OKC - Five-peat! Final summary

[Phil89]

30/12/12

Oklahoma City Thunder [24-5] vs San Antonio Spurs [10-18]

Durant the hero again as Thunder grab thrilling victory in San Antonio



OKC - 22 22 36 32 112
SAS - 18 29 30 33 110

Player of the Game: Kevin Durant




Video Highlights
Durant dunks over Smith after some nice passing.


Rose sets up Blair for a nice dunk.


With the game tied at 110-110 with 4.1 seconds left, Durant makes a last second shot to seal the win.

[Andrew]

A Larry Bird-esque gamewinner, right in the defense's face.

[Phil89]

01/01/13

December 2012 Summary



December was a month that saw championship co-favourites Miami and Oklahoma City continue their dominance over their respective conferences.
There were some key injuries to important players. Joe Johnson, Joakim Noah, Danny Granger and Deron Williams all missed playing time due to injuries.
Heat players feature in the top 3 for scoring, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. Perhaps this is the year that they take the final step towards the title.
Chris Bosh is still outshining his more illustrious team-mates. He is averaging a staggering 35 points and 14 rebounds per game and isn't slowing down.
Meanwhile Deron Williams and Dwight Howard were joined in New Jersey by Andre Iguodala after the Nets sent Anthony Morrow and Jeff Green to the Bucks.

Conference Standings

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League Leaders

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Monthly Awards

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MVP Candidates

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Transactions

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Injuries

[Phil89]

3/1/13

Oklahoma City Thunder [25-5] vs Minnesota Timberwolves [9-21]

Thunder smash Wolves in high scoring shoot-out



OKC - 33 44 27 40 144
MIN - 37 25 31 29 122

Player of the Game: Jonny Flynn




Video Highlights
Rose lobs one up for Griffin.


Rose manoeuvres his way through the defense before making a tough shot.


Poor marking allows Rose an easy dunk from the inbound.


T-mac coolly sinks a deep three with the shot clock expiring.

[Phil89]

5/1/13

Oklahoma City Thunder [26-5] vs Portland Trail Blazers [17-13]

Griffin leads Thunder as they overrun Blazers late on



OKC - 20 35 22 42 119
POR - 29 24 28 29 110

Player of the Game: Blake Griffin




Video Highlights
Griffin finishes the fast break in style.


Blair helps out with a big block on Roy.

[Andrew]

Good performances from the usual suspects. That'll really be something if you can meet the Heat in the Finals once again, that rivalry has really added something to the Dynasty that doesn't always happen with the unpredictable nature of the sim engine.

[qfrmcpt310]

Great streak you have going, It was the Sonic jerseys that got you going

[Phil89]

Good performances from the usual suspects. That'll really be something if you can meet the Heat in the Finals once again, that rivalry has really added something to the Dynasty that doesn't always happen with the unpredictable nature of the sim engine.

I think the fact that Bosh is performing way above his level in this game has helped them out a lot. Three players scoring 20-35 ppg is a good thing for them.

But this season they have to get past the Knicks (Melo, Amare, Conley) and the Nets (D.Williams, Howard, Iguodala). My ingenious plan of making New Jersey better so they slow the Heat down during the playoffs. I mean, for basketball reasons...

Oh and speaking of rivalries, a trip to Staples to play the Lakers is up next.

Great streak you have going, It was the Sonic jerseys that got you going

They need to add retro courts/arenas in the next game in the same way they have retro jerseys in this one. Then it would be possible to do a Sonics dynasty and still have pictures + highlights.

[qfrmcpt310]

They need to add retro courts/arenas in the next game in the same way they have retro jerseys in this one. Then it would be possible to do a Sonics dynasty and still have pictures + highlights.

Yeah that would be pretty awesome

[Phil89]

6/1/13

Oklahoma City Thunder [27-5] vs Los Angeles Lakers [19-13]

Thunder overrun Lakers in second half to win shoot-out at Staples



OKC - 26 30 37 48 141
LAL - 33 30 32 39 134

Player of the Game: Kobe Bryant




Video Highlights
McGrady sinks a long three to keep the Thunder in touch early.

[Andrew]

That's quite a shootout. Fortunately, the good guys prevailed.

[Phil89]

8/1/13

Oklahoma City Thunder [28-5] vs Golden State Warriors [15-17]

Thunder pull away in second half as Durant and Ellis light it up



OKC - 26 28 34 40 128
GSW - 22 31 27 28 108

Player of the Game: Blake Griffin




Video Highlights
Lopez with a fancy spin move and a nice finish.

[Phil89]

That's quite a shootout. Fortunately, the good guys prevailed.

I guess with the way Miami have been playing, my rivalry with the Lakers has cooled slightly. It's still always a tight contest when I face them though.

[Andrew]

No prizes for Ellis for top scoring in that one. A better all around effort from your starting five trumped a couple of good performances on their side.

[Phil89]

10/1/13

Oklahoma City Thunder [29-5] vs Sacramento Kings [15-17]

Thunder produce amazing finish to Californian road trip



OKC - 30 20 31 51 132
SAC - 29 27 33 28 117

Player of the Game: Blake Griffin




Video Highlights
Durant sinks a three after getting a nice screen from Lopez.

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I went on a 30-9 run (that started as a 16-0 run) in the last 3 minutes of the game.
I'm 19-0 on the road this season.

[Andrew]

That is an incredible finish. Love the screenshot too, though it looks like Yao has broken his arm in the most painful way imaginable.

[Phil89]

12/1/13

Clippers bring in veteran Butler to aid their playoff push



The Los Angeles Clippers today announced a deal with Golden State that sees them receive experienced veteran Caron Butler and forward Chris Hunter.
The Warriors in return get guards CJ Miles and Shannon Brown, as well as promising young forward Al-Farouq Aminu. It makes their bench much deeper.

Sitting in 5th place in the western conference currently with a 19-17 record, the Clippers moved for Butler as he can give them leadership off the bench.
Having not made the playoffs since 2006 they decided to sacrifice some bench depth for a quality player that can help them take that step forward.
Trading Brown and Aminu for Butler's large expiring contract also improves the Clipper's ability to re-sign star guard Eric Gordon at the end of the season.
This deal also frees up the logjam the Clippers had at shooting guard with Brown, Miles, Wright and Pavlovic all vying for minutes behind Eric Gordon.

The Warriors could face a problem at the end of the season as star shooting guard Monta Ellis is coming out of contract and hasn't committed to re-signing.
Acquiring Miles and Brown gives them not only solid backup for Ellis this season, but also potentially his replacement should he decide to switch teams.

So far they've failed to replicate the form from last year that saw them finish 2nd in the conference, before falling to the Kings in 7 games in the first round.
Their impressive performances saw Ellis named on the All-NBA first team whilst point guard Stephen Curry earned a spot on the All-NBA second team.
They are in 9th place in the western conference with a 16-18 record. With added fire-power on the bench now they'll hope to slip into the playoff spots.
Brown in particular showed how good of an impact player he can be during his time with the Thunder. He single-handedly rescued them is several games.

With key players such as Biedrins, Ellis, Speights and Miles coming out of contract next season, they have a total of around $44m in guaranteed contracts.
If none of those player decide to re-sign, the Warriors may look to start over by going after a youngish big name free agent to partner with Stephen Curry.
Someone like Eric Gordon from the Clippers would be a perfect replacement for Ellis and would be a great player to build a franchise around, alongside Curry.

Season Stats
Miles - 4.4 ppg - 1.3 rpg - 0.3 apg
Brown - 5.9 ppg - 1.9 rpg - 0.5 apg
Aminu - 4.8 ppg - 4.5 rpg - 1.0 apg

Butler - 10.8 ppg - 3.5 rpg - 3.3 apg
Hunter - 2.4 ppg - 3.9 rpg - 0.4 apg

Golden State receive
CJ Miles - 25 - SG - $10.82m - 1 year (76)
Shannon Brown - 27 - SG - $10.77m - 2 years (75)
Al-Farouq Aminu - 22 - SF - $6.47m - 2 years (70)

Projected line-up:
Andris Biedrins - Marreese Speights - David Lee - Monta Ellis - Stephen Curry
Bench options:
CJ Miles, Shannon Brown, Ekpe Udoh, Al-Farouq Aminu, Nicolaos Abas, Matthew O'Donnell





LA Clippers receive
Caron Butler - 32 - SF - $14.40m - 1 year (77)
Chris Hunter - 28 - PF - $4.41m - 1 year (70)

Projected line-up:
Serge Ibaka - Kevin Love - Declan Giles - Eric Gordon - Mo Williams
Bench options:
Caron Butler, Chris Hunter, Antoine Wright, Patrick Patterson, Marcus Williams, Aleksandar Pavlovic

[Phil89]

That is an incredible finish. Love the screenshot too, though it looks like Yao has broken his arm in the most painful way imaginable.

It always seems to happen when a really tall player blocks a shorter player. Something to do with them not needed to extend their arm fully to reach the ball and it ends up looking really weird and hilarious.

[Andrew]

As the NBA Elite 11 demo illustrated, physics and animations could stand to be polished.

[Phil89]

12/1/13

Thunder trio set to miss Bobcats game



Oklahoma City have been dealt a blow in the lead up to their game against Charlotte, with Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose and Brook Lopez likely to sit out.
The trio are said to be recovering from food poisoning after they attended a team bonding dinner at a local seafood restaurant earlier in the week.
Coach Scott Brooks gave more details, "Apparently these guys were unlucky enough to be on the wrong end of a dodgy batch of Oysters and Prawns."
"They haven't really done any training this week, but from talking to them it seems the worst of it is behind them, which is good news", he added.

Brooks went on to say that because of Gilbert Arenas' injury that they would need the trio on the bench, but that they 99% wouldn't be called on to play.
With Lopez out it will be between DeJuan Blair and rookie Crawford Mayer to take over starting center position. They will likely split minutes equally.
Norwegian rookie Rolf Young is expected to fill in for Durant, whilst Eric Maynor will take over the role of orchestrating the offense in Rose's absence.
Without Durant and Rose, who combine for almost 50 points per game, it will be up to Blake Griffin and James Harden to handle the bulk of the scoring duties.

[Andrew]

Changing things up for a challenge?

[Phil89]

Just wanted to see if I could be competitive without three of my best players. No offense to Charlotte, but I wouldn't be trying this against Miami.

[Andrew]

Fair call.

[Phil89]

13/1/13

Oklahoma City Thunder [30-5] vs Charlotte Bobcats [18-18]

Thunder in control against Bobcats despite missing key trio



OKC - 28 31 34 27 120
CHA - 26 23 27 24 100

Player of the Game: Eric Maynor




Video Highlights
Young shows from the first play that he is ready to fill in for Durant.


Blair comes up with a big block on Augustin.

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Durant, Rose and Lopez were "out" with food poisoning.
They got to within 6 points in the last 3 minutes, but then I closed the game on a 14-0 run.

[Phil89]

15/1/13

Oklahoma City Thunder [31-5] vs Chicago Bulls [18-18]

Thunder throw away big lead against Bulls



OKC - 34 27 21 20 102
CHI - 20 32 28 38 118

Player of the Game: Beno Udrih




Video Highlights
Rose beats the quarter time buzzer with a tough shot.

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One of those games where I barely stopped myself from throwing the controller at my TV.