Oklahoma City Thunder 125, Orlando Magic 124

These last two games he just hasn’t played with a lot of energy and, of course, his shooting has been off too.

He called out Hedo for missing his FT’s and mentioned how Jameer wasn’t making shots. I find it interesting that he said that if they continue to start games with no energy and get behind early, that he might switch up the line up.

I’m thinking he was referring to Bass and Jameer.

He played poorly, but that wasn’t the reason they lost. They lost because the Thunder were just better tonight. Don’t look into it any more than that. But I am sure that won’t happen and there will be 1,000+ comments stating that I am wrong and there are fatal flaws with the team and blah blah blah. Have fun, I will not be partaking.

…was when they gave up 128 points to San Antonio in November of ’07, and 127 points to Toronto in February of ’08.

On a side note, Dwight Howard’s 39 points ties for the second-most points he has scored in a game in his career, which had been done three other times prior to OKC, the most recent being last month against Portland. Ironically, the Magic lost that game also.

Howard’s 17 free throws made ties his career high for most free throws made in a game which was previously set in January of ’08 against Utah, and his 85% FT shooting for the game marks just the fifth time in his career he has shot 85% or higher on free throws when he has attempted ten or more free throws in a game.

Thunder shot the lights out, it happens.

Bass looks uncomfortable. I’m not putting the loss on him or anything; he just doesn’t look the same as earlier in the season.

Fans opinion doesn’t necessarily have a direct impact on the team but it is interesting to hear the growing number of Nelson detractors. At a bar a couple weeks ago a large group of fans yelling at the TV to keep Nelson on the bench. The same thing last week at a game at Amway. The chatter on some blogs and the word on the street. Nelson’s name being mentioned in a negative light.
I myself am not a huge fan either. I won’t deny his skills though. A good shooter with above average driving ability for a man of his diminutive stature. A scorer!
But I don’t, unlike some, overly defend his weaknesses. Not a floor general, questionable court vision, tendency to call his own number more offer then desireable and lack of size against bigger guards.
Personally I’d love to have his scoring punch coming off the bench where he could be used when some quick fire points are needed or just as a scorer for the 2nd unit. Leaving the starting job for a PG who is more of a facilitator, playmaker and most importantly someone who pushes the tempo which plays into Hedo’s most effective style.
I’m not calling for a change and I’m not saying its going to happen but you can hear a slight rumble in the air as Nelson’s name gets mentioned by frustrated fans. Once again noting that fan buzz may or may not directly effect the team. It’s just intriguing to hear.
Anyway, don’t mind me :)

it just shows how much more work this team needs on defense.

Also I’ll just reiterate what colossus said about Bass. Does anyone think his knee is flaring up again, that it’s causing him issues? Of course it’s not helping his jump shot isn’t going down but he’s regressing to 2009 Bass.

..and is the fewest amount of turnovers they’ve had in a game since February of ’03 when they committed five turnovers against Atlanta.

Obviously, defense was a problem against OKC. The Thunder shot at least 50% in every quarter. 1st… 14 of 26 (53.8%)… 2nd… 11 of 17 (64.7%)… 3rd… 12 of 21 (57.1%)… 4th… 7 of 14 (50%).

On offense, two point field goals were a problem for the Magic. Not counting Howard, the Magic were 16 of 43 shooting on twos (37.2%).

What an unstoppable duo Westbrook and Durant were for OKC. They combined for 68 points on 24 of 41 shooting, 2 of 4 on threes, and 18 of 22 on FTs for a TS% of 67.1%. They also added 15 assists, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals.

This was only the third time in Magic franchise history that they lost a game while making at least 14 three pointers and shooting 50% from long range; they had been 20-2 previously in those situations.

Plus I didn’t expect shootings of 2-9 from Hedo, 4-12 from Jameer, and 3-8 from both Brandon and Gilbert.

Obviously defense still needs work on issues of dribble penetration and pick and roll. But last night was an aberration in a sense that we did not expect Hedo to contain Durant. That combined with Wesbrook running circles around our wagon allowed OKC to play a simple game of finding a closer spot to the rim going for a pull up jumper. Wesbrook and other guards and wing players of OKC did plenty of that complemented by Krstic’s jumpers. Durant, however, did most of his damage on long 2-point jumpers. Simply too much to contend with.

Too much blame on Jameer is unwarranted. Granted that he didn’t shoot well in NO, as well but he did a good job of defending the best PG in the league, and must have – understandably – come in with some tired legs.

This is a night that we couldn’t do much to prevent a loss, let alone losing by a single point. I don’t, however, agree with the simplistic notion of accepting that OKC was just better and move on. In order to improve it is essential to look at both:

1 – The details of failures, and;
2 – The sources of success for further advancement

It is unfortunate that in this case, we are looking at the former rather than the latter. Regardless, let’s chalk it off as another single game and move on.

Have we won a game in the new black kit. The three games I have seen (Denver, New Orleans, OKC) have all resulted in losses.

We just came off a tough road loss to NO where the refs were awful, and this is a very good OKC team if they play to their potential.

One thing that stands out is the team’s pick and roll defense. Rotations are slow and this weakness is becoming glaringly obvious.

The honeymoon is over. I have utmost faith that Stan will be getting on the team’s back for this. The offense has been great, and I must say this Orlando team has been a heck of a lot more entertaining to watch post-trade. But the defense has gotta tighten up. The past two games were close due to hot 3 pt shooting, the discrepancy would be a lot worse otherwise.

Hopefully the team realises that they can’t just bulldoze every team in the league every night with their new offensive mentality.

That was the question that I wondered about after this loss.

On the other hand, do we even have a “preferred pace” when the team has been together for such a short amount of time?

I haven’t had a chance to look for data on this yet, so I am just commenting through the lens of subjective vision. If anyone has stats vis-a-vis pace during the win-streak and the last two games, please enlighten.

man that game tough. durant was unguardable. j-rich was to small and hedo was too slow. this also showed off our lack of D. our 3pt shooting kept us in it. also anderson was contributing solid D and good points off the bench. why didn’t he put him back in? bass also has been struggling. missing wide open shots that he would usually make. also at least split the minutes between nelson and arenas. find a reliable backup C so we can stop overplaying howard. and it wouldn’t hurt to give earl clark 6-7 minutes a game. at least put him at SF behind hedo.

As you correctly stated; “Not a floor general, questionable court vision, tendency to call his own number more offer then desireable and lack of size against bigger guards.”

This have always been the reasons why I have questioned Nelson choice as our PG.

However, right now we don’t have any alternatives. Arenas is even WORSE! In the NO game, I saw him just HAND the ball over TWICE to the other team… really BAD decision making. Not only is he NOT making any shot; but he’s not finding his team mates , and frankly… he just looks plain SCARED! And please… don’t bring Hedo into this conversation… he’s NOT the primary ball handler on the Team.

Evan; do you think this defensive lapse is SYSTEMIC, or ENDEMIC; a fatal flaw that makes us especially vulnerable to great Wing players? Is it something that has worsened with the NEW Team additions? Do we REALLY need an “elite” defender at the wing position?

These are the questions that have kept me awake lately…

The defense looks worse with each passing game.

I don’t doubt that SVG can get it fixed, and there’s still months left to fix it. But that’s where I’m putting my blame, concern, and attention.