Seattle Supersonics fans looked at their beloved team win and win and win, and they cringe that they aren’t wearing the green and cold, rather the white orange and blue. They were a young team, with a young talented core – a championship was bound to happen, no?
In the beginning of the season, the ever-aggressive Sam Presti announced that after failing to reach an agreement with key sixth man, James Harden, they had traded him to the Houston Rockets for Kevin Martin. Fans were unhappy, some teammates remained professional but were seemingly unhappy and James Harden’s subsequent impressive season did nothing to cool these feelings.
In 2009-10 OKC, led by Durant, lost out in 6 games in the first round. In 2010-11 they improved, winning 9 games but ultimately losing in 5 games to eventual champions, Mavericks, in the conference finals. Last season, they once again improved, reaching the NBA Finals where they lost to the Heat.
In every year since reaching the Playoffs, Scott Brook’s Thunder have always improved. Their team was only getting older, and in this rare occasion, it was a great incentive. They were to be more experienced, bigger, stronger and just overall better. However, this season, they look to bow out in just the second round against the rugged Grizzlies.
What changed in the last season – can it all be attributed to Harden’s departure, making way for less explosive and defensively inept Kevin Martin, Westbrook’s season-ending injury or simply the Grizzlies’ excellent Playoff showing.
In their run to the NBA Finals last season, OKC’s Durant and Westbrook played 10 minutes more than the next guy (excluding James Harden, who played 31 minutes vs. Westbrook’s 38 and Durant’s 42). This season, since Westbrook’s injury, Durant has played 11 more minutes than anyone else & 32 minutes have gone to Reggie Jackson, who is a massive downgrade comparatively (to Westbrook).
It is clear that Durant finds himself in the same position LeBron James found himself in when he played with Cleveland – he is completely isolated since Westbrook’s injury – this makes defending him a far easier task; add to that the extensive minutes he plays. The man is doing his all.
Only one OKC player is hitting over half of his shots; that man has only hit one shot, and his name is Hasheem Thabeet. Last season two starters scored over 50%: Durant & Ibaka (52% - 48% and 53% - 42% respectively). This can be attributed to the Grizzlies’ great defense, but also Durant’s new role and Ibaka’s incessancy to take ill-advised midrange jumpers while boasting a poor post game.
So all statistics point to OKC performing worse this season vs. last, but that was obvious – they are losing 3-1 against the Grizzlies after all. So what can Scott Brooks do to turn the series around and join the Celtics, Lakers, Bullets, Rockets, Heat, Pistons and most recently the Suns as the only teams in this illustrious group who’ve overcome a 3-1 deficit?
Get Durant hot - early. He needs to have a big game, tonight, every night. He's playing on his own out there, if he can dominate he can single-handedly win his team the series. While involving his teammates would be essential, as well as them stepping up, Durant needs to control his teams' destiny. This goes in line with the next point:
Durant needs to take better percentage shots. Durant is a great scorer, along with Carmelo Anthony, there probably isn’t any other player with a better offensive game than him. He has a quick release and can hit a shot anywhere; however he has been taking a lot of shits early in the shot clock – missing a lot of them – and essentially killing the offense. This can be attributed to both the lack of “good” teammates & him trying to offset the ever-organized Grizzlies defense. Either way, the shots are killing the offense, he should look to pass the ball around, complete actual plays, and take better percentage shots (3 pointers vs. very long twos off the dribble).
Ibaka needs to get his defensive act together while also limiting his midrange game. Ibaka was a revelation with the Thunder. His vertical, long arms and knack to destroy any shot that goes within a few inches of the rim have made him a staple of this Thunder team. Despite this, other than blocking shots, he hasn’t done much else against the Grizzlies. He’s not defending very well, nor is he hitting jumpers. Him bringing out his inner Nick Collison (circa 2010) would limit the Grizzlies bigmen who are currently dominating.
Outhustle & outcoach the Grizzlies in the 4th quarter or OT. The series has been unbelievably tight, not Bulls-Celtics tight but still – no game has gone uncontested so far. The Grizzlies won two games by 6 points and one in overtime while the Thunder won their only game by just 2 points. A lot of these games were won on hustle points/plays made by the Grizzlies late on, whether it was Mike Conley, Marc Gasol or Tony Allen, they simply outhustled the Thunder & ultimately won.
The Thunder host the Grizzlies in an elimination game as they trail 3-1. Will they extend their playoff run and ultimately, their hopes to win the Championship, or will they succumb to the Grizzlies in front of their own fans? Look the game tonight 9:30 PM ET.
