The season is almost at the midway mark and the Thunder are hovering over 500. Expectations may have been raised slightly though. A lot of the Thunder faithful would have taken above 500 and been happy with it at the first of the season and definitely would have taken it at the midway mark last year. The great and suprising play, to some, of the team this year has shown what they’re capable of. It at least gives most a vague idea of what this team “could” do and how dangerous they could potentially be.

The next game is tonight in the windy city at 7:00. OKC @ Chicago

Acquiring Eric Maynor is looking like it might just pay off in the long run. First 2 games with Maynor resulted in victories over the Suns and Bobcats. Maynor also had a few big plays that contributed to scoring runs that were key to holding off the Bobcats in the victory. Maynor ended up with 7 points, a steal and played a total of 13 minutes in Saturdays victory. Maynor was considered as a draft pick for the Thunder this year and was well liked by Presti and the organization. My personal opinion is that he’s a perfect fit. He’s young (obviously), talented and just has the feel of a guy who will mesh well with this team. The Thunder chemistry is one of the best kept secrets in the NBA right now. It’s a secret because no one outside of Oklahoma gets to see them play on a regular basis like other teams. OKC has the chance to be a huge suprise to NBA fans this year due to the lack of coverage. I’m curious to see how much of that could be attributed to Maynor. I’m hoping a lot.

The Thunder hit the road tonight and head to Jersey to play the nets. The Nets well…..they’re ….. fiesty. They have won 2 games and it would be a shame for the Thunder to be #3. I guess you can say the Nets have been playing a little better (at home) and it’s a road game so the Thunder should still be cautious. I am really anxious to see Maynor play a little more tonight.

How long will you have to wait until you can see Eric Maynor play? Tonight if he passes his physical. I personally think it’s a good move. If you saw Maynor play at VCU you would understand why. The guy has a lot of potential to handle the ball and run the point. He will be a great asset on the bench to give Westbrook a breather every now and then.

Tonight the Thunder take on the Suns after losing a close game against the Lakers last night. If you missed it the Thunder lost in LA 111-108. I know the Thunder are past the point of moral victories but last night was a good sign. Keeping it close on the road will go a long way when you factor in how well the Thunder have played at home. Hopefully tonight the Thunder can keep up with the fast paced, high scoring Suns. Should be a great game and remember it starts at 8:00 central.

The shooting percentage for the Thunder is really holding them back. The announcers just said the top 3 scorers are shooting 29% from beyond the arc. They are definitely getting their looks. They need to start knocking those down! You also have to worry about the 3rd quarter slump the Thunder have seemed to come out in in the past few games.

At the end of the 3rd it’s Dallas leading 71-68. Harden came off the bench towards the end to get to the foul line so he could knock down two. Then he hit a nice jumper for two more and it kept the Thunder in this game and energized the team a little bit. So maybe the Thunder shook the ice off of their trademark 3rd quarter slump enough to get going in the 4th. After all leading in the 4th is all that really matters. The scary thing is that Durant still has only 7 points!

That’s more like it! The athleticism for the Thunder really shines during those defensive efforts like we just saw in the start of the 4th. Durant also hit a nice shot to give him his first field goal of the 2nd half totalling 9 points. Thunder regain the lead with over 8 minutes to go 73-71. Still a lot of ball to be played though!

Well this game was closer than the final score indicated but there’s no more room for moral victories. The Thunder did a terrible job with shot selection in the later part of the game but give some credit to that Dallas defense. Of course you can’t credit the Maverick defense for all of the open look misses the Thuder had all game. For one of the highest percentage free throw teams the Thunder did a terrible job from the charity stripe tonight. The Thunder are young and definitely show their youth at times. Tonight was a good example of that but Harden looked fantastic tonight and is going to be a monster.

Final score from OKC: Thunder-86     Dallas- 100

Of course he shouldn’t get all the credit for the win because the Thunder came out looking like crap after halftime for the second straight game! The Thunder came out really strong in the first half and took a 54-49 lead over the Cavs into halftime. There was hope at that point because surely the Thunder had learned their lesson from the previous week about finishing games. And lets me honest the Cavs aren’t the Grizzlies and they have Lebron Freaking James on their team. Gotta finish strong right? Not so fast my firneds. Lebron came out swinging and the Thunder struggled to maintain a lead for the 3rd quarter. To their credit the Thunder were up by 7 points with under 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. This when Lebron went on a 7-0 run to tie the game. Still a great a game and there’s no shame in losing to the Cavs and there’s especially no shame when Lebron is having an “on” night. Keep in mind and off night for him is scoring in the 30’s. Last night he ended up with 44 but it wasn’t the total that was impressive. It was when and how he scored his points.

 The same thing happened in Friday’s game against the Grizzlies, when the the Thunder went into halftime leading 56-42. The Thunder came out cold in the 3rd quarter again and were outscored 28-10 by the Grizzlies. That story had a better ending though as the Thunder ended up winning Friday’s game against the Grizzlies 102-94. The moral victory to take away from that game, as well as the actual victory, was that the Thunder won a close game in the 4th quarter. I understand that’s looking at the glass half-full. The other way to look at that is: How could the Thunder blow the lead and come out so cold in the second half!? Oh well to each his own. Both sides are correct in their own right.

The thunder take on the dangerous dunking nuggets tonight! The divisional rival Nuggets are having a great year and this game will be a tough one. Denver is 17-7 overall but their home record is what’s scary. 10-1 when they play at the Pepsi Center! If this game was at OKC I’d feel better but it would be pretty special to make that home record 10-2!

The other rookie Stephen Curry also had a good night with a career high 22 points. So if Harden keeps this up then there’s a legitmate chance he could be in the running for rookie of the year.

 What about 6th man of the year? The only rookie to ever win that award was Ben Gordon so winning the 6th as a rookie would be a big honor. Then there’s coach of the year which Scott Brooks will definitely be up for. This could definitely be a memorable year for the Thunder if they can keep this pace up.

It was good to see Shaun Livingston play some good minutes in the Warriors game, 18 to be exact. He didn’t score but made some nice plays and handled the offense which was what the Thunder needed. I had posted that he was supposed to be out 3-4 weeks, which was true, but he suprised everyone by coming back in only 2. Very impressive and the Thunder used him. He ended up with 3 assists and 7 rebounds. It was also good to see Kristic back on the floor. He ended up getting some minutes after being listed day to day on the injury list for a while. It’s good to see people stepping up and trying to fill the void while the Thunder get over their injury bug.

Kevin Ollie could still be out for a another few weeks recovering from knee surgery. We wish him a speedy and safe recovery.

Andre Iguodala has been playing very well this season. He hit a huge 3 ball to tie the game Monday at 102 against Dallas in the losing effort. Crafty veteran Elton Brand is also putting together a decent year but is it enough to pull them out of this slump. The interesting story with the 76ers right now is signing the king of practice, Allen Iverson. I doubt this happens but they could definitely use someone to fill the shoes of injured point guard Lou Williams.

Good news for the Thunder is that there’s a chance that Nenad Kristic could play tonight. I’m not for sure what the % is but he’s been listed as day-to-day for some time now. Etan Thomas has done a good job of filling in though in and that acquisition is looking better and better. Nick Collison is listed as day-to-day but I don’t feel as good about him getting into tonights matchup as Kristic. I hope that I’m wrong about that though.  Kevin Ollie and Kyle Weaver will definitely not be in the line up tonight and will be out for some time. Ollie is expected to be out for up to 4 weeks after undergoing minor surgery for a sore knee. Weaver is not as lucky and is expected to be out 4 months after his surgery. Shaun Livingston could be back by mid-December which will be here before we know it! So there’s a little bit of good news but the injury bug has definitely found its way to OKC.

Recap tomorrow after the Thunder victory.

Despite the last loss the Thunder have still played well so far this year and have a chance to get a few more wins coming up. There’s still 3 more home games in a row to go before they have to head on the road to Memphis. The next game will be against teh 76ers Wednesday at 8:00.  Friday will be a tough challenge though when the Celtics come to town. That should be a fun game for the OKC faithful to go watch. So if you’re in town this week get to the Ford Center and cheer on the Thunder.

Injury Notes:

Nenad Kristic didn’t play yesterday because of a sore achilles tendon on his left foot. He’s listed as day to day. If you have some players that you were pretty much stuck with on your fantasy team, then you could always pick up Etan Thomas  like I did. He’s played well and will always work out well for a spot start. Just a thought but hopefully Kristic will be back for the Celtics game Friday.

So after the buzz kill that was the Lakers game, this team bounces back to get a nice road win in Utah. Kevin Durant played great, ending up with 28 points, leading the Thunder in points and assists. James Harden had another sneaky game with 10 points. He’s really adding a lot of firepower from the bench this year. Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green were still the ones to finish off the big 3 coming in 2nd and 3rd in points. The big 3 are playing excellent ball this year and are becoming leaders, despite being really young.

The real encouraging aspect of the Utah game was Thabo Sefolosha’s defense. He held Deron Williams to only 10 points which is most likely the responsible factor in the Thunder victory.

Next Game: Friday Milwaukee Bucks at OKC