Tag: Oklahoma City Thunder (Page 8 of 15)

      Scott Brooks named Coach of the Year

      April 21, 2010 /

      Per NBA.com…

      Back when the Thunder were 3-29 last season, the notion of the playoffs coming to Oklahoma City any time soon was unimaginable.

      But it was that same miserable stretch that made general manager Sam Presti confident that coach Scott Brooks was the right man to lead his team into the future.

      While Oklahoma City struggled to the worst start in the NBA, Presti was impressed by the way Brooks stayed the course and never tried to force immediate changes in hopes of making the Thunder better. He has now taken the youngest roster in the league and turned the team into a 50-game winner and a playoff team just one season after the horrendous start.

      For that best-in-the NBA turnaround, Brooks was recognized Wednesday as the NBA’s coach of the year. He received 71 of 123 first-place votes and 480 points to finish ahead of Milwaukee’s Scott Skiles (26 first-place votes, 313 points) and Portland’s Nate McMillan (9, 107).

      I thought that the race between Brooks and Skiles would be closer. Before the season, the over/under for Bucks’ wins was 28.5 while the Thunder had an over/under of 34.5. Milwaukee exceeded its total by 17.5, while Oklahoma City was +15.5. Granted, the Eastern Conference isn’t as strong as the West, but that was taken into account when the oddsmakers made the initial line. To Vegas, the Bucks were a bigger surprise, and let’s not forget that Skiles led his team to 46 wins without a transcendent, on-the-rise player like Kevin Durant or even a single All-Star. And he lost Michael Redd early in the season.

      Brooks did a hell of a job this year, but I think Skiles’ overall season was a bit better. But maybe I’m just a Bucks homer.


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      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News

      Phil is in Durant’s kitchen

      April 21, 2010 /

      Last week, Phil Jackson said that Kevin Durant gets too many calls and the third-year superstar took umbrage. Now it’s a thing and Durant is showing irritation when he gets asked about it repeatedly.

      The easy-going Oklahoma City Thunder star became riled up when responding to yet another question about his reaction to Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who last week criticized officials for how the call the game for Durant.

      And so when Durant was asked once again whether he overreacted to Jackson, Durant, well, overreacted.

      “Do you think I overreacted?” Durant asked the reporter, who responded by saying he didn’t know.

      “Are you one of them?” Durant continued. “Nah, I didn’t overreact. Why, because I’m a third-year player I can’t say nothing back to Phil Jackson? I’m standing up for myself and what I believe in. I really don’t say nothing to too many people in this league who say stuff about me and our team and how I play and how we play. But I felt I had to say something back.

      “I’m always quiet. I’m always nice and (respectful) to other people, not just on the basketball floor but off the basketball floor, like you guys. But I felt at that time I had to take up for myself. It is what it is. It’s over with. It had nothing to do with this series.”

      Phil Jackson has taken residence in Durant’s kitchen and it doesn’t look like he’s leaving anytime soon. Had Durant simply said something like “Phil’s a great coach and he’s entitled to his opinion” and left it at that, the story would have died quickly. Instead, he got defensive and it became a bigger story that is going to follow him around for the rest of the series, maybe longer.


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      NBA, NBA Finals, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Gasol and Bynum pivotal in Lakers’ win over Thunder

      April 18, 2010 /

      I had a feeling the Lakers were going to come out and play the best basketball they had in months. Actually, most fans probably demanded it, considering the team had been playing with the intensity of a turtle. In defeating the Thunder 87-79 on Sunday, it looks like they’re back on track.

      It was clear from the opening drive that the Lakers knew how important this game was. In the first quarter, the defending champions chose their shots wisely, consistently looking for the open man and finding him. For the first time all year, Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum ran the offense as a team, and it effectively stunned the Thunder when it mattered most. Kobe wasn’t worried about putting up numbers, and distributed the ball with an ability we often forget he contains. He routinely fed the ball down low to the big men, Gasol and Bynum. Both were aggressive, yet Bynum was a pleasant surprise after missing the last 13 games. The two combined for 32 points and 25 rebounds as the Thunder struggled to neutralize them.

      Still, the Thunder did play well defensively overall — the team just couldn’t match the Lakers on the other end of the court. I could say Artest and Kobe shut down Kevin Durant, but that wasn’t the case, as the scoring champion still tallied 24 points. While that’s seven points under his league average, it wasn’t greater than the differential in their loss. Instead, their 3-point shooting and weakness down in the post caused them problems. The Thunder were only 2-16 from behind the arc and were blocked nine times.

      And now, a prophetic death knell for the Thunder: Laker coach Phil Jackson has never lost a series after winning the first game. He’s 45-0, in fact, and should feel confident about this one given his team’s recent performance.

      NBA, NBA Finals

      Durant played right into Phil’s hand

      April 15, 2010 /

      What in the hell am I talking about, you ask? If you haven’t heard, Phil Jackson told the press that Kevin Durant gets too many calls, and the 21-year-old responded by saying that he felt disrespected.

      Rumors & Rants says that Durant fell into the Zen Master’s trap.

      Look man, I know you’re a great player, hell the whole world knows you’re a great player and Phil Jackson is definitely aware of the kind of player you are. You think he just tossed that line out there to be disrespectful? Dude, the guy is the Zen master. He’s won 10 championships. He didn’t do that by just randomly disrespecting opponents. He’s planting a line in the media to get you to respond and you allowed yourself to be played. You jumped right in to his game.

      What you should have done was respond with something like this: “Well that’s his opinion. He’s a great coach, he’s earned the right to express his opinion.” Bingo, end of discussion. Instead of a throw-away story that would have died after a day or two, now this is going to balloon up and become THE story of the Thunder’s first round matchup with the defending champions.

      Now it’s on your shoulders to prove him wrong. Now everyone will be focused on how you play and how you respond if the officials don’t give you the kind of calls you’ve become accustomed to. And now the officials are going to be in the spotlight and will be criticized one way or the other for how they call the games.

      Instead of just disappearing this has become a full-fledged incident. Jackson knew exactly what he was doing and you became his latest patsy.

      No arguments here. We’ll see if Durant plays better, worse or the same now that he and Jackson are at odds.


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      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals, News, Rumors & Gossip

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