But this bitterness is still gnawing at me, and why? Walking out of our 3 point loss to the Phoenix Suns, sure I felt disappointed but far from angry. After all, I had the privilege to watch a very well-played game. Even after a blowout loss to the Knicks last week I just shook my head and started looking forward to Christmas Day. It’s going to happen from time to time. What left such a bad taste in my mouth wasn’t our losing, it was the way the Mavericks handled winning.

The most striking moment for me came with 1:30 left in the 4th quarter. Westbrook had just driven to the basket and had been cleanly blocked by Tyson Chandler. On the way down RW landed awkwardly on his right elbow. While he lay writhing on the ground in pain, Chandler chooses that moment to leap in the air, beat his chest, and gesture provocatively at the Thunder fans sitting near the baseline. So rather than showing any sort of concern for the fallen competitor, or at least keeping a respectful distance, he performs a long and unseemly series of self-congratulatory gesticulation right next to an injured player. Not at other players or the Thunder bench, not even at the cameras, but directly in the faces of the fans.

Allow your mind to freeze on that mental image for a moment as we remember this same Tyson Chandler, who first came to Oklahoma City in 2006 after being traded to the New Orleans Hornets. He himself has told stories of the warm and neighborly way every member of the community tried to help Tyson and his family feel at home. This is the same Tyson Chandler who 2 years later was actually traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, only to be turned away at the last moment by a medically questionable toe. This is the same Tyson Chandler for whom I heard genuine applause as he took the floor for the Mavericks back in November and during introductions last night. Considering this, you can see how at that moment my mind was wracked with the question: how did it come to this? How had a once fond relationship become so antagonistic?

The answer, I believe, starts at the very top of the Mavericks organization with a presumptuous attitude that trickles all the way down to the players on the hardwood. For further evidence, you can resume your mental playback to the moment that Jason Terry egged on a rightly disapproving crowd with sarcastic arm motions and an insincere smile. Or perhaps the very last second of the game when Caron Butler spiked the ball at midcourt with so much force, you might have thought he had never won a basketball game before. Are you seeing the same pattern I am?

If the San Antonio Spurs are a model for the Thunder organization, then let the Mavericks be our antithesis. Here are a few other hallmarks of Maverick-brand basketball that we would do well to avoid. The owner, Mark Cuban, can regularly be seen and heard bemoaning referee calls right from the sidelines. He resorts to name-calling other owners in the public arena, demonstrating that he can’t even control himself much less a basketball franchise. Ultimately, the man is the embodiment of the universal truth that you can have everything in the world and still be a total loser. And that’s not name-calling. Be honest, if Mark Cuban was just another guy who worked at your office, would you accept his friend request? Mmm-hmmm, thought so.

Harder to measure is his meddlesome impact on the front office, which seems to prefer an assembly of overpaid hired guns year after year, but has found far more success in the regular season than in the playoffs. From all of this derives a culture of cockiness that, at least last night, seemed to reach the characters of the players themselves.

This is to take nothing away from the Mavericks’ performance last night. And they won without their best player, who I hope is able to play again in time for our January 6th rematch because he makes the game better. My central point is that the Thunder, and all of us as Thunder fans, need to learn through reverse example. We don’t want an ownership like their ownership. We don’t want management like their management, and we certainly don’t want our players to act anything like their players acted. Thank goodness for bad toes.

Any question of “Is there a rivalry” is now settled. There has always been a rivalry between the proud and the humble. These two organizations represent diametrically opposed philosophies of winning, as different as night is from day. One is built on community, commitment, and teamwork. The other on narcissism, disrespect, and underperformance. Both can produce winning teams, but only one affords that organization the respect of this NBA fan.

So if that’s what they want to represent, so be it. After all, you can only control yourself and I can’t make the decisions for them. Yeah, I’d dearly like to see us beat them on January 6th. Even sweeter would be to bounce them out of the playoffs in the first round for the 3rd time in 4 years. But who knows what will happen? Maybe the Mavericks will reach the finals this year. Or maybe they’re chances will disappear faster than you can Dwayne Wade. But no matter what happens on the basketball court this year or any other, I’ve found another reason to be grateful this holiday season. That reason? I’m not a Dallas Mavericks fan.

Phew. I do feel better.

Also in this episode, we wonder if fast-paced basketball is becoming the Thunder’s style?

Also, we discuss whether or not the ten close games the Thunder have played are a good or bad sign.

They also discuss likes and annoyances from new presentations at the Ford Oklahoma City Arena.

And Blayne asks, does the red river rivalry extend all the way to the Texas Rangers?

As the regular season wound down, I was watching the Western conference playoff standings closely hoping the Thunder would draw the Suns or Mavericks in the first round. I just felt that we matched up better against them, and that our style would give them the most problems. And that’s true; we do match up better. Especially based on what we saw from the Spurs-Mavs series, I think we could have advanced as the 7th seed. But as the 6 games with the Lakers unfolded, I realized that I was wrong to lament our draw of the 8th seed. Because it wasn’t bad luck; it may turn out to be the best thing that could have happened to the Thunder in their first taste of the postseason.

Why you ask? Please allow me to illustrate with an example. When I was but a lad, I passed many an hour playing Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 with 3, yes THREE, friends all at one time! When I played the game alone, I took the normal approach. I started on Easy difficulty, finished the game, then played on Medium, and so on. Eventually I reached the Hard difficulty level, but by that time I’d already seen every level at least twice, and the game wasn’t as fun when I couldn’t just take out a room full of baddies with nothing but a handgun and the ability to run laterally. By contrast, a friend of mine got the game and just started playing on Hard without hesitation. Sure, it was tedious and difficult, and sometimes not even fun. After all, dying 20 times on the first level isn’t my idea of a good time. But in multiplayer, who do you think dominated the game? It was always my friend who only knew two outcomes to any conflict: to make rapid, accurate shots or die.

I’m sure you believe, as I do, that our Thunder team is only going to get better. In fact, Let’s suppose they will improve year-over-year for the next 3 to 5 years. Then that means that this team was actually the weakest it’s going to be over the next 4 years. Secondly, remember that our expectations for this team soared from 30 to 40 to 50 wins in a matter of a few weeks. Unless you actually came into this season expecting the Thunder to win the championship, then you should consider everything that happens in the playoffs to be serendipitous surprise.

With that in mind, I contend that rather than regretting our match up with the Lakers, the worst thing that could have happened is if we had missed our chance to play them at our weakest. Having advantageous match ups is great because you can play directly to your strengths and expect victory. However, that doesn’t challenge you to find the limits of your capability. I don’t think any other team would have pushed us so hard. I believe the absolute worst outcome of the playoffs would have been losing to Dallas in the first round, say because Nowitski happened to outgun Durant 4 times out of 7 in spite of sloppy defense by the Mavericks. We might have left that experience saying, “Boy, we just need to keep doing what we’re doing, just doing it better.” But we would have remained completely in the dark about where our weaknesses are at this critical time in our development.

Simply put, we want to be the best. That means we have to beat the best. And, I say, if you’re gonna lose, lose to the best. Let’s take a look at just a few of the extremely valuable lessons we got to learn this year as a result of this matchup. First the good stuff.

First of all, we found out that we can win in the playoffs. As Cubs fans, Michael and I have endured watching them lose 8 consecutive playoff games dating back to 2003, and we can tell you, it’s excruciating. What a relief to have a home town team not burdened with psychological baggage, but full of unlimited potential. This team is anything but cursed, in fact, we’re blessed. As we stated on this show in Episode 31, we can beat anyone, but we confirmed that we can beat anybody even when it counts. People didn’t give us a chance, but they were wrong. We had a chance, and a very good one, to the surprise of everyone but us.

We also learned a lot about our incredible fan base. The loudest in the NBA, and wildest and craziest in the country. The national TV announcers could not say enough about the atmosphere in the Ford Center, the city, and really the entire state. Also, I just want to award an honorary Thunder Clap to all of you fans at game 6, who stood and cheered both teams after the game. At a moment when, I admit, I would have felt like sending a jumbo pretzel flying at Pau Gasol, you sent exactly the right message: that we appreciate them not just for their amazing talents, but we admire their character, and the professional work ethic they bring every day to their passion, which also happens to be their career. I hope every player who saw that got that message loud and clear, and I hope some may have a better understanding of what a privilege it is to be part of the Oklahoma City Thunder organization.

But those lessons learned were hardly the most valuable. The old saying goes, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”, but if there is a basketball corollary, it would be “Know your strengths well, but your weaknesses even better.”

We all know that KD is the real deal, and has all the tools to be a hall of fame player. He’s so good, in fact, it’s hard to see what he does wrong sometimes. But nasty defense from Kobe and Artest showed us that he still has room to improve when creating off of the dribble and hitting shots close to the basket when drawing contact. We also learned that he had become too reliant on foul shooting to be productive; against a capable defender who wasn’t often forced to foul him, he struggled. But he was so successful with catch-and-shoot moves and drawing fouls that he rarely actually had to drive to the bucket and finish. He’s going to have no problem learning to do this more. In fact, when he does, he’s going to be downright scary.

We learned that Green is a clutch but streaky scorer, which cuts both ways as a strength and weakness. He knows how to hit big shots, and how to step up when the team is really struggling. He scored 6 straight points in Game 3 when we needed him. But other times he tends to sit back. He either needs to step up to be involved all the time or we need to find a legitimate third scoring option if we will overcome a team like the Lakers.

We confirmed that we are not as strong under the basket as the Lakers. Saying this, I have to give tremendous kudos to Krstic, Collison, and Ibaka, who were given an arduous task and performed it very well. And I’m not down on these guys at all. In fact, I’m glad to have all of them. But none of them, at this point, represent an offensive low post presence. Just loads of hustle and scrappy play which seems to energize the whole team. They all need to keep working on that area.

To go with our weaknesses inside, we also need to improve from the outside. In this series, we shot under 30% in 3 of the 6 games We need our starters and bench players to have at least 5 quality 3 point shooters on the team if it will ever be a legitimate path to victory for our team like it was for the Lakers who hit 12 in game 6.

We learned that Westbrook is already mature enough to excel in the playoffs, and he’s putting things together into an amazing whole. But he needs to find ways to get every guy on the floor involved and not just KD. We have to run better offensive plays, and play less of a two man game when we need a basket. Also, his late game management needs work. This is one of those talents that doesn’t come instinctually to many, so he should really lean on coach Brooks and Mo Cheeks to help him achieve his full potential as a point guard.

Also, though he did an excellent job, coach and the players need to figure out their strategy for using time outs appropriately based on the complete game situation.

Finally, the team showed youth and inexperience, but not because they played poorly. At times in the series that played very well. I say they showed youth because they played so very differently at home and on the road. They never seemed to get their own rhythm and swagger without the energy of a crowd to reflect and relax them.

So all in all, sure, we could have played some other team in the first round and maybe even beat them. It would have felt great, but it might have been a step back rather than a potentially great leap forward to the real goal: winning the NBA championship. Let’s get all those advantageous match ups in the years when we actually SHOULD be vying for the title. When that time comes, an eighth seed and a first round exit will be a big disappointment. For this season, we were there to do our best, to learn, and to find out what we are made of. And that’s exactly what playing the Lakers allowed us to accomplish.

Plus we got a great chant out of the experience. Jazz fans, feel free to call us if you need any help with the rhythm.

What are your thoughts on this season? We’d love to hear from you any time at (405) 428-3865 or hosts@okcthundercast.com. Also leave your comments at our favorite Thunder Blog, Welcome to Loud City. Let the Thunder roll!

Last week, Blayne talked about the dream season the Thunder, and we fans, have enjoyed. Winning 50 games and earning the eighth seed in the playoffs, following last year’s forgettable season, is a miraculous accomplishment. Blayne pointed to a number of contributors: scoring leader Kevin Durant; Coach of the Year Scott Brooks; phenomenal rookies James Harden and Serge Ibaka; and many more. But I contend that the Thunder are still playing in late April primarily because of Westbrook’s improvement.

I have been one of Westbrook’s most ardent critics. I have maintained that Russ has lacked the most important skill of a good point guard, running an offense. Early in the season we released episode 32, Key Factors to Success, where we discussed what would make or break the Thunder’s season. Brent wanted to see a better three-point percentage, Blayne attributed wins defensive energy, and I pointed out that when Westbrook plays as a point guard, classified by his assist-to-turnover ratio, we win. Conversely, when he acts more as a shooting guard, we lose. I pointed out that assist-to-turnover ratio had the second highest correlation to the Thunder winning games, behind three-point shooting. This demonstrated the importance of having a player who can coordinate an offense and find open looks for his teammates. If Westbrook could act as a leader of the team, make more intelligent decisions with the ball, and take fewer sloppy shots, the Thunder would win far more games.

I worried that Westbrook was not retaining the lessons he was learning from previous games. It seemed that he would focus on being our point guard for the first half of games, but then revert to last season’s habits in the second half. When he would find a shooting groove, he would rush down the court with the ball and immediately attack the basket or take a quick three-point shot, rather than setting up an offense. Even after missing three or four attempts in a row, he would continue to press; either not believing his streak went cold or trying to regain the hot hand.

In the five months since that episode was recorded, I have had a complete turn-around. Russell Westbrook is the reason the Thunder have made it to the playoffs. Westbrook has embraced his role on the team and taken his responsibility as a playmaker seriously.

The primary statistic used to quantify playmaking is assists. Westbrook is an attacker by nature, and it has taken him a season and a half to subdue his instincts and develop into a pass-first leader. One criticism of Westbrook last year was his lazy, lobbing passing, but this season his passes have become sharp and accurate, many of them in tight quarters. The evidence of his improvement? Last season, Westbrook only averaged 5.3 assists per game. This season, he has made 217 more assists, to increase his per game mark to 8.0.

More importantly, the team as a whole has improved their offensive efficiency. We went from being 24th in the league in scoring to 14th. Certainly, Durant’s 30 points per game has an influence on that measure, but the staggering offensive improvement cannot be the work of one man alone. I assert that it is Westbrook’s growth and maturity as a leader that has had most significantly improved our offensive rating.

The second complaint about Westbrook was his shot selection. As I said earlier, Westbrook seemed to press himself into bad shots, including many ill-advised three-pointers. Throughout last season, and through the first two months of this season, he averaged 1.8 three-point attempts per game, making only 27% of them. New Year’s marked a turning point in his philosophy. We will never know if coach forbad him to jack threes or if he came to this understanding himself, but since New Year’s, he’s averaging only a half a three-pointer per game. He’s learned that three-point shooting is not the best way from him to contribute to the team.

Further defeating the poor shooting complaint is his development of the beautiful drive, stop, elevate, and shoot from the elbow. Mixed with his innate attacking ability and his new-found passing skills, this shot makes Westbrook a tough defensive assignment. Most point guards cannot leap as high as Westbrook, so developing a mid-range jumper was a key to his evolution.

Game Score is my favorite statistic in basketball. It is an aggregate measure of all box-score statistics into one number that is in the same scale as points. For example, a player may only score 10 points in a game, but rebounds, assists, and avoiding missed shots could make his performance equivalent to 20 points. Conversely, a player could score 30 points, but his turnovers and too many missed free throws could evaluate to the equivalent of 20 points. Game Score is a good measure of the overall contribution a player makes on the court and is further evidence of Westbrook’s development. He has improved his game score from 11.0 last season to 13.2 this season, meaning he is contributing the equivalent of an extra two points per game.

With all his improvements, there is still room for Westbrook to grow. An important measure of a point guard is his ability to maintain possession and protect the basketball. By turning the ball over, you are giving your opponent an easy stop and a chance to score. Furthermore, many turnovers result in fast-breaks, which have an above-average rate of scoring. Last season, Westbrook had more turnovers than anyone in the league. 274 times he gave the opponent an easy, extra possession. That’s 3.3 turnovers per game. I’ve heard many Westbrook supporters say that he has cut down on his turnovers this year, but that is just wrong. His turnovers per game this season? 3.3, exactly the same as his rookie campaign.

Westbrook has won the hearts of all Thunder fans, including me. His exciting and dynamic play not only shows up in box scores, but also in the hoarse voices of fans streaming from the Ford Center. During game four of the 2010 NBA Playoffs, the ESPN announcer quipped, these guys are going to be pretty good when they grow up. We should count ourselves lucky to be witnessing the evolution of what could one day be not just an elite point guard in the league, but perhaps the elite point guard.

I want to close by apologizing to Westbrook, Coach Brooks, and Sam Presti for all the negative things I have said in previous podcasts. Clearly, Presti and Brooks know a lot more about developing players than I do. Westbrook has earned my admiration as man who is willing to take on new challenges and fight through difficult times. George Patton once said, “Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.” Westbrook has accepted the gauntlet, and he has provided us all with the exhilaration of victory.

Until next time, fans. Enjoy our playoff run, BEAT LA, and let the Thunder roll!

In this podcast, we discuss and debate how to balance each player’s needs with what’s best for the team in the immediate and long term.

PS – This is who fans of Rubio thought they were chanting for.

Photo courtesy of hearly on photobucket.