What we’re seeing now has no bearing on what we’ll see in April. We’ll get to him. “Just his grace. He’s just a down to earth, really, really good guy”. The Thunder brass assume bringing aboard an NCAA champion is the best way to become National Basketball Association champions. Still, there’s a few anxiety percolating around the fanbase and with every hard fall, every bump, every limp, there’s going to be worry.
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No National Basketball Association team has more victories over the last 20 years than the Spurs. Unfortunately, the lapses by the Spurs, while infrequent, were costly.
“They have gotten a lot better”. I’m one of those guys that just likes to chill.
The Thunder dispatched the Spurs 112 to 106 and put the entire league on notice that this team might be better than expected.
“The thing I was most pleased about with Kevin, there was a lot of emotion in coming back from injury and the fact he really kept his composure all the way through”, Thunder coach Billy Donovan said.
For San Antonio, the debut of LaMarcus Aldridge didn’t go so well, with the former Blazers player scoring just 11 points on 4-of-12 from the field.
Donovan’s biggest change since being hired by the Thunder has been making ball and player movement a more prominent part of the Oklahoma City’s offense.
The last time Durant played a complete game start to finish, nobody was stopping him, Leonard or anybody. The Thunder had no answer for Boris and the only thing stopping him was coach Pop sending him to the bench with seven minutes left in the game. The Pistons have beaten the Hawks and Jazz, relying on energy and defense. “I think he lets you know exactly what’s going on”. Richard Jefferson had 14 points for Cleveland, which capitalized on Memphis’ shooting woes, building a double-digit lead in the first quarter and extending the margin to 32 in the fourth. After already projecting the Suns to do quite well relative to the rest of the Arizona Sports staff, they attempt to break down the hierarchy within the conference. San Antonio pumped up its bench by landing free agent forward David West – a starter the past 10 seasons who took a $10.5 million pay cut to join San Antonio – and its reserves include veteran shooting guard Manu Ginobili and spry point guard Patty Mills.
Durant missed 55 games last season following foot surgery, and the Thunder finished with a 45-37 record and tied New Orleans for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot.
Until Durant gets his mojo back, this is Westbrook’s team to steer. Westbrook tried to answer, but his shot was off and the Spurs got the ball with 21 seconds left.
They advanced the ball to the front court on a timeout, but the Spurs were out of position for the inbounds play and Pop had to call another timeout to correct the alignment.
Along with Steven Adams and Mitch McGary, the Thunder have a three-big-man rotation that can be shuffled and switched to give the team different looks.
As Spurs fans, we’re used to Danny Green being a streak shooter. This time he did.
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What’s incredible is how those missed opportunities didn’t destroy the Thunder, who are not only back with Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka intact, but…is OKC stronger, better and deeper than ever? Utah is interesting, but even coach Quin Snyder admitted during the preseason the Jazz’s success at the end of last was due to who they played.
