[jthig32]

This is my favorite win of the year. Gosh what a gutty win. You don't have your coach. Your superstar goes down in the second quarter. Your second leading scorer is laying a massive stink bomb. You're in one of the best home arenas in the NBA, your center gets into foul trouble.

I mean good grief. So many other years, this team would have packed it in. Most teams in the NBA would have packed it in and focused on not losing the easy one tomorrow night. But this team is different. This team is hungry. This team is out to prove something. This team is legit. They didn't back down, they played hard and rough. And they strutted their stuff in the closing minutes because they know what kind of statement this was. In a young season full of statement games, this was another huge one. It is so freaking awesome to watch this team go about its business right now.

Most recaps are probably going to start with Marion, and believe me I'll get to him in a second. But I'm starting with Tyson effing Chandler. What a beast that man is. I thought he scuffled a bit in the first half. They were really letting some things go down low and he let it get to him. But goodness did he channel that emotion properly in the second half. He was everywhere, and he did everything. He closed down every gap coming into the lane, he protected the rim, and created space on the offensive end. He did it all. When he pounded that ball even further into the wedge on the backward I stood and clapped. Awesome.

Now, Shawn Marion. I am an unabashed lover of defense and the little things, and Shawn Marion brings so much of both. Tonight he brought the defense, he brought the rebounding, he brought the energy, and he brought the big things (scoring). He carved Oklahoma up with his dive cuts and his wack spin-post moves. He ran the floor and finished (mostly). He was awesome.

Deshawn Stevenson gave this team a huge lift in extended minutes as the rotation had to be adjusted. He played huge defense on a player that realistically he should never even be asked to guard due to their height (and it's a bit of an indictment on KD's young skillset that he couldn't take more advantage of that difference), and he played well within the offense.

Kidd ended up one measley rebound away from a triple double. He shot poorly but played well in every other area, especially defensively where he really seemed to be giving maximum effort to keep Westbrook contained.

Butler really helped this team in stretches as they really, really needed someone to put the ball in the basket before the fourth quarter, but 21 points on 22 shots? Bleach.

Jet...what a weird game. What a stretch of weird games. Eight assists, some of them very nifty, but five turnovers. Couldn't score to save his life until the fourth quarter AGAIN, but absolutely money once we got there. I love his attitude in the fourth, but at what point do we expect more than one good quarter from someone so important to this team?

I respect the hell out of Skin's basketball knowledge, but it boggles my mind that he could watch Brendan Haywood play this year and not see a difference. He was absolutely invisible tonight.

Pretty blah game from JJ. Attacked well but made some poor decisions. Also of note, no shooting guard minutes for JJ at all tonight, despite the extra strain on the rotation. Could be a machup thing, could be a Casey thing.

Dirk was obviously quite good in his limited minutes. I hate to finish this post with a downer, but I have to say, given the weird way in which he injured himself, "sore knee" concerns me. Probably nothing, but I'm concerned.

On a brigher note, awesome, AWESOME win tonight. Love this team.