Very good road win over the rising Oklahoma City Thunder today, despite a lackluster performance from Shaq. Lebron went off for 44 points on 16 of 29 shooting, and the team clamped down to allow only 35 points total in the final two quarters after giving up 54 in the first half.
Here’s the thing about Oklahoma City: as a team in a vacuum, I think there’s a lot to like about them. But I have come to hate them for reasons completely not of their own making.
I’ve written about this extensively in the past, but Thunder GM Sam Presti is seen as a god by many basketball analysts, especially noted reality TV expert Bill Simmons and his good friend Chad “The Instigator” Ford. The reason, of course, is that he’s built his team “the right way” around a special player (Kevin Durant): high draft choices and young players over veterans and established stars. This is the formula that’s going to keep Durant in Oklahoma City for the rest of his career.
The antithesis of this basketball genius, of course, is Danny Ferry — the horrible GM with a bogus strategy of crowding his roster with veteran players rather than using the draft to surround his young superstar with guys he can “grow old with.”
Of course, this scenario is complete make-believe if you look at A) the circumstances under which Ferry entered the job, B) who’s actually on the Cavs’ roster today, and C) the possibility that Thunderberry Kool-Aid may, in fact, not lead to the Larry O’ Brien Trophy. But most people are interested in that. (If you want more of the details, I strongly encourage you to check the link above. It’s arguably the column I’m most proud of having written for this site.)
Every time the Cavs play the Thunder for as long as I’m still walking around, this is the association that’s going to pop into my head: not two basketball teams, but two GMs. And on top of that, two realities: the talking heads who want to dump on Cleveland, and those of us who believe in the team and the city. And you’d be dead wrong if you think I’m not keeping track of the record.
Outside the hype and the talking points, I think OKC will be a good team down the road — and in fact, they’ve made huge strides already this year. But they haven’t beaten the Cavs yet.
Obviously, that includes tonight. So instead of focusing on Lebron specifically, I’d like to point out what the team’s defense did to the Thunder in the fourth quarter: 13 points on 6 of 20 shooting while holding Kevin Durant to no makes from the field. They also held OKC scoreless for almost seven minutes of game time.
And it wasn’t Lebron who shut down Durant in the fourth. It was Jamario Moon and a team constructed of “veterans and past their prime players” that no superstar, in his right mind, would ever want to play for.
By the way, the Cavs are now 17-7 and percentage points out of a 3-way tie for 2nd place in the East (by virtue of Orlando and Atlanta having played one fewer game). The only teams in the NBA that are clearly ahead of them record-wise are Boston at 19-4 and the Lakers at 18-4.
-T
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