Thunder Mid Season Report

The Thunder are half way through the year and stand at a 2nd in the league best record 39-14. Kevin Durant is playing at a MVP level and Russell Westbrook is keeping his turnovers down and getting his assists in the top 5 leaderboard. Kevin Martin the replacement for James Harden at the 6th man has been averaging over 11 points a game off the bench which is much needed for the Thunder secondary scroing when they lost Harden who was their whole offense when Durant and Westbrook were not out there. Serge Ibaka is playing all-star defense as well as his jump shooting which has been terrific averaging 13 points per game. The Thunder look to have made the right decison choosing to extend Ibaka over Harden. Perkins has again played his tough, solid defense, even his offense has been at a career high with the Thunder. The problem this year has been exactly what ended their season last year........The reigning NBA champion Miami Heat. The Thunder were swept in the regular season series this year and have now dropped 6 straight to the Heat. Kevin Durant continues to struggle when defending Lebron James who is probably going to win yet another MVP award at the end of the season. The Thunder just get shut down by the Heat completely forced to shut perimeter jump shots all game as the Heat defense has not allowed the Thunder to make the extra passes and force into the paint. If the Thunder want to claim their first NBA title in OKC then they are going to have to figure out a way to shut down Lebron and score in differet ways against the Heat. Not totally saying the Thunder are the clear cut favorite to make the NBA Finals in the West as the Spurs and Clippers are playing championship caliber basketball as well but the Thunder are the most explosive, young, star powered team in the West. The Thunder will need to just play consistent winning basketball in the seond half to secure the divison and hopefully secure home field throughout the playoffs for a better chance to beat the Heat.