I developed my man crush on Durant during his short stay at the University of Texas, and it has blossomed into full blown infatuation. The NBA needs 10 more just like him. Ten more who just shut up and play. Ten more who are the epitome of cool, calm and collected on the court at all times. Ten more with deadly inside and outside games. Ten more who are clutch. Ten more who bring you back when you're down, or step on your neck if you're struggling. The guy is just a stud. Period. And he's still only 22. Wednesday he dropped 34, grabbed 16 boards, hit a three with five seconds left with a hand in his grill to put it into overtime, and the bucket to give them the lead for good in OT. Ho-hum.
The Sixers came out and hit their first five three-point field goals and dropped 34 first quarter points. That's all well and good, but you have to sustain against good teams, and the Thunder were not going to take a night off. Good, YOUNG basketball teams don't take nights off. And remember, the Thunder are as young or younger than this surging 76er offering. In fact, this Sixers team is eerily reminiscent of the Thunder two seasons ago. They may be just a little deeper than that Thunder team, and they certainly don't have the stars that OKC has in Durant and Westbrook, but the Sixers are finding themselves and learning the limits of their abilities just like that Thunder team did then. Once OKC learned their potential, they built the pieces around what they knew worked. The Sixers aren't at that stop on the rail line yet. And most glaringly, the Sixers don't have a finisher. They don't have a Durant. And we can blame Andre Iguodala(notes) all we want. The point is that they don't have anyone better to get that bucket in crunch time. Jrue Holiday(notes) isn't ready yet, and you're not giving the ball to a 20-year old kid with Westbrook in his face to hit the winning shot. Meeks can't find his own shot off the dribble. Elton Brand(notes) is not athletic enough anymore to beat a double on the post. Thaddeus Young(notes) is too inconsistent with the basketball. And don't even dare throw Lou Williams at me. He is one of the guys that it is imperative to get rid of enroute to finding that star down the road that will bring this team to the next level. He's selfish. He's never seen a shot he doesn't like, and he's not good enough to love every shot. I don't care what he did in the fourth quarter. I would have had him on the bench and Meeks in the game down the stretch, but that's why I'm writing this from my couch. Comment all you like about the 4th quarter lead Williams helped them build. It didn't hold up, and those points came from the foul line after three foolish fouls by OKC big men at the top of the key when they were over the limit, and on a step back three that should have never been taken except for that it found its way home. They've won games on this run with Iggy running point-forward to close, and that's the only way this run can continue.
The battle of the UCLA point guards was fantastic in this game. Holiday and Westbrook were sensational, both lightning quick off the dribble. Westbrook is fearless. Holiday is becoming more fearless by the game. Jrue dropped 22 with 8 assists and most importantly, zero turnovers. That helped keep the Thunder from running away. Westbrook poured in 27, had 12 dimes, and turned the ball over 7 times. That helped keep the Sixers in the game. For as talented as Westbrook is, he is totally out of control and plays with his hair on fire. But his talent supercedes that occasional ineffeciency. I think he whined about every dribble drive that didn't result in a bucket. You're not going to get calls when you're out of control. Aside from that, he is one impressive player and with Durant's collectiveness playing off his sporadic insanity, one turns out to be the perfect compliment to the other.
The Sixers looked a little tired down the stretch in this one. Elton Brand had 15 boards to go along with 13 points, but he struggled in closing out rebounders late. Young couldn't buy a bucket till the fourth quarter and became a little overly concerned with his own lack of offense to do the things which have made him so incredibly valuable to this team. Nick Collison(notes) and James Harden(notes) killed the Sixers and outplayed the normally solid Sixer bench. Especially Collison late. His 13 points and 10 boards (I'm pretty sure eight of which were in the 4th quarter and overtime and four were huge offensive pulls) paced the Thunder bench and was just enough to pull the whole team over the top.
In a sidenote, after watching Rutgers get completely hosed in the Big East tournament today, and some of the pathetic calls that were made tonight, I can't let officials slide. Why? Cause I'm not a coach, I don't play for either team, and they can't fine me. First, when Kevin Durant loses a ball and then runs into a player on the opposing team it's not an automatic whistle blow. Sometimes stars make mistakes too. Second, it's really hard to foul a guy with your back to him and moving away from him. If my arms are in the air and I'm straight up and down and someone hits my arm on a drive it's a no call correct? Stands to reason it would be the same way if my back was to the shooter. Third, and most importantly, when someone is driving the lane inside five seconds and the defensive player isn't an absolute statue, you can't make a call. Iguodala's offensive foul while driving to win the game was a bad call. Westbrook's feet were not set and he was leaning. There's no foul there. Play ball. Then again, some of those times Westbrook was whining the whole game, he had a point. My point is the officiating in the upper levels of basketball is an absolute joke, and I only get one article a day so I thought I'd get that off my chest.
This gets filed in the heartbreaker category for the Sixers. They couldn't deny Durant the ball with 12 seconds left in regulation and a great player made a great shot with some pretty solid recovery defense by Iguodala in his face. That's what great players do. It's a category that the Sixers knew all too well early in the season but have avoided of late. It's a category they may avoid in the future if they ever add a great player of their own. For now, they have two days to mend that heart before theBoston Celticspull into town March 11.
Pete Lieber has been a Philadelphia sports fan for 36 years. He's enjoyed the limited successes the Phillies, Flyers and Eagles have lived the last four years, and he'd like the Sixers to keep going the direction they seem to be going to complete the foursome in Philly.
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