SteemSports 100% Re-Distribution Game
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Thunder are coming to Chicago this Monday. They will be expecting to make a great storm, which would destroy all the Bulls of Chicago. However, it might be hard to do as the Bulls are holding on better than anyone could expect this season. Also, the Thunder team is showing some awful results at the moment. Nonetheless, it will be a hot night in Chicago with a lot of pure talent and drama. Nothing will make your Monday better than this match. Believe me.
Oklahoma City Thunder
It looks like whenever Thunder gets a chance to improve their position in standings, they just fail to do it and still remain 7th in the Western Conference. Realistically, they are not capable of getting higher than 5th position, but there is a huge difference between being 5th and 7th. So what happens?
Well, Thunder lost 4 of their last 6 games, including losses to direct opponents Grizzlies and Rockets. Sadly, it looks like consistency is not a friend for the Thunder team. You just cannot guess what type of Thunder will come on the court on any given day. They might be all fired up and dominating and that is when Thunder team is unbeatable. However, they might also be all lost on the court with Westbrook trying to make something happen, but only succeeding to shoot some brick shots.
Thunder fans should be positive coming into the game against Bulls, though, as Thunder really shined bright on the last game against Nuggets. Westbrook made 7 three-pointers and finished the game with triple double. Adams dominated inside the paint. Sabonis made 5/5 free throws, which is his career record so far. Overall, things were working just perfect and when it counted.
Thunder is all about Russell Westbrook
So, by now everyone already knows that Russell Westbrook is the most important guy on this Thunder team. He simply does everything and the best proof of that would be his numbers - Westbrook is averaging a triple-double per game. He finished the last game against Nuggets with 32 points, 17 rebounds, and 11 assists. On top of that, he made 7/12 three-pointers, including those 4/4 during the beginning of the last quarter, when the game winner was being decided. Simply stunning.
I would love to highlight that his 7/12 three-pointer bombs against Nuggets were not some kind of exception to a rule. Russell Westbrook is seriously working on his shooting beyond the arc to achieve even better results. Earlier this month, he made 8 three-pointers against Rockets and that is his career record so far. However, with this tempo and freedom in the Thunder team, I don't think that this record will hold a month. Anyway, his hard-work on improving those less used skills is really surprising me and shows that Westbrook has a mindset to become the worlds best player for a couple of seasons to come.
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls had a serious off-season.
The had to say goodbye to Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Pau Gasol, Justin Holiday, Mike Dunleavy, E'Twaun Moore, and Arron Brooks.
Those guys were replaced by Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo, Robin Lopez, Jerian Grant, Denzel Valentine, Paul Zipser
I was among many, who thought that the Chicago Bulls GMs have done some terrible work. Yes, it was a great and totally understandable thing to get rid of old and injured guys after a really bad last season. However... Who was signed? Different old and injured guys.
If all those signings were made 7 years ago, it would be the best ever summer for Chicago fans, but sadly we are in 2017 now. So, Chicago Bulls took all the bashing from media and just started their season with a lot of power. They shut up all the critics, including me, and it looked like Wade and Rondo were living their second youth.
However, things got back to reality pretty soon and Bulls are now holding on that 8th place with 18-19 record. Obviously, they want to improve their standings, because 8th place only means losing to Cavs in the first round of the play-offs. In order to achieve that, home games against teams like Thunder is a must win. I believe that Butler, Wade, and Rondo think the same.
Young, old, and injured - Butler, Wade, and Rondo
If you were not following NBA for the last couple of seasons, you might think that having Rondo and Wade in one team only means victories. However, it is not the case anymore. They are still good, but not superstars by far.
Jimmy Butler. Jimmy is a real leader of this Chicago Bulls team. He averages 25 points, 6.8 boards, and 4.5 assists. Also, he is the main option on clutch moments. What I truly love about this player, though, is his off-court game. Butler is not your average NBA superstar, who loves media attention and cannot stop posing for cameras. Contrary, Jimmy Butler is a super shy guy, who does not do trash talking and vague interviews about nothing. He just proves himself on the court just like Duncan or Bird used to do. I appreciate that a lot.Rajan Rondo. Before his injuries started, Rajan Rondo used to be a genius point guard. Yes, his shooting was never that great, but it was all compensated by fast movement and precise passes. Sadly, after the injuries, it is all long gone. Yes, Rajan still dishes 7 assists per game, but it used to be 14. He still scores 9 points, but he could score 20. He is still a good player, but he used to be great. I still enjoy watching him play, but Rondo is not at the level to be the main point guard for a Championship team.
Dwayne Wade. I am a huge fan of Wade. He was one of the first players, whose career I watched from the first day in the League. And boy, it was magnificent. Wade was loyal to Miami, he managed to get likes of Shaq and LeBron to join the team, and he even got himself some rings. However, his speed is not the same anymore. That being said, he strangely improved from the three-point line. That shows us that the best players always find a way to improve. Wade scores 19 points per game and is still sweating on the court to prove his haters wrong. So far so good.
Prediction
This will be a really interesting game to watch. I am really afraid that the Bulls don't have a player, who could stop Westbrook's dominance. However, Thunder will also have a hard time defending against Butler and co. I see this game being really tight. We might even see a buzzer-beater. Even though I think Thunder should win, my heart leans to Bulls this time. So I will guess 111-106 to Bulls favor.
Presenter: @cryptoiskey
Writer: @writingamigo
Game Starts:
January 9th, 8PM/5PM ETPT
January 10th 1AM UTC
HOW TO PLAY
• To enter the FREE PLAY, comment below the image of your chosen outcome with the spread (difference in score). Example if you think Team A will win by 10 points you will comment under the image of Team A with “Win by 10” or just “10”.
• Entry cut-off time is the earlier of the post payout or the start of the event.
• Once the post has paid out and the results are known; the presenter will attend to the payouts manually until such time as we have developed an app to handle this automatically.
• A maximum of 20 correct entries will be chosen at random to enter the final Stake Pool.
• More than one entry per account will be disqualified.
STAKE POOL
• All the liquid currency will be distributed to Writers (40%) and Presenters (60%)
• 100% of the Steem Power (SP) pool will distributed to winners equally, no rewards will be retained by the account.
• To facilitate the distribution of time-locked SP, we will use available liquid Steem to initiate the SP distribution and “top-up” via power-down.
Disclaimer: This is a beta experimental game type, subject to amendment as necessary.