Game Thread: Mavericks-Thunder
The Cleveland Cavaliers won the first pick in this summer’s draft, meaning Dan Gilbert’s “I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE” plan has taken one step closer to becoming reality. Um, or not. Sadly for Cleveland, they’re about ten players short of a title team. Even more sadly for Cleveland, this draft has no certain saviors.
Anyway, I’m trying something new tonight: a game thread for a game the Celtics aren’t playing in. Leave your comments about Mavericks-Thunder below. I’ve got the Thunder in six because of their athleticism, even if I’m deathly afraid of their late-game execution (or, rather, their late-game battle for the conch). Yes, I just made a “Lord of the Flies” reference. I feel like I’m back in 7th-grade English class.
Have at it in the comment section, folks. I hope this game thread works out.
Related posts:
Celtics Blog | Jay King | May 17, 2011
God, I am soooooo TIRED of hearing about “athleticism”. Durant is a great player. Period. So is Russell. Thunder will win in six, I agree there. Everyone on the floor is an athlete.
Kudos on the LOTF reference.
Go Ts.
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But you have to admit: Russell Westbrook is quite a bit more athletic than Jason Kidd.
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Jay.. Huge age difference.
Go thunder… Second favorite team of mine!
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And… Perk already got a tech. Took less than one and a half minutes. Attaboy.
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I really like the Thunder but they aren’t experienced or good enough yet. Dallas in 5. Go Cs….
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And… Perk just complained about getting called for a foul because he gave Tyson Chandler the People’s Elbow.
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Not sure if Perk is trying to send a message, or feeling a bit overwhelmed by Chandler’s size.
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… or if he’s just Perk being Perk?
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Woohoo, first lead!
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Maybe Perk’s lack of play will end all the ‘trade’ bitching? Go Cs…
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I doubt it, James. Even sitting on the bench, he’s helping OKC more than Jeff Green helped Boston.
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Thunder rotating well on d
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OmG, more Perkins bashing going on? This guy could help his team win a championship this year and STILL be dismissed as a scrub by Ainge worshippers.
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Collison has really come to life recently.
And no, that DOESN’T mean Perk = scrub. Sorry, Ainge worshippers.
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How the f*** is he helping sitting on the bench Jay? Not playing allows better players to get in. And why all the Green bashing? Perk is mediocre at best and his play continually proves it. He is over-rated and obviously benefitted from having a HOF defensive stud playing next to him. Or doesn’t anyone get that??? Go Cs…
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What’d you guys think of this guy:
I was kind of underwhelmed.
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They don’t call travel when people travel, and they call it when they don’t.
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Atlantic to Pacific!!!
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James, how did Green help when he was on the floor? That was my point.
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Don’t get overexcited, Thunder. If you think the Grizz were tough, you haven’t seen tough until you’ve seen these mavs.
I presume Perk will be reminding the guys of that regularly. The Mavs had the Cs number this year when Perkins was still a Celtic (always a Celtic, Perk!)…
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Shame on Collison for letting Barea take him out with a moving screen!!
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IF only the Thunder still had Green. They’d have won two championships by now.
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Harden looks like an ancient Greek statue.
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Perkins patrolling the paint rather nicely, for a scrub.
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Dirk’s such a problem. He’s absolutely unstoppable.
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paul…yeah his 6 mins (missed the 1st qtr) and 2 assists and 2 pfs scream quality. So glad he is gone and delivering his skills to another team.
Jay… I do believe Green defended LBJ fairly good in the series when he was on him and I seem to remember you posting about that. Or is my memory shot, too? Go Cs…
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One game, he did a nice job. The rest, not so much. Do you feel Green lived up to expectations or helped the Celtics much?
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I think that Green did live up to expectations. He lived up to what could reasonably have been expected. A lot of folks believed in hyped up ideas about Green. For them, he had to have been a disappointment.
I like Green. I hope he’ll be a nice player for us. But what we needed was a center.
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As for Perkins, anyone who can watch this game and not see the effect he has, as a force in the middle (and I don’t mean the elbow on Marion) … well, I just don’t know what to say.
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Jay… no and I’ve said so consistently. He deferred way too much playing with the core 4 and was not assertive enough when with the 2nd unit. He’s needs to seriously play better and rebound better or ship him out. Go Cs…
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Westbrook and Durant seem to have gotten off the same page in the last few minutes.
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paul..yes Perk has an effect. But the Cs had Shaq and JO who are better centers than Perk and again for the one-thousandth time…we had no bench. Injuries killed the Cs not the ‘trade’. If Shaq or JO had been at full health everyone that hated the trade would not be whining about it continually. Go Cs…
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No, James. It’s just plain laughable to call JO and Shaq better centers. Yes, when healthy, probably so. That didn’t come close to applying. Not close to close.
You call it whining. I think it’s incredible that you refuse to get angry when you should be angry, when your GM throws away a hot chance for a championship because he wants to avoid a potential contract dispute. In my opinion, any real fan should be pissed off. But you and so many others would rather turn a blind eye. But it’s worse than that. You not only turn a blind eye: you make up every fake justification you can dream up for Ainge.
No. I cannot understand that for one moment. If you want to be loyal, be loyal to the team, NOT to Ainge.
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After the Kendrick elbow to Marion, the Mavs got mad, and the Thunder deflated. In particular, Perkins became less aggressive. That’s a huge mistake, Perkins. Try to avoid elbowing people in the face, but you MUST play aggressive. Your job is to use your wide body and general awareness to create havoc that your teamates feed off. Just watch your elbows and KEEP DOING IT.
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I always love it when people whine about whining. So funny.
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paul…why are you playing the reverse ‘what if’ card so much? Yes, Shaq and JO are better and you admitted it. But who can foresee injuries? The deal was made understanding how Shaq had played (20-4) and that JO was going to return after his surgery. Unfortunately he injured his wrist in the NY series and that really hurt his effectiveness, as he was playing pretty damn good ball if you remember. I am not turning “a blind eye” as I am certainly entitled to my opinions just like you are. We’ll never agree but maybe someday down the road you’ll realize that Perk isn’t what you and others make him out to be…a stud starting center. Not close. And so why wasn’t Perk “loyal to the team” and accept the best offer the Cs could make based on their cap issues??? Speak about disloyalty. Go Cs…
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Nowitski – damn! He’s tough like Randolph, only a lot tougher – and he doesn’t need as much help from the refs.
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You know, it just fascinates me, in a sick way, when people argue that we needed to fix a hole in the bench by making a huge hole in the starting unit.
I mean, how do folks even make that argument with a straight face?
But it’s got to be good to be Ainge. You can take possibly the most insane gamble in league history, and face, instead of consequences, when it blows up in your face, legions of fanatical defenders!!!!!!!!
I think it’s that people have become so conditioned to worshipping authority. Devotion to authority figures is a learned behavior, but once learned, it is hard to unlearn.
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Wow. That was a brilliant flop by N that put Ibaka on the bench.
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Sure is nice to see a center setting picks like he means them.
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Russell would have been proud of that block by Perkins – directed it to his teamate.
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paul…since you’re addressing me answer me this. Shaq and JO were brought in to fill the hole that Perk wasn’t filling due to his injury, so how was that “making a huge hole in the starting unit’? Shaq has 4 rings and JO wants one. Even you sang Shaq’s praises until he did not return. Lastly, I don’t worship authority. DA has made mistakes, like letting Powe go and not resigning TA. But TA wanted 3 years and DA would only give 2. Where’s the loyalty from players wanting money over a realistic opportunity to play for titles? Go Cs…
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These foul calls against anyone guarding Nowitski are totally out of line at this point.
IN other words, typical NBA bs.
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I have to say, it IS nice to see someone play with his back to the basket, as N is doing.
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I just realized who Perk looks like. Darth Maul.
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Refs just won’t let anyone play defense on Nowitski
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Dirk with 40 points on 12 shots right now.
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Nate!
James, you know as well as I do that Shaq and JO were brought in as stopgaps to cover for Perk while he recovered. They did this absolutely brilliantly. In fact, for about ten games, it looked like Shaq would be our starting center all season. He was that good.
But both guys are old and gimpy. They have a considerable track record of injury going back several years. JO never was healthy (though his return for the playoffs was pretty effing amazing), and Shaq returned to injury plagued form, only worse.
You know all this as well as I do. We needed Perk, but Ainge was more concerned with getting rid of any potential contract issue with Perk. In what universe does it make sense for a team leading the playoff hunt going into the homestretch to not only trade away their starting center, but also to make wholesale personnel changes, effectively resetting the team to preseason? In no universe.
And you know this, James. I can tell that you aren’t stupid. You know as well as I do that two broken down HOFers at center do not come close to making a starting center. Not close to close. To trade away our starting center going into the playoffs was so insane, it was basically unheard of, for a top championship contender.
There’s no defending it. Not unless one worship authority. That’s the only possible reason for you or anyone to defend the trade. Or you are related to Ainge or owe your job directly or indirectly to Ainge.
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If anyone was allowed to play D on Nowitski, this game would look completely different.
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I just can’t get over the fact that Ainge can make such a crazy move as The Trade, and get away scott free not only with no consequences whatsoever when it blows up, but with fanatical defenders.
We’ve seen this kind of thing in politics. It’s loyalty turned into a kind of … obsession, maybe.
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