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Ryen

Mr Pappagiorgio

Jan 21, 2009 Oct 26, 2009 372 2591

Born and raised in the Great State of Oklahoma and a lifelong sports fan. It was hard never having a professional home sports team to cheer for. So of course my allegiance to professional sports teams is pretty varied, just like a lot of other Oklahomans. The funny thing about being a Thunder fan is that my favorate NBA Team has always been the Seattle Supersonics, and although bittersweet, what better way for me to get a professional sports team in my home state than for my favorite NBA team to move here. It killed two birds with one stone for me. I didn't have to think twice about rooting for the local team over my favorite team, because my favorite team became the local team.

So now that we have our own professional team, I found myself so entrenched and ingrained with this team, that I had to start a blog, and it wasn't long before I had to join the best sports blogging network on the web, SBNation. I hope you like the site, and I look forward to interacting with other Thunderfans!

Site Manager: Ryen Khoury (Mr Pappagiorgio)
Site Twitter: www.twitter.com/WTLC (@WTLC)
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website: Welcome To Loud City

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Kevin Durant's a team player, Nick Collison concerned about ankle, Hope for Thunder Defense, More...

Ryen_tiny by Mr Pappagiorgio on Comment 6 comments

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So I haven't posted a Loud Links all week, and its about time I got around to it. I have to admit I'm still trying to make that adjustment back into basketball season, which can call for three or more posts per day on gamedays (Gameday, Open Thread, and Game Recap), and I haven't been able to get as much commentary and editorial type pieces up as I'd like to. I will say that there are a few ideas rattling around in my head, and although they will take some time to get up and running, I'm hoping to add another dimension to the blog as soon as the resources to do so become available. Until then, I'll do my best to try and get more original commentary up between games and on off days. But right now, lets get on with today's edition of Loud Links which features plenty of articles that might peak your interest and also a header that you might think is new, when in actuality it was rough first draft that got trimmed back down. Anyway, I felt like using it today, so there you go, not that it even matters.

First up in today's edition of Loud Links is Kevin Durant, and get used to it because a lot of today's links have to do with our boy KD, and why not? Dude is sick amazing right? Right. So anyway, Kevin wants everybody to know that he's a team player, and is also an example of an athlete using twitter in the proper way, according to the DailyCardinal.com. Hoopsworld contemplates the next step in Kevincredible's development, while Slam Online selects KD as #8 in their Top 50. Of course we have to throw the True Hoop article in which Henry Abbott basically said that the Thunder were a better team when Durant wasn't on the floor, even though I personally could really care less about what Henry Abbot thinks, or +/- stats for that matter. Nick Collison still having ankle problems and newsok also hits on Kevin Durant's foul trouble issues so far this pre-season. Remember Chris Wilcox? Sure you do, he was a member of the Thunder for a few months, and with the Sonics for a few years before that. Anyway he's excited about the change of atmosphere he is experiencing in Detroit. Finally, Oklahoma City is one of the best places to "Launch," Thunder Head Coach Scott Brooks hasn't settled on a starting lineup for opening day, and there is still a Glimmer of hope for the Thunder defense. So make the jump and check out all the links and don't forget to drop a comment or two.

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Game Recap: Oklahoma City Thunder 96, Miami Heat 91

Ryen_tiny by Mr Pappagiorgio on Comment 6 comments

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So I know I'm a little late to the party with this game recap, so I'll try to keep it short and sweet. Last night the Thunder picked up win #2 of the preseason, and did it by overcoming a double digit deficit heading into the 4th quarter. Leading the way was Kevin Durant who dropped in 18 of his game high 30 points during that fourth quarter surge. He struggled to stay on the court much of the night, due to foul trouble, but still managed to put in 32 minutes of playing time. Jeff Green was the other guy getting the job done for the Thunder tonight, and for the first time this pre-season, really shot the ball well, knocking down 9-16 shots including 3-3 from behind the arc. Russell Westbrook continued to dish the ball well and finished with 7 assists tonight, but also turned the ball over 4 times. RW0's statline looks fairly similar tonight to what it did nearly every game a year ago, but hey, if this is his worst effort so far this pre-season, that definitely bodes well for sophomore season.

I wish I could give you some better details on the game, as well as thoughts and comments but unfortunately I didn't get to see much of the game. Hey, its pre-season though right? If I'm going to be missing games, I should probably do it now as opposed to when the actual regular season tips off right? On top of that the games so far have only been in standard def and you can't actually expect me to watch that can you? Seriously, it hurts my freakin' eyes, and half the time I don't even know what the score is because the picture is so junky. I'm kidding, but anyway, the Thunder did pick up their second win on the pre-season and evened up their record at 2-2 with 3 games left to play next week, only one of which (Tuesday) will be televised. Make the jump for the box.

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Miami Heat at Oklahoma City Thunder OPEN THREAD

Ryen_tiny by Mr Pappagiorgio on Comment 12 comments

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TV: KSBI (Cox 15/715 OKC / Cox 3 Tulsa / DirecTV 52 / Dish Network 52)

Radio: WWLS (98.1 FM, 640am in OKC, 97.1 FM in Tulsa)

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Thunder Gameday: Miami Heat at Oklahoma City Thunder (BOK Center)

Ryen_tiny by Mr Pappagiorgio on Comment 7 comments

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The Thunder got a big pre-season win on Monday night at the Ford Center, against the Phoenix Suns, via overtime. While it was nice to see the team get a notch in that "W" column, it wasn't all peaches and cream either, as the team blew a sizable fourth quarter lead before heading into overtime and taking care of business. That said, it honestly seemed like they were taking care of business against a Suns team that seemingly just wanted to get the hell out of there, and rightly so, its pre-season, nobody wants to see these guys play longer and risk injury. But enough about Monday nights game, seriously, if you want to read about it, we've put down plenty of thoughts on the game right here for you to check out.

Tonight's game will be the 2nd home game of the pre-season of the Thunder, but it won't exactly be a true home game since it won't be taking place in the Ford Center. Instead, it will be taking place up the Turnpike in Tulsa, where fans on the other side of the state will get a chance to see the team play in their own backyard instead of  having to make the drive to Oklahoma City. For any of you down in OKC planning on making the drive up, you won't be disappointed too much with the BOK Center. It's about a year old now and a damn fine facility on its own, in fact, at least before the renovations this season, I'd say it was superior to the Ford Center. But having not seen the improvements this season first hand, I can't say how the two compare now. Either way, sometimes its fun to see the team play in other arena's, and this will be your only chance to do that while still in the great state of Oklahoma. Oh, and if you were active in our Live Commenting thread during Mondays Suns game (or even if you just read through it later on), you might have noticed my bitching about the game not being broadcast in HD, well, after a looking poking around I noticed something, take the jump to find out what.

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Game Recap: Oklahoma City Thunder 110, Phoenix Suns 105 (OT)

Ryen_tiny by Mr Pappagiorgio on Comment 31 comments

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This Thunder team came out of the locker room ready to play tonight. Perhaps energized by playing in front of their home fans for the first time, or maybe it was the two pre-season losses last week. Whatever the case, the Thunder came out extremely aggressive defensively and jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the very first minute of the game. Thabo Sefolosha, playing in his first pre-season game, lead the defensive charge early and was really the catalyst for the defensive effort tonight which was pretty much off the charts all night long. They weren't shy about crowding the passing lanes or playing pressure defense in one on one situations. It didn't really matter whether it was the starting rotation on the floor or guys fighting for roster spots, the intensity and defensive aggression was strong tonight, and if they take anything from tonight's win, its that defensive aggression leads to points, and eventually a win.

We saw Thabo make the difference defensively so many times last season after being acquired from the Chicago Bulls mid-season. Then with the drafting of James Harden, one would expect that his time as the starting shooting guard for this team became just a matter of how long it takes to develop Harden into a and everyday starting player. I think Thabo came out tonight and delivered a message to the Thunder coaching staff, James Harden, and the fans in the Ford Center. The message was, "My name is Thabo Sefolosha, and I'm the starting shooting guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder." He played 26 minutes tonight and scored 12 points on 5-6 shooting (including 2-2 from downtown), and had 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks to go along with that. Yeah, I don't really think James Hardens 9 points on 3-11 shooting (0-3 from downtown, 3-7 at the line) with 3 boards, 2 assists and 1 steal in more minutes than Thabo is going to get him into the starting lineup anytime soon, as long as Thabo stays healthy. Of course we aren't bagging on James Harden here, he is still just a rookie, but more of trying to convey how great of a game Thabo had tonight. We've got more thoughts on tonight's game inside, so make the Jump.

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Phoenix Suns at Oklahoma City Thunder OPEN THREAD

Ryen_tiny by Mr Pappagiorgio on Comment 64 comments

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TV: KSBI (Cox 15/715 OKC / Cox 3 Tulsa / DirecTV 52 / Dish Network 52)
Radio: WWLS (98.1 FM, 640am in OKC, 97.1 FM in Tulsa)

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Thunder Gameday: Phoenix Suns at Oklahoma City Thunder

Ryen_tiny by Mr Pappagiorgio on Comment 12 comments

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So the Oklahoma City Thunder will make their 2009-10 home debut tonight in the Ford Center as they take on the Phoenix Suns. Thus far the Thunder are 0-2, with both losses coming last week on the road. All in all the Thunder have been able to take a lot of positives and negatives from each of their first two games. In reality, The Thunder probably should have won both those games as they let 4th quarter leads slip away to big runs. Tonight will be another important step in getting this team ready for the regular season, and being as its the first home game, perhaps head coach Scott Brooks has a plan to get us a win.

The starters have yet to play much more than 25 minutes in either game last week, but perhaps being the first home game, guys like Durant, Green, and Westbrook can get into the 30's (minutes) for the first time this pre-season, in an effort to not only get them a little bit closer to regular season type minutes, but to also re-energize Thunder fans as they make their way back into the Ford Center for the first time since last spring. In the process it could very well give this team a much needed win and a boost as we head closer to the regular season opener. I also apologize for not getting this up sooner and being as late as it is, we'll skip the long winded game preview that usually gets posted, and instead let you take a quick look at the roster as you're probably already about to head down to Bricktown for a little wining and dining before trotting on over to the Ford Center for tonight's game. So make the jump and take a peak. Tipoff is 7pm, and we'll have an OPEN THREAD posting 30 minutes prior as we usually do for commenting and such.

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Game Recap: New Orleans Hornets 88, Oklahoma City Thunder 79

Ryen_tiny by Mr Pappagiorgio on Comment 12 comments

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Game #2 of the pre-season came at a time when many of you probably didn't even know the Thunder were playing. Reason being was the early 1pm start time which happened to be going on at the same time as the Arkansas, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma football games. Now maybe you'd have paid more attention if this was a regular season game, but since it was pre-season, I'm willing to bet not many people listened to the game today, and sadly that includes me. I was only able to listen to parts of the first quarter before I had to head out. I am willing to admit and plead guilty to not finding out about todays early start time until this morning, and by then it was a little too late to change personal plans for the day. Anyway, enough of my weaksauce excuses for missing the game, and lets instead give you a little bit about what actually did happen today.

Russell Westbrook is the biggest story coming out of today's game, without question. He followed up Wednesdays 10 assist, 2 turnover game, with an 8 assist, 1 turnover game today. Its beginning to look like Russell Westbrook really does have the will and desire to be a true point guard in this league, and not only that, he's proving it with his play on the court. His 2-8 shooting night and only 7 points still leaves a lot to be desired in the contributing direct points category, but he still has plenty of time to get that ironed out. He also nabbed three steals to go with 2 rebounds. I really can't wait until Monday nights game against the Suns so we can all finally see (either at the Ford Center or on TV, KSBIHD) his progress for ourselves and see exactly what he's doing. We'll be able to see if his court vision has improved, and see just exactly what is making the difference in his point guard stats, as I like to call them (Assist/Turnover). We've got a few other things to discuss about todays game as well, such as how Serge Ibaka did in his first outing with a sizable amount of playing time, and how did Jeff Green respond after his poor performance on Wednesday. So go ahead and click that little "continue reading" link below and find out.

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Oklahoma City Thunder at New Orleans Hornets OPEN THREAD

Ryen_tiny by Mr Pappagiorgio on Comment 37 comments

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TV: None | Radio: WWLS (98.1 FM, 640am in OKC, 97.1 FM in Tulsa)

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Thunder Gameday: Oklahoma City Thunder at New Orleans Hornets

Ryen_tiny by Mr Pappagiorgio on Comment 7 comments

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The first thing you need to know about tonight's second pre-season game is that it isn't "tonight's" game at all, its actually an EARLY afternoon game, which tips off at 1pm Local time. Once again, the game won't be televised, and you're only chance to watch this one is going to be listening to WWLS, The Sports Animal, on FM 98.1 / AM 640 in the Oklahoma City area, or on 97.1 FM in the Tulsa Area. Again if there is anyone out there with a little bit of pull or power that wants to push for all the pre-season games to be televised next season, we'd certainly appreciate it, and I think just by me watching the game it'll have better ratings that "Matlock" and "In the Heat of the Night"  which apparently was more important for KSBI to broadcast than showing a Thunder pre-season game. So if you can get that taken care of for us, I'm sure all us die hard Thunder fans would appreciate it.

As the Oklahoman points out in this article, essentially four players are battling for one roster spot. Those guys are Ryan Bowen, Mike Harris, Tre Kelley, and local boy Michael Ruffin. In the Thunder's first pre-season game the other night against the Memphis Grizzlies, Ryan Bowen got a nice chunk of playing time to show what he could do, while the other 3 guys watched from the bench. Bowen got 21 minutes of playing time which he used to take just 2 shots, both of which he missed (1 of which was a 3 point attempt), grab 3 rebounds (1 offensive), block 1 shot, and turned the ball over just once. All in all, just looking at the stat-line its hard to judge his performance, especially when we didn't get to see the game since it wasn't televised, but he didn't have too bad of a game, considering he's making an attempt at being the last guy on the bench, so to speak. From the article linked above, it was his hustle that really stood out, and I think one thing all Thunder fans love, and me especially (which is why I love Nick Collison so much), is hustle. Today's game should give one of the other three an opportunity to prove what they can do. Click the jump link to hear some more about today's game and what we are hoping to see.

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