The Dugout – The Last of the Class
Farewell, Kobe
And so we’ve come to the end. Or if not the end, then the beginning of the end. Kobe Bryant, one of the great artists in NBA history, announced his impending retirement this week in poetic verse on Derek Jeter’s Players Tribune… which means that just like Jeter, Kobe’s gonna have himself one big retirement tour as he drops by those same old cities for the final time to hurl some bricks and accept some gifts.
His retirement is hardly a shock. He’s strongly hinted towards it for a while and watching him play it’s clear that physically it’s fast becoming a step too far for him. No shame in that, it happens to all of them and now that this announcement’s out there, people have immediately gone back to Kobe the Great rather than Old Man Kobe. That’s cool, he deserves it.
Of course, this also means we’re about to say farewell (in a few months) to the last remaining player from the 1996 draft, supposing that Ray Allen stays on the sidelines. A class that also included the likes of Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby, Steve Nash and Antoine Walker. Tim Duncan is still flying the flag for 1997, while Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter and Paul Pierce (and one or two others) are out there making 1998 look great. Meanwhile Kevin Garnett is still hanging around from 1995, and will for another season yet.
A TNC Poem For Kobe
Cheers bro.
You were good at basketball.
We’ll miss ya.
Poems are cool.
Okafortheboys
When your team is 0-18, it’s pretty easy to feel like you can’t catch a break. Even more so when this crap starts finding its way into the public:
Unfortunately there’s a snowball effect that goes on with these things and there’s a constructed narrative that emerges which people like to add to. One story emerges, another follows and then everyone’s crawling over each other to point out what a bad boy Jahlil Okafor is. It happens to Johnny Manziel too, and they’re far from the only ones.
Okafor will now be accompanied by a security guard whenever he goes out, which seems like a good idea. Getting snapped at over 100 mph is not good. Using a fake ID… plenty others have tried that. Getting snappy at a dude in Boston? Fair enough, those Celtics fans are assholes (unless you’re one, in which case forget that last bit). And having a gun pointed at him by a heckler? That’s hardly all Okafor’s fault.
The point is this is a 19 year old kid with good money all of a sudden playing on a team that doesn’t care if it wins or loses. Kobe Bryant spent his entire career ruthlessly fighting for success and that’s what’s given his career (and his life to date) its purpose. This is editorialising for a second here, but there’s no accountability on a team that’s been tanking this long and it’s not a coincidence that guys like Okafor and Joel Embiid aren’t towing the line properly.
Chur Steve
- vs Brooklyn (W 110-99): 22 MIN, 4 PTS (2/4 FG 0/1 FT), 4 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 2 BLK, 3 PF
- vs Detroit (W 103-87): 28 MIN, 8 PTS (4/5 FG), 13 REB, 1 AST, 1 BLK, 2 PF
- vs Atlanta (L 106-100): 14 MIN, 0 PTS (0/1 FG, 0/2 FT), 2 REB, 1 PF
An interesting week for Steve, one which included his best game of the season and probably his worst one too. But first there was the Brooklyn game. Up against Brook Lopez, this is the sort of clash Steve usually likes. An old fashioned centre who’ll take it to him in the paint. It wasn’t his best, though, and Lopez scored 26 to lead the Nets. It was the last game before Thanksgiving and the Thunder played like it, but Russell Westbrook (27 points and 13 assists) sparked a fourth quarter runaway to put the Nets away for good. Durant scored 30 from 18 shots and Waiters had 16 off the bench.
Ah, but following that we had Steve up against Andre Drummond and the Detroit Pistons. The form centre of the season, Drummond has been murdering teams and something about the battle brought out the best in Adams. He went toe to toe and shoulder to shoulder with Drummond, limiting him off the boards like nobody else has. Drummond had a season-low 7 rebounds, while Adams hauled in a season-high 13.
The Thunder trailed by 13 at one stage in the second, however Kevin Durant responded in the second by simply taking over, he scored 34 with 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks. Russ had a poor game by his standards and it didn’t even matter. In the end they did it pretty easy.
“Steven did a great job on their best player and Andre did a great job on their second best player in Pope and Russ did his job.” – Kevin Durant
It was also a game notable for being Reggie Jackson’s first game back in OKC. Fair to say that he was not welcomed back. He was heckled from the crowd (and he heckled back!). Russell Westbrook was asked about him and he replied: “Who?” KD threw a cold shoulder of his own too.
Then against the Hawks, Adams was pretty poor. The Hawks are an top team, sorta semi-Spursy and they love their GSW small ball formations. They can do that because their centre is Al Horford who has all the skills of a PF and he torched Adams more than a few times, dragging him away from the paint and then getting him on the dribble hook. The Hawks thus blew out to a good lead but an 18-3 run had the Thunder within one at the break. Enes Kanter rebounded better than Adams but struggled to score like he usually does and so neither of the regular Cs got the minutes they usually do. Instead, Serge Ibaka played the five and he did a damn good job of it (kinda odd he doesn’t play there more given the strengths/limitations of this team, though he’s starting get more time there in fourth quarters). He scored 17, Russ scored 34 and Durant 25. 17 of Westbrook’s points came in the final quarter, giving OKC their first lead since the first possession but they couldn’t finish it. The Hawks finished stronger as the Thunder wasted chances and ATL claimed a fine win.
Plus there’s this lil stat, courtesy of @Thunder_Digest and Nylon Calculus. Third best in the NBA at winning jump balls, it’s a small part of a game but it’s always handy to get that first possession.
By the way, the Movember game is coming along well, right?
Have the Golden State Warriors Lost a Game Yet?
Nope.
Have the Philadelphia 76ers Won a Game Yet?
Certainly not.
Have the Carolina Panthers Lost a Game Yet?
Not a single one.
Have the New England Patriots Lost a Game Yet?
YES! THEY LOST TO THE BRONCOS!
NFL Week 12 Power Rankings:
- Carolina Panthers (Last week = 1)
- New England Patriots (2)
- Denver Broncos (5)
- Arizona Cardinals (3)
- Cincinnati Bengals (4)
- Minnesota Vikings (7)
- Kansas City Chiefs (9)
- Seattle Seahawks (10)
- Green Bay Packers (6)
- Chicago Bears (NA)
Very Curious…
Buck ‘Em
Whoops
Huh Wha…!?
Animal Rights Advocates of the Week
The NBA’s Lopez brothers can’t live together because their cats hate each other. That’s a stated fact, as Robin has confirmed to the NT Post:
“Brook’s cat is very two-faced. Everybody loves Brook’s cat. To everybody’s face, he’s such a nice cat. And it may sound like I’m joking, but I am dead serious. He acts like a lazy, sweet cat when everybody is looking. But when their heads turn, he’ll try to chase after Edward. The second I lay eyes on him, he’ll act like, ‘I’m a cherub. I’m innocent.’ I’m not buying it.”
‘Edward’, if you were wondering, is Robin Lopez’s cat. The name is short for… wait for this… Prince Edward Zephyr. Brook’s moggie is named Poupin, which is French for ‘chubby’. Both have their own Instagram accounts, which goes a long way to explaining why these two would rather their cats be happier than save on brutal NYC housing costs (Brook plays for Brooklyn, Robin for NY). Also, they are both very well paid NBA athletes. So, yeah. The Nets and Knicks play each other on Saturday NZT.
“I am going to get to dunk on him and I will block him at least twice. I’m generally going to destroy his soul.” – Robin Lopez.
Quote of the Week:
“We haven't built our identity yet as a unit. Coaching staff hasn’t figured it out yet. We don’t have set rotations. A lot of guys don’t know where we’re going to play or what time we’re going to play. It’s affecting us a little bit. We’ve got to figure it out as a unit, figure it out as a coaching staff. We gotta build our identity in who we want to be. We’re a month into the season and we haven’t figured it out.” – Jae Crowder, Boston Celtics
Runner Up Quote of the Week:
"I did idolize Kobe Bryant. I studied him, wanted to be like him. He was our Michael Jordan. I've been disappointed this year because you guys [the media] treated him like shit. He's a legend, and all I hear is about how bad he's playing, how bad he's shooting and it's time for him to hang it up. You guys treated one of our legends like shit and I didn't really like it. So hopefully now you can start being nice to him now that he decided to retire after this year." – Kevin Durant, OKC Thunder
A Thunder player having a dig at the media? Who’d’ve thunk it? (Apart from literally everyone). He’s got a good point, though.
Good Week:
Golden State Warriors – 19-0, what more is there to say? Read this if you’re feeling undernourished on GSW Greatness.
Jeremy Maclin (Kansas City Chiefs) – KC’s star WR free agent in the offseason, he came in to help arrest the ridiculous streak they had going of no TD passes to WRs, and has quietly had a decent season on the rolling Chiefs, going up and down but with a few more ups. Against the Bills he had his best game yet: 9 catches, 160 yards and a TD. Considering who he plays for, you should double those numbers too before comparing to anyone else.
J.J. Watt (Houston Texans) – The Texans have taken a long time to get going this season and are definitely reaping the benefit of a weak division. For that reason, Watt isn’t getting nearly the coverage he deserves. He had two sacks this week as Houston kept the New Orleans Saints without a TD for the first time since week 16 of 2005, to take his career tally to 70.5 in only 75 games. Only Reggie White got to 70 sacks quicker in NFL history. In Watt’s past five games he has 9.5 sacks and 24 tackles. There is no stopping him.
Bad Week:
Matt Schaub (Baltimore Ravens) – Filling in for Joe Flacco for the rest of 2015, he started by breaking an NFL record with his fourth consecutive start with a pick-six. Way to go (backwards), Schauby! (They still won, though, so no biggie).
Tony Romo (Dallas Cowboys) – About the worst week imaginable. With Romo back to lead the Cowboys to one of the most unlikely playoffs runs ever, well… it didn’t happen. First he threw three picks against the Panthers and then he re-broke his collar bone and is out for the season. Fully disastrous, for him and for the Cowboys.
The Art of Free Throws – At some point these guys are just gonna start lobbing them underhand, because it ain’t working otherwise. On Tuesday NZT, Andre Drummond shot 4 of 18 FTs against the Rockets. That’s abysmal, but it’s not as bad as DeAndre Jordan’s 12 of 34. Twenty-two misses!
Player of the Week:
Paul George (Indiana Pacers) – If you haven’t seen him play this season then you may not believe it. But if you have, then you’ll know that PG13 is every bit the player he was before his broken leg – perhaps even greater. This week he led the Pacers to three straight wins, averaging 37.3p/6.7r/2.3a/1.3s. His coach, Frank Vogel, calls him the best two-way player in the NBA. The Pacers have completely reinvented themselves this season and it’s been incredible to watch it work so well, so soon.