Larry Brown Sports

If I told you only two states (according to a totally scientific ESPN.com poll) wanted the Miami Heat to win the NBA Finals, do you think you could guess them correctly? Obviously, Florida would be one of your answers. But what about the other?

Oh right, it would be Washington. You know, the state the Thunder used to play in as the Seattle Sonics before they were mercilessly ripped away and relocated to Oklahoma. I guess Washingtonians are still bitter over that whole debacle. Huh.

If nothing else, we now have proof that the whole country doesn’t hate the Heat.

Photo via Darren Rovell on WhoSay

After getting smacked by the Clippers on Monday, the Thunder decided to blow some steam at a casino until the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Kevin Durant Instagrammed the pictured photo with the message “Leaving the casino, it’s 5am..won a few dollars, made me feel good about tonight’s shellacking.”

It’s not clear what casino the Thunder played at, but according to one message board post on Covers.com Tuesday, they were playing the card game War. The poster said Durant made the max bet at least twice at the table, but didn’t reveal how much the players finished with. He/she did throw in that Russell Westbrook, evidently still sour from his nine-point performance Monday, was “a d*ck,” along with most of his teammates. Here’s the post in full, via The Basketball Jones:

Was at the casino playing blackjack when I noticed [Kevin Durant] an some other black dude standing behind me. The dealer pointed him out to me and  was holy f— its Kevin Durant. I casually went up to him shook his hand and told him how big of a legend he is (basically gave hime a b— job). Then took a photo with him and chatted some more. They decided to play this game war I’ve never tried and I followed them to the table. Sitting next to Kevin Durant and bull s—-ing about the NBA and giving fist bumps after big wins was wells worth the 600 I dropped playing that crappy game. I think my avg card dealt to me was a 5. Russel Westbrook was a d-ck. Wouldn’t even take a photo was still steaming about how  much he sucked last night.

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Regardless of the results from last season, many of us have a tendency to always include the Lakers in the discussion of teams to beat in the West.  This particular Lakers team has been to three NBA Finals and won two championships in the last four years.  However, there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the 2011-2012 edition.  They have a new coach, lost one of their best role players in Lamar Odom, and have a seemingly disgruntled Kobe Bryant to deal with.  Pau Gasol is not getting any younger and Andrew Bynum’s health is always a concern.  Perhaps it is reasons like those that inspired Ron Artest Metta World Peace to call the Thunder the team to beat in the West.

“I think probably Oklahoma’s going to be pretty tough,” Artest World Peace said during an interview with 590 The Fan in Toronto. “I think they’re young and they’ve been there before. They have some good, smart players. I think Oklahoma City did a great job of putting together young, good, smart players. They’ve got to have one of the best general managers around.”

The Thunder should certainly be a force to be reckoned with, but the fact that Artest World Peace didn’t take that opportunity to call the Lakers the team to beat either means he knows they have work to do or he is trying to be modest.  Either that, or he was too busy thinking about his teeth to give the question any thought.

While we’re on the subject, the Lakers may also want to keep an eye on the other team from Los Angeles.  I heard they added a couple of new players and look pretty good.

Oklahoma City is in the Western Conference Finals and one of only four teams left in the NBA playoffs. Because of their success in the postseason they’ve received a great deal of media attention, and most of it has been focused on the perceived selfish play of Russell Westbrook. Westbrook has been criticized for taking too many shots, taking low-percentage shots, and not deferring to superstar Kevin Durant frequently enough.

Durant has defended Westbrook repeatedly throughout the postseason, as has coach Scott Brooks. They both have said this is the way Westbrook has played all season and it’s led to success. But an issue developed following Game 2 when Brooks left Westbrook on the bench the entire fourth quarter in Dallas while Eric Maynor led the team to victory. Though Westbrook said after the game he was fine being on the bench since they won, he seemed to be bothered by it. Westbrook could be seen yelling at his coach from the sideline immediately after getting pulled.

One Thunder veteran reportedly told the NY Daily News via Ben Maller that Westbrook “thinks he’s better than Kevin Durant,” and that’s part of the reason he’d be upset to be out of the game.

Oklahoma City is a young team, so it’s pretty easy to narrow down the list of players who could have said that. Only Royal Ivey, Nick Collison, Kendrick Perkins, and Nazr Mohammed have more than five years of NBA experience amongst Thunder players. My money is on Perkins just because he’s a new guy who isn’t as attached to the situation, though I could be wrong. That really is immaterial; what matters is if it’s true.

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It is the Oklahoma City Thunder’s youth that continues to plague them in the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks — not their talents. After falling in Game 3 at home 93-87 and going down 2-1 in the series, the Thunder now face a treacherous challenge to overcome the hot Mavericks and their late-game closer Dirk Nowitzki.

The Thunder arguably have the best roster remaining in the postseason based on skill level and talent. They feature two All-NBA talents in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, one of the best post defenders in Kendrick Perkins and a great cast on the bench. Unlike the three superstars in Miami, this is a complete team. Yet, thanks to their immaturity and youth, they’ve failed to figure things out late in games to come out on top.

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Though Oklahoma City won Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals in Dallas Thursday night, you would have figured they’d been blown out based on the scrutiny they faced afterwards. Thunder coach Scott Brooks decided to keep four of his five starters on the bench for the bulk of the fourth quarter, leaving Kevin Durant as the only regular on the floor. Though Dirk Nowitzki went to work on Nick Collison (who was later subbed out for Serge Ibaka) in the fourth quarter, the plan worked well — the Thunder outscored the Mavs by five and won the game 106-100.

James Harden was on the money with 23 points on 6-for-9 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and four assists, and Collison and Daequan Cook combined to go 5-for-5. The real story was that Eric Maynor scored 13 points in 20 minutes while subbing for Russell Westbrook, which created a controversy after the game.

Westbrook has been heavily criticized throughout the playoffs for his questionable shot selection and because of his inability to help Kevin Durant get the ball at times. Though I feel like the Thunder is much better team with Westbrook than without him (see the Game 7 closeout triple double against Memphis), his attitude and performance has been questionable. There are times when Russell should use his quickness and ability to get to the basket to try and score, and other times when he should try to set up his teammates. Sometimes he doesn’t try to run offensive sets and that is a problem. At the same time, there are few point guards who are as quick and effective in transition, so it’s a tricky situation to monitor.

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Led by an all-time great playoff performance from Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks slaughtered the Thunder 121-112 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals Tuesday.

Dirk dropped 48 points on 12-of-15 shooting and broke an NBA playoff record for made free throws in a game without a miss by going 22-of-22 from the line.

Kevin Durant tried his best to retaliate, scoring 40 points, but his teammates weren’t up to the task. The Thunder’s performance wasn’t as respectable as the single-digit final deficit suggests; they were outplayed in every aspect of the game.

Any time your opponent shoots 53% from the field and outscores your bench 53-22, you’re in major trouble.

So what does OKC have to do to bounce back and even the series 1-1?

Here are three key adjustments the Thunder can make to win Game 2:

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