis of the next 11 games...they're going to get to 10 losses before 30 wins easily. At least San Antonio lost at New Orleans tonight!

Wow. You're really smart.

30-8