- First, the bad: those last three plays to close out regulation, where Harden, true to form, ISOed his man before stepping back for a jumper were despicable. At this point, I don’t even know what to say. You know it’s coming. If the game is close, the Rockets are going to ISO Harden. Luckily tonight, they were able to overcome but they won’t, and haven’t been, that lucky. The funny thing is, after hearing Kevin McHale in the postgame presser, it’s become clear that that’s the play they’re calling! I don’t even have any words! He said, paraphrased, when asked about those possessions, that he was hoping Harden would be able to get into the paint. Essentially, Kevin McHale’s objection to those possessions was simply the end result! dljfakj948934oqj3l4jl#$#$!!!! It’s funny because there was a belief that McHale actually wanted the team to move the ball in these possessions, stemming from his statements about the ball “becoming sticky,” and that Harden was going off-cue against his coach’s wishes. But it’s become clear that McHale is actually calling for these ISOs. I don’t know what to say. Okay, enough negativity.
- Can you say, “coming out party”? Chandler Parsons had the game of his life, but it wasn’t just the point total but the manner in which he was scoring the baskets. The guy was actually squaring his man up and taking him off the dribble and scoring after fakes in the lane. This is really quite the development as I never would have guessed he’d have that in his skillset after watching him last year.
- I don’t know what was more surprising: the fact that Steve Francis is still alive–he was introduced to the crowd at halftime–or the Delfino dunk over Durant. As someone on my timeline said, shortly after, that Delfino dunk was like going to some other planet and discovering that they have pictures of dogs on their money.
- As someone else on my timeline said, Aaron Brooks was Patrick Beverley before it was cool.
- I loved Kevin McHale’s comments in the postgame (other than about the ISOs): he talked about wanting his team to feel that first win, and to feel the difficulty of facing an opponent trying to close them out. And that’s really the beauty of all of this. That these guys are learning and growing. They’ll build on this next year. It’s beautiful.
- I seriously can’t believe they ran three straight ISOs to close out the game. I can’t believe it. I’m speechless. Ok, I’m done on that, I promise.
- Who predicted that Francisco Garcia would’ve ended up the biggest contributor (or the only contributor) from the Patterson trade? The sad part is that both he and Delfino are gone next year. Those two have really been an entertaining duo to watch…mainly because they’re the same person.
- No in seriousness, Garcia’s defense on Durant has been as unexpected a Delfino’s dunk. Who knew he had this in him? On the final play, where Durant had to kick it out, Garcia defended Durant as well as is humanly possible. The great thing here is that now, along with Parons, Kevin McHale always has a fresh capable defender to throw at the Thunder forward.
- The most underrated plotline here is that Patrick Beverley is now returning to Oklahoma City. Hopefully with some form of security.
- This might have been one of the worst officiated games I can remember in recent history. Some of those calls were absolutely indefensible.
- Don’t you just feel like there’s a chance this could get interesting?
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