OKC Miss Playoffs

Oklahoma City Thunder have been a great team the past years. With allstars on their team like MVP Kevin Durant, and scoring leader Russel Westbrook, the team has never looked better. This years season though has been lackluster to say the least. With one of there best players Kevin Durant being injured, the Thunder tried to make their way into the playoffs, but ultimately they failed. OKC played their last game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and killed them 138-113. Russel Westbrook scored 34 points in the first half of the game, which broke the OKC scoring record. This was not enough however. With the New Orleans Pelicans beating the San Antonio Spurs, the Thunder were eliminated by virtue of a tiebreaker in New Orleans' favor. This was the first time since 2004 that a scoring champion has not made the playoffs.

Scoring champion Russel Westbrook did have something to say about the season. "S---," Westbrook said when asked what the scoring title means to him. "It doesn't mean nothing. Good job. Hooray. I'm at home. Watching other teams play. Doesn't mean nothing." With many questions arising about whether or not Coach Brooks will be coach next year or not. Brooks believes that he will still be coach next year and expects nothing less. Brooks, who is under contract for the 2015-16 season and has a team option for the 2016-17 season, has a .620 winning percentage and has guided the Thunder to five playoff appearances -- including three of the past four Western Conference finals and the NBA Finals in 2012. "We haven't won a championship, but we've done a lot of things that have put us in that position," Brooks said. "We've had some unfortunate bad fortune going back to three years ago, so you never really know what this team can really be until it can stay healthy throughout the season and, most importantly, this part of the season."

This was undoubtedly a very rough season for OKC. They sustained many injuries to their top players this season. MVP Kevin Durant playing in only 27 games. Russell Westbrook also missed 15 games, and Serge Ibaka didn't play in the final 18. These injuries were enough to take down the hot team that was OKC. OKC look to bounce back next year and preform better with all their players being healthy. Who knows they could just come away with a championship.

Matthew Berry Review

        I agree with Matthew Berry's article completely. When someone is being bullied or harassed it is hard to speak up and tell people about it. Mostly everyone in this world has been bullied or harassed some time in their life, but if you asked them all if they spoke up the common answer would be no. Many people fear that if they speak out about it they will only make things worse, like Berry said in his article, "Tell and authority you're a tattletale. They'll just come at you harder and more cleverly disguised. You get jumpy, looking and assuming things are there when they aren't." In most cases telling someone about it does make it worse, because maybe the bully doesn't really get punished and comes back at you with even worse things than before. When things like this happen things get worse for everyone the bully starts to become more aggressive towards everyone else, and for the victim things like paranoia and depression start to consume their lives. Bullying and harassment needs to be stopped, their is no upside to it and only negative outcomes. Speaking out is tough and is usually worse than actually getting bullied, but if we as a society want it to be gone as a whole then we need to do something when these victims speak out, and not just over look the situation. It needs to end once and for all.

Can Westbrook Carry OKC

         
              Just a week ago it was announced that Oklahoma City Thunder's own Kevin Durant will be out for the remainder of the season. Durant has had multiple injuries on his foot, and now has seriously injured it. Durant underwent bone graft surgery on his right foot on March 3. The 2014 MVP had been doing great this season along with another great OKC player Russel Westbrook. After the news however of Durant's season ending injuries many fans have given up hope that OKC will be able to win the NBA Championship. With the Thunder likely to play the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs, it seems slim that OKC will be able to beat them without Durant.

           However there is still hope for OKC, because even without Durant they still have one of the best players in the league Russel Westbrook. Westbrook has been a top performer not only in OKC but also in the NBA. He now leads the league in points averaging 27.6 points a game. Westbrook is fourth in the league in assist averaging 8.6 a game. Finally he is ranked third in the league for steals averaging 2.5 a game. These incredible stats should be enough to keep most fans around, and even scare the Warriors. Westbrook is determined to keep the Championship dream alive for all the Thunder fans out there, and will not back down just because Durant is unable to play.

           I believe that Westbrook does have a chance to carry his team through the playoffs. It will be very tough for him to do so, but I believe that if he can continue playing the way he is and even better that he will be able to take them as far as he possibly can. Westbrook stated , "From here on out myself and the team will be playing just as hard if not harder to make up for Kevin. We can't hang our heads, we just have to go out there and show league what we are made of." Westbrook is confident and his team and himself that they will still be able to preform without Durant. It is a long shot, but I believe that they are still strong contenders for the championship.