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In one of the most entertaining games of the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder got an unprecedented performance to beat the Denver Nuggets 124-118 in overtime. Kevin Durant scored a career-high 51 points, the most any player has scored in a game this season.

Russell Westbrook added a season-high 40 points, making Durant and Westbrook just the third pair of teammates in NBA history with a 50-point game and a 40-point game in the same game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Don’t forget about Serge Ibaka, who had his first career triple-double with 14 points, 14 rebounds and a Thunder/SuperSonics-record 11 blocked shots. Elias tells us the Thunder trio is the first set of teammates in NBA history with a 50-point game, a 40-point game and a triple-double in the same game.

Ibaka owns three of the five 10-block games in franchise history and they’ve all come this month. He’s the only player with 10 blocks in a game this season and the first player since Shawn Bradley (5) in 1996-97 with three such games in the same season.

Durant recorded just the sixth 50-point game in franchise history and only Fred Brown, Ray Allen and Dale Ellis have ever scored more in a SuperSonics or Thunder uniform.

Durant and Westbrook are the first pair of teammates to each score at least 40 points in the same regular-season game since Michael Jordan (44) and Scottie Pippen (40) did it on Feb. 18, 1996.

Durant and Westbrook combined to score or assist on 60 of Oklahoma City’s 71 points in the second half and overtime. The Nuggets -- as a team -- scored 60 points in the same three periods.

The Thunder have won nine straight home games, their longest home winning streak since moving to Oklahoma City. The last time they won nine in a row at home was the 2004-05 season when they were in Seattle. They last won 10 consecutive home games from Feb.-April 1998.

The Nuggets are in a free fall, having lost three straight and eight of their past 10 games.

The Dallas Mavericks have won seven straight postseason games, with their last loss coming in Game 4 of the first round against the Trail Blazers -- nearly a month ago. The Mavericks are 6-0 at home this postseason; they have won nine straight home games including the regular season and last lost at home on April 6 to the Nuggets.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are just 2-4 on the road in this postseason, but are 6-1 at home. They are allowing 106.3 points per game (-3.1 PPG margin) on the road and just 95.3 at home (+8.8).

The story in Game 1 involved Dirk Nowitzki. The Thunder fouled Nowitzki 16 times, sending him to the line 24 times. Nowitzki made all 24 free throws, the most in a game without a miss in the history of the NBA (regular or postseason).

Seven different players picked up at least one foul on Nowitzki, including Serge Ibaka, who got all five of his when guarding the Dallas star.

It was clear from the start that the Mavericks’ plan was for Nowitzki to be aggressive. In three of the four quarters, he took his first shot attempt within the first 63 seconds. In the second quarter, his first shot took just over three minutes.

Nowitzki was very effective in post-up situations, primarily posting up on the right block. In 15 plays on the right block, he was 6-for-8 from the field, drew six fouls and committed just one turnover.

Somewhat lost in the hoopla surrounding Nowitzki’s performance and the Mavericks’ Game 1 win was a pretty good effort by Kevin Durant. He was 10-for-18 from the field and 18-for-19 from the free throw line, scoring 40 points.

Look for Oklahoma City to get their superstar moving Thursday. Durant scored 1.15 points per play when he was static -- which includes isolation plays, post-ups and spot-ups -- but was even better when on the move. In transition, coming off screens and on the pick-and-roll, he scored 1.41 points per play, making seven of his 11 field goal attempts while moving.

The other Thunder star, Russell Westbrook, really struggled in Game 1. He was 3-for-7 from the field from six feet and in; from beyond six feet, Westbrook missed all eight shots.

It’ll be interesting to see how often Westbrook and Kendrick Perkins are on the court together in Game 2. Oklahoma City was outscored by 19 points when that combination was on the court in Game 1.

The game-changers in Game 1 for the Mavericks were Nowitzki and Jason Terry. When that combination was on the court in Game 1, Dallas was +18, the best plus/minus for any two-man combination in the game.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 48 points, his sixth career 40-point playoff game, finishing two points shy of his playoff career high.

Among active players, only Shaquille O’Neal (12), Kobe Bryant (11) and LeBron James (nine) have more career 40-point playoff games.

Nowitzki set an NBA record by going 24-for-24 from the free throw line, the most free throws made in a single game without a miss -- regular season or postseason.

He drew fouls from seven different Thunder defenders, including all five of Serge Ibaka’s. Dirk went 7-for-9 when guarded by Ibaka, including 6-for-8 on post-up plays.

Combining field goal attempts and free throw attempts, the ball left Dirk Nowitzki's hand 39 times tonight; 36 of those times it went in the hoop.

Nowitzki attempted just 15 shots, the second-fewest field goal attempts in a 40-point playoff game in NBA history.

Only Terry Porter, back in 1992 for the Portland Trail Blazers, needed fewer attempts (41 points on 14 attempts) to reach the 40-point plateau. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Nowitzki's field-goal percentage of 80.0 (12-15) is tied for the highest ever in a conference finals game (minimum 15 FGA).

Nowitzki's Game 1 effort certainly outshone that of his superstar counterpart, but it shouldn't take away from what Kevin Durant accomplished Tuesday.

Durant managed his third 40-point game of this postseason, and pushed his career scoring average in series openers to 34.5 points per game, the highest among active players (minimum three games played).

The combined efforts of Nowitzki and Durant were a rarity. Tuesday marked just the third time that opposing players each scored at least 40 points in Game 1 of a playoff series. The last time it happened was the 2001 NBA Finals, when Allen Iverson scored 48 points for the Philadelphia 76ers in an overtime win against O'Neal (44 points) and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Durant had to work hard for his points Tuesday, receiving the bulk of his passes behind the three-point line. He scored just one more point in that situation than when he got the ball inside the three-point line, despite having twice as many opportunities.

He was most efficient when he cut out the middle man and brought the ball up court himself (3-4 FG, 6-6 FT, 13 points).

J.J. Barea recorded his second career 20-point playoff game (his second in as many games) to help the Mavericks get their first conference finals win since 2006 when they made the NBA Finals. They've won Game 1 of each of their three playoff series this postseason. Since losing Game 4 of the first round to the Portland Trail Blazers, they've won seven straight.

The Memphis Grizzlies won Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, 114-101 over the Oklahoma City Thunder. They are the second No. 8 seed to win an opening playoff series and then win Game 1 of the semifinal series, joining the 1999 New York Knicks -- who went to the NBA Finals.

Zach Randolph led the way with a playoff career-high 34 points, adding 10 rebounds, his fourth 25-10 game of this postseason. Marc Gasol added 20 points and 13 rebounds for his third straight double-double. The two Grizzlies big men combined to shoot 21-for-33 from the field.

They scored 18 points and shot nearly 80 percent on post-up plays, but they really did their damage from the outside, making the Thunder pay for helping on driving guards.

The duo combined for 23 points on jump shots from 10 feet and farther, far more than their average from this distance against the San Antonio Spurs in the first round.

Russell Westbrook had 29 points, eight rebounds, six assists and seven turnovers; it’s his first game this postseason with more turnovers than assists, and his 1.4 postseason Assist-to-Turnover ratio pales in comparison to the 2.1 he posted in the regular season.

Serge Ibaka chipped in with 16 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks for the Thunder, making him the first player with five blocks in three straight playoff games since Tim Duncan in 2002.

The Grizzlies carried their postseason success from the first round into Game 1 with Oklahoma City, outscoring the Thunder by 14 points in the paint. They’ve outscored their opponents by 48 points in the paint this postseason.

The Grizzlies scored 23 points off of 18 Thunder turnovers while the Thunder got just eight points off of eight Memphis giveaways.

In each of the four NBA playoff games on Saturday one team had the chance to tie/or take the lead in the final seconds of regulation. In each of those cases that team failed to capitalize and took the loss. The Oklahoma City Thunder had a 10-point lead over the Denver Nuggets with :49.3 left in the game. After a furious Nuggets comeback guard J.R. Smith had a heavily contested 3-point field goal attempt fall short as time expired.

The failed field goal attempt means the Thunder now have a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, and the win snaps a 6-game road playoff losing streak. In fact, this is the franchise’s first road playoff win since 2005 when they were still the Seattle SuperSonics.

Kevin Durant led all scorers with 26 points and Russell Westbrook scored 13 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter. Durant and Westbrook have each scored 20-or-more points six times in the same game over the last two postseasons. The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that the only two other sets of teammates that have scored 20+ points in the same game as many times as Durant and Westbrook over that span are Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant (11) and Paul Pierce and Ray Allen (seven).

Another big contributor in Game 3 was Serge Ibaka who added 22 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots. The 22 points matched his career high, while the 16 rebounds were a new career high. Ibaka joined Shawn Kemp as the only players in the Thunder/SuperSonics franchise to score 20 points, grab 15 rebounds and collect 4 blocks in a playoff game since 1991 (Kemp did it twice). The Elias Sports Bureau also says that at the age of 21 years, 217 days old, Ibaka became the youngest player to record at least 20 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots in a postseason game. Prior to Saturday, the youngest player to do that in a playoff game was Shaquille O’Neal, who had 24 points, 19 rebounds and five blocked shots at age 22 years and 53 days old against the Pacers on April 28, 1994.

The Nuggets shot just 37.2 percent from the field and missed 15 free throws, in the hard-fought three-point loss. They’ll host Game 4 on Monday, but of the 94 teams in NBA history that were down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series, not a single one has avoided elimination.

The 2010 baseball season was highlighted by a pair of perfect games.

In this NBA season, perfect efforts are coming in bunches, if we're reasonably loose in our definition of the term.

Thabo Sefolosha was 4-for-4 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free throw line, good for 13 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder came back to beat the Hornets on Monday night.

That caps a 10-day span in which we've seen some impressive perfection performances. On November 19, Los Angeles Lakers reserve Matt Barnes was 7-for-7 from the field, 5-for-5 from 3-point range and 5-for-5 at the foul line in a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The next day, DeShawn Stevenson of the Dallas Mavericks was 4-for-4 from the field, including 3-for-3 from three, and two-of two at the foul line in a victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Then, on the 21st, Lakers forward Pau Gasol went 10-for-10 from the field and 8-for-8 at the line in a win over the Golden State Warriors.

A check of the Basketball-Reference.com Play Index indicates that Sefolosha was the 11th player this season to make at least four field goals in a game AND be perfect from the free throw line. But he, Barnes, and Stevenson are the only three in the NBA whose perfection effort included multiple 3-point field goals.

Over the last couple of seasons, this sort of thing is a five-to-six times a year occurence, but in the small sample size that is the early part of this schedule, we're on pace for significantly more than that.

Also of note from a perfection perspective in this game was the performance of Thunder center Serge Ibaka, who was coming off a perfect 7-for-7 in a loss to the Rockets on Sunday. Ibaka was perfect from the field, but imperfect otherwise in a one-point loss. When he was on the floor, the Thunder were outscored by five points.

Monday, Ibaka learned that imperfection was acceptable On a night where Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant starred, Ibaka was 0-for-5 from the field in 30 minutes off the bench, BUT when he was on the court, the Thunder outscored the Hornets by 15 points. No Thunder player had a better plus-minus than that.

The basketball in Miami
The concentration of talent in Miami has created a dramatic storyline the NBA hasn't seen in years. In late October, the narrative will finally give way to live basketball, as the offseason machinations fade into the background. Fans and observers can debate whether a team of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami is healthy for the NBA, and the Heat's first final-possession scenario will likely launch silly arguments about who rightfully deserves to be called "the man" in Miami. Lost in the cacophony of hysteria is the single most fascinating question headed into the 2010-11 season: What will the Miami Heat's 94 or so possessions look like on a nightly basis? How will James play off Wade and vice versa? How do you defend a Wade-James pick-and-roll? Will we see a lineup of Eddie House, Wade, Miller, James and Bosh (talk about the end of positional orthodoxy!)? Will Bosh benefit from the disproportionate attention opposing defenses will have to devote to the perimeter? And how will Bosh handle the more workaday duties of being the big man down low? However you feel about what's transpired since the beginning of July, the experiment being assembled in Miami is a basketball lover's dream. If you find Miami's personnel unlikable, then root like hell for the opposing defense. Either way, you won't be disappointed.

The blueprint in Oklahoma City
The Thunder emerged last season as the most promising young outfit in the NBA. They finished with 50 wins and gave the Lakers their toughest Western Conference playoff series. Then, this offseason, they extended a max contract to Kevin Durant and fortified their bright young core by adding Morris Peterson, Daequan Cook and first-round draft pick Cole Aldrich. In some sense, general manager Sam Presti's decision to essentially stand pat might have been one of the the boldest move of the offseason. Many executives with a talented core and some money to spend would've committed to a high-dollar addition, but Presti stayed the course. He's banking that the maturation of Durant, Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green, James Harden and Serge Ibaka will continue and vault the Thunder over of the scrum in the Western Conference. Is he being realistic? Can the Thunder ride a frontcourt of Green, Nenad Krstic, Ibaka, Nick Collison and Aldrich into the ranks of the NBA elite? Can a team that sustained no major injuries last season decline to add a single major pieces and still pick up 5-10 wins? The answer to these questions will give us an idea of how much "upward trajectory" is worth in the NBA.


The power of Nash
Amare Stoudemire provides us with one of the best controlled experiments in recent years.
Watching him run the pick-and-roll with Steve Nash in Phoenix for eight years, we grew to regard Stoudemire as one of the most prolific power forwards of his generation. In New York, Stoudemire will benefit from the presence of coach Mike D'Antoni, who conceived many of the schemes that enabled him to flourish, but will be without Nash for the first time since 2004. How will swapping out Raymond Felton for Nash affect Stoudemire's game? Back in Phoenix, a 36-year-old Nash will have to replicate what he did during his 2005-06 MVP season when Stoudemire missed virtually 79 games -- cobble together an offense with imperfect parts. How Stoudemire performs without Nash as his dance partner and how Phoenix fares with an offense that will be more reminiscent of their 2005-06 season -- when Nash maximized the versatility of Shawn Marion, Boris Diaw and Raja Bell -- will tell us a lot about Nash's enormous impact on the game he plays as beautifully as anyone.

The defense in Chicago
The Boston Celtics' return to the NBA's upper echelon was predicated first and foremost on their defense. They unleashed a pressurized force field designed and implemented by Tom Thibodeau, and ultimately adopted by other teams around the league, including the Los Angeles Lakers. This June, the Bulls tapped Thibodeau to fill their head coaching vacancy. He joins a Bulls team that put together a strong defensive season last season, finishing 10th in efficiency. Skeptics might look at Derrick Rose -- whose defensive instincts are a far cry from Rajon Rondo -- and Carlos Boozer and conclude that Thibodeau doesn't have the personnel to succeed the way he did in Boston. Yet in 2007, Thibodeau took a quintet that featured Ray Allen (who had a horrendous defensive reputation coming from Seattle), an undisciplined big man in Kendrick Perkins, a second-year point guard in Rajon Rondo who'd started only 25 games and made them one of the best defensive units in basketball. With Joakim Noah anchoring the interior, the lanky tandem of Luol Deng and Ronnie Brewer on the wings, Boozer's sharp basketball IQ and Rose's gifts, Thibodeau should have the tools to sculpt a top-5 defense. If the Bulls buy in, we'll have a better understanding whether Thibodeau's kind of tactical expertise is transferable -- and an inkling of just how dangerous the Bulls could be.

The reign in Los Angeles
A calm has set in over Los Angeles, where the Lakers went about their offseason business with all the fanfare of a routine annual checkup. While the rest of the basketball universe was focused in on LeBron James and south Florida, the Lakers quietly added veterans Steve Blake, Matt Barnes and Theo Ratliff and re-upped head coach Phil Jackson. Even when the Lakers were stringing together three consecutive titles at the beginning of the millennium, there was always a swirl of intrigue surrounding the club. That's no longer true, as the Lakers have assumed a posture of professional incumbency the league hasn't seen in quite some time. Will the Lakers ride the precision of their system, the collective experience and poise of their core and the natural attributes of their defense to a fourth straight Finals appearance? Barring serious injury, is there anything that can disrupt the Lakers' rhythm? Is a successful formula ever in danger of becoming predictable?

The patience in Portland
Before the Oklahoma City Thunder became next year's model, the Portland Trail Blazers were on the brink of creating something special. The sketch of a winner was stenciled on the Rose Garden floor -- an all-powerful wing primed to take big shots, a talented power forward oozing with finesse, a defensive and rebounding force in the middle and smart supporting players who embraced their roles. Injuries and disruption turned the 2009-10 campaign into a holding pattern, but the pieces are still in place for the Trail Blazers to achieve. Health remains a concern, as Greg Oden will try to return from a fractured left patella. But if the big man can log 2,000 minutes, Portland should be able to complement their Top-1o offense with the kind of dogged rebounding and efficient defense that made them a popular No. 2 pick headed into last season. The question those with an affection for Portland don't want to ask is, how bright is the team's future if he can't?

The possibility of youth
The appeal of the league's top-rated rookies runs much deeper than individual performance. Their presence can ripple beyond whatever spot on the floor they happen to occupy. Blake Griffin not only has the power to explode to the rim every time he touches the ball, but he also has the potential to transform Baron Davis into the joyful point guard the world fell in love with in the spring of 2007. John Wall's well-honed instincts won't just fill up the box score, but also could revive a fan base in Washington that was teased with meaningful basketball a few years ago, only to watch their franchise return to the wilderness. DeMarcus Cousins could become the Kings' more formidable presence in the frontcourt since Chris Webber left, but more important, he and Tyreke Evans have a chance to redefine what big-small combos can do in the rapidly changing pro game. "Upside" is a word thrown around a lot in June, but watching that potential unfold produces unique findings. And that's why we watch.

• ESPN's panel of prognosticators picked the Celtics to finish with 51 wins and the No. 3 seed, following a season in which they finished 50-32 and entered the postseason with the No. 4 seed. Given the Celtics' flourish in the 2010 playoffs, that prediction has some Celtics fans riled. Zach Lowe of Celtics Hub (who was on the panel) tells his brethren in green to simmer down: "[I]t is perfectly reasonable to predict the C’s will again proceed through the regular season prioritizing health and rest over win total. Why wouldn’t they? They did it last year and got to the Finals, and all they’ve done since is make an old team even older while the Eastern Conference has improved at the top and in the middle."
• Don't like ESPN's predictions? Check out economist Ian Ayres' prediction tools that allow you to forecast everything from the price of Bordeaux to how long your marriage will last.
• Kevin Love tells NBA.com's John Schumann that he feels more appreciated by Team USA than the Minnesota Timberwolves.
• Drew Cannon's new positional system, which he unveiled at Basketball Prospectus last week, continues to generate interesting conversation. Cannon seeks to address the problem of designating specific positions to players who, increasingly, defy that kind of classification (think Stephen Jackson, Hedo Turkoglu or point guards whose defensive assignments are the 2-guard or even the small forward). Both Tom Ziller of Fanhouse, and Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game delve deeper into the discussion and expose some of the problems with developing a new model and throwing out the old designations like "point guard" and "center." Spend some time looking at Mahoney's revised model.
• For a league that's reportedly struggling financially, we're seeing a host of suitors line up every time a franchise goes on the block. The Pistons are no exception.
• Speaking in his native Lettish, Andris Biedrins tells Warriors World's Rasheed Malek that Don Nelson's comments about the young center's free-throw shooting bothered him: "When he said I should practice underhanded, I felt very disrespected. At one point I spoke to a psychiatrist who reminded me of some things, but it’s not so bad that they send you and try to brainwash you. It’s mostly about believing in yourself, because, before this season it was more or less OK."
• Here's an impressive video compilation of Scottie Pippen's defense. When we talk about a player's versatility, we're usually referring to his offensive repertoire. We all know that Pippen displayed an uncommon range of skills on the offensive end of the floor, but this reel captures how incredibly talented Pippen was on the other side of the ball. He was both a pest to point guards, but capable of pushing guys like Charles Barkley off the block. With Pippen in close proximity, there was no such thing as an easy entry pass.
• Steve Perrin of Clips Nation has a comprehensive and smart breakdown of the current 15-man Team USA roster.
• Remember Ali Farokhmanesh, who hit the ballsiest shot of the 2010 NCAA Championships when Northern Iowa upset Kansas? He's headed to Switzerland to play for Massagno in the Swiss league (LNA).
• Daily Thunder has your Serge Ibaka "Air Congo" t-shirt modeled by ... Serge Ibaka.
• Slide over, Lamar Odom. Michael Beasley confesses that, among his other nicknames, "Skittles" took hold at a fairly young age: "You know growing up I ate a lot of candy, if you were at my dinners you would know that, you know but I eat a lot of candy so from eight to probably like 15, you wouldn't see me without a pack of Skittles." On the tart vs. chocolate debate, Beasley is very decisive: "I'm not a chocolate man. I'm skittles, anything made by Wonka, you know I like candy not chocolate."
• Jefferson Boswell of Salt City Hoops recounts a nice story about his grandma and Karl Malone during a physical therapy session. What did Malone mutter when he stepped up to the free throw line? Only Grandma Alene knew.
• DeJuan Blair: Menace under the glass; menace with CAP LOCKS!

Prior to Saturday night's game between Cleveland and Oklahoma City, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer's Brian Windhorst wrote:

I believe the Durant-LeBron matchup could be better than the Kobe-LeBron matchup tonight and for years to come. Durant is a high efficiency scorer, he gets to the line at a high rate, shoots at a high rate and he rebounds better than Kobe. At this point in his career, at least this season because of injuries, Kobe has turned into a volume scorer on a lot of nights. Durant, and James for that matter, aren't. That is why I predict a quality duel.

True to Windhorst's forecast, the mano-a-mano battle was captivating. The two scorers combined for 71 points in a seesaw affair that saw five lead changes in a scintillating fourth quarter. A battle that was waged in the interior for three quarters -- and dominated by Shaquille O'Neal for much of that time -- moved further out to the perimeter in the fourth.

For all of Durant's uptick in efficiency (a PER of 24.58, vs. 20.85 last season), the Thunder have been winning basketball games this season on the strength of their defense, and we saw Oklahoma City make some gritty stands down the stretch. There's a reason it took some huge shot-making by Daniel Gibson for the Cavs to put Oklahoma City away at the Q -- the Thunder clogged the middle, as they've been doing all season.

But just as we're not hearing enough about Oklahoma City's defense amidst the celebratory praise of everyone's favorite youth movement, there's not much discussion of this:

The Thunder have trouble scoring points.

In fact, only nine teams in the League have more trouble.

While that's a marked improvement from last season, when only the Clippers were worse than the Thunder in offensive efficiency, it's a little bit of a head-scratcher for a team blessed with a matchup nightmare like Durant.

Saturday night during the tight fourth quarter, we got a glimpse of the Thunder's struggles when they went more than five minutes without draining a shot from the field. There was a particularly ghastly stretch of seven possessions over which Oklahoma City generated only a single point on a Durant free throw.

What happened to the Thunder in those moments? Was Durant not finding shots he likes? Was it something akin to what the Lakers or Cavs experience at times when the other four guys on the floor stand around watching Bryant or James? Was Durant forcing the issue? Not forcing it enough?

Possession 1 (5:35)
Inefficient offensive units often have a tendency to squander a good 10 seconds before getting into their sets. Finding good shots against a defense as stingy as Cleveland's is a tough business, and the more time you budget to generate those looks the better. By milking 10 seconds off the clock, you also let your opponent off the hook because it requires far less energy to defend for 14 seconds than 24 seconds.

On this possession, rookie combo guard James Harden has the ball up top. It appears that the Thunder might be running a pin-down with Russell Westbrook on the right side to free up Durant, but if that's the case, Westbrook misses Durant's defender, Anthony Parker, altogether. When Durant gets the pass up top and begins working against Parker, James leaves Harden to double team. No surprise there.

Durant, sometimes criticized for being an unwilling passer, kicks the ball out to Harden, who passes up the 3-pointer (he's a 37.7 percent shooter from that distance). Harden instead works off the dribble, but it isn't long before he tosses the grenade back to Durant with the clock expiring. Durant has to settle for a long, contested shot from beyond the arc:



Possession 2 (4:46)
Another half-hearted down screen for Durant, this time by Jeff Green. Now might be a good time to send some film to the Thunder supporting cast of Kendrick Perkins laying out for Boston's perimeter scorers. Space matters, and the more room a team can generate for its primary scorer to work, the more efficient that offense is going to run. Fortunately for Durant, Serge Ibaka gets himself between Durant and Parker. This gives Durant one of his better looks at the basket in the fourth quarter, though it's not wide open. Why not?

Check out Shaquille O'Neal! You won't see him step up to challenge a shooter on a pick-and-roll very often, but here he sticks a big limb in Durant's face:



Possession 3 (4:23)
It's not a coincidence that Oklahoma City draws a foul early in the possession. Notice how much more quickly and decisively they challenge Cleveland, as Durant makes Parker chase him from the moment they cross the time line?

After the inbound, though, the Thunder have a difficult time freeing up Durant. Throw some credit Anthony Parker's way. Time and time again in the fourth quarter, he dodges Thunder picks, not yielding an inch to Durant. There's a telling moment at the 10-second mark. Watch:



See how Westbrook picks up his dribble? He assumes that he'll lob a simple entry pass to Durant, but Parker is doing such a good job denying that pass that Westbrook has to swing the ball over to Sefolosha in order to get his dribble back on the return. At that point, Westbrook has to freelance, and Daniel Gibson -- yes that Daniel Gibson -- blocks his runner as the clock expires.

(Read full post)

The Salt Lake Tribune's Ross Siler has spent the week in Orlando tracking down the Summer League's most interesting stories. Today, he caught up with Congolese forward Serge Ibaka, the Thunder's (then Sonics) first-round draft pick in 2008.

No matter the language barrier -- or the fact that summer-league teammate Moses Ehambe was serving as his interpreter -- Serge Ibaka was able to find the words Thursday to describe the experience of arriving in Oklahoma City from Congo and Spain.

Serge Ibaka: Averaging 13.7 points per game in Summer League action.  (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)

"It's totally different,” Ehambe said in translating. "It's real calm and relaxing. It's peaceful. He likes it a lot. It's good for us basketball players to be out there. He feels really blessed to be there.”

Whether he knew it or not, Ibaka once represented one of the great mysteries in the NBA: the teenage forward chosen 24th overall in the 2008 Draft who promptly returned to Spain for another year of development.

Just holding his rights seemed to constitute an embarrassment of riches for the Thunder, set someday to add Ibaka to a roster with Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook and now No. 3 overall pick James Harden.

The only question was when Ibaka would come to the NBA. The answer judging from this week's games in Orlando is sooner rather than later. Not only does he outrun smaller players on the floor, the 6-foot-10 Ibaka's game is far more refined than expected.

"He wants to play [in the NBA] really bad,” Ehambe said. "It's way different than in Spain, but he's really excited.”

The Thunder have yet to make any official decisions, but they have been impressed by Ibaka's play so far and are strongly considering keeping him on their roster this season. Ibaka is set to turn 20 on Sept. 18, only days before the start of training camp.

To accelerate the adjustment, one of Ibaka's coaches in Spain will join the Thunder for summer-league play in Las Vegas. Ibaka also started taking English lessons during his time in Oklahoma City.

"The one thing about him is he's an incredibly focused individual, just in his make-up,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said. "He's focused, but he's also very humble.

"He obviously knows that learning a language is going to help him to be a better player, so he's spent a lot of time working, taking English lessons seriously on the days leading up to this.”

The Thunder, who scouted Ibaka for a season before the draft, were impressed at how quickly he learned Spanish while playing in the country. Ibaka joked that it only took him three months to become fluent.

There have been momentary miscommunications this week -- when Ibaka has to take out the ball, when he misses a play call -- but he plays at the right speed for the Thunder and is a fan of the 20-year-old Westbrook.

"He likes it a lot because they're the same age,” Ehambe said. "[Westbrook] plays really hard, he likes running, just like he does. He loves playing with a point guard that runs the floor with him. He loves having a point guard like Russell Westbrook.”

Just in case that wasn't enough, Ibaka interjected, "I'm very happy my team point guard Westbrook.”

Ibaka started Thursday alongside Byron Mullens -- no longer B.J. -- and matched up against Boise State's Jason Ellis. Ibaka missed a baseline jumper and lost his handle on a couple of passes but got to
the foul line from the low post.

Ibaka hit a right-handed hook in the second quarter and was called for a loose-ball foul when he went up to dunk a missed Westbrook free throw while it hung on the rim. He had two blocks and dunked
off a Westbrook pass in the third quarter.

(Westbrook and Mullens, meanwhile, both had impressive games, with Mullens scoring 18 points with equal parts alley-oop dunks and long jumpers. Westbrook finished with 19 points and hit a turnaround jumper in the first half over Blake Ahearn after Ahearn bumped Westbrook and then tried to slap the ball out of his hands as he walked away.)

For the afternoon, Ibaka had 15 points, two rebounds and two blocks, hitting five of eight shots and five of seven free throws. It was the third time in three games in Orlando that Ibaka has scored in double figures. His energy and instincts on the defensive end also have been good.

Despite the language barrier, Harden called Ibaka a great teammate and said he hoped he'd be with Oklahoma City this season. If he does, the Thunder believe he will fit in as a worker on a team that has
been built around them.

It also appears Ibaka will fit in well in the NBA. He wore a designer Louis Vuitton backpack around the RDV Sportsplex. "It's fake,” Ibaka joked.

Ron Artest supplants Trevor Ariza as the three-man in the Lakers' triangle. Celtics fans bid a wistful farewell to fan fave Leon Powe. And is Paul Millsap the right guy for OKC's front line? 

Rob Mahoney of Hardwood Paroxysm: "[Ron] Artest only makes sense offensively in situations where his skills can be utilized without damaging the team concept. Los Angeles, home of the triangle offense, is not that place. Artest's tendency to stop the ball, throw possessions into the wind, and take what can only be described as 'Ron Artest Shots' can't fly well with Phil [Jackson], with Kobe [Bryant], with Pau [Gasol], with Tex Winter, or with just about anyone who has come to know and love (or at least respect) the most dominant offensive unit in the game. The Lakers ... were able to dissect a fantastic defensive team in the Finals because the talent was there and the system was there. Artest brings plenty of one, but substitutes the other for generally poor basketball IQ and the possibility of going bonkers at any particular time. Sweet. On top of that, the Lakers seem to be severing their ties with Trevor Ariza. Signing Artest is doing more than showing Ariza the door. It's pushing him out, throwing his stuff out on the lawn, and handing Ron a molotov cocktail ... The true delight comes in the fact that Ariza could function within the system at a level we can never expect Artest to. Trevor made a habit out of deferring on offense, and perfecting a few offensive skills in his ability to hit the three from select spots and his tremendous finishes ... This team clearly competes at a different level with Ariza on the floor, and that's a credit to just how hard he's worked on his game."

Zach Lowe of Celtics Hub: "I really hope Leon Powe knows how much Celtics fans like him and will miss him. We all know why that is -- the well-documented childhood difficulties, the never-ending series of knee injuries that seemed to happen right when he was turning a corner, and the way Leon responded to all of it by working even harder. He's a bit of a cliché fan favorite, actually -- the scrappy role player who overcomes personal and professional obstacles to contribute to a championship team. But let's talk about basketball. There was something that drew me to Leon Powe from the moment I saw him play: He's a bit awkward ... Leon is not pretty to watch. You see -- almost feel -- every bit of effort it takes him to put the ball on the floor, lower his shoulder into a taller defender and flick a one-handed shot toward the rim. He can't leap much without a head of steam, and he's not quick or explosive enough to beat his defenders with spin moves or dribble-drives ... He often pushed off with his left hand to create the minimal space he had. Every time he attacked the rim, I cringed, expecting an offensive foul. The shots, once released, look a bit like blind tosses toward something approximating the correct area of the rim or the backboard. And they always seem to bounce around the rim and off the backboard before going down. And they went down 52 percent of the time, and 57 percent of the time in the '08 championship season ... He is a graceless, below-the-rim player for the most part, and I love him for it."

Royce Young of Daily Thunder: "I think the organization sees Uncle Jeff [Green] as its power forward. But if they sign [Paul] Millsap, I guess we'll know they think differently. Unless of course Millsap is being signed just to take Nick Collison's spot, which would be great if the Thunder could sign Millsap for the same money they're paying [Nick] Collison. But that probably has about as much chance of happening as me getting a 10-day contract. Millsap is a nice player. He was excellent in Carlos Boozer's absence last year and that great play earned him what's sure to be a nice contract. But the Thunder's fairly stacked at power forward. Of course there are Green and Collison, but what about D.J. White who played just seven games last year? White looked pretty darn good in those games and with some added weight and a little refining, what's to say he's not going to be an excellent backup big man? Or even Serge Ibaka? He's coming over and playing in the summer league. Maybe he blows management away and makes the roster as an extra big. Now you're jammed full of power forwards, but one of them you just signed for five years and $40 million. To me, signing Millsap isn't a very [Sam] Presti-like move. It seems like a rushed, let's-get-better-right-now move instead of the planned, calculated progression Presti has had since he took over. Signing Millsap would make you either take some clothes to Goodwill or make you completely rearrange everything."

THE FINAL WORD
Bucksketball: An open letter to Detroit fans, re: Charlie V.
The Two Man Game: Welcome to the Big D, Marcin Gortat.
Orlando Magic Daily: A concrete-heavy photo tour of the Magic's new home for 2010-11. 

(Photos by Jeff Gross, Steve Babineau, Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)