Warriors, Thunder Early Comparisons

Yes, Folks! It's fun to compare a team that most NBA fans would classify as "Trash" to title contending teams. The Warriors do, however, have a lot in common with the Thunder. Although they are crushed in nearly every position they lose, they still would put up a good battle. Like Bob Fitzgerald always says, "The Warriors WILL NOT go away!!" Hopefully they won't go away this season, when they're creeping behind the Nuggets to steal their spot in the playoffs.. hopefully..

PG: Russell Westbrook: Stephen Curry: This one is tough. Westbrook receives a lot of criticism, but he the most explosive player in the game, as well as athletic, and acrobatic. Curry, on the other hand is a true PG. This matchup will have to be classified into different categories:
-All-around Talent: Winner: OKC
-PG Talent: Winner: Warriors

SG: Klay Thompson: Thabo Sefoloshia: While Sefo is an outstanding perimeter shooter, a great defender, and his basketball IQ, rookie sensation, Klay Thompson's skill level is too high for him to guard. Thompson will end up crushing him in the matchup. Winner: Warriors

SF: Harrison Barnes: Kevin Durant: Well, Durant clearly has the height, skill, explosiveness, length, and shooting advantage, but Harrison Barnes gets hot quickly. Barnes won't have any problem scoring double digits, but the Warriors don't have any guy who can move his feet like a guy that's Durant's size. He's tough to stop. Winner: OKC

PF: David Lee: Serge Ibaka: Lee and Ibaka hae completely different playing styles. Lee is a static player, who only plays within the perimeters of his game. Ibaka is courageous. He will take the three pointer if he wants to. Ibaka is a blocking sensation, Lee has a high basketball IQ. They're two incomparable PF's. Winner: Nobody

C: Kendrick Perkins: Andrew Bogut: Come on everyone. While Perkins is a tough guy who doesn't smile, Bogut delivers in more ways, and gets it done with a smile on his face. There is a clear winner here. Winner: Warriors

Bench Productivity: The Warriors have an overall good bench, but the shining brilliance of Harden just cancels all of that out. Maybe next season, it'll be different..Winner: OKC

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NBA Players Destined to Start Off Hot

The NBA is filled with incredible players who just want to win the title. That's hard to do when there's two superteams in the NBA. The Lakers and the Heat. That is a favored finals matchup, as Kobe and LeBron will finally go head to head. The Dwight Howard would destroy Joel Anthony.

Let's not rule other teams out though. The Thunder, the Nets, the Warriors, the Hornets, the Timberwolves, the Sixers, and many other teams are capable of pulling off upsets in the first round. All these teams have a legitimate shot of making it to the finals. The question is, who wants it more?

- Monta Ellis/Brandon Jennings: I swear, I'm not being biased. Monta Ellis and Jennings are supposed to have the best backcourt in the NBA. With the added big man presence, the Bucks are looking to get it going.. They finally have what it takes.

- David Lee: He is 29 years old, and not getting any younger. Lee knows that it's time to go to work with his team's reloaded roster. Anything is possible. I don't think Lee is going to wait any longer to be in his first playoff game.

- D-Will: Obviously. Deron Williams hasn't been in the playoffs since the Jazz. He wasn't going anywhere with them, so he took his talents to New Jersey. With Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, Lopez, and Johnson, there's no limit to what they can accomplish. Especially if they can pull off an upset.

- Dwight Howard: With new hope on the Lakers, Howard looks to get into the finals again, but this time, he'll be playing alongside Kobe. With the addition of him and Nash, the Lakers must make a title run quickly, and they know that. Before they know it, Kobe's jersey will be hung at the top of the stadium.

- Carmelo Anthony: I'm sure Carmelo Anthony does not want to be the criticized one, just like LeBron was. Critics are already getting on his back about winning a ring. Bosh, Wade, LeBron, and even Darko Milicic have rings. It's time for Melo to get his. He carried team USA on his back most of the way, and he should be confident enough to do that with his Knicks.

- LeBron James: LeBron has had the taste of one title, and he's not going to stop there. He and the Heat without question have the most talented roster in the NBA. LeBron and the Heat are hungry, and they will crush any team that stands in their line of fire.

- Kobe Bryant: Kobe knows that in a couple seasons, he'll retire, but it'd be nice to get one more title to put him ahead of Jordan. The only downside to this is that the rest of the NBA will hear it from Laker fans that Kobe's better than Jordan. (He won't ever be, although he is close). Kobe will go hard from day 1.

- Kevin Durant: After a heart-breaking loss to the Heat in the NBA finals, Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka are looking for more. With the return of Eric Maynor, the Thunder should look to start off strong and hit each team hard. Durant will be relentless this season in his scoring, and will surpass Kobe and LeBron as the league's leading scorer again. He and Westbrook know that they have something to prove this season.

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Team USA Beats Spain for Gold Medal in Men's Basketball

USA Beats Spain in Gold Medal Game, Men's Basketball

Well most of us saw this coming. Team USA is undefeated coming into this game undefeated.. Duh! Well what about Spain? Marc and Pau Gasol are looking to get revenge and earn their gold medal for Spain. Tonight was a huge Gold Medal game, and players from both teams showed up and played their hearts out. In the end, however, Team USA pulled away in the fourth quarter behind Kobe, LeBron, and LeBron.

In the beginning, Spain kept control and tried to take over the tempo and slow things down. With KD, and Lebron, however that's hard. Team USA was explosive as always in getting to the basket and pushing after every made basket. Chris Paul also did a good job of maintaining the tempo. Obviously both teams started out hot. This got the crowd into it. Especially Juan Carlos Navaro's and 1 three pointer. Durant immediately answered.

The game was filled with smothering defense on the inside. Both teams pushed the ball. Navaro got off to a hot start. Both teams kept scoring. Three after three after three. The game was physical early.

Coming into the 2nd quarter, the Spaniards found themselves down by 8, despite Navaro's 14 point effort. Spain started the quarter on a small run of their own, making up some of the deficit. LeBron finally ended the run with a breathtaking dunk. 

Team USA and Spain both got into some altercations, the game started to get more physical. Marc Gasol got into a lot of trouble with 4 fouls in the first half. This was a huge part of the win for team USA.

Many parts of this game mirrored the Bejing Olympic game. 

Heading into the second half, Navaro lead Spain with 19, and Durant lead USA with 17. The second half was where the USA really needed to attack.  By himself, Pau Gasol went head-to-head with Team USA. The pace really picked up. The Laker teammates went back and forth. They both suddenly exploded. The third quarter really set up the victory. Kevin Durant also went crazy in the 3rd quarter. He had 27 with only 120 left in the 3rd. 

Coming into the fourth quarter, the Spaniards needed to score major. You know that Chris Paul was going to pick it up. He scored 5 quick points. Gasol, an Navaro really picked it up as well. When LeBron picked up his 4th personal, Durant became more aggressive. Kobe Bryant extended the lead to double digits, but Navaro answered right back. 

In the end, the US didnt relinquish their slim lead. They pulled away with 3 minutes left. The dagger came at the 2 minute mark: LeBron James hit a killer three.

Team USA stepped up, and started making their easy shots. The second half was one of the most entertaining halfs I've seen. 

In the end, 

Chris Paul contributed in a big way with 7 points in the 4th

Carmelo finished with only 8

Lebron finished with 19

Durant scored 30

and Kobe, in his last Olympic game, had 17

As for Spain,

Pau Gasol scored 24

Marc Gasol ended up with 16

Juan Carlos Navaro had 21

and Rudy Fernandez finished with 13

In the end, Team USA had too many hot players, high basketball IQ, and experience. It was, as I said before, a hard fought game. 

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OKC Thunder: Getting Our Bearings

The NBA season is less than 24 hours away, and the Thunder have their first game on Wednesday night. With everything that has gone on, let's get an idea of where we are, and where we are going.

Where we are:

We finished a dismal 23 - 59. Even with the end of the season 20 - 30 record, it doesn't look good. We were a top 10 rebounding team last season, but our Point Guard of the future committed the most turnovers of anyone in the league. The Thunder are lead by one of the league's best scorers in Kevin Durant, but we were in the bottom of the league in scoring.

This season, we are one of the youngest teams in the league. Oklahoma City has an average age of 25. If our young bench doesn't get better, don't expect much improvement this season.

(Continue to This Is Thunder Basketball)

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