News, commentary and ticket information about the Oklahoma City Thunder
Kobe Bryant’s never been one for disappearing acts—especially during the postseason—but he managed to fool everyone Wednesday night.
Bryant missed all four of his shots in the final 5:31, had a turnover that led directly to a Durant dunk and had another tipped pass go off his arm and out of bounds. On top of all that, the Black Mamba didn’t score a single point the final 6:43 of the fourth quarter.
Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals was a wake-up call for the Los Angeles Lakers. After narrowly sneaking past the Denver Nuggets in the first round, the Lakers learned the hard way that things will only be that much more difficult playing against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Led by Russell Westbrook, who had 27 points and nine assists, and Kevin Durant, who added 25 points, the Thunder demolished the Lakers 119-90 Monday night.
The Thunder were not only the more well-rested team Monday night, they were also the more dominant one. In every facet of the game.
Maybe the only regular-season award more obvious than MVP (sorry, Cleveland fans, it will be LeBron James) is who the Sixth Man of the Year award will go to.
Well, the suspense, if you want to call it that, is over, as Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden (and his beard) officially won the award Thursday.
Harden got 115 of the 119 first-place votes and three of the second-place votes, though, for all intents and purposes, it was a clean sweep. And deservedly so.
The Dallas Mavericks have been dethroned. Eliminated. They’re finished. Whatever term you wish to use to describe it—and sorry, Mavs fans, there’s no euphemism great enough to lessen the blow—the Mavs’ 2012 season is over.
Yes, the defending champs didn’t do much defending in the 2012 NBA playoffs, getting swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in four straight games. However, with the exception of Game 3, the Mavs hung tough with the Thunder, losing by less than six points in the other three. But they failed to show the same dominance that made them champions in 2011, ultimately resulting in a 103-97 loss Saturday night in Dallas that led to their demise.
With another win for both of them last night, the Thunder and the Heat are but one win away from sweeping their first round playoff series. If you look at the Thunder and Mavericks it’s confusing because the Mavericks should be able to do something with the Thunder. However, the Knicks, they’re just a mess. There was so much promise, but now there’s not. Why is that?
The first week of the hectic 2012 NBA Playoffs are in the books and already there are plenty of story lines and drama that will likely ensure to become a very entertaining 40 nights to decide a champion. From the match ups to the injuries and records being broken, every game this weekend had worth watching and plenty of things to discuss: The Magic and Clippers are up 1-0, Derrick Rose is out and the Spurs and Heat look like the best teams in the postseason. Highlights from Weekend 1 include:
If you’re the almighty Thunder and you are in need of a late jumper to beat the VERY up and down Mavs, are you rusty or have you met your match?
Well, I think the Thunder probably assumed that a much older team that had had such a terrible season, like the Mavs, would have been easy to deal with. They were proven wrong. And, it doesn’t even matter what happened to get the game to that point. I mean, the Thunder should be able to easily dispose of the Mavs this time around. Because they can’t, we have to assume that it’s a mental thing.
Everyone has seen the vicious elbow sent to Oklahoma City‘s James Harden from Los Angeles Laker Metta World Peace, formerly known as Ron Artest. Metta claims the elbow was unintentional and he meant no harm as it was out of emotion towards the dunk he just had. Well him getting into it with OKC’s Serge Ibaka afterwards was obviously not on accident.
It turns out Metta World Peace isn’t so peaceful.
The game Sunday between the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder may have finished with a thrilling double-overtime win for the Lakers, but it is the vicious elbow shot that World Peace delivered to OKC guard James Harden that everyone is talking about today.
After throwing down a hard dunk near the end of the second quarter, World Peace started to beat his chest in celebration before striking Harden, who was behind him, in the back of the head with his left elbow.
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