OKC: Part III - Tough ending in Milwaukee

28/1/20

Oklahoma City Thunder [20-28] vs Minnesota Timberwolves [24-21]

Thunder suffer final quarter collapse against energetic Timberwolves

OKC | 31 | 26 | 31 | 15 | 103 |
MIN | 30 | 35 | 19 | 34 | 118 |

Player of the Game: Karl-Anthony Towns
(29pts, 20reb, 4ast, 3stl, 4blk)
(12-31 FG, 2-6 3PT, 3-3 FT)

Simmed Game

OKC | 25 | 20 | 25 | 32 | 102 |
UTA | 26 | 22 | 27 | 30 | 105 |

POTG: Mike Conley (29pts, 4reb, 5ast, 1stl)


Record: 20-30

Adams hurt his thigh in the third quarter, so I sat him out for the rest of the game just to be safe.

Hopefully he's healthy enough to keep going. Of course, dropping a few games will help with the lottery odds, so it's not the worst thing to happen in a rebuilding season.

Hopefully he's healthy enough to keep going. Of course, dropping a few games will help with the lottery odds, so it's not the worst thing to happen in a rebuilding season.

Luckily the injury only lasted for the duration of that one game.

I think we're sitting at around 7th or 8th in the draft order at the moment, so I certainly won't be complaining about any losses that improve that positioning.

1/2/20

January 2020 Summary




Division Standings

Eastern Conference











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Western Conference











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Playoff Seeds & Power Rankings

Eastern Conference




Western Conference




Power Rankings



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League Leaders













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Monthly and Weekly Awards











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Injuries




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All-Star Voting






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Award Races

Most Valuable Player


Defensive Player of the Year


Most Improved Player


Sixth Man of the Year


Rookie of the Year



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Latest 2020 Mock Draft

Transactions
08/01/20 - Toronto re-signed guard Kyle Lowry (1yr/$31m)

16/01/20 - Washington re-signed guard Bradley Beal (2yr/$71.8m)

21/01/20 - Toronto re-signed forward Pascal Siakam (4yr/$121m)

22/01/20 - Boston re-signed guard Jaylen Brown (4yr/$103m)

22/01/20 - Sacramento re-signed guard Buddy Hield (4yr/$86m)

22/01/20 - Brooklyn re-signed forward Taurean Prince (2yr/$29m)

22/01/20 - Indiana re-signed forward Domantas Sabonis (4yr/$77m)

22/01/20 - San Antonio re-signed guard Dejounte Murray (4yr/$64m)

23/01/20 - Utah re-signed forward Joe Ingles (1yr/$14m)

23/01/20 - Atlanta received Nerlens Noel, Danilo Gallinari
23/01/20 - Oklahoma City received Alex Len, Evan Turner, 2020 Brooklyn first round pick (Lottery protected), 2022 New Orleans second round pick

24/01/20 - Minnesota received Dennis Schroder, 2021 Oklahoma City second round pick
24/01/20 - Oklahoma City received Jeff Teague, 2021 Minnesota first round pick (Lottery protected)

25/01/20 - Cleveland re-signed forward Cedi Osman (4yr/$31m)

Shame the bottom of the East is so lacklustre, pencilling themselves in for all the best odds. Then again, with all your picks and the way the lottery works, it's not necessarily a disaster.

I wasn't prepared for a tank battle against veterans like Washington, Charlotte and Sacramento. They've been doing it for years and are quite good at it

Hopefully the lottery gods are kind to us because my scouts are saying that it is a 'big 4' at the top of the draft, but I don't really need Ball or Hampton (unless I continue with SGA at shooting guard).

2/2/20

Utah Jazz [23-26] vs Oklahoma City Thunder [20-30]

SGA scores career-high 33 points in loss against Jazz

UTA | 31 | 31 | 24 | 39 | 125 |
OKC | 35 | 22 | 29 | 30 | 116 |

Player of the Game: Rudy Gobert
(16pts, 14reb, 1ast, 3stl, 2blk)
(7-13 FG, 2-4 FT)

Simmed Game

DEN | 16 | 22 | 25 | 28 | 91 |
OKC | 16 | 26 | 16 | 29 | 87 |

POTG: Nikola Jokic (22pts, 21reb, 6ast, 6blk)


Record: 20-32

CP3 picked up 3 fouls in the first quarter and struggled to get into the game afterwards.

SGA was on fire in the first quarter with 19 points (8-8 fg, 1-1 3pt, 2-2 ft).

7/2/20

Oklahoma City Thunder [20-32] vs Charlotte Hornets [14-36]

Blistering start sets up win for Thunder against Hornets

OKC | 40 | 32 | 20 | 35 | 127 |
CHA | 24 | 31 | 28 | 31 | 114 |

Player of the Game: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
(26pts, 2reb, 8ast, 1stl)
(12-23 FG, 1-3 3PT, 2-3 FT)

Simmed Game

OKC | 31 | 36 | 22 | 29 | 102 |
SAS | 31 | 23 | 23 | 25 | 118 |

POTG: Dejounte Murray (22pts, 12reb, 8ast, 1stl)


Record: 21-33

Definitely seems like it's SGA's time to shine.

Definitely seems like it's SGA's time to shine.

With the playoffs looking unlikely now I can give my youngsters more playing time and really assess how good they are.

I didn't really know much about SGA coming into this season, but I've slowly been figuring out his strengths and weaknesses. I really do think he has all-star potential.

3/2/20

2020 All-Star Draft

The 2020 all-star starters and reserves were announced last week and today team captains LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo selected their squads through a televised draft.

Team LeBron will be coached by Frank Vogel, whilst Team Giannis will be coached by Brad Stevens.

In one of Adam Silver's classic "paperwork mix-ups", Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will play for Team USA in the Rising Stars Challenge game, despite being Canadian and having his cousin playing for Team World.




Draft Results

Starters

Team LeBron: James Harden

Team Giannis: Steph Curry

Team LeBron: Joel Embiid

Team Giannis: Nikola Jokic

Team LeBron: Anthony Davis

Team Giannis: Ben Simmons

Team LeBron: Blake Griffin

Team Giannis: Kyrie Irving



Reserves

Team Giannis: Paul George

Team LeBron: Damian Lillard

Team Giannis: Jimmy Butler

Team LeBron: DeMar DeRozan

Team Giannis: Kristaps Porzingis

Team LeBron: Russell Westbrook

Team Giannis: Karl-Anthony Towns

Team LeBron: Kyle Lowry

Team Giannis: Kemba Walker

Team LeBron: Andre Drummond

Team Giannis: Rudy Gobert

Team LeBron: Nikola Vucevic

Team Giannis: Julius Randle

Team LeBron: Jayson Tatum

2020 NBA All-Star Weekend Participants


Slam Dunk Contest

Derrick Jones Jr (Miami)
Terrance Ferguson (Oklahoma City)
Zion Williamson (New Orleans)
Ja Morant (Memphis)




Three Point Contest

Steph Curry (Golden State)
James Harden (Houston)
Damian Lillard (Portland)
Kemba Walker (Boston)
LeBron James (LA Lakers)
Kyle Lowry (Toronto)




Rising Stars Challenge

Team USA
Ja Morant (Memphis)
Trae Young (Atlanta)
Zion Williamson (New Orleans)
DeAndre Ayton (Phoenix)
Marvin Bagley III (Sacramento)
Darius Garland (Cleveland)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City)
Michael Porter Jr (Denver)
Jaren Jackson Jr (Memphis)
Wendell Carter Jr (Chicago)


Team World
RJ Barrett (New York)
Isaac Bonga (Washington)
Luka Doncic (Dallas)
Sekou Doumbouya (Detroit)
Rui Hachimura (Washington)
Nickeil Alexander-Walker (New Orleans)
Dzanan Musa (Brooklyn)
Rodions Kurucs (Brooklyn)
Chris Boucher (Toronto)
Ante Zizic (Cleveland)

Solid selections all around, though it's weird not seeing Marqueese Chris in the dunk contest! Team USA claming SGA as we Aussies claim famous Kiwis.

I wish the game would let you choose the participants for the skills events. A 3pt contest between Dwight Howard, Andre Drummond, Andre Roberson, Ben Simmons, Rudy Gobert and DeAndre Jordan would be amazing

Or maybe a dunk contest with Westbrook, LeBron, Blake Griffin and Zach LaVine would be more appropriate.

A standalone All-Star Weekend mode would also be awesome.

12/2/20

Oklahoma City Thunder [21-33] vs Los Angeles Lakers [37-18]

League-leading Lakers prove too good for Thunder

OKC | 30 | 33 | 24 | 37 | 124 |
LAL | 27 | 41 | 38 | 29 | 135 |

Player of the Game: Anthony Davis
(34pts, 10reb, 1ast, 1stl, 2blk)
(17-29 FG)

Simmed Game

OKC | 27 | 30 | 26 | 24 | 107 |
MEM | 33 | 30 | 27 | 22 | 112 |

POTG: Ja Morant (26pts, 1reb, 9ast)


Record: 21-35

SGA outscores LeBron. New King confirmed.

18/2/20

Golden State Warriors [34-21] vs Oklahoma City Thunder [21-35]

Gilgeous-Alexander and Curry duel in double-overtime epic

GSW | 33 | 36 | 33 | 31 | 15 | 21 | 169 |
OKC | 34 | 29 | 33 | 37 | 15 | 17 | 165 |

Player of the Game: Stephen Curry
(46pts, 2reb, 9ast, 1stl)
(14-35 FG, 8-22 3PT, 10-10 FT)

Record: 21-36

This was the fourth-highest scoring regular season game in NBA history, with 334 total points.

SGA became the youngest player to drop 50 points and 10 assists in a game, beating LeBron by about 1.5 years. He joins LeBron, Harden and Westbrook as the only active players to have done it.

I assume three players getting 20 rebounds in a game is quite rare as well. Adams nearly made it four as well.


By the end of the game Noah, Looney and Cauley-Stein had fouled out for them. CP3 fouled out for us late in the second overtime period.

SGA outscores LeBron. New King confirmed.

He is okay, I guess

Looks like a wild shootout. Probably fun to play, even with the loss.

Looks like a wild shootout. Probably fun to play, even with the loss.

It was a really fun game to play and it sure sucked to lose, but after every loss I console myself with the fact that it helps me in the bigger picture of the draft.

This season is turning into a repeat of OKC's 2008-09 season, when they only won 23 games. That got them James Harden. Hopefully I can pick up someone similar

Winning all the time against the AI can get boring, too.

21/2/20

Team USA dominate one-sided Rising Stars game

USA_I | 33 | 39 | 44 | 34 | 150 |
World | 29 | 26 | 26 | 31 | 112 |

Player of the Game: DeAndre Ayton
(22pts, 10reb, 1ast, 3stl, 3blk)
(9-11 FG, 4-4 FT)

22/2/20

All-Star Three Point & Dunk contests

2020 Three Point Contest


Round One
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CA2U2Y-yRc




Round Two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKdfrVSYVBY

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2020 Dunk Contest


Round One
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eqnr91OVuQ




Round Two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwezgN065lQ




Round Three
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lyw_FZsbuM

23/2/20

Giannis and Ben Simmons put on a show in Chicago

GIANNIS | 29 | 38 | 39 | 38 | 144 |
1LEBRON | 33 | 33 | 26 | 47 | 141 |1

Player of the Game: Ben Simmons
(28pts, 18reb, 17ast, 4stl, 1blk)
(14-19 FG, 0-2 FT)

Simmons is just the 5th player to record a triple-double in an all-star game (Jordan, LeBron, Wade, Durant).

All-Star Game looks like it was an exciting one. Imagine how many more points Harden could've scored in the Three-Point Shootout if he had time to perform stepbacks.