Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Washington Wizards: Regular Season Game 30 Open Thread

by Mike Prada on Dec 29, 2009 3:48 PM EST in Game Threads

Oklahoma City Thunder at Washington Wizards, Dec 29, 2009 7:00 PM EST

The Essentials:

Thunder (16-14) vs. Wizards (10-19)
7:00 p.m.
Verizon Center
TV: CSN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan

Previously...

November 20: Oklahoma City 127, Washington 108

Notable Thunder numbers this season

11th in expected winning percentage (.564)
20th in pace (92.1 possessions per game)
17th in offensive efficiency/offensive rating (106.4 points/100 possessions)
8th in defensive efficiency/defensive rating (104.5 points/100 possessions)

Pre-game links

Welcome to Loud City, SB Nation's Thunder Blog
Daily Thunder
Daily Thunder on Nick Collison, the Thunder's "No Stats All-Star"
GameDay Thunder

Tonight's Projected Starters
Thunder	vs.	Thunder
Russell Westbrook	PG	Gilbert Arenas
Thabo Sefolosha	SG	Randy Foye
Kevin Durant	SF	Caron Butler
Jeff Green	PF	Antawn Jamison
Nenad Krstic	C	Brendan Haywood

UPDATE: A few really, really quick notes:

Don't expect to see any Randy Foye at backup PG. Flip reiterated again how Earl Boykins is the team's most effective bench player. "If you look at the games we've won, he's been the biggest reason why we won those games," Saunders said. I never got a chance to ask "But what about the games you lost?"
We might see a lot more zone defense tonight. Flip implied that if it's what works, as it was at times vs. Memphis, they'll use it. This despite the players not always having their hands up like they're supposed to.
I saw Mike Miller jogging around in those capri pants. He still looked like he was not ready to play soon, but I didn't get a chance to speak with him.

No final wrap from the Grizzlies game -- sorry guys. I spent all morning writing this, so I'm kind of wiped out on the long writing front. Kyle's recap is very good, as usual, so check it out.

Okay, fine, one quick thought: I think Flip Saunders deserves a lot of blame for this loss. Strategically, the decision to go zone for basically the entire fourth quarter and overtime is pretty questionable when you're being killed on the glass. Memphis scored at will in overtime, and the only possession Washington stopped them and held them to one shot came when they were in man. The other issue I have is with subbing out both Brendan Haywood and Gilbert Arenas at the same time in the fourth quarter. Neither had foul trouble (Arenas had three, Haywood had four). Arenas eventually came back in quickly, but Haywood sat longer as Memphis' lead ballooned. As soon as Haywood returned for Earl Boykins, we got right back into the game. It's far better to rest Haywood and Arenas in the third quarter rather than the fourth.

(Also, the Wizards were outscored by 11 points in the seven minutes Arenas sat. Eleven points in seven minutes! I hate to sound like a broken record, but can we please just try starting Nick Young and making Foye the backup to Arenas instead of trotting out Earl Boykins for 17 minutes? Maybe that'll help eliminate the drop-off that often occurs when Arenas goes out of the game).

As for tonight, I'll be there with some pregame stuff later. Oklahoma City played last night too, but they played the Nets, who stink. I imagine there will be a lot of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green fans there, so prepare for a less than ideal home crowd.

GO WIZARDS!

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Don't forget Eric Maynor.

A lot of DC/VA guys visiting tonight, should be a fun game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laydODN6xVk

by hibachi on Dec 29, 2009 5:05 PM EST reply actions

To be fair I never thought much of Flip in the first place

but he really has my head scratching alot this year. I hated the Boykins-Foye guard combo he used to trot out. I hate how he often has Foye playing alongside Arenas and then has Foye guarding the weaker player. I mean they are the same height and Foye is a better defender than Arenas(not hard) so why should Foye guard the weak link. Let’s see who Flip has trying to stop Westbrook’s penetration and who he has floating on the wing with Sefolosha tonight during the first. His substitution patterns kinda bother me as I don’t like how many minutes the big 3 play and it seems like he just rides a line-up till they get exhausted or the other coach takes advantage with a substituion. It just seems like he waits for the 5 guys on the court to fail before making a change instead of rotating guys through. This is especially telling in the 4th when at the end of a close game usually 3 or 4 of the players on the court for us has been in the whole fourth quarter and are dragging a bit. I wish he had slightly smaller rotations(i.e. Gilbert always coming out with 3 minutes left in the first and thirds and coming back 3-4 minutes into the 2nd and 4ths). It just seems from my observation that when a guy comes in he plays for like 12-15 minutes straight when 8-10 might get us better effort and less mental mistakes. Much like most of you I wish he would just start NY and give him a set 20-25 mpg and tell him defense gets him more minutes and use Foye as the backup 1 paired with either Mike Miller or occasionally Arenas.

That being said I’m not ready to run Flip out of town or anything and I think he and his Hawk set has been shouldering an unfair amount of the blame for the offense. I really scratch my head at other stuff though especially defensive matchups. Also I have to say I consider playing Zone in the NBA the same thing as throwing your hands up in the air and conceding you can’t play D. Decent NBA teams will kill any zone and it hurts your defensive rebounding. It’s embarassing that an NBA team would utilize a zone.

by BayAreaBullet on Dec 29, 2009 6:51 PM EST reply actions

Yeah, I'm with you on the sub patterns

I asked him if he’s concerned about the minutes the starters are playing. He said not really and that it all depends on back-to-backs, ESPN games, etc. Wasn’t a very convincing answer.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Dec 29, 2009 7:08 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah I could live with the minutes they are playing I guess

if it wasn’t in such LONG spurts. It seems like a guy like Gilbert gets one 10 minute break a game. Maybe the numbers don’t back that up it just seems like dudes stay out there forever and don’t come out till the other team makes a run then Flip switches. I do think we should reduce the Big 3’s minutes a little. It’s not like we are getting consistent enough effort on both sides of the court to justify playing them 40mpg at this point.

by BayAreaBullet on Dec 29, 2009 7:19 PM EST up reply actions

re: zones

on the other hand, not every team can shoot their way out of a zone, which is equally shameful because basketball players are supposed to be able to shoot.

by Pryme on Dec 29, 2009 7:19 PM EST up reply actions

I just feel like playing Zone in the NBA is embarrasing

It’s like when an NFL kicker sucks so bad the team always goes for it on 4th rather than attempt a 40 yarder. IF you think Zone is gonna help you, you are in real trouble.

by BayAreaBullet on Dec 29, 2009 7:21 PM EST up reply actions

I see it the other way around

If you have to have your FG kicker score instead of trying to get a TD = embarrassing.

Playing zone = “I dare you to prove that you can score against it.”

Of course, when Flip had Garnett playing at SF or PF, implementing the zone was probably less of an ordeal. We all very aware of how allergic the Wiz are to playing defense of any kind.

by Pryme on Dec 29, 2009 7:26 PM EST up reply actions

In that scenario I meant like

One would normally take a 42 yarder over a 4th and 6 type of call. So if the coach is routinely going for those 4ths instead of kicking the field goal it is a huge indictment of the kicker. Bad example though really. My personal bias is that I think Zone only works at lower levels of competition and is a joke in the NBA. Once again thats my bias though.

by BayAreaBullet on Dec 29, 2009 7:31 PM EST up reply actions

Early zone look

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Dec 29, 2009 7:17 PM EST reply actions

Great ball movement early

The words “swing swing” were really big on the Wizards’ board under “offensive keys.” They’re listening.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Dec 29, 2009 7:18 PM EST reply actions

Is that a new PA announcer at the Verizon Center?

He sounds different

by SkinsWizStangs on Dec 29, 2009 7:18 PM EST reply actions

It's their backup guy

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Dec 29, 2009 7:20 PM EST up reply actions

I think everyone knew Foye had no intention of shooting on that last play.

by Pryme on Dec 29, 2009 7:21 PM EST reply actions

Man, Gil just does not shoot well off the catch

Both he and Butler just need a bounce. It’s incredible. Always makes me wonder if they’ll ever play well together.

by mfish on Dec 29, 2009 7:22 PM EST reply actions

people have been like "what happened to the Big 3's chemistry" or something like that

and I always wonder how much of it was them playing well together and how much of it was simply all 3 could take as many shots as they wanted cuz they were the only scorers. Though Jamison does compliment the other 2 well as he can score without needing the ball in his hands alot.

by BayAreaBullet on Dec 29, 2009 7:25 PM EST up reply actions