2016/2017 Daily Discussion Thread

[Andrew]

There is no need to underrate the performance either. Getting into mathematical predictions, which is something a little tricky, as shown in the 34 points in the 1st and 40 at the end of the game by Love, that's 80 at the end of the game. I don't care who your teammates are, you gotta earn those 80. Matterfact, I am sure he ended up with one of the most efficient 60 point performances ever.

He did indeed, and it definitely shouldn't be underrated. It was a great performance.

[I Hate Mondays]

There is no need to underrate the performance either. Getting into mathematical predictions, which is something a little tricky, as shown in the 34 points in the 1st and 40 at the end of the game by Love, that's 80 at the end of the game. I don't care who your teammates are, you gotta earn those 80. Matterfact, I am sure he ended up with one of the most efficient 60 point performances ever.

This is funny, he is just a shade behind Wilt's stats. In his 100 point game, he averaged 2.07 points/minute. Thompson had 2.06 points/minute. They had similar field goal and free throw percentages too, it's just Wilt wasn't scoring 3s to compare that category. That 0.01 looks infinitesimal to me, but badmouths will say he had the 2nd most efficient game, no tie.

[Axel The Great]

Meanwhile, Al Horford blew a pretty easy game winning layup and Harden misses out on a quadruple double with 35 points, 8 assists, 8 rebounds and 10 turnovers

Marcus Smart is so annoying. He deliberately flopped on that last play and that's something he's been doing for a while. He's even made a few appearances on Shaqtin' a Fool. It's hilarious when he does it to other teams, but not when he does it to your team. Thankfully that was a no call though.

Huge nail-biter win for the Rockets last night against Golden State. The fact that they shot poorly from downtown was offset by an equal sub-par three-point performance by the Warriors. Impressive triple-double stat line for James Harden, but it's just so frustrating to watch him rack up those turnovers. There's hope at least, for a miraculous second round appearance this year.

It's just nice to see you around again. Me thinks I'm the only Rockets fan here at this time

You are not alone, my friend! Sometimes I find time to come around.

[Valor]

I mean, you do still have to hit the shots, but it is a factor that often goes unmentioned.

Yep, that's why it's a great shooting performance instead of a great scoring performance imo

Marcus Smart is so annoying. He deliberately flopped on that last play and that's something he's been doing for a while. He's even made a few appearances on Shaqtin' a Fool. It's hilarious when he does it to other teams, but not when he does it to your team. Thankfully that was a no call though.

Yep, he definitely flopped on that last one; not the Harden elbow though I don't think Glad it was a no call (the flop), keep them honest.

[Axel The Great]

Yep the elbow was definitely a foul he didn't even need to pull his theatrics to get that one in his favor. Just glad it didn't cost the Rockets the game.

[Andrew]

Incredible numbers right there, before the game's even finished.

[I Hate Mondays]

Too bad he is hurting his team in close game situations. He missed like 3 attempts in a row last night. To be fair, those were contested shots but nobody forced him to play hero ball. At least he didn't get to take the last shot

[Phil89]

Hurting them? They wouldn't even be in any close game situations in the first place if it wasn't for Westbrook. He is carrying this team.

Russ has actually been one of the most clutch players this season.



As shown in the videos in this twitter thread: https://twitter.com/harrisonmc15/status ... 4240129024

@royceyoung
Westbrook's 3 was undoubtedly an awful shot, but don't get caught up in the last thing you saw. OKC has the 3rd best clutch time net rating.

@royceyoung
In reality, Westbrook has been terrific in clutch time situations for most of this season. Which is a big reason they're 14-9.

[Andrew]

It's interesting to see some of the reactions to Westbrook's stats among fans and sportswriters alike, especially compared to the historic numbers the Warriors were posting last season. Whereas anything less than glowing praise and unquestioning acceptance of the Warriors as The Undisputed Greatest Team of All-Time was met with cries of "hater!", or insistence that any criticism of the team was purely fuelled by nostalgia and bitterness, with Westbrook it seems to be the other way around. It's more fashionable and acceptable to downplay his accomplishments in favour of holding Oscar Robertson's accomplishment in higher regard, because Westbrook is just "chasing stats", and/or "hurting the team".

In other words, last year it was "accept that history is being made, and that the old isn't always better just because it's old", which to be fair, does have merit. However, it's a bit hypocritical when this year, it's "the numbers aren't as special as the old mark, because it's forced and manufactured, whereas the original record was a true accomplishment". It's kind of like the Warriors fans who argued that the Cavs couldn't blame the 2015 Finals loss on being without key players, but then tried to make the same excuse about the 3-1 collapse in 2016.

Honestly, I think much of it has to do with the fact that Westbrook plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder seem to be a popular team to dislike because of what happened in Seattle, even though that has nothing to do with the players and coaching staff, and it happened almost a decade ago. Once again, it's also rather hypocritical that people are told to get over LeBron leaving Cleveland in 2010 (which I'd say most Cavs fans certainly have by now) or Durant leaving the Thunder this past offseason, but anyone who still hates the Thunder and delights in their shortcomings is conversely displaying righteous outrage. You don't get to tell other people to get over things, while holding onto your own grudges. Well, you can - freedom of speech and all that - but you're definitely being a massive hypocrite in the process.

Anyway, all that aside...

I'm all in favour of letting the dust settle on records and accomplishments before putting them in historical perspective, but what Westbrook has done so far can certainly be called remarkable. Remember that a lot of people were claiming that LeBron would be the first player to average a triple-double in the modern era when he went to the Heat. I remember saying at the time it was unlikely as the opportunities to get those extra assists or rebounds would be harder to come by with two other stars on the team, since they'd be accounting for some of those stats as well. That Westbrook is posting these numbers in the wake of Durant's departure kind of reinforces that. Without another star posting big numbers, there are more opportunities to have big games, and in some cases, pad stats a little.

As far as him chasing stats...well, I think it's fair to say a lot of stars have done that over the years. Wilt did it when he led the league in assists, chiding teammates for "wasting" passes and being adamant that every assist was properly accounted for. MJ did the same in 1989 when he was getting all those triple-doubles, and he certainly went after the scoring championship year after year. Since it's The Big O's record we're talking about, he was also a pretty big jerk to his teammates when he felt they wasted an opportunity to get him an assist. To single any star out for supposedly chasing stats is a little unfair.

You could possibly make more of an argument about his one-man show being detrimental to the team, but it would seem his overall performance in the clutch doesn't gel with that thought. Additionally, with Durant and Ibaka gone, the team has much less proven talent, and he's far and away the only superstar on the roster. It's not a recipe for success in the long term, as Oscar Robertson's career with the Royals arguably demonstrates (the dominance of Russell's Celtics aside). But right now, it's what they have to work with: let Westbrook go nuts, and ride that until they can start putting a better team around him. He's undoubtedly putting on a show and doing something historically significant, too.

[I Hate Mondays]

I would rather see Westbrook's FG% & TOs in the last 5 minutes. It's easy fill the stats sheet when you have an usage rate like Westbrook does. I'm just thinking long term. If he manages to average a triple-double by the end of the season, I'll have a real size, bronze statue of him ordered for my living room. If his pace goes down though (which I believe it will), other OKC players will have to step up their game. Can they do that after they got used to grab the popcorn by the paint and watch the one-man Westbrook show all over again?
I am not even talking about season ending injuries scenarios. Just the scenario where Westbrook gets a little fatigued.
Anwyays, I'll enjoy the show for now. His performance is historical indeed. I won't deny the fact that I really like watching him play most of the times. But those last minute airballs are making me scratch my head everytime.

[Phil89]

Westbrook scored 13 points in the fourth quarter against the Celtics today in a comeback win for OKC. Pretty clutch.

He only managed 37 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists, so his triple-double streak ended at 7. Steven Adams wasn't impressed

[Andrew]

Definitely becoming a fan of Adams' sense of humour.

Notably, Chris Paul had 20 points, 20 assists, and zero turnovers yesterday. Surprised that's not getting a bit more attention.

[big-shot-ROB]

Tim Frazier posted a triple double to go along with 5 steals coming off the bench.

[air gordon]

Beverley's defense was excellent on the final OKC possessions

is OKC a generally hated / not popular team?? They are a small market team but are on national tv often

[Andrew]

I wouldn't necessarily call them the most disliked team or anything - that'd be tough to gauge, anyway - but there seems to be some very vocal dislike of them, that crosses the usual borders between established team and fan base rivalries. It all basically comes down to what happened in Seattle; obviously, former Sonics fans tend to hate them, but it seems fans of other teams also dislike them out of principle.

Glancing at comments sections and social media, I saw a lot of scorn for Durant when he left OKC this past offseason, but at the same time, I also saw a lot of people jeering the Thunder and expressing delight that they'd been dealt such a blow. Even with the hangover hate of the Heat in 2012, I also remember seeing a lot of people saying that the Thunder deserved to lose that series (which of course, they did), as retribution for Seattle having their team stolen. I also noticed that a lot the heat on the Heat cooled off after their loss in 2011, but not so much for the Thunder in 2012. There's a contingent of basketball/NBA fans, who cheer for a variety of teams, that apparently feel the Thunder deserve to keep suffering. Kind of unfair to the players and coaching staff, in my opinion. A lack of sympathy towards management/the organisation itself is more understandable, but that stuff is out of the players' and coaches' control.

[air gordon]

Oh not that social media thing. Sounds like that faction deserves the ending of jay and silent bob strikes back

http://youtu.be/vuBWbpTJRqk

[Andrew]

Russell Westbrook posted a line of 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 22 assists in the Thunder's victory over the Suns. Still averaging a triple-double on the season, while leading the league in scoring.

[big-shot-ROB]

Russell Westbrook is the only player I know who gets so many recognition when OKC wins but gets so much hate when they lose. Right now they are 7th in the conference with a 16-12 record. Oladipo has been injured for the last couple weeks, so Westbrook starting lineup is Roberson, Morrow, Sabonis and Adams, plus he's got Kanter on the bench. I think it's astonishing he's carrying this team, like really, the only player who is decent in both ends of the floor is Adams, and Sabonis is still a rookie.

They should be in the bottom of the conference if it wasn't for Russ, who posted 47/11/7 on 50% shooting tonight. Still, everyone is criticizing him. But if they win, everyone praises him as a god.

[Andrew]

Kind of the way it goes when you're far and away the star of the team. Win or lose, you get the lion's share of the responsibility, which isn't necessarily fair.

[Lamrock]

I haven't been able to catch many Blazers games this season. Thank god.

[Phil89]

Westbrook just scored 19 points in the fourth quarter against the Celtics to single-handedly win OKC the game.

He also got his 14th triple-double of the season (45/11/11).

phpBB [video]

[Andrew]

He also now has more career 40 point, 10 rebound games than Kevin Garnett.

[big-shot-ROB]

Great showdown we are seeing between the 2 best players in the NBA. Both James and Durant have 25+ points at the end of the 3rd.

[I Hate Mondays]

phpBB [video]

Nice job there by K Love, looking for the open man instead of feeling pitty for himself after he got dunked on.


Edit: Hoooolyyyy Crap RJ looking like he is 25 again. Twice.

Later Edit: With 1:43 to go, this looks like the Finals 100%. This game satisfied my every single expectation.

Final Edit: Kyrie is a baaad man. Feel bad for KD, choking again and all. That's good defense by RJ, no foul. Had a flashback of Curry's performance in the Finals. But the better team won, simple as that. I am grateful for this game and as you can see, very pumped up

[Andrew]

Cavs prevail. Durant wondering if he can switch teams.

Alright, that joke's going to be run into the ground by the end of the season. Epic finish.