Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Mauro Pedrosa

OFFICIAL GAMETHREAD: Magic @ OKC

Recommended Posts

It had a lot to do with Vucevic playing 19 minutes due to foul trouble. Ibaka can't shine on offense or defense with Vuc by his side. That guy is a backup

 

I don't know. the first 8 minutes of the game we started on an 18-7 run and Westbrook had 3 points. Then Vucevic was subbed out. When westbrook was subbed out with 1 minute left in the first quarter we were up 25-11. With 7:38 left in the second quarter we were up 38-17 and westbrook only had 5 points. Westbrook got 4 quick points and then we subbed Vucevic and Fournier back in for Biyombo and Augustin. it was 40-21. Then we subbed vucevic back out with 4 minutes left in the quarter up 44-29. we finished the half 57-47. westbrook started barreling his way to the rim and getting fouled. Shot 8 free throws in the second quarter alone.

 

so its pretty inconclusive that Vucevic was the problem when the minutes he did play we played solid defense.

 

Maybe Vucevic's play coincided with westbrook not being aggressive so it looks like we played better defense when he was in the game? Maybe it's not even payton's fault for westbrook going off. Westbrook is the only point guard in the league that can muscle his way to the rim like that repeatedly.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Our team plays for their lives it seems just to stay close in games.

 

Isn't this a good thing?

 

Oladipo got traded after three years here without warning. Who is to say the rest of the roster isn't feeling this pressure? And it's not guaranteed that you land at OKC. It could be Dallas or Sacramento or Boston or San Francisco or New Oreans (I don't mean to pick on those fine cities, but a move is still a move). If the player wants to be here, I would hope that desire reflects on the court.

  • Upvote 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That was a win you can build on and we saw some young guys grow up a bit. Westbrook is a top 5 player in the league and OKC is probably the toughest spot to play in in the NBA. Great win. Good to see Serge wake up and several EP 3s down the stretch. Let's hope we still have some gas in the tank for the Pacers tonight

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Vogel is doing some great work finding out what combinations work, at the end of the day a huge part of having a winning basketball teams is about having rotations and combinations that make sense.

 

As many people have pointed out, Gordon (when playing the 3) and Payton do not mesh well together, Vuc and Ibaka together are just too similar in terms of how they space the floor, Biz and Gordon played well together.

 

I liked someones comment before on Vuc becoming the Kanter of this team, 6th man and leader of the second string, but will he take the demotion / benching well?

 

I would like to see either Biz / Ibaka or Ibaka / Gordon tried at the 5 / 4, with Green / Fournier / Payton, with Vuc at 6, run with that for a few games and see how they do.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, but there's no real hope that we're going to be a good playoff team this season. The benchmark is "Bad playoff team".

 

Bad playoff teams screw up but figure out how to do enough to come out with wins.

 

That team that played last night could be something like 7-3 instead of 4-6 and we'd be talking about how we all need to calm down because we beat teams we're better than including a shorthanded Miami team, a Utah team that was missing George Hill, and a Minnesota team that was coming off a back to back.

 

But once again we're stuck in some sort of weird position where we cant figure out what our team is. is it the embarrassing thing we saw the previous 9 games? or is this game going to push us into what some of us thought the team could be before the season began (a flawed but solid team that we can build on)?

 

Solid point, i agree.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Isn't this a good thing?

 

Oladipo got traded after three years here without warning. Who is to say the rest of the roster isn't feeling this pressure? And it's not guaranteed that you land at OKC. It could be Dallas or Sacramento or Boston or San Francisco or New Oreans (I don't mean to pick on those fine cities, but a move is still a move). If the player wants to be here, I would hope that desire reflects on the court.

 

It is a good thing but can wear a team down instantly and lead to injuries. Love the hustle but to keep it going without having the youth of fresh legs wont bode well for Ibaka or Vuc or Green or DJ.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×