Buddy Buckets edge out in POY award

By Michael Kinney

Oklahoma fans it was a forgone conclusion. In fact, throughout the NCAA tournament, anytime Buddy Hield’s name was mentioned, it seemed to always be accompanied with future the Player of the Year winner.’

So when it was announced Thursday afternoon that Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine had edged out Hield for the AP Player of the Year, it caught the Sooner nation off-guard. Even though it was only May 31, some thought April Fools Day had started one day early.

While Valentine is an impressive player and had an outstanding season, the number’s do not exactly match up with Hield.

Valentine averaged 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Spartans and shot 44 percent from 3-point range.

Hield posted 26 points, six boards and just over two assists in his final season at Oklahoma.

For those AP voters who may have waited until the last possible moment to hand in their votes, they saw Valentine and Michigan State get upset in the first round of the NCAA tourney while Hield has seemingly only gotten better during March Madness. His worst game was a 17 point, 10 rebound effort during a blowout of Texas A&M. He is averaging 29 points, shooting 57 percent from the field and 48 percent from behind the 3-point arc in six tournament games to lead his team to the Final Four in Houston.

Despite what the numbers may say, the voters did have a tough choice in their estimation between the two unanimous selections to the AP All-America team. Valentine beat out Hield by only three votes for the award.

While Hield came up short for the AP award, he has not gone empty handed during award season. He was recently named the CBS Sports National Player of the Year Award. He, along with Valentine, are finalists for the prestigious John R. Wooden Award, which will be announced April 8.

However, more than likely, the only hardware Hield is concentrating on is the one that will be given out Monday to the national champion. If he hoist that up in the air, it should more than make up for any slights he may feel now.

 

Westbrook rewriting record books

By Michael Kinney

Russell Westbrook has been on a triple-double tear before. Just last year he had a span of triple doubles that had the league standing up and taking notice of his talents.

But that seemed to just be a precursor for what the all-star point guard was planning for this season.

Monday night Westbrook racked up his 16^th triple double of the season during an 119-110 victory over the Toronto Raptors, the second best team in the Eastern Conference. His 26 points, 11 assists and 12 rebounds tied him with Fat Lever for the most triple doubles in a season during the last 30 years.

Westbrook heads into Tuesday night’s contest with the Detroit Pistons needing only one more triple double to tie Magic Johnson for the most in a season in the last three decades. According to Elias Sports Bureau and ESPN Stats & Info, Westbrook tied Michael Jordan as the only player in league history to rack up seven triple-doubles in a month. Westbrook has two more games this month to break that record.

Westbrook won’t admit to make any concerted effort to get triples doubles, yet he does recognize the rarefied air he is approaching when he joins any conversation that includes Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan.

Coach Billy Donovan says Westbrook is just doing whatever his team needs of him.

“I think Russell says this all the time, he’s going to try and do what the team needs and the game needs,” Billy Donovan said Saturday after the Thunder beat San Antonio. “I thought his energy tonight lifted our team.”

Westbrook’s 16^th triple double also pushed Oklahoma City’s record to 16-0 when he hits those marks. However, he doesn’t known if there is a correlation between the two.

“I’m not sure man, I am just trying to find the right way to play,” Westbrook said after his 15^th triple double. “A lot of those games are big games for us to just come out with the win.”

Even though Westbrook has been getting triple-doubles, they seem to be having a bigger impact during the Thunder’s current win streak. The victory over Toronto pushed it to eight straight games in the win column.

“The only thing I would say about that, is that it shows Russ’s ability night in and night out to bring incredible energy and passion because you have to have energy to go rebound the basketball, you have to have energy to put the ball in the basket,” Donovan said. “You have to have energy to get guys shots. I think it’s attributed to his efficiency and the way he has played this year. I think he has been very productive and effective where he has not had to take a high volume of shots.”

Thunder, Spurs only mattered in record book

Russell Westbrook working out before Thunder take on Spurs March 26.

By Michael Kinney

OKLAHOMA CITY – The game was on the schedule so it had to be played. But there was very little either the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs got out of their Saturday night matchup at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Playing a Spurs team missing its five best players, the Thunder won 111-92 in a disjointed and low-energy contest. That is except for Russell Westbrook, who was in attack mode much of the night

“We were just playing our game,” Russell Westbrook said. “Defensively, I thought we did a great job defensively for 48 minutes and we came away with the win.”

Westbrook posted 29 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds. Kevin Durant led all scorers with 31 points on 13 of 20 shooting. It was his 58^th consecutive game in which he has scored at least 20 points. He also collected 10 rebounds and five turnovers. Serge Ibaka added 15 points and eight boards.

“Another opportunity to keep growing and improve on our habits,” Durant said. “It wasn’t on us that they didn’t play their starters, so we just have to continue to play our game and stick to what we do.”

San Antonio was without Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli. That left David West and Kevin Martin to lead the Spurs with 17 points each.

“Well, you know in the NBA. They did what they were supposed to do in the end they kicked our butt,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We hung in there really well, and did a good job. You learn from everything whether you win, lose, it doesn’t matter. We had a lot of young guys get some time and found out some other things about certain players and certain situations, and that’s what you try to do. So we will take all the positives from it.”

Basically the game went as scripted. The undermanned Spurs kept the game close for the entire first half. Even had a lead for a significant part of it.

But Westbrook led a third quarter charge and the Thunder blew out the game.

“He does that. He had a couple of great drives, some steals; he got out on transition and did a really nice job finding guys,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said of Westbrook. “Certainly he shot the ball at a highly efficient level, tonight. I thought he all around played a really, really good game tonight and played exceptionally well… I thought his offense kind of answered and stopped some runs and as you mentioned that second and third quarter he really played well.”

Oklahoma City has now won seven straight games and held its fourth opponent in that span under 100 points.

“I thought as the game wore on we got progressively better. In the first half, at least in the first quarter, I thought we gave up six offensive rebounds,” Donovan said. “I think we had five or six turnovers in that first quarter. I thought our first-shot defense was pretty good. I thought for the most part in the game we defended pretty well. I think we continue to evolve and get better on the offensive end of the floor. You know, it was a hard game but I think there were some areas of improvement that we continue to show. I think we can hopefully learn and get better from this game.”