We ain’t scared!

Kevin Durant and the Thunder showed 

Miami in Game 1 that they were not 

scared of the much ballyhooed Heat.

Okay Eye On Sports hoops heads, after seeing Tuesday night’s Game 1 NBA Finals matchup, it’s easy to see that the Oklahoma City Thunder delivered an unmistakable message to the front-running (and clearly over hyped) Miami Heat.

That’s right roundball lovers, not only did the Thunder beat the Heat 104-95 in Game 1, more importantly, they showed LeBron James and his ballyhooed teammates that they are not scared of their more celebrated counterparts.

As a matter of fact, not only did hey let the Heat know they’re not scared, but I believe Oklahoma City also put a dose of fear into Miami with a dominant second half performance that saw 
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined to outscore James 
and company all by themselves, 41-40.

Oh yeah, Miami Heat fans…a message was delivered to your team on Tuesday night … and that message was simple. ‘We’re not scared of you Miami, but you should be scared of us’!

Two-Time Losers … Blazers waive Oden!

Former No. 1 overall NBA draft pick Greg Oden.

Damn, Eye On Sports hoops fans … first the Portland Trail Blazers struck out big by selecting fragile center Sam Bowie over now Hall of Fame shooting guard Michael Jordan in the 1984 NBA Draft, only to see Bowie suffer a series of leg injuries that shortened his career and never allowed him to reach his full potential.

Just five years ago, the Blazers went for the most popular ‘big man’ in college basketball by drafting former Ohio State center Greg Oden with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft instead of nabbing high-scoring, multi-faceted forward Kevin Durant out of the University of Texas.

Well, needless to say, Durant has gone on to become one of the game’s biggest and brightest stars while Oden has played in just 82 total games (the equivalent of one regular season) in five years. Oden has missed all of two seasons and is currently awaiting a third microfracture surgery.

The Blazers wisely waived the oft-injured big man on Thursday as part of a massive franchise-wide, overhaul. While the very likable Oden has gone on record to say that he wants to continue his NBA career at some point in the near future, that possibility is looking dimmer with each and every passing day. Unfortunately for Oden, like Sam Bowie, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Rolling Thunder!

Kevin Durant.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will head into the second half of the regular season on a red-hot roll – and one that has me really believing they could win it all.

Not only are Kevin Durant and the Thunder tied with Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat for the best record in the league (27-7) but they’re also coming off of consecutive 15-point wins over the Celtics and Lakers last Wednesday and Thursday, just prior to the annual all-star contest.

Russell Westbrook.

Sure, Oklahoma City will have a much tougher route to the NBA Finals than Miami, but surviving the gauntlet that is the Western Conference playoffs could very well make them even stronger should they reach the finals.

James Harden.

Maybe it’s me, but when I look at the Thunder, I see a very complete team with a trio of outstanding scorers in Durant, point guard Russell Westbrook and shooting guard James Harden, not to mention two rebounding and defensive forces in Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins.

It’s going to be an interesting second half of the regular season NBA roundball lovers, but I wouldn’t bet against Durant and the ‘Rolling Thunder’ at this point.

Blame it On LeBron!

LeBron James needs to keep his
mouth shut and just play basketball!

Jeez, Eye On Sports NBA lovers …. talk about a guy with a personality complex these days – and you must be talking about LeBron James!

The latest from the self-anointed ‘King James’ (how laughable is that) is that he’s not apologizing to Oklahoma Thunder center Kendrick Perkins for his Twitter post praising Los Angeles Clippers’ forward, Blake Griffin’s highlight reel dunk over the defensive-minded big man.

Not only that, but James, who is looking for love in all the wrong places these days, apparently thinks everyone’s out to blame the world’s problems on him.

"I'm an easy target; if someone wants to get a point across -- just throw LeBron's name in there," James said. "You could be watching cartoons with your kids and you don't like it, you say, 'Blame it on LeBron.' If you go to the grocery store and they don't have the milk that you like, you just say, 'It's LeBron's fault.' "

I'm thinking I'd like to see
Perkins (R) punch LeBron James' lights out!

Yeah LeBron, my kids are starving and it’s your fault. My car is acting up and it’s your fault. I’ve got a head cold, my back hurts and my wife is nagging me (again) and it’s all your fault LeBron!

Seriously?

Who makes this kind of stuff up?

I hate to say it, because I think he’s mostly a law-abiding, fine young man off the court, but LeBron James has all the mental toughness of a three-year-old toddler!

Lookin’ For Love in All the Wrong Places!

LeBron James is looking for love,
but Blake Griffin say get that outta' here!

I was looking for love in all the wrong places
Looking for love in too many faces
Searching your eyes, looking for traces
Of what.. I'm dreaming of...
Hopin' to find a friend and a lover
God bless the day I discover
Another heart, lookin' for love

 - Waylon Jennings

Okay, I’ve read into LeBron James’ Twitter post just after Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin posterized Oklahoma Thunder City center Kendrick Perkins and here’s what I believe.

James is still clearly looking for love these days NBA fans. He’s looking for the love he lost on a global scale when he dissed the Cleveland Cavaliers on national TV, without so much as a warning, in order to take ‘his talents to South Beach’.

With a fictional dunk of the
year title on his mind, clearly
LeBron James is still immature.

"Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess I'm No. 2 now. Move over #6," James tweeted, clearly making a reference to his own highlight reel dunk over Chicago Bulls point guard John Lucas III the day before.

With comments like “Wow! I guess I'm No. 2 now. Move over #6," James will never, ever endear himself to any hoops fan outside of his beloved South Beach.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again … LeBron James ruined his legacy not by leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers, but by how he did it.

Then, to add to his misfortune, James checked out mentally like never before in quitting against Boston in his final playoff appearance for the Cavaliers – before doing so in even more stunning fashion in last season’s NBA Finals collapse against Dallas.

Oh yeah roundball lovers, LeBron James is looking for love – but unfortunately, James is looking for love in all the wrong places!

Perkins is Pissed – and Rightfully So!

Kendrick Perkins says LeBron James
needs to grow up - and Eye On Sports agrees!

Love him or loathe him, if nothing else, LeBron James provides sports bloggers everywhere, a fun-filled day of writing!

James put himself in his critics’ crosshairs again by pissing off Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins for his foolish Twitter postings after Perkins got dunked on by Blake Griffin about a week ago.

James, like a legion of NBA fans across the globe, shared his thoughts on Griffin’s dunk, almost immediately afterward, via the ever-growing Internet and Twitter.

"Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess I'm No. 2 now. Move over #6," James tweeted, clearly making reference to his own dunk over Chicago Bulls point guard John Lucas III just one day prior.

Now, maybe it’s the ‘old-school’ kind of guy that I am, but I agree wholeheartedly with Perkins when he said "You don't see Kobe (Bryant) tweeting … you don't see Michael Jordan tweeting. If you're an elite player, plays like that don't excite you.”

If you read into James’ words, you can get a lot of insight into his thought process – and he will likely never reach the superstar status that he so desperately craves.

First if all, James is clearly implying that his dunk over Lucas III the previous night was the ‘dun of the year’ in the league so far. While that may or may not have been the case, the fact that James is even concerned with the trivialities of a fictional ‘dunk of the year’ title, tells me he’s as immature and unfocused on the real task at hand as he was when he first came into the league.

In the grand scheme of the grueling trek that is an NBA regular season, what does one mostly meaningless regular season play mean?

If James is thinking about anything other than winning an NBA title these days, which he clearly is, he’s only setting himself up for more failure in the future, that likely comes in the postseason in crunch time no less.

Durant Now League’s Best Player!

Sure, Kobe, LeBron and Carmelo may all average a few more points than he is this season, but I don’t think there’s a better player – or leader – in the entire league than Oklahoma City Thunder Kevin Durant.

The ‘Durantula’ scored 29 points while adding 10 rebounds and four blocked shots in a stellar performance as the Thunder took down the New Orleans  95-85 on Wednesday.

Kobe Bryant also checked in with a 40-point game on Wednesday – while LeBron stunk it up in a loss to Chris Paul and the blossoming Clippers.

Rolling Thunder!!

The Oklahoma City Thunder (5-0) have the look of a team that is intent on making the NBA Finals this season Nuthin’ But Net readers. Oklahoma City has one of the league’s best scorers in Kevin Durant, another all-star caliber player in point guard Russell Westbrook and another blossoming all-star in shooting guard James Harden. 

The Thunder also have two solid big men in Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins and a nice bench full of capable veterans like Eric Maynor, Nick Collison and Nazr Mohammed. Of course it’s extremely early in the season, so things could definitely change moving forward, but for now, the Oklahoma City Thunder have the clear-cut look of a very legitimate title contender. 

Durant, LeBron ... Tale of Two Leaders

Maybe it’s me, but at this point of their respective careers, it’s easy to see that high-scoring Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant is a far better leader than LeBron James has ever been – or worse – will ever become.

That’s right Eye On Sports followers, I’ve said it – and I fully believe it too.

While James has ‘quit’ on his team on more than one occasion in his career while not showing up for the fourth quarters in several other career-defining moments, Durant quietly goes about his business of leading the Thunder to wins.

However, anyone that thought Durant wasn’t vocal enough – or that his leadership was in question – simply need to take a look at the recent flare-up between the thin-framed small forward and teammate Russell Westbrook.

Durant, who’s not one to ‘pop his collar’ in look-at-me fashion basically told Westbrook to get his head in the game when the talented floor leader ‘lost it’ momentarily in a hard-fought contest against the Memphis Grizzlies just about a week ago.

After the two teammates began yelling at each other openly, Durnat handled the situation by patting Westbrook on the head as they returned to the court following a timeout.

To really show how much of a leader he is though, Durant spoke to the media afterward in eloquent fashion even though Westbrook ‘jetted’ from the stadium without speaking to reporters.

"We're going to disagree sometimes, like I've always been saying," Durant said that night. "But I'm behind him 110 percent, and he's the same way with me. And you seen when we came on the floor we clicked and everything started to work from there."

Again, maybe it’s me, but the difference in the leadership of Durnat and James isn’t even close.

One guy had to leave his hometown original franchise in order to get the support of two other superstars while the Other signed a long-term deal to stay in the Midwest and lead his team no matter how many other all-stars are on the Thunder’s roster or not.

Sure, it’s quite possible that James will get the championship ring first that both players covet so much, but I guarantee, his legacy will never be a widely respected as Kevin Durant’s!