James Harden's rendition of "When I come around"...

Darnell Mayberry pointed out how Harden was a bright-spot in the Mavs game:
"James Harden. Turnovers. Steals. Blocked shots. Just a few positives that you can take from this one."

Forum talk about Harden coming around at okcthunderfans

You can see that Harden's stats are improving a lot recently. Over the last 8 games he's averaging over 15 ppg and he's doing it efficiently. He's also collected 19 steals over those games which is quite impressive and goes to show that his defense is improving also.

It really seems to me that he's playing with more confidence. I know I'm not the first one to say that, but it's true. I'm going to take a gander at where his confidence is coming from though. I think it was this:

We knew he had the skills all along. Basketball is so much mental it's not even funny. Confidence is the kind of thing that separates the great from the mediocre. Let's face it everyone who is under 7' tall and makes the NBA has worked really hard. And anyone (under 7' rule applies again) who can make an NBA roster is athletically gifted. But there are a lot of intangibles that separate the all-stars from the mediocre 4 years and done player. But I'll save those thoughts for a future post... In the meantime, I'm thinking about renewing my commitment to the "Harden for 6th man of the year award".

Mavs comes to town

Mavs are 11-1 on the road and gave us a whipping the last game we played. Nowvitski is out with injury at the start of the fourth. Dallas is currently up by two. It should go down to the wire!

Shaun Livingston in action vs the Thunder at 6:15 left in the 1st

Good to see him getting playing time. He's a feel good story returning to the nba after that gruesome knee surgery.
*** Livingston has hit a few jumpers mid-way threw the 2nd quarter and looks good! Are we really better off with Royal Ivey than Livingston???

Kwame Brown seems to pushing Serge around inside.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/serge_ibaka/index.html
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kwame_brown/index.html
He's giving up 35 lbs so that could be the difference.

Moving on.. 12/21/10 vs Bobcats

Man ... what a stinker vs the Suns. I wanted to blog about it, but couldn't bring myself to. I was slightly depressed after the game. It should have been a gimme, but we ended up making Lopez & Hill look like Duncan & Robinson. And we also continued the trend of opposing point guards having their way with our defense. Anyways....
Charlotte only averages scoring 92ppg and might be just what we need to make our D look better. They are balanced but not necessarily deep. Also they don't have a guy who is a real threat to go off for 40. Tyrus Thomas might give us fits. Definitely if Augustin and Thomas have good nights, it's likely to be a close game. But for us to really dominate this game we've got to play some D!
Thunder Up!!!

Thunder take on the Sacramento Kings tonight (12/17/10)

Story of the night might be how well can Thabo hold Tyreke Evans? Evans seems to be in a bit of a sophomore slump, and that's not good for the Kings who count on him to kick-start their offense. I'm betting Thabo/Harden hold him to 15pts or less. Another telling factor in the game is going to be Demarcus Cousins. He's a big force under the basket when he's not sitting on the bench in foul trouble. I'd like to see us go straight at him early and try to pick up some fouls before he takes advantage of us in the middle. I think Serge is man enough to give it a go, but he's giving up 40 lbs to Cousins. I know Serge is strong but that much beef wearing on you through-out the game can be tough. I bet we'll use Collison to guard him a large portion of the game, and I'm also betting that will be an effective strategy.
For my prediction, Thunder continues their hot-shooting and win: 110-95 !

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Durant wins "Oklahoman of the Year" honor

The Oklahoma City Thunder do a great job of being a team the reflects their community. The principles that the ownership and coaching staff preach all the time are hard-work, humility and team-work. This really endears the team to the community and Bennett, Presti & Co know it. The best part of all is that our superstar himself embodies these attributes somewhat naturally. Maybe it was his upbringing? Or his personality? Probably both. But the Oklahoma City people love Kevin Durant and chose him as the "Oklahoman of the Year" given out by Oklahoma Today magazine (published by the Oklahoma tourism department). Even though Durant's only been around Oklahoma for a couple years and past winners were born Okies, I'm giving the choice of Durant two-thumbs-up. And maybe it goes to show that being an Okie is more a matter of character and just happen-stance of where you end up living.

Thunder vs Rockets tonight

Things to watch for in tonight's home game:

• How well can Thabo hold Kevin Martin? Martin scored 40 points on the Cavs a couple games ago. He's averaging 23 ppg and if Thabo can hold him below 15 that's a big win for us. The Rockets don't have many explosive scorers with Yao & Brooks probably out.
• Do we have anyone how can stop Louis Scola? Every good power forward in the league seems to have a monster offensive game against us. Nov 28th at home we held him to 13 points on a poor shooting performance, but Nov 17th in OKC he had a great game against us. Jeff Green will probably be guarding him. Jeff is better at guarding on the perimeter, but Serge is much better at guarding in the post. And it seems to me that most of Scola's points come in the post. What's the chance Scott Brooks will put Ibaka on Scola?
• Can we keep the Rockets off the offensive boards? It seems to be a running trend with the Thunder in giving up a lot of offensive boards. The Rockets don't have a large presence inside like Cleveland with Varajeo or the Bulls with Boozer. Maybe we can right the ship in this game?
• Will Aaron Brooks play? And if not can the Rockets put anyone in the game to keep up with Westbrook. Two simple answers: probably not & probably not.

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