Thunder Go Supernova, Obliterate Magic

The Oklahoma City Thunder trounced the Orlando Magic with a blitzing offense and a suffocating defense that left the Magic bewildered and stunned.

It is pretty safe to say the Magic are going to burn the tape after this beat down.

The Magic fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder 127-99 in what can only be described as the most bizarre blowout I have ever witnessed.

It did not take long for absurdity to hit this game as the game began with a jump ball violation on the Thunder. This was followed up by an offensive foul by Elfrid Payton on the inbounds pass which then was followed by the refs blowing the whistle after the Thunder inbounded the ball in an attempt to fix the clock. The clock for some reason was down to 11:59 even though no time had run off the clock. This lead to an inexplicable three minute delay to fix the clock.

So let’s get this straight, we had three whistles and a three minute delay, all with no game time elapsed. THAT WAS NOT EVEN THE WEIRDEST PART OF THE GAME!!!!!

After the delay the Thunder opened the game on a 10-0 run as the Magic defense looked absolutely befuddled tonight. The plan appeared to be throw the kitchen sink at Westbrook and Durant but that only served to confuse the Magic. The Thunder ended up eviscerating the Magic in the first quarter scoring 37 points in the opening frame.

Now at the end of the first quarter I thought to myself it could not really get much worse than the first quarter. Everything went OKC’s way. I was wrong.

OKC scored 42 points in the second quarter leaving them with 79 first half points, a record for most points given up in a first half by a Magic opponent.

The third quarter somehow managed to be even more bizarre. The Thunder who were up handily began to get really chippy. Both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook picked up technical fouls arguing with referees about calls. The tension was rising and it felt like something was going to happen.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Magic center Nikola Vucevic shoved OKC center Steven Adams after an Adams rebound. Vucevic received a technical. After watching the replay there was not anything going on there.

Vucevic was just fed up.

The Magic for the first part of the third quarter actually refused to defend Thunder guard Andre Roberson. This really upset Roberson. In fact, Roberson sat in the corner by the Magic bench demanding the ball. When he finally made a three pointer from over there he started down the Magic bench.

In contrast to the previous three quarters the fourth was rather mundane. Dion Waiters shot a three-point wedgie. Kendrick Perkins beat Kyle O’Quinn so bad on a post move that O’Quinn fell to the floor. Jeremy Lamb inexplicably launched a three instead of letting time expire. This was just a bizarre game.

Game Notes:

• As I alluded to earlier, the Magic defense seemed utterly confused on what their assignments were tonight. Magic players were just floating around tonight watching the ball.
• The Magic were beat badly on back door cuts for the second straight game. They are going to need to work on that moving forward.
• Aaron Gordon got the call to come off the bench before Maurice Harkless. In case you had any doubts, Gordon is going to play a fairly sizable role moving forward.
• Mark it down now, Dion Waiters may go down as one of the best Magic killers ever.
• Orlando did a decent job playing with a quick pace. Elfrid Payton and Channing Frye seem to be the keys.
• Luke Ridnour might be losing his spot in the rotation. In the first half when Ridnour was in for his whole two minutes Victor Oladipo handled the ball. Ridnour did not get off the bench in the second half.

Next: Aaron Gordon was ready to make his return Sunday night