No Regard Daily Recap: Broken Promises, Happy Surprises

One Game We Watched Last Night Even Though We Told You We'd Watch Something Else: Oklahoma City Thunder vs. New Jersey Nets

Thunder: 123, Nets: 120 (3OT)

I was honestly excited for the Grizzlies-Hawks game. When Adam said those sorts of games are pretty much what we're about, I nodded silently but vigorously in my cubicle. Unfortunately, I didn't watch one second of said matchup. I was too busy detoxing in the Nets-Thunder triple overtime holistic sauna.

Pause? But really, the game was a bonanza.

Saying the Thunder were without Durant is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, he was in street clothes, sidelined with a knee injury, but dude was on the bench wearing his heart on the sleeve of his nicely pressed grey suit jacket. This is the same guy who was routinely moved to standing ovations at Summer League games this past August, so best believe he was Amped Boost Mobile watching his boys crack knuckles in Newark. And his cheering really does have a greater impact than that of other bench rallyers because guys like Serge Ibaka and James Harden and even Russell Westbrook live to get positive reinforcement from KD.

But yeah, the Thunder were without Kevin Durant. Luckily for them, Westbrook enjoyed his bar mitzvah this summer in Turkey, so he's fully capable of staying home with the kids by himself. He won the game for the Thunder in the third overtime.

The Nets, on the other hand, were forced to let Jordan Farmar babysit the young ones thanks to a Devin Harris knee injury. Farmar is a divisive character here at No Regard. Those against him happen to be the loudest talkers we've got, and this game certainly gave them plenty of ammo for their mouth cannons.

But let me voice my stance here again: Farmar is a very talented point guard to bring off the bench for a few quick points. He's kind of lights out from three, and doesn't shy away from any shot ever, big or small (which is clearly a questionable characteristic for a player with a career 7.1 scoring average). But that's why he's effective for a few minutes here or there as a sub, and that's why he's been especially effective when sharing the court with Devin Harris, an actual point guard. This Thunder game, though, proved that he's not entirely capable right now of running an offense himself for 48 minutes, or 51 minutes as the case was last night. (I say "right now" because I just found out he's only 24. Yeah he's been in the league for a while, but he never got a chance to actually steer the minivan in Phil Jackson's triangle offense with the Lakers. He barely even had a learner's permit until Avery Johnson gave him one. So I'll give him some time.)

Last night his idea of playing point guard was standing at the top of the arc, ball under his arm, pointing at his teammates and letting the shot clock drip down into the sewers of Newark. When a pass finally came, whichever victim received the ball only had a few precious seconds to create their own shot... which is exactly what Outlaw, Morrow, Humphries, and Lopez (when he gets the ball too far from the basket) are incapable off. Twas maddening.

Still, the Nets managed plenty of off-kilter baskets late in the shot clock to keep with the Thunder, the most envigorating being the Morrow three at the end of regulation.

Also keeping the Nets in the game was Avery's superb clock management throughout, but most impressive was his use of timeouts in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. The Nets were down one with 20 seconds left and the ball. Instead of taking his last timeout here to draw up a play, he let Farmar try to create on his own. It was a beautiful bit of risk management. The Nets didn't score, but left enough time remaining to foul. The Thunder converted both free throws, leaving the Nets down by three with little more than one second left—an impossible situation without a timeout. Instead, they were able to advance the ball and draw up an inbounds play to get Morrow a decent look.

I know it seems basic, but some coaches in this league (I won't name names because I've got nothing against Vinny del Negro) wouldn't have had the combination of intellect, balls, and constitution to pull it off.

While the score of Hawks-Grizzlies game shows that it might have been a good match, a triple overtime surprise party like this one is actually the type of game we live for around here.