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Winners, Losers In Deadline’s Big Chill

February 21, 2013  ·  6:55PM

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DALLAS – The Big Chill.

If Thursday’s NBA trade deadline was a movie, the audience would have walked out in the middle from boredom. This freeze came straight from the script that is the league’s new collective bargaining agreement — with its harsher luxury tax penalties and diminished roster flexibility for tax offenders — it put the clamps on a stunningly uneventful deadline day.

The big names were on the opening credits: Josh Smith, Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Eric Gordon, Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis.

Yet, when the curtain closed at 3 p.m. ET, Orlando Magic sharpshooter J.J. Redick stole the show as the lone player of significance to switch teams. The Milwaukee Bucks acquired the career 39.8 percent 3-point shooter in a six-player deal that involved five other relatively anonymous NBA names.

Only one potential blockbuster deal percolated, but ultimately died on the vine with the Atlanta Hawks going the distance in an attempt to strike a deal with the Bucks for Smith before pulling back. One reason so few big deals were discussed was simply because there wasn’t much talent realistically in play, a point that goes beyond any ramifications of the CBA.

The CBA that took effect in December 2011, and begins to smack tax-paying teams with stiffer fines next season, has clearly put franchises on the defensive. Teams that were once willing to add salary to consummate a deal no longer are. Teams that once didn’t think twice about sweetening a deal with a first-round pick, suddenly guard them with their lives.

“Cap room and draft picks, which are usually the currency of how these [big] deals get done, were at a huge premium and are something that everyone wants to have,” said Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who steered the most active club at the deadline with a couple of lower-tier deals.

There’s really no greater example of the effect of these changes than the Dallas Mavericks and their braintrust, owner Mark Cuban and president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson. Chronic and strategic over-spenders and tax payers under the old CBA, Cuban, who took on salary in deadline deals for Jason Kidd in 2008 and Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson in 2010, analyzed the new rules and reversed field last year.

He dismantled the 2011 championship team, choosing to covet cap space and the roster flexibility granted to teams that remain under the tax threshold, as well as newfound valuing of first-round draft picks as low-priced labor and trade assets.

It’s a strategy that no longer has the Mavs on speed dial of teams looking to make a deal and dump salary.

“It’s definitely a factor,” Nelson said of the CBA’s chilling effect Thursday after the deadline expired. “There’s no question that folks have their eye on the inevitable, and there’s no question that people are getting their collective houses in order.

“There’s some teams that see that on the horizon and act early, and other teams that will procrastinate and pay a dear price. But I think we’re right in the middle of that. It’s not brand-new news and so, yeah, I think you’re going to see a lot of teams try to correct themselves financially.”

The so-called “repeater” tax really has teams scared. Several clubs tried to deal away lost-cost players to avoid the repeater tax, which will whack franchises with an additional fine if they go over the tax line in three of four seasons. Golden State was successful in this venture. Chicago was not and will pay a luxury tax for the first time since its implementation.

This “repeater” penalty deterred teams from making deals that would have pushed payroll even slightly over the tax line, deals they might have normally green-lighted in the old days. So, is this the way of the future under the current rules?

“I can’t predict the future,” Morey said, “but I think the trend is more this way.”

WINNERS

Rockets: Morey’s stockpiling of assets the last couple years has been questioned, but he’s turned it into quite a haul starting with James Harden prior to the start of the season. The day before the deadline, Morey acquired the No. 5 overall pick, Thomas Robinson, from Sacramento. Morey’s dealing didn’t damage an abundance of cap space next summer that will be used to pursue a top free agent such as Dwight Howard and Josh Smith.

Bucks: GM John Hammond didn’t get his big fish in Smith, but he pulled off the deal for Redick, who should really help a club that’s been skidding down the East standings and needs a boost. Hammond held onto Jennings and Ellis and will have room to maneuver in the summer to add more pieces.

Thunder: GM Sam Presti continues to make shrewd moves. The acquisition of Ronnie Brewer from the New York Knicks for a second-round pick gives OKC another strong perimeter defender to help Thabo Sefolosha.

Celtics: Jordan Crawford might not be Jamal Crawford, but he can score in bunches and Boston was desperate to bolster its injury-ravaged guard backcourt. Boston fans are the winners here, too, with the team’s heart and soul, Garnett and Pierce, staying put.

Mavericks: Sure, on the surface, picking up 3-point specialist Anthony Morrow for defensive-minded guard Dahntay Jones doesn’t sound like much. But then SheridanHoops.com reminded us of this Dwight Howard interview in Russia when he named Morrow as one of a handful of players he’d like to have as a teammate.

Blazers: The team with the leanest bench in the NBA finally got some help in a minor deal that netted OKC guard Eric Maynor, who lost his job early on to Reggie Jackson. Maynor will help Rookie of the Year frontrunner Damian Lillard reduce his 38.5 mpg workload.

LOSERS

Hawks: They didn’t get the deal done to ship out Smith and now it seems they will lose him for nothing in free agency. On one level, however, it’s hard to say that this is a definitive loss. They’ll keep Smith (who might or might not come away from this experience deflated) for the rest of the season, and, with any luck, try to keep him while recruiting friend and fellow Atlantan Howard next summer. If GM Danny Ferry wasn’t pleased with the deals presented, it doesn’t always pay to take something, anything just because in the end you could be left with nothing. If Smith leaves, the Hawks will take the cap space and look to spin it in their favor.

Magic: They deal away a useful player and one they drafted in Redick and hand over his Bird Rights to the Bucks. There was no guarantee that Redick would re-sign with Orlando, but he at least had said the door was open to a return.  The Magic’s Josh McRoberts to Charlotte deal for Hakim Warrick is a head-scratcher.

Knicks: They didn’t upgrade at any position and gave away a solid defender in Brewer, who was starting for the club during their hot start out of the gates, but had slipped out of the rotation. New York did use the roster vacancy to sign veteran power forward Kenyon Martin.

Nets: They failed to land another high-priced player in Smith and failed to unload one of their own, Kris Humphries.

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Can Thunder Just Blow Off Westbrook Outburst?

February 1, 2013  ·  11:54AM

 

HANG TIME SOUTHWEST – Is it just the dog days of a long season? Are the Thunder bored? Or are the Oklahoma City boys spending too much time together at the frat house?

We’ve been seeing some odd behavior lately from the reigning Western Conference champs. Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka have sniped at each other on the court, more than once, of late. And in Thursday’s 106-89 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, Russell Westbrook absolutely blew his top.

OK, so maybe Westbrook going all hot-head isn’t all that odd. But, he added a new twist when he stormed off the bench during the game to seek refuge and cool off in an arena tunnel. Getting things started was Westbrook barking at teammate Thabo Sefolosha, then putting up a shot so wild that coach Scott Brooks had to pull his All-Star point guard with just under eight minutes to go in the third quarter.

After a brief sitdown next to assistant coach Maurice Cheeks, Westbrook stood up, flipped a chair out of his way and marched off the floor.

At the time, he was having a tremendous game, too. The Thunder were leading 65-44 and Westbrook had 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting. When he left, Memphis went on a 20-10 run. When Westbrook returned to start the fourth quarter it was if nothing happened. He continued his strong play and helped the Thunder increase their lead.

He finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Afterward, TNT’s Craig Sager caught up with Westbrook in the Thunder locker room for a brief exchange.

Sager: What got you so upset?

Westbrook: Nothing, just a little miscommunication.

Sager: Between you and Thabo?

Westbrook: Nah. Just miscommunication.

Sager: At times do you think you need to control your temper more?

Westbrook: I control it like a man, like I did.

Sager: What’s that mean?

Westbrook: (doesn’t answer)

Sager: Put it behind you and go ahead and win?

Westbrook: If that’s what you say, bro.

Perhaps Oklahoman columnist Barry Tramel puts it best:

And maybe the basketball world will be better off if we accept what Westbrook is. Part hot hand, part hothead. Uncorrallable, not just by NBA opponents, but by Thunder brass.

“There’s no question he was frustrated with himself,” Brooks said. “Russell’s an emotional guy … not trying to downplay that. He has to be able to control his frustration. But that’s part of it.”

Exactly. Westbrook’s wild emotions are part of it. Maybe those wild emotions help make him who he is. Which is a ballplayer so good, he can wipe out the NBA’s best of the West the way Peter Pan took care of Captain Hook.

Only this type of disruptive behavior has been going on for years now, dating back to Game 2 of the 2011 Western Conference finals when Brooks benched Westbrook for the entire fourth quarter at Dallas and played Eric Maynor instead.

At some point, Brooks and his staff have to gain some control over Westbrook and his temper, or it will rear its ugly head during the postseason for a team that now has just one goal: NBA championship.

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Subtracting Harden Adds Up For OKC

December 30, 2012  ·  1:35PM

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HOUSTON – Comfortable in a new city and a new role as top gun of the Rockets’ offense, James Harden seems on his way to his first appearance amid the glitz and glamor of the NBA All-Star Game.

Of course, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have already been there, done that, more than once, and will likely return to the Toyota Center for another go-around on Feb. 17. But really they have their sights set only on another shiny object — the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

And the seemingly counterintuitive truth is the Thunder might actually be closer to achieving that goal without their former running mate.

In other words: No Harden, no problem.

That is not in any way to diminish the skill and work ethic of Harden, who has been everything the Rockets hoped for and more. He can weave through traffic, find his way to the basket and draw fouls almost in his sleep. He pull up and stab in a 3-point dagger from almost any place over the half-court line. He has been the confident, veteran force who has been able to lift the Rockets onto his shoulders and carry them through fourth quarters as a foundation to build upon while they continue to shape a young supporting cast.

Yet Harden’s departure just might enable the Thunder to become even better and take the last step to winning a title.

For one, there is no underestimating the ease with which his replacement Kevin Martin has slid into Harden’s old spot. He can move without the ball, can score efficiently by drawing a high rate of fouls and is, in fact, even a better spot-up shooter in the Thunder offense.

“To be able to find the open spots in the defense, take a pass and just knock it down is very important to the way we want to play,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. “I was familiar with some of Kevin Martin’s game and knew he was a scorer, but I didn’t really know he was a spot-up guy until he came here. It’s been a significant addition to our team.”

Perhaps more significant, the departure of Harden has forced Durant to take on more of an all-around role in the OKC offense. While his scoring is down slightly this season, his assists and his assist/turnover ratio has improved. It seems he is becoming even more effective as a facilitator, drawing defenses to him and finding his open teammates.

There are still going to be those nights when Durant can and will fill up the bucket for 40 or 50. But without Harden to come off the bench and provide an offensive burst of his own, Durant been much more effective in getting the rest of his teammates — Serge Ibaka, Thabo Sefolosha, Nick Collison and Martin — more involved on a more consistent basis. By subtracting Harden from the equation, Durant has had to become a more well-rounded player, even more of a leader, and the Thunder have gone from a three-headed monster to overall better team and

In two games against his former team, Harden has shot just 9-for-33 (27.2 percent) while averaging 21 points.

“James was really good for us,” said Brooks. “He’s a terrific player. He’s an All-Star player. He’s definitely at that level, and he’s going to be that way for many, many, many years. He still has improvement to make in his game and he’s really good now. But we never looked at it that way. We looked at it as whoever we have we’re going to get better with them and move forward.”

No Harden, no problem.

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LeBron Goes Double Duty In Win Over Thunder

December 26, 2012  ·  12:13AM

MIAMI – It’s comical now, downright laugh-out-loud funny, to think that 18 months ago LeBron James was the game’s biggest choke artist. A fourth-quarter fraud. A traitorous villain. A stone temple of a body with a head made of mush.

Yeah, whatever.

As Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony added to their early MVP resumes and entertained fans on the left coast with a mid-day Christmas classic, James followed on the main stage 2,300 miles away with yet another splendid performance that not only saw him narrowly miss a triple-double (29 points, nine assists and eight rebounds), but for 39 minutes hound three-time scoring champ and MVP candidate in his own right, Kevin Durant.

It’s not typical to highlight a defensive performance when the opposition scores 33 points, 25 in the second half and 14 in the fourth quarter, and shoots better than 50 percent (11-for-21). Yet, it’s impossible to say that James did anything short of a terrific job contesting everything, which speaks to the level Durant is at and the difficulty and variety of shots he made, from floaters to a pump-fake bank from the right block to an array of fallaways and turnarounds.

But it was a slow burn for Durant, and it hurt Oklahoma City. Durant got off one shot attempt in the first quarter and was in foul trouble quickly, a trend that goes back to the championship series. Durant picked up two in the first quarter — perhaps a cheap second one — and a third foul late in the first half. Two of three were charged on the offensive end.

With the exception of a few possessions manned by Shane Battier, a career defensive specialist, James checked Durant from the opening tip to the final 10 seconds when the three-time defending MVP bodied Durant out beyond the arc and forced a long-range leaner that didn’t go.

“I felt like I played great defense,” James said regarding Durant’s final shot. “If he makes that shot then we’ll live with it.”

Durant’s dynamic teammate Russell Westbrook will catch some grief for a couple of wild drives late that resulted in lost possessions, and for his errant 3-pointer going for the tie that he launched from in front of the Thunder bench with still more than five seconds on the clock. He thought he was fouled by a closing Dwyane Wade, but had the whistle blown it could have gone against Westbrook for sticking out his leg.

The Heat held on 103-97, their fifth consecutive victory over the Thunder going back to the Finals.

After James showered and was the final member of the Heat to make a post-game appearance in the locker room, his freshness belied the massive energy he had just exerted in a game that stretched for nearly three hours and was played as intensely at both ends as they come in the regular season.

“I’m tired as hell right now. Every bit of it,” James said. “I guard him the whole game and I still have to be able to make plays for our team offensively, but that’s what my calling is. I love playing defense just as well as I play on offense. Hey, whatever it takes to help us win.”

The Heat have now won five in a row, a streak that coincides with a determination to again put defense first. At 19-6, they tied Oklahoma City (21-6) and the Clippers (22-6) in the loss column with the fewest defeats in the league. While Melo and the New York Knicks are a great story in these first two months, the Heat are the class of the East. Spare me how the Knicks have already taken down the Heat — twice.

And out West, yes, the Lakers have won five straight and hope springs eternal again with the exciting return of Steve Nash. But can the Lakers or anybody else — perhaps that other L.A. team — possess the combination of speed, size and athleticism as the Thunder?

These two teams, each with a transcendent, physically freakish star that can’t be stopped, the supporting superstars in Westbrook and Wade, who reach a consistent speed of play above everyone else, appear headed for a consecutive Finals showdown. And who knows after that, as whispers of a 1980s-style Lakers-Celtics rivalry can’t be ignored.

“Our teams mirror each other, but you really can’t say right now,” Durant said. “There’s so many good teams, you never know what could happen. Of course, that’s a sexier matchup as far as LeBron and me, and Russell and D-Wade, Serge [Ibaka] and Chris Bosh, of course that’s the matchup everybody wants to see. You never know.”

It should scare the rest of the league. And the Thunder should be concerned that they continue to play the Heat close, but can’t catch them. Tuesday’s game could have turned on multiple plays. A defensive mixup led to James’ laser pass inside to a wide-open Bosh with 25.5 seconds to go for a 98-95 Heat lead as Durant, Westbrook and Kendrick Perkins turned in disgust.

Before that, Westbrook missed two drives and Kevin Martin came up short on another with 1:30 to go and the Thunder down three. Maybe next time Heat point guard Mario Chalmers, who averages 7.1 points a game and hadn’t scored more than 12 this season, won’t go off for 20 points and hit four 3-pointers.

It was Durant who had the 6-2 Chalmers much of the time, while Thabo Sefolosha and Westbrook were tasked with James and Wade. But the 6-11 Durant often strayed, cheating into the paint and leaving Chalmers alone, and he made the Thunder pay. As he did with 25 points in Game 4 of the Finals.

Such a scenario would seem to be advantageous for OKC, allowing Durant to concentrate on the offensive end while James carries the burden of going all out at both ends on every possession.

“That’s why LeBron is the best player on the earth,” Battier said. “He’s a two-way player, the best on both sides of the ball. That’s what makes him legendary.”

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Thunder Jolting Foes At Both Ends

December 8, 2012  ·  2:28AM

 

OKLAHOMA CITY — Talk to me about the Los Angeles Lakers about a dozen games after the next time Steve Nash and Pau Gasol lace up their sneakers on the same night. Then we’ll see if this teetering Lake Show soap ultimately goes tragedy or action thriller.

On Friday night at a rocking and raucous Chesapeake Energy Arena, where they’re already primed for the playoffs, the humble hometown servants were once again dynamite. The surging Oklahoma City Thunder singed the short-handed Lakers 114-108 for a seventh consecutive victory.

It wasn’t as close as the final score looks, with the game effectively put at arm’s length with OKC’s electric, 41-point second-quarter.

So let’s forget for a moment the team that generates daily headlines and focus on those quiet defending Western Conference champs. Give the wheezing team that’s riding a determined Kobe Bryant into the ground a rest, and concentrate on the club that continues to ascend on the massive wings of its dynamic young superstars, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, neither of whom have even entered their prime.

Twenty games in and it certainly appears that any overreaction to the James Harden trade five days before the season’s first tip was just that. The Beard will always be loved in OKC, but missed? Well, you wouldn’t know it.

While Harden was putting up 29 points for his Houston Rockets and getting whacked in San Antonio, his old mates up I-35 were delivering a spectacular whooping that started with Westbrook’s scintillating pop-a-shot 27-point first half (he finished with 33 points, including a career-best five 3-pointers, eight assists and just two turnovers) and ended with Kevin Durant applying the finishing-touch free throws on a 36-point, nine-rebound, four-assist demolition.

“That’s easy to say,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said when asked if his team should have defended Westbrook better during his 14-point, four assist free-for-all in the second quarter. “I don’t think anybody in this group is going to guard him.”

And that includes Nash when he comes back. But forget about that for now.

Yes, the Thunder fall into those lulls that trim big leads into not-as-big leads, as was the case Friday. And there’s still “Russ The Wild Roller Coaster Ride” where 10-for-16 and 27 points in the first half and 2-for-10 and six points in the second half is possible.

So be it. This juggernaut is averaging a league-best 106.2 points, so find me anyone who’s complaining.

All-in-all, the Thunder made no statements of superiority on this night. They needed to beat an injured Lakers team that dropped to 9-11 and 2-6 on the road. But what they did do was continue their evolution as an all-around basketball team.

Offensively, OKC moves the ball swiftly and effectively as any team, a development that lends credit to Harden’s replacement, Kevin Martin, who spreads the floor and has buried nearly half his 3-point attempts, and the expanded range of Serge Ibaka, an elite shot-blocker whose scoring has spiked from 9.1 points last season to 14.4 and a career-best 59.5 percent accuracy rate.

Westbrook is averaging nearly nine assists a game, putting him in the rare air of the game’s best passers. As a team, the Thunder has risen from last in the league in assists to seventh. They had 10 on 15 baskets in the second quarter as Durant, Westbrook and Martin combined to outscore L.A. 35-26 and dish two more dimes.

“Our offense has always been a drive-and-kick,” said Durant. “We have so many good one-on-one players and with adding Kevin Martin, he’s more of a spot-up, catch-and-go type of guy, so we’re getting assists from him, and Serge [Ibaka] is shooting the ball well. Everybody’s just moving the ball.”

The defensive end, rarely discussed as a weapon, is also surging. OKC’s defensive rating has risen from top 10 last season to top five. Examples: After Durant’s 3-pointer made it 83-66 in the third quarter, Westbrook pressured full-court and denied Lakers guard Chris Duhon the inbounds pass. Two minutes later, with Durant draped on Kobe, who grinded out every one his team-high 35 points, Westbrook trapped and nearly forced a steal.

When Durant wasn’t enveloping Kobe with his spindly limbs, defensive specialist Thabo Sefalosha had a hand in his face. Quick hands and quicker rotations forced turnovers and missed shots and opened the floor for layups and dunks the other way.

Three steals and 14 missed Lakers shots led to 20 Thunder fastbreak points in the warp-speed second quarter.

“I told our guys that we have to really lock into the defensive end and I told them we really have to play with our hands,” OKC coach Scott Brooks said. That’s how we’ve always been a good team — deflections, steals, blocks, rebounds and go. And I thought that second quarter we did that as well as we did throughout that game.”

The Thunder rank second in field-goal defense (42.9 percent) and despite the Lakers’ inflated point total with 33 coming in the final period, OKC held them below 40 percent shooting for much of the game.

Because of their explosive offense, the Thunder probably don’t get enough credit for their defense, even though three starters are more geared to that end — Sefolosha, Kendrick Perkins and Ibaka. Brooks said his defending West champs, so dynamic and explosive on the offensive end, are growing tougher on the other end.

That should scare the Lakers and a whole lot of other teams.

“I don’t know where we’re rated [defensively], I just know we’re good because that’s all we focus on,” Brooks said. “Are we better? I think we’re better. It all comes down to toughness. If we play tough, we can get stops.”

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Thunder Get Their Signature Win

November 22, 2012  ·  10:38AM

 

HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – Kevin Martin was off to a hot start with his new team, and the Oklahoma City Thunder were a solid 8-3 (tied for the fourth-best record in the league) through Tuesday. But something was missing.

None of OKC’s eight wins were all that impressive, the Thunder had played the third-easiest schedule in the league, and they had lost their only two games against real contenders (San Antonio and Memphis).

But on Wednesday, OKC hosted the Los Angeles Clippers, the only team in the league that ranks in the top five in both offensive and defensive efficiency. And in a game that may have got lost in all the League Pass drama that we saw Wednesday night, the Thunder got their signature win.

It wasn’t a dominant performance on either end of the floor, and the Clippers had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation. But the Thunder will take the victory no matter the circumstances, because they really did want that notch on their belt, as Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman writes…

Not a soul on Oklahoma City’s side would dare confess to it before the game.

But the fact remained.

The Thunder needed a win Wednesday in the worse way. Not because wins have been in short supply this season, but because quality wins against quality opponents have been non-existent, calling into question how good this revamped Thunder team really is in the early part of this season.

“This is our 12th game,” Kevin Durant rebutted 90 minutes prior to tip. “It’s November.”

For once, the Thunder didn’t play like it.

Facing the red hot Los Angeles Clippers, the Thunder strung together one of its best performances yet and watched it result in an encouraging 117-111 overtime victory before a raucous sellout crowd of 18,203 inside Chesapeake Energy Arena.

“It was like a playoff game…in November,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks.

Chris Paul played his worst game of the season (nine points on 2-for-14 shooting), but as Mayberry notes in his blog, Thabo Sefolosha had a lot to do with that…

Thabo Sefolosha was the player of this game. Scott Brooks did exactly what I thought he should do and that was start Sefolosha on Chris Paul and move Russell Westbrook to Willie Green. Not only did Brooks start the game that way, but he also stuck to it for the majority of the night. I said going in that Sefolosha had the potential to be the biggest difference-maker because of what he might be able to do with his defense and he turned in a terrific performance. By hounding Paul with size, length and relentlessness, Sefolosha disrupted the Clippers’ rhythm from the start and helped force Paul into one of his worst nights as a pro. Job well done.

The Thunder still have issues. Their starters struggle to score and their bench struggles to defend. Though they’ve won three straight games, they’ve allowed their opponents to score 110 points per 100 possessions over the last four. Despite their easy early schedule, they currently rank 12th in the league in defensive efficiency. And as we saw last year, that’s not good enough.

But the Thunder now have a victory they can hang their hat on. Next up is a trip to Boston and Philadelphia, their first multi-game trip of the season. Though neither team is currently at their best, road wins are always good wins. So the opportunity is there for OKC to continue to build some momentum toward their first matchup with L.A.’s other team on Dec. 7.

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Dumb Fouls Undo Thunder

June 18, 2012  ·  12:30AM

MIAMI – The Oklahoma City Thunder were in control of Game 3 of the 2012 Finals. Kevin Durant (four fouls) and Russell Westbrook (too much dribbling) went to the bench with just over five minutes to go in the third quarter, but Derek Fisher‘s four-point play put the Thunder up 64-54 with 4:33 left in the period.

A minute later, OKC was still up nine, surviving without their two best players on the floor. And then things fell apart.

On the next Miami Heat possession, the Thunder played a zone defense for the first time in the series. That, in itself, wasn’t the problem. The Heat took some time to figure out what they were doing.

Then, with eight seconds on the shot clock, LeBron James took a dribble toward the basket from the right wing. Serge Ibaka stopped James from getting into the paint and James fed the ball to Shane Battier in the near corner. As Battier released a shot, Ibaka flew into him, a reverse cross body-block of sorts.

Both guys hit the floor, referee Joey Crawford whistled Ibaka for the foul, and Battier headed to the line for three free throw attempts.



Battier made all three freebies and the Oklahoma City lead was down to six. Then Thabo Sefolosha took an awful shot (from the left wing with his toes on the 3-point line and with 10 seconds on the shot clock) that missed everything.

(more…)

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Anatomy Of A Thrilling 1:47

June 15, 2012  ·  2:13AM





OKLAHOMA CITY – If you thought Game 1 of the 2012 NBA Finals was exciting, Game 2 was all that and more.

Another fast start from the Miami Heat, another comeback from the Oklahoma City Thunder, and several minutes of nail-biting action down the stretch.

After Russell Westbrook tipped in a Kevin Durant fast-break miss, the Heat called timeout with a 94-91 lead and 1:47 on the clock. At that point, LeBron James was 0-for-2 from the field in the fourth quarter and Kevin Durant had been playing with five fouls since the 10:31 mark.

Here’s a breakdown of the next nine possessions, which would ultimately give the Heat some life in this series. (more…)

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Sefolosha Does Double-Duty Defense

June 13, 2012  ·  1:37AM





OKLAHOMA CITY — There was lots of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, as usual, and the quick-strike transition baskets that we’ve all come to associate with the Thunder as their trademark. But more than anything else in Game 1, we also learned OKC can play some OKD.

And that defense started and ended with Thabo Sefolosha, who had the wonderful task of checking Dwyane Wade for much of three quarters, then LeBron James in the fourth. Imagine, a guy who isn’t even the best defender on his team, being asked to slow two players who represent roughly 80 percent of the Miami offense. And he took down both. Chop, chop.

“I told myself I can do this,” Sefolosha said.

This was a powerful opening statement by the Thunder, out-defending a better defensive team, essentially beating the Heat at their own game. Miami had 40 points in the second half, where they lost the lead, their grip and the game, 105-94. OKC protected the rim, which forced Miami to take jumpers that fell in the first half but whiffed in the second. When that happened, it was a wrap — both defensively and in terms of the final outcome. The loss will certainly send the Heat scrambling to find a way to adjust by Thursday.

“Our players demand (defense) out of each other and out timeouts are always about defense,” said coach Scott Brooks.

Defense. That’s what Sefolosha’s about, too. He’s quickly earning a rep for accepting any assignment, no matter the player. Last series, he silenced Tony Parker in the second half of Game 6 to clinch the West title. Then came Wade, who shot only four-for-14 in the first three quarters, and finally James, who missed four of his six shots in the fourth and never took over the game as promised. To summarize, Sefolosha went from dee-ing up a quick point guard to a slashing two-guard to the league MVP. (more…)

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Sefolosha Steps Into Finals Spotlight

June 11, 2012  ·  9:01AM





HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – Not everything about The Finals matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat will center on the respective “Big Threes” both teams will unleash on one another.

There will be room for other men to step into the global spotlight The Finals always brings. And who better to fit into that void than Thabo Sefolosha, the Thunder’s swingman, defensive specialist and the only Swiss player ever drafted into the NBA?

He will, after all, spend the majority of his time in the next four to seven games chasing either Dwyane Wade or LeBron James around the court. And that should result in an abundance of face time with the world’s basketball-loving public, the likes of which Sefolosha hasn’t experienced yet in his career.

His work on the defensive end in The Finals will be crucial to the Thunder’s cause, since he could alleviate that pressure for All-Stars Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.

Sefolosha has cut his teeth this postseason on some of the league’s best offensive talents, having had to deal with Lakers star Kobe Bryant in the conference semifinals and Spurs star Tony Parker in the conference finals.

(more…)

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