Blazers 113, Thunder 83

Observations, news and notes from Monday’s 113-83 loss to the Blazers…….

* You don’t know how bad I want to steal a line from Jay-Z for this entire entry and type simply, “What more can I say?” -DM-

* Just from looking at the players before, during and after games you can tell that they’re past the point of being ready for summer vacation.

* The company line after this one was stressing the importance of ending on a good note in Wednesday’s game at L.A. We’ll see.

* My question to coach Brooks and the players after the game was how much are we supposed to read into these blowout losses? That’s six losses in seven games this month. The defeats are by an average margin of 20 points.

* Nick Collison gave the best explanation, saying, “It just shows we got a long way to go. It’s who we are. We can’t hide from it. It’s on our resume so I don’t think you can forget it. You can see that we’re inconsistent. We’re capable of playing well but we’re also capable of playing pretty poorly.”

* Collison also had this gem, noting the difference between the Blazers and the Thunder, “We have potential to be good. But there’s a huge difference between having potential to be a playoff team and actually being a playoff team.”

* The difference in this one, like most losses for the Thunder this season, was defense. The Blazers had tight rotations,  helped when someone got beat and closed out well on shooters. The Thunder looked like they didn’t trust each other on D all night.

* Again, why was Earl Watson benched for a month? The guy’s thumb injury is finally close to 100 percent and he shows us what kind of point guard he’s capable of being. He had a team-high 16 points with six rebounds and five assists tonight, making six of 10 shots and one of two from downtown. There’s not much of a chance of Watson being back next year, but why wouldn’t the Thunder make him the full-time backup and give him 20-25 minutes?

* Nenad Krstic and Nick Collison were about the Thunder’s lone bright spot other than Watson. Krstic finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in only 20 minutes. Collison had eight points, five rebounds and three blocks in 20 minutes.

* The Thunder’s 31 points in the first half narrowly beat its season-low of 29 in the first half, set on Nov. 7 at Utah.

* The Blazers’ bench outscored the Thunder’s 55-37.