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Tag Archive - Serge Ibaka

NBA Outsourcing – Week 4

November 3, 2011 in by with 0 Comments

Photo from Scott_Calleja via Flickr

Despite the star of last week’s NBA Outsourcing, Craig Brackins, resting with his Maccabi Ashdod teammates during their week off (the odd result of an 11 team league), there was plenty of action in Israeli basketball this week.

Hapoel Jerusalem lost their second straight game, 95-93 at home to Ironi Ashkelon, in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicates. Ashkelon was carried early on by the hot shooting of ex-Hapoel guard Amit Simhon (14, all in the first half) to go up 9 at half time, and the rest of the second half was conducted in the 7 to 12 range for most of the game, but a furious rally in the last 4 minutes gave them a shot at the W. Alas, veteran forward and notorious sharpshooter Moshe Mizrahi missed an off balance 3 with the buzzer.

I’m sorry, did I say furious rally? I meant comedy of errors. Ashkelon did everything in their power to give the game away in the final stretch – from an unforced out-of-bounds, to D.J. Strawberry drawing a charge from Raviv Limonad with the ball yet to enter play, to a 3 on 0 fast break that was blown by a travel, to Marco Killingsworth – who completely and utterly abused Jarvis Varnado in the post with his bulk and his quickness en route to 16 points – fouling out. Hapoel replied with some utterly insane 3 pointers by mercurial guard Yuval Naimi, including one to cut the lead to 94-93 with 18 seconds left that had such an arc that it scraped the rafters, but was left one bullet too short.

Prior to the final stretch, Jerusalem continued their campaign for exclusive rights over isolations, with coach Oded Katash seemingly refusing to call any offensive play, sans the occasional feeble high screen. Jerusalem looked like an absolute mess, and their offense from breaking down only by random flashes of individual brilliance from Strawberry (who continues to be both unstoppable going to the rim and a far better jump shooter than he was in his NBA days, going for 24-5-5 and drawing 9 fouls), Naimi (non-existent in the first half, on fire in the second, 20 points and 11 shots overall), and – at long last – Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley.

I won’t lie to you – Bradley wasn’t perfect. His outside shot was way off, shooting only 2 for 6 from three (and while I don’t have the stats to back it up, he was probably even worse on long twos), with 2 of those misses not even connecting with the rim. Bradley also displayed too much of a tendency to go one on one – though again, I blame coaching for that more than poor Avery, since the entire team was predicated on nothing but boneheaded selfishness.

However, Bradley was a force going to the rim, finishing in traffic again and again en route to 21 points, including some of the games best highlights – a beautiful, if clumsy, 2 on 1 fast break with Strawberry that ended in a dunk and a foul, and an alley-oop of a half court pass from Naimi.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pddISZ5e4I&feature=youtu.be]

Bradley was also solid defensively, putting pressure on ball handlers and even recording a sick block, though he seemed quite incapable of understanding how backdoor cuts work, getting beat quite a bit off the ball. All in all, a solid showing from Bradley, who is even more athletic than I remembered.

However, it seems like Bradley’s tenure in Jerusalem is coming to an end despite his improved second game. Bradley originally signed a contract for only 2 months, and will reportedly exercise his option to return stateside after Monday’s game against Barak Netanya. Though I am very sad about this turn of events, Hapoel probably won’t hurt too much, as Strawberry has a very strong hold over the shooting guard spot and Bradley isn’t really a natural point.

Back to the game, Dwayne Mitchell had 18 points, 12 boards and 6 assists for the winners in an impressive display all-around display of strength and smarts for Ashkelon, who also got 16 from former Spartan Raymar Morgan. Luke Jackson had 0 points and 5 fouls in 19 minutes and is absolutely awful.

My Dad has started calling Luke Jackson "Fluke Jackson" on a full time basis. Yeah, he's not working out for Hapoel.
October 31, 2011 11:52 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@noamschiller
Noam Schiller

Elsewhere, Sacramento forward (or is it still Cleveland forward? Did the lockout freeze time or not?) J.J. Hickson had his Israeli League debut for Bnei HaSharon/Herzelia against Hapoel Holon, and did so in classic J.J. Hickson fashion. As expected, Hickson was far too athletic to be stopped offensively, as he powered his way towards 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists that should come as quite a surprise to astute NBA watchers. Of course, this is J.J. Hickson we’re talking about, so these stats came in an astonishing 39 point loss.

It’s hard to articulate just how bad Bnei HaSharon were defensively, and Hickson was a huge part of the downfall. The team gave up 62 points in the first half, and were down 98-60 after three quarters – and this is a 40 minute game. Hickson, on his part, was dominated down low by Bryant Dunston (29 and 14), and seemed completely clueless as to guarding the pick and roll. In a certain notable 3rd quarter stretch, two consecutive Holon pick and rolls ended in two consecutive dunks by Hickson’s man, the second of which seeing Hickson standing helplessly at the upper left elbow. For more Hickson, check out what I hope becomes a weekly feature over at Cowbell Kingdom.

Dunston was hardly the only Holon player to dominate offensively. Ron Lewis was incapable of missing jumpers (27, 5 of 6 from long range), and Patrick Stewart and Tasmin Mitchell threw in 19 and 18, respectively. But the mastermind behind the show was point guard Moran Roth, who recorded a career high 15 assists to go with his 12 points.

Maccabi Haifa finally got their first win of the season, handily beating Hapoel Gilboa/Galil 90-77 behind a dominant 32 points from Sylven Landesberg. I only caught the final few seconds of this match, as I was in the midst of returning home from a very distraught Malcha (Jerusalem’s home arena), but it seems Sean Williams finally had his A game on as well, playing an incredible 36 minutes without fouling out, and posting an impressive statline of 21 points (on 10 shots, though for some reason he attempted two threes), 7 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals and 5 blocks. Carlos Powell scored 20 of his own, Courtney Fells was pretty much left on an island for the losing squad with 22.

Finally, Jordan Farmar had another inconsistent week. In Saturday’s 78-67 win over Partizan Belgrade, the second such win in 3 days over Nikola Pekovic (23 points) and co., Farmar had a solid game, scoring 14 points on 8 shots and puppeteering the offense with 7 assists. Farmar proceeded to have an awful game in a too-close-for-comfort 87-85 squeaker over Barak Netanya, scoring only 6 points on 1-5 shooting (as well as 3-8 from the line) and fouling out in 24 minutes. Luckily for Jordan, 20 points apiece from Sofoklis Schortsanitis and Guy Pnini was enough for Maccabi to overcome an excellent game from Christian Burns.

All was forgiven, though, as Farmar produced at the highest possible level against a stacked Real Madrid squad, in a game that ended just minutes ago. Farmar was aggressive from the get go, getting to the rim for layups 3 times in the first 150 seconds of the game, which set the tone early for a 88-82 victury that felt more like an onslaught. Real stayed close thanks to some hot 3 point shooting, mostly from former Utah State guard Jaycee Carroll (4 of 5 from 3, 18 points), but the Spanish offense seemed out of sync all game, as Rudy Fernandez (13 points, 4-12 shooting) led what seemed like a team effort of taking hard shots over working for good ones.

Serge Ibaka, in his Real debut, was mostly frozen out of the offense, getting his 9 points off free throws and offensive rebounds between off ball screens. Former Warriors draft pick Richard Hendrix did a good job of frustrating Ibaka when he did get involved, as the OKC forward let quite a few loose balls slip between his fingers, and Sofo (16 points in 21 minutes) gave him a handful on defense as well.

But above all stood Farmar. Getting to the rim again and again, the Nets guard seemingly refused to accept a result that wasn’t a made basket or a drawn foul, often going for both. Farmar finished with 27 points on 10-12 shooting, drew 8 fouls, and threw in 4 boards, 5 assists, and the game clinching steal, up 5 points with 25 seconds left. A magnificent all around performance, by far his best since his defection to Europe.

Shot Fiction: Serge Ibaka Joins The Stars

October 20, 2011 in by with 1 Comment

Photo from Skiwalker79 via Flickr

ORLANDO Feb. 26 Serge Ibaka crossed the court of the Amway Center in a state of complete and total awareness.

The locker room had never felt so far away. Every sense he had felt heightened, burdened to the max by the power of the venue and the occasion. His ears were burning with the sounds of fans making their way towards the concession stands, mixed with the remnants of the sting from the halftime buzzer. His eyes focused on Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant as they too walked towards the locker room, just a few feet in front of him. In the corner of his left eye he saw an ever jolly Craig Sager – in a horrendous green and purple suit topped off with a red tie – interviewing a sweating Blake Griffin, and above them he saw the shimmering scoreboard lights that read “West – 74, East – 68″. His shoulders felt heavy under the weight of his first ever all-star jersey, and his mouth was completely dry. Every step felt like a miscalculation. He didn’t even know if he belonged.

To be fair, though he was still somewhat of a work in progress, Serge had made major strides this season. The new and improved mid-range jumper he developed in his summer Eurobasket stint would come (34 points, 8 of 11 from 16 to 23 feet against Sacramento) and go (4 points, 2 of 13 from the field against Dallas) as it pleased, and he still had very little non-dunking offensive game without it. But he was the main force behind the league’s second best per-possession defensive squad (those pesky Thibsy Bulls just couldn’t be usurped), leading the league in blocks per game (3.4), approaching double-digit rebounds (9.6), and even showing the courage to yell directions at Kendrick Perkins.

And yet, in the deep West, it didn’t feel to him like he should be an all-star. Ibaka wasn’t named in the original 12 man squad, and with guys like Kevin Love, or break-out third year guards Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry being held out by their teams’ bad records, Serge didn’t seem like he would be next in line. Even when Kevin Durant, asked about the Thunder’s league-leading 49-8 record going into the all-star break, said that it’s “ridiculous” that the Thunder were only granted two all-star spots, the NBA’s analytical community used the remarks as a chance to pump up the candidacy of James Harden, who was banging home a nightly 18 points per game behind a newly found 40% three point stroke and had 6th man of the year wrapped up by mid-November. But when Zach Randolph announced that he’ll sit out all-star weekend in order to rest his sore hamstring, commissioner David Stern decided that the replacement had to be a third Thunder rep, and had to be a forward. In that case, it had to be Serge.

Coach Scotty Brooks, who was awarded the privilege of managing the exhibition game’s Western rotations, already told Serge not to expect many minutes. “You were a replacement”, Brooks said, “and even though I love you more than anybody on this roster, the fans want the West’s power forward to be Blake. Nobody else”. And boy, did the fans speak out on that one – Griffin virtually broke the ballots as far as all-star fan voting, outranking even Kobe Bryant in the Western Conference. This time, the fans couldn’t even be blamed of any wrong-doing – with Blake’s Clippers holding up at a surprising 32-22 come break time, Griffin was making noise even in MVP discussions. When he decided to skip out on both the Rookie Challenge (“he’s not really a sophomore anyway, so I’m cool with that” said replacement Ed Davis) and the Dunk Contest (Kia remained a sponsor), ensuring that he could only be seen on the big stage, Ibaka’s minutes were the first casualty.

When Serge finally did enter the game, there were only 5 minutes left in the half. Even worse, the game was a complete and total farce. Serge had seen all-star games before, but he never realized how lax they were – never the person to stop running, he started off by making two wide-open fastbreak dunks before he was accused of cherry-picking by players from both sides. He spent the rest of his first half stint running around, setting picks, jumping for blocks on defense. On one of those jumps, he connected viciously – Deron Williams had set up a Dwight Howard alley-oop with a gorgeous pass, only Serge jumped with the herculean big man, his arm meeting the ball a solid 12 feet above the ground, and sending it earthward with a loud smack. Charles Barkley managed a tired yelp from the broadcasting booth; Serge just focused on the next possession. It ended with yet another Kobe Bryant 30 footer rattling in above Paul Pierce’s amused, barely stretched arms.

And so came the buzzer. Serge left the court slowly, trying to figure out if he had a place here, or at least, whether he’ll be given a chance to prove so. When suddenly, a voice came from behind him.

“Yo. I-BLO-CKA.”

The voice drawled, and was full of contempt, as if the speaker was making fun of the nickname that the media had so willingly bestowed upon Serge.

Westbrook and Durant immediately stopped their walks and swiveled toward the voice, as if sensing that a friend was soon to be in need. Serge turned as well, though without the determination that defined the motions of his teammates. In front of him stood the full form of what seemed like a very irritated Dwight Howard.

Seeing an irritated Dwight Howard wasn’t as much of a rarity as it was in previous years. The ever-present joy from previous years had seemingly dissipated in a tenuous Orlando locker room. When the Magic lost their first four games, Howard demanded more shot attempts; when they were 2-8, he asked a reporter why Ryan Anderson wasn’t getting more minutes over Brandon Bass; and when the team stumbled to a 6-15 record in mid-December, despite him maintaining averages of 23 and 12, he had finally requested a trade. The request was granted mere hours before the All-Star tipoff, with the final deal being Howard and Chris Duhon moving to Los Angeles for Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, surprising rookie guard Darius Morris, and a future first round pick. Since the deal was announced so close to the game itself, a combination of logistics and Stern dictated that Dwight would still play for the East.

The All-Star game itself wasn’t going much better for Dwight. Appearing in front of the Amway Center crowd as a home player for the last time, Howard was booed rigorously during introductions, drawing even harsher jeers than LeBron James. He then proceeded to miss two straight wide open dunks to start the game, as well as airball a three pointer that he took at the first quarter buzzer, with an eager Carmelo Anthony egging him on. Ibaka’s block, specifically, had seemed to affect him harshly, though he concealed it well to the untrained eye, wearing his trademark smile and laughing heartily once he and Ibaka had descended from the apexes of their respective jumps. The Amway crowd’s cheers upon witnessing their former idol’s humiliation couldn’t have been helpful, either.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Howard asked Ibaka, agitation still radiating from his brow, “this is the second quarter of the All-Star game. We don’t play defense before the 4th. You tryin’ to make me look bad?”

“I don’t know, Dwight”, Ibaka answered, “I always play defense”.

By this point, not only Durant and Westbrook were looking, but so were Sager and Griffin, their generic interview clearly much less interesting than what was happening well within earshot’s range. Griffin scratched his head, while Sager’s incredulous expression looked almost as unnatural as his clothing.

Howard leaned closer to Ibaka, and said in a deep voice “defense is my thing, not yours, kid.” Seemingly unsatisfied, he added “and let me tell you, you better be playing that defense in May.”

The two men stared each other in the eye when Westbrook’s voice broke into the conversation:

“Or what? You’ll get stopped by Perk again?”

Howard’s head shot quickly towards the point guard. Durant was trying very hard to stifle a smile. The arena felt much quieter than it actually was as Dwight strained his face, clearly unfamiliar with the bully role. He was much better at intimidating his opponent on the court than off it, much more in his element making Stan Van Gundy noises than making threats.

Suddenly, he smiled again.

“Just playin’, Sergie boy”, he exclaimed happily. “Good block, good block. Try to get Bron next time.” He then proceeded to run into the tunnel, perhaps a bit faster than he intended, mumbling something about playing with Pau Gasol in the high post.

Ibaka looked at Westbrook, then at Durant, then Westbrook again. They had the same look in their eyes as they had after their double overtime win in Miami in December: a quick flash of satisfaction, followed by hunger for more. He knew that his own eyes were projecting the exact same picture towards them.

Kevin nodded his head, and Russell extended a fist.

Serge bumped it, and the three headed into the tunnel.

Serge Ibaka Love, or “Self-Portrait In Three Colors”

August 10, 2011 in by with 2 Comments

Serge Ibaka came off the bench for the Spanish national team in yesterday’s Eurobasket 2011 exhibition match against France. He scored nine points on 4-7 shooting, part of a balanced attack that had France reeling from the onset. Looking solely at the numbers, it was a modest performance. Still, it was a far cry from our last encounter with Ibaka — Game 5 of the 2011 Western Conference Finals where he had more fouls (4) than points (2).

While four made baskets isn’t much to discuss, the execution definitely deserves mention. Ibaka displayed the kind of confidence in his jumper that would compel coach Scott Brooks to declare Ibaka’s midrange jumpshot the best on the Thunder. In the 17 games Ibaka played in last season’s playoffs, about 39% of Ibaka’s made field goals were jump shots, according to Synergy Sports. It’s an increasingly vital area to his game, and his talents were on full display in the match. His spot up game was evident, but most promising was a turnaround jumper from inside the free throw line that left just enough to the imagination. Ibaka’s offensive potential is scary; scarier still, his skills are still rudimentary. He has the form and release down. He’s nimble and agile. His footwork is constantly improving. The only thing left is combining these isolated elements into a cohesive package and attaining (and maintaining) consistency.

Playing behind both Pau and Marc Gasol can only help, though that probably goes without saying. Ibaka has consistently been known throughout his career as a quick learner, and there might not be a better experience for him at this stage in his career than learning from two of the most fundamentally sound big men in the world. That kind of tutelage might’ve been worth the process of nationalization itself. Though through any lens, Ibaka’s decision to become a Spanish citizen offers a look at Ibaka’s commitment to this game.

“Spain has become like a second home for me a new country. If I am the one I am today, it is in part due to my days playing over there. I never stopped learning and getting better when I was in Spain. I felt at home, like a Spaniard.”

via Serge Ibaka: Spain is like a second home for me | TalkBasket.net

National pride has a lot to do with international sporting competition, but reducing the games to a symbolic flag-waving competition ignores elements to the experience that stray away from nationalism. The yearly gathering of the world’s best and brightest talents serves as a model U.N. of sorts, advancing the language of sports — a language that with every passing year grows in its universality.

Serge Ibaka became a nationalized citizen and is playing for the Spanish team despite only spending three years in the country as a teenager. But playing for a country means more than just having blood ties to the land. Ultimately, beyond the national colors, it’s still about basketball. Spain was the country that fostered his development, expanded his understanding of the game, and opened doors to opportunities that weren’t previously there. This isn’t necessarily a debt being paid, just a player mindful of his journey — and the people in it — doing his best to say “thank you.”

Pictured above (on the left — that is obviously Arnold Schwarzenegger on the right) is Sergei Bakalov, a personal fitness/dance instructor based in Columbus, Ohio. Any similarities Bakalov’s name might share with the title of this piece (“Serge Ibaka Love”) is just an awesome coincidence. 

NBA Playoffs Thunder Lakers Game 5 Preview: Peace Before Victory, And The Stench Of Complacency

April 27, 2010 in by with 3 Comments

Winning Tuesday’s game will not be easy. The Lakers can’t expect the Thunder to come out, roll over, and hand them the win. The Lakers will need to execute the little things and can’t rely on the Thunder to not play well. However, if there is a team that knows what needs to be done to still win this series wouldn’t it be the one led by Phil Jackson and captained by Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher? Guys with 20 championships between them as players and coach? History has proven that these guys know how to get it done. But with every new season, new challenges appear, and the need to prove it again arises. I think the Lakers have it in them. Tuesday is when we all get to see if I’m right.

via Forum Blue And Gold.

If you step back from the horror of tonight&apos;s loss – not easily done, granted – the Lakers should still be considered the slight favorites in this series. The Thunder appear to be a very different team in their own barn, and to our eternal relief, there&apos;s only one more game scheduled to be played there. In Staples, they’ll have to recreate the same élan they displayed in Games Three and Four but without the backing soundtrack from their fans and the friendly officiating that creates. It’s a lot to ask from what Dan Shulman and Doris Burke reminded us 283 times tonight is – repeat after me, everyone – the youngest team in the NBA.

That said, there&apos;s no question the Lakers are very much capable of losing this series. None of their problems from the regular season has been fixed. If anything, new problems have emerged and squished themselves onto an already crowded plate of FAIL. The stench from tonight&apos;s turd sandwich will linger in our noses for at least the next three days. Maybe much longer.

via We Are Not Amused – Silver Screen and Roll.

Let’s get down to business right from the get-go and acknowledge that this Thunder team has never won in the Staples Center in Los Angeles against the Lakers. Ouch. That one stings a little bit–until you realize that the last three times the Thunder has played the Lakers in LA, the Lakers average margin of victory has been a paltry 4.66 points.

Yes, a two possession game. So let me repeat an answer I gave to a Laker fan who posted on the site that he/she saw no proof for why the Thunder could win Game 3 in OKC (how’s that looking now?) because no matter how close the scores might have been, the Thunder still lost games 1 and 2 in LA: Do we really have to discuss how a close and competitive game is an indicator that the teams were fairly evenly matched where both had an opportunity to win it, especially since the visiting team had a three point shot bounce out when they were down by two with seconds remaining?

As crazy as it sounds, the Thunder have come A LOT closer to beating the Lakers in LA in the last three games than the Lakers have at beating the Thunder in OKC (OKC’s average margin of victory in the last 3 meetings in the Thunderdome–try 14 points).

via Can the Thunder win in LA? | Daily Thunder.com.

Am I annoyed? Do I find it frustrating? Hell yes.

But I’m not going to over-analyse it, as it will ultimately be a fruitless exercise. Matter o&apos; fact, I’m not going to analyse it at all.

The same Lakers won&apos;t turn up for game 5, as this game actually means something to them.

Do I still think the Lakers will win? Yes.

Am I buying into the OKC-coolaid yet? Good team… I still think we’re done without going the full distance with LA walking away the victor in 6.

via With Malice – An LA Lakers blog, news and opinions.

So Games 3 and 4 were fun. And I’m not talking, “a rousing game of UNO” fun. I’m talking “afternoon mini-golfing with friends and two six packs of PBR” fun. I’m talking o”pen-tab-at-the-bar, top-of-the-line sushi and a Tarantino festival” fun. It was the most fun playoff games in the first round. Oklahoma made the NBA fun. Let that settle for a minute.

(Side note: I once commented that the state motto of Oklahoma should be “FREE PARKING!” or Well, it can’t get any worse… we think.” Now I think they should change it to: “Thunder 110 Lakers 89″.)

And now, the overwhelming sentiment is this: “We think the Lakers will show up tonight and take back control of the series and win in six or seven.” But we’re not sure. That’s what the Lakers have done to themselves, and what the Thunder have done. There’s doubt. I picked the Lakers in each game. I thought they’d win the series in 5 before it started. I thought they’d win Game 3, lose Game 4, then close it out in 5. Whoops. Then they lost Game 3, so I thought they’d get back on track and win Game 4. Instead, they put up arguably the most pathetic performance by a defending champion in the last 30 years.  And the most pathetic performance by a championship contender since, well, Game 4 of the Rockets series last year.

But that’s who this team is. I’ve said it all year and will continue to say it. This team only execute, only performs, only earns their paycheck, when they absolutely have to. And tonight, they have to. They lose this game, and Oklahoma City’s emotion will carry them to a Game 6 close out. That can’t happen. Not for a team that still has 14 feet of frontcourt before Lamar Odom even steps on the floor. This team has no choice but to respond, in front of its rowdy passionate hungry fashionable home crowd. So it’ll take down the Thunder at home, and possibly be able to withstand a surge from OKC in Game 6, especially with travel days mixed in. If not, back to the warm and peaceful confines of Staples.

Surely this series puts significant doubt as to if the Lakers can even make it out of the West, right? Wrong. Everything is coming up Lakers if they can get past the Thunder. The Jazz need 1 of 3 to make it to the second round. The Jazz have zero matchup advantages against LA before you start considering their injuries. Meanwhile, it’s looking like Suns-Spurs in Round Two. I think we all know how that turns out. Which means a beat-up, tired Spurs team faces a rejuvenated Lakers team in the WCF. G’night.

The path to the Finals is still very much there, but we just have to see how lazy, disjointed, and mediocre while still incredibly talented this Lakers team is.

******************************

  • Jeff Green is shooting 23% from three in this series, down 7 percent from the regular season. His offensive rating is down 9 points. It’s not surprising, given that trying to play his traditional role in this series is remarkably difficult, but the number of open looks he’s clanged has been damaging. It takes away a central component of the Thunder offense, and means that they have to rely even more on Westbrook and Durant. If Green can knock down a few, it’s going to move the defense away from the middle, though that strategy has actually benefited the Thunder lately.
  • I was really not expecting Ron Artest to unravel like the baseball Benny hits in the Sandbox until much later. But there he is, throwing up airballs. He’s shooting 13% from three. THIR.TEEN.PER.CENT.
  • I went through a bunch of Ibaka boards on Synergy trying to find some sort of trick he’s using, possibly black magik, to collect rebounds. Nope. It really, honestly, truly just is that he’s working harder, wanting it more. 8:08 second quarter of Game 4, Harden comes around a screen, drives, misses the layup, Ibaka comes from the right corner, jumps from the right side of the basket, and grabs the rebound on the left side, over Odom and Farmar. Dude just wants it more. What was I saying about cliches?
  • Kobe’s gotta get rested with all the travel days at some point, right? Right?
  • Westbrook’s moved himself into the top ten of point guards, right?



NBA Playoffs: Thunder Are Learning How To Walk Even If They Keep Hurting Themselves

April 21, 2010 in by with 2 Comments

Progress.

A little over three weeks ago, I was playing some pickup hoops with some of my friends. It was a little windy out and I was having a bad day shooting the ball. It probably would have been a bad day shooting the ball even without the wind. Something was just off. So mired in a shooting slump, I decided that the only way for me to score and make plays was to take the ball to the hoop.

On one play (and my last play for a while), I drove the baseline with my left hand. As I got under the basket, I tried to stop without warning in the hopes that the guy guarding me would slide past me just enough for me to sneak a layup attempt towards the hoop. As it so happens, the inside of my right foot buckled and rolled under my ankle. I had never rolled my ankle that way before – it had always been the traditional way of the outside of my foot playing limbo with my ankle. But this time, we decided to try something new.

Since then, I’ve been fairly hobbled and hoping to make progress. I figure I won’t be completely healthy until I’m able to slide a shoe on my right foot without the use of my hands and without any pain. Recently, I’ve been able to start driving a car again and I can pretty easily walk up the stairs in my house. I just can’t slide that shoe on or walk down stairs without feeling an uneasy discomfort that gives me a lot of trepidation with my next movement.

But I’m making progress day by day with an extra step here and some extra weight put on my foot there.

You could say the Oklahoma City Thunder made progress with the three-point loss to the Lakers on Tuesday night. They took what was for the most part a frustratingly mediocre game in the first part of this series and turned it into a two-point game with a Kevin Durant three-point attempt for a series tie heading back to Oklahoma. He didn’t make it. He clanged off the iron and eventually the Thunder had to settle for a missed Jeff Green three-pointer to try and send this game into overtime.

But the fact that they played horrible terrible HORRIBLE offense and yet still were within one big three-point shot from the league’s leading scorer has to count for something besides a second playoff loss. Everything at this point in this franchise-building project is a good lesson for future reference. In the first game, they let some of the role players like Derek Fisher and Andrew Bynum find ways to score the ball against them. In this game, they held everybody not named Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol in check.

Kobe and Pau scored 64 of the Lakers 95 points on the night but the big part of those totals was the fact that the two Lakers stars combined for 40 of those points in the second half. The Thunder adopted the philosophy of let the stars have their nights and shut everybody else down. And it damn near worked. Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum, and Ron Artest combined for a 9/38 shooting extravaganza. They just couldn’t stop Pau Gasol in the post or Kobe Bryant in the anything he tried to do in the fourth quarter.

But this was a good next step for the Thunder to make. Limiting the role players worked. Getting Kevin Durant to knock down some shots worked. Defending the paint worked (17 blocked shots). Holding your own on the rebounding battle didn’t work (49-37). Getting other guys outside of KD to hit shots didn’t work (17/48 for 35.4%). However, the youngest team in the NBA took the defending NBA champs down to a decent three-point look from the NBA’s leading scorer with 15 seconds left in the game and down only two on the road.

The Thunder aren’t sliding the shoe on that foot yet. But they’re starting to climb up the stairs.

Playoff Paroxi-Notes

- Thabo Sefolosha may have needed a rest. Or he may have needed a new jump shot. Or he may have needed to sit on the bench so he could scan the crowd for all of the Swiss celebrities (what up, Martina Hingis?). Regardless, I don’t understand how he didn’t see any time other than the final 1:16 of the fourth quarter. In a period in which Kobe Bryant went off for 15 points, it would have been good to have your best defender on the floor for at least half of that time.

Instead, Jeff Green was given the assignment of checking Kobe and it showed. Jeff Green is nice in theory but he hasn’t been great in application during the first two games of this series. I trust him guarding Ron Artest or Lamar Odom but certainly not Kobe Bryant. His first step is too slow. His second step is too slow. And by the time he recovers, Kobe is already figuring out which ridiculous shot he wants to get on SportsCenter. Kobe got whatever shots he wanted and got to the line nine times in the final period. I’m not saying Thabo would have stopped him but he did force him to start 6/16 from the field. There were better options no matter what the reason for sitting Thabo was.

- Ron Artest has made life a living hell for Kevin Durant. We all remember what happened in the first game in which it looked like Ron was using Durant as his personal ventriloquist dummy. And in this game, there wasn’t a whole lot of difference. Durant went to the free throw line fewer times and ended up committing eight turnovers in the game. At the same time though he just found a way to make shots. He seemed to take advantage of other players getting switched out to defend him, like when he baited Lamar Odom into giving him too much space on a three-pointer. When Artest was on him and he wasn’t turning the ball over, he made some ridiculous turnaround jumpers. Durant will not be stopped in this series and it’s foolish to think he can. Artest is doing the correct thing in making him work for everything he gets. This is one of the most impressive battles I’ve seen in a long time between two individuals.

- I don’t want to keep harping on mistakes Jeff Green has made but it would be nice for Thunder fans if he decided to show up for the rest of the series. He is now 6/23 in this series because he can’t knock down open jumpers.

- Serge Ibaka is a man. He’s a large, intimidating man. He had six points, five boards and seven blocks like it was nothing. He’ll struggle at times but this guy is going to be All-Star material some day.

- The two most successful ways for the Thunder to score in this game were off of isolation plays (56.3% FG) and in transition (41.7%). Other than that, they were pretty horrible on offense. A lot of this had to do with the open, spot-up jumpers they were missing. They made just 6/18 spot-up shots and with three of those makes and 13 of those attempts coming from behind the three-point line. With all of the good looks the Thunder are getting, it’s hard to say that the offense is THAT bad. At the same time, they can’t hit their threes so maybe it’s time to take those looks and drive it to the basket. (These stats courtesy of Synergy Sports – seriously go sign up and enjoy your summer with this stuff)