MIA vs. OKC
Just in this short amount of time, Kevin Durant has shown why I think he can become better than LeBron sooner than people think.
1. Vision - His court vision has improved a lot. He's seeing the floor better.
2. Moving without the ball - He moves without the ball and can catch and shoot OR put it on the floor for the one/two dribble pullup... Or take it to the rim and finish.
3. Defensively - He's improved. He's stayed with LeBron off of the dribble and his length allows him to contest/make shots difficult.
4. Post game - He's getting better at posting up in areas of the floor where it's tough to double/defend him.
Lebron is so gifted athletically. He's bigger, stronger, and faster than almost any guy trying to check him. It scares me (especially tonight, being an OKC fan..), but he still has so much in his game to work on. He's an incredibly cerebral player, a mastermind on the defensive end.. but I can't help but notice what's still lacking in his game.
Just as was noted by Indy about the parts of KD's game that could eventually put him over the top of Lebron, I still have a hard time seeing Lebron attaining those parts of his game.
Really love what OKC is doing, when Durant goes on his dribble drive, the Heat collapse on him, and Ibaka/Perkins are wide open at the hoop.
Credit Durant for continuing to work on his game. He has turned into a complete two way player, and he has really improved his distributing.
I don't like what the Heat are doing defensively. They need to realize that when they collapse tehe guys on Durant and Westbrook, that guys are going to be open, and they don't recover at all.
Harden just made an and one, and I swear like 4 Heat players came over really late on the help. The Heat need some more off ball movement on offense. There is reaswon OKC's offense flows as well as it does despite the fact that they run so many isolations. Most of the isos Durant has for him are more designed to create, rather than to score. Durant's handles continue to improve, and he and Westbrook work off each other so well. On their own team, Durant would average 33, Westbrook 28, and Harden 24.
here is me on lebron post game AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR:
got 12 negs on it...
"i think lebron will never develop a legit post game. by that i mean: no up and unders, post spins, NO hook shot. etc what he will do is, be a much better post SHOOTER. something i've been watching him do in all games he's played since game 6 of the finals last year. he can face you up on the post and shoot it. i saw him keeping the ball hi up in the air in his hands as he turned to face-up, (to have a quicker release on the shot). looks balanced on that turn around post jumper (even using the glass), and also he MIGHT be the best post passer in the game"
still stand by it
The role guys for each team are really stepping up. Ibaka has hit a couple jumpshots, and he along with Perk have both gotten some nice easy hoops off penatration from KD. Perkins also had a couple nice post ups. haslem has knocked down some nice jumpshots, Battier had a three and a nice cut where Collison got lost in the jungle, and Bosh is in the right place at the right time as always. I'd like for them to establish him on the low block a bit more. Ever since Bosh has been in Miami, all of his points come off jumpshots, drives and open dump offs. If they establish him down low just a little, it would do wonders for hte guys on the perimter.
Durant is developing a lethal one on one game. And he's only 24. I'd like for them to run him in the high post more, sort of like the Mavs use Dirk.
I still can't figure out why the Thunder would rather have Fisher out there as opposed to Daequan Cook. It seems to me that tehy're giving a career role player a lifetime achievement award with all these minutes, although it is because the Thunder do desperatly need a backup point guard, and they don't mind sacrificing some production for some experience and some veteran leadership.
James Harden has some sneaky ass athleticism... He moves slow to fool you and then jumps on you quick as F. Then he's off in transition and dunking with his head damn near at the rim.
Kevin Durant can defend LeBron, D. Wade and Chris Bosh.
^Same here as well, but that was because Miami would drop everything and rush three guys at him, meaning Ibaka and Perk were wide open. The passes he's making are very tough though, the decision to make them doesn't stick out too much on most of them, but some of those assists are very nice. Because he doesn't play point foward like Lebron, even averaging 6 asissts in the future would be a big deal. I relly like the way the organization has helped these guys improve certain asspects at their game. I remember reading an article where it said that OKC's ultimate goal is to get Durant's assist total up to 5.
@aamir.. as far as your comment earlier about Fisher vs. Cook.. Daequan is out for a few weeks with a sprained knee. He was starting for a while (when Thabo was out for a few weeks), and usually comes in and plays some minutes with Harden bringing the ball up, or if Westbrook is in.
To further the point.. OKC's ball movement has been pretty incredible tonight. They're not usually this active with the ball movement. A bit of it has to be attributed by the extreme crashing being done by Miami on the defensive end. Really impressed with it tonight.
Did I just see one of those Idian Vonage comercials on ESPN? They've been playing that comercial on continuous loop for the past year on Indian channels.
And ATL and Utah just finished a 4 OT classic, and in the first OT, each team only scored 2 points.
Great game for everyone on the Thunder, even though Russ Westbrook is having a bad day, Wade is clamping down on him, I really like the aggressiveness of Durant, it opens up the drving and shooting lanes for Harden, and liek Indiana Basketball previously mentioned, Ibaka really makes it tough on defenses when that midrange shot is falling.
I have no clue what the Heat are running on offense, they have no rhythem or flow to their offense, I'd love to see Lebron get a nice screen for once, they really don't have a great gameplan, and their defense looks really slow adn sluggish tonight, they're really late on the help.
I love how when Erik Spoelstra said, "Let's show some mental toughnes here" and looked specifically at Bosh, lol.
Earlier today when I read that ESPN piece about how Shane Battier will make up for Lebron's clutch shortcomings, I fell out of my seat laughing, turns out I was wrong.
I'm not so sure about the inevitable run by Miami, though. Take away the two WIDE open looks by Battier (which by the way, he missed 2 other wide open looks), and the lucky 3 at the end of the quarter for Wade..and this game is almost out of the water. Granted, those shots count just like any others.. But 2 slight lapses on defense, and a prayer by Wade.
Miami just looks so.. lost on offense. I've only seen them play 2-3 times this year, and have no been all that impressed. Maybe I've just seen 3 bad outings by Miami.. but unless Lebron is having an amazing game, this team just looks lost. Wade tried to take over there in the 3rd, and just stopped.
miami has this casual demeanor as if you would think they were the defending champs. They act like they can turn it on when they want. Then you see a team like chicago that gets after it like they have to prove to everyone they belong every night.
Loved OKC's game tonight. Had some lapses.. Russ wasn't able to get a lot of run in the first half because of the fouls, and in detriment to the offense, he tried to play himself up, in effect taking the whole team out of rhythm. But even despite it, everybody else stepped up so big (minus a bad stretch by Harden with multiple TO's).. Great game.
Miami looked absolutely lost on both ends of the floor, for really long stretches of the game. Miami played out of sync all night.. Great win by OKC. ThunderUp.
That is wierd, and they may meet in round 2 of the playoffs(then again, 2-7 and 3-6 matchups this year will be very equal wouldn't be surprised if the Thunder are the only top 4 seed that survive) But I guess that both coaches will use all three of those games as a prerun of the possible playoff matchup.
The Heat better watch out or the Thunder will turn the Heat's run into a dynasty that never was.
If they can add a low post scorer off the bench and get some more mileage after Derek Fisher plus a solid draft pick (best available selection. Perhaps Draymond Green who seems like a combination of DeJuan
Blair and James Harden) then OKC's Durant/Westbrook/Harden/Ibaka team could form a MJ/Pippen/Rodman style dynasty of their own.
They have the best player in the game plus another great star with two good big men up front and Harden to form the best young core in the game. I like their other role players who can hit shots and play smart, reminiscent of Jordan's
teammates in Chicago.
MVPs going each other.
here we have the best matchup for lebron and durant as well. they playing defense on each other makes it that much better... if you haven't seen their battles in the throughout lockout i suggest you do so, it will make the game more interesting.
obviously they wanna get the win, but if you think that they're not going out there trying to outplay each other individually, you are wrong.
westbrook vs. wade will also be a fight of its own, and they will also be taking the matchup somewhat personal.
#best game of the year!!!!!!!