Jan 17, 2012 â€" 12:40 PM ET | Last Updated: Jan 17, 2012 12:33 PM ET
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In terms of big draws, the Raptors did not get lucky. The defending champion Dallas Mavericks will not visit the Air Canada Centre, nor will the Paul-and-Griffin-led Los Angeles Clippers. Maybe the one that hurts the most: The Oklahoma City Thunder are not coming to Toronto.
BOSTON â€" One of the unfortunate aspects of the shortened season is not every city gets a visit from each team. Each team will not play host to six different opponents from the other conference.
In terms of big draws, the Raptors did not get lucky. The defending champion Dallas Mavericks will not visit the Air Canada Centre, nor will the Paul-and-Griffin-led Los Angeles Clippers. Maybe the one that hurts the most: The Oklahoma City Thunder are not coming to Toronto.
At 12-2, the Thunder currently have the league’s best record. I saw them last night in Boston, and here are some observations from their 97-88 win.
- I always seem to miss seeing Kevin Durant in person. In March 2010, I was off covering the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in Buffalo when the Thunder came to Toronto. In December 2010, Durant was injured. So it was March 27, 2009 (Shawn Marion shut him down as Durant went 4-for-13 from the field) when I last saw him.As anybody with a television can see, he has become a truly great player since then. He has the limitless range, sure, but he can now do a lot more than just shoot the ball with silky softness. Most notably, he can handle the ball and pass better, with his per-game assist average up to 3.4 from 2.7 last year. On one play in the fourth quarter, two Celtics pressed Durant. The Thunder star calmly dribbled around them, waltzed into the unmanned paint and finished emphatically at the rim. It was LeBron-esque. One reported noted, after the game, that Doc Rivers had been speaking for seven minutes without mentioning Durant. “Let’s not,†Rivers said. “He’s amazing. He just made shots. He hit four shots that, well, I don’t know what you do. I know what we could have done in our day, but you can’t do that anymore.†Durant had 28 points on 20 field-goal attempts, adding seven rebounds and four assists.
- Russell Westbrook is one of the most divisive players in the league, especially after last year’s playoff run when he was accused of hijacking the offence and not deferring to Durant enough. Still, you would rather have him than not have him. He outplayed Boston’s Rajon Rondo, can be a defensive nightmare when he wants to be and has no fear of taking big shots. (Of course, that last item is where part of the criticism comes from.) He hit two big three-pointers late in the game to put the Celtics on ice.Rivers again: “He had just hit the corner of the backboard. But that is what makes Westbrook great, really. That’s what makes great players great. The average player â€" and [Westbrook] literally did hit the corner of the backboard â€" he’s not shooting again. Westbrook is just thinking the odds are on his side that he can make it. Paul [Pierce] does it. That’s what the great players do. And he’s a great one.†Westbrook had 26 points, seven rebounds and three steals.
- Thabo Sefolosha is a player that would be wasted on a bad team. His skill set â€" killer defender, good spot-up shooter â€" would serve little purpose without stars to let him do his job. Of course, Sefolosha has Durant and Westbrook, so he is in exactly the right spot. His shooting for night, 7-for-9, was a bonus. But he was a big reason why Ray Allen got just seven shots off all night, chasing the legend around screens all night long.
- Along with Sefolosha, the Thunder have great defence on the interior. It seems as if power forward Serge Ibaka blocks everything. He made it look as if Kevin Garnett can no longer jump, which is getting closer to being true, sadly. In addition, Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison are responsible players inside. The Celtics are in an offensive rut, but they shot just 39% from the floor against the Thunder. It was easy to see why.
- Ah yes: Perkins. Last night was his return to Boston, and it was an emotional evening. Beyond that, however, Rivers said it was clear that Perkins has been passing on the lessons that Garnett taught him in Boston. “He has used Kevin’s playbook,†Rivers said. “He did it by example. They say he’s hard on guys. They miss a rotation, there was one on the floor today, he was screaming at Durant. But Durant took it.†In short: The Thunder are very good right now, and deserving of their current status as favourite in the Western Conference.
- This is not a Thunder note, but something that had to be passed along. During Jermaine O’Neal’s months-long tenure in Toronto, it was always a pleasure to talk to him. The transcribing was a pain, though. He was never shy, and would talk for minutes at a time in giving you an answer, followed by saying whatever he was thinking. Not much has changed. He was asked last night if his 12-point, 11-rebound performance against the Thunder was more in line with what he expected from his himself. His full three-minute, 500-plus-word response is below.
“It’s easy to sit behind tables and say what you think is going on. But the fact of the matter is with me here, Doc has given his role. All of the debate about whether I score or if I score or what shots I take or whatever it is, I probably won’t even answer that anymore after this time for the people out there that are wondering about production. With me scoring, that’s not my role. My role has been given to me. And my role has been said: to be a defender, not offence.
The people out there that are saying I’m struggling offensively. That’s not my concern. I think I’m in the top 10 in blocks. I’m probably leading the NBA in charges as a centre. I’m starting to get my legs back as far as rebounding and all of that. That’s my concern. If you judge me, judge me on that. Judge me on how I get out on the pick-and-roll and get out on the guards and stop penetration. Judge me on how I step up on penetration, those types of things. This debate about my production, my scoring â€" I know that’s kind of been my m.o. for me during my career, especially in Indiana, I was a scorer, but that’s not my position right now. My preference is to probably not even speak about that anymore. If I’m not rebounding, if I’m not blocking shots, if I’m not taking charges, if I’m not getting out on the perimeter or helping the guards, then we’ve got a conversation to have. I feel like that’s something people should know because so-called analysts analyze, but they don’t analyze on what a team has actually given us. We have a job. We have a role. To give people an example of what I’m talking about: Every team has a system. Some teams have a free-flowing system in which everybody can do what they want to do on the offensive end and be involved. This system here is more about your role and what you should do. You’re given a role. It’s a little bit different than what I’m used to. But I accept that role with open arms.
Whatever it is, I accept that. I just want to move forward. We’re in a hell of a slump right now, and that’s my focus, trying to help this team get out of the four- or five- [game losing streak] â€" I don’t even know what it is right now. I’m in that mode. But let’s just get back to winning. It’s easy to try to pick apart a team when you’re losing. That’s the easiest thing. But for us, we’re not far away. I think tonight was a lot better game for us in terms of how we’ve played in the four- or five-game losing streak from start to finish. It’s just those two- or three-minute binges we’re going on when we turn the ball over, it’s really hurting us. We clean that up, I think we win this game.â€
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Posted in: Basketball, NBA, Sports Tags: Boston Celtics, Jermaine O'Neal, Kendrick Perkins, Oklahoma City Thunder
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