Thunder (7-4) at Celtics (9-2) 11/19

[celticinorlando]

missed free throws...p--- poor defense....lazy offense...allowing the thunder to shoot 8 minutes worth of free throws in the third....boston didnt deserve this game tonight. just shows us this team will continue to play down and take nights off

[ejk3489]

10 shots for Big Baby, who came up whats strategy. Ray Allen 9 shots, KG 6shots, and ShaQ 5 shots.

Pierce Hero mode is nice to see. But not with 20seconds on the shot clock. Run some offense man, move the ball.

What the hell happened in the 3rd Q? Too many Dumb fouls. And horrendous Defense.

Baby has to be the worst rebounding big in the NBA. All that hustle means nothing if you can't rebound the ball. You too KG.

Rondo has to be nervous, Russell Westbrook took his lunch money. Can Rondo carry a team like that? Both came into the league without a Jump-Shot, Russell got one and Rondo is still searching for a consistent one. After that performance Rondo gets bumped from the PG hierarchy. And no longer in MVP consideration. Young Thunder team deserved and earned this win.

After *one* mediocre game, Rondo is suddenly not a top point guard? 

Nevermind the first 10 games where he averaged 15 assists a night...

[Adelaide Celt]

So Rondo's injury is a hamstring? Hopefully just a little tightness. What happened to Pierce?

[Change]

10 shots for Big Baby, who came up whats strategy. Ray Allen 9 shots, KG 6shots, and ShaQ 5 shots.

Pierce Hero mode is nice to see. But not with 20seconds on the shot clock. Run some offense man, move the ball.

What the hell happened in the 3rd Q? Too many Dumb fouls. And horrendous Defense.

Baby has to be the worst rebounding big in the NBA. All that hustle means nothing if you can't rebound the ball. You too KG.

Rondo has to be nervous, Russell Westbrook took his lunch money. Can Rondo carry a team like that? Both came into the league without a Jump-Shot, Russell got one and Rondo is still searching for a consistent one. After that performance Rondo gets bumped from the PG hierarchy. And no longer in MVP consideration. Young Thunder team deserved and earned this win.

After *one* mediocre game, Rondo is suddenly not a top point guard?  

Nevermind the first 10 games where he averaged 15 assists a night...

23.3ppg 8.1ast 2.1stl says otherwise. 92%>47% FT

Rondo is still one of the top point-guard in the league. But Russell is playing at a different level right now. Rondo doesn't do nearly as much for the Celtics. Russell does it all for his team.

[Q_FBE]

Just a crappy night of basketball out of the Celtics. Honestly, the team was simply F L A T.

Needed the bench to come through and they simply treaded water.

Pierce was horrible tonight, so was Rondo and Big Baby.  Where was Ray Allen, KG?

OK played a perfect game for three quarters and it was enough. Then they tried to hand it over to the Celtics in the 4th and could not do it.

EMBARRASSING!!!!

[Tradetime]

I love Rondo's playmaking ability as much as the next guy, but did anyone notice that with Delonte guarding Westbrook, he couldn't do anything against us in the fourth quarter?

Rondo gets his steals much the same way Iverson got his in the league; playing the passing lanes. He's not a great on the ball defender by any means. Iverson used to get a couple steals per game as well.

The refs had a little Donaghy money on this game, me thinks.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

I'm not hating on Rondo but Doc clearly seemed blind until it was too late! Rondo was getting carved up by Westbrooke yet Doc kept him on him (not saying take Rondo out but put some1 else on Westbrooke)... DWest shut Westbrooke down which caused their offense to shut down. THEN, Doc fails to say "Hey, you do know Shaq is 5-5, right? GET HIM THE BALL AT LEAST ONCE from the 2nd Q on!!" I dunno what game Doc saw but I would have at least made them get Shaq the ball again! BBD just had a bad game, not his fault, everyone does (Ray). Doc should not have left him in so much when he was obviously struggling! The team as a whole played like GARBAGE, but if Doc made better coaching decisions we would have walked away w/ a W.


Okay, now... everyone rip me a new one.

[Bahku]

The Thunder are going to have a cold spell here ... we've got to jump all over it.

Will they? It's hard to go cold when you're getting nothing but wide-open shots.

Yup, they had a cold spell, but we didn't take advantage of it. Rondo was a bit more bothered by the hammy than he let on, I think, and did not defend Westbrook ... DeLonte should have played more, as his defense on Westbrook was much more effective. KG and De were really the only ones playing with much energy in this one ... at least consistently. Tough loss at home, (to be followed by an away win in Toronto).

[ejk3489]

10 shots for Big Baby, who came up whats strategy. Ray Allen 9 shots, KG 6shots, and ShaQ 5 shots.

Pierce Hero mode is nice to see. But not with 20seconds on the shot clock. Run some offense man, move the ball.

What the hell happened in the 3rd Q? Too many Dumb fouls. And horrendous Defense.

Baby has to be the worst rebounding big in the NBA. All that hustle means nothing if you can't rebound the ball. You too KG.

Rondo has to be nervous, Russell Westbrook took his lunch money. Can Rondo carry a team like that? Both came into the league without a Jump-Shot, Russell got one and Rondo is still searching for a consistent one. After that performance Rondo gets bumped from the PG hierarchy. And no longer in MVP consideration. Young Thunder team deserved and earned this win.

After *one* mediocre game, Rondo is suddenly not a top point guard?  

Nevermind the first 10 games where he averaged 15 assists a night...

23.3ppg 8.1ast 2.1stl says otherwise. 92%>47% FT

Rondo is still one of the top point-guard in the league. But Russell is playing at a different level right now. Rondo doesn't do nearly as much for the Celtics. Russell does it all for his team.

And Rondo's averaging roughly 11ppg, 15apg, and and 2.6spg...also his FG% is .481 to Westbrooks .448. Sure his free throw percentage is horrible right now, but if you can't see how much Rondo effects the team then I don't know what to tell you. Insert Nate or Delonte in the starting line up and we are a sufficiently worse team by far. No Rondo = no championship.

[action781]

FYI:  The line on this game is currently still at Boston -9.

Just got that line locked in fast.

 

This was one of only two times in my entire life I have ever bet $100+ on a game.  And the first time I ever lost it.

[GreenFaith1819]

Every now and then we mail it in. I think that this was one of those nights. We could've beaten OKC, even though they are a really good and dangerous team even without Durant, apparently.

How can we go from winning in OKC with their full squad, and without Delonte, to losing at home?

I cannot list the things I wish could've gone differently in this game, because for the most part I see the Green playing much better overall (so far) than last year.

Thankfully, I don't see us having many games like this. It's a long season. We'll be ok.

I think Doc REALLY needs to address sitting Rondo, though. Why allow him to play with an injury (hamstring, correct?)

Is it just me, or does Rondo just NOT seem like himself?

[LilRip]

well, OKC is a different team with Durant on the floor. Interestingly enough, i read a stat recently that says that OKC is significantly worse off on D with Durant on the floor. And they're significantly better off with him off the floor (they give up 22 points less, i think).

If OKC hadn't hit some crazy shots, like some of their 3-pointers (such as Westbrook's 2 low-percentage bombs and Ivey's lucky 3 pointer), we would've probably walked away with a win.

[j804]

Every now and then we mail it in. I think that this was one of those nights. We could've beaten OKC, even though they are a really good and dangerous team even without Durant, apparently.

How can we go from winning in OKC with their full squad, and without Delonte, to losing at home?

I cannot list the things I wish could've gone differently in this game, because for the most part I see the Green playing much better overall (so far) than last year.

Thankfully, I don't see us having many games like this. It's a long season. We'll be ok.

I think Doc REALLY needs to address sitting Rondo, though. Why allow him to play with an injury (hamstring, correct?)

Is it just me, or does Rondo just NOT seem like himself?

Let me add to that, maybe it's just me but it seems Rondo gets frustrated and NOT like himself giving little effort - when opposing PGs are getting the better of him matchup wise. Ive seen it before against the Jazz and D Will. I doubt the hammy was even a issue he looked like he didnt want to be out there.

[ACF]

Let's just forget about this game. Hopefully, it'll only happen a few times this season. We'll be back on track tomorrow.

Go Celtics!

[MartzMimic]

Thunder fan here, but grew up liking the C's (and still do). I got to sit baseline near the Celtic bench last season when Boston came to OKC. Definitely a great experience.

First off, I love how you guys discuss a game respectfully.

In the Thunder live blog, I said early on that it looked like the Celtics were on cruise, and it could come back to bite them. One big difference between this game and a couple weeks ago is that the Thunder has finally started moving more on offense. You saw that a lot in the first half, a little less in the third and then in the fourth, they went back to iso Westbrook (it's usually iso KD) while everyone else stands around.

Ibaka has been deadly on his long twos this entire year. What's funny is that his percentage is dramatically worse from 10-15. Go figure. He's not yet the scorer Green is, but he's a much better defender.

Speaking of defense, it wasn't perfect, but it was a lot closer to the Thunder's defense from last season. The poster who mentioned the team being better with KD on the bench must have ran across an article on Durant's +/- in 08-09. He improved a lot defensively last season, and while he gets caught too often on screens, the Thunder aren't giving up any more points from opposing small forwards than last season (unlike at the point, SG and - pre-Ibaka - power forward spots).

As for the flagrant, Shaq definitely caught Westbrook near the shoulder away from the ball, but considering Westbrook's speed and Shaq's lack thereof, I'm betting it was bad timing on Shaq's part. I love the big guy. A season or two ago, Shaq came into OKC early to do some work with a children's charity.

Anyway, that's my view from the other side. So good luck. Keep beating the Heat and, unless our teams would happen to meet in the Finals (yeah, I wish) have a great season.

Go Thunder. Go Celtics.