Via the AP:

''I got real emotional and excited, and it was unfortunate that James had to get hit with the unintentional elbow,'' said World Peace, who had scored 12 points and played solid defense on Durant. ''I hope he's OK. Oklahoma, they're playing for a championship this year. I apologize to the Thunder and James Harden. It was just unfortunate.''

Sincere? Probably. Metta World Peace strikes me as a guy who's pretty cool off of the court, but can lose his cool in the heat of the moment. But, I try not to have too much of an opinion on these types of things, as pretty much everyone is entrenched in what they think. You either love Metta or you hate Metta, and whatever I say is just going to confirm what you think or incite some form of rage.

Regardless, we're all sitting here waiting to find out what kind of punishment will be doled out to World Peace, and how long it will take for James Harden to recover from "concussion-like symptoms". It's impossible to know what will happen with Harden, but World Peace will most likely get a suspension lasting less than 10 games, considering Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith were suspended for 15 and 10 games, respectively, for their role in the 2006 Knicks-Nuggets brawl. Their transgressions were much more blatant, and were also related to players only, while the Pacers-Pistons brawl involved fans and heavier suspensions. Then again, Kermit Washington was suspended for 60 days for severely injuring Rudy Tomjanovich with a punch in 1977, but the incident occurred in an entirely different era, and Tomjanovich was blatantly attacked and severely injured.

Even though the Thunder have lost three straight, buy virtue of the Denver Nuggets losing to the Golden State Warriors last night and there being only a few games remaining in the season, the Thunder have locked down the Division Championship!

(This t-shirt can be purchased at the OKC Thunder Shop).

What does this mean? Well, no matter what happens, the Thunder can't fall below the fourth seed, and are thus guaranteed home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. It also means the Thunder have been Northwest Division champions two seasons in a row, if that means anything.

Focusing on the future, in order for the Thunder to re-obtain the first seed, the Spurs will have to lose a game, since they have the head-to-head matchup advantage. With 11 games remaining on the year, it's anyone's guess as to who will end up on top, but it's unlikely that the Thunder will fall behind the Lakers or Clippers and into the third or fourth seed, as they are 6 and 6.5 games back, respectively.

Derek Fisher, the longtime Laker championship cog, may be available as an unrestricted free agent. Fisher was traded by the Lakers to the Houston Rockets, and now the Rockets are in the process of buying out Fisher's contract.

Imagine Derek Fisher in a Thunder Uniform | NewsOK

If and when Fisher becomes available for any team to sign (except the Lakers), should the Thunder organization consider him? Can the case be made for Fisher? Here are a few of the pros and cons:

Update: Marc Stein reports that the Thunder and Heat are "early leaders in the race" to sign Fisher.

Pros

• He has five rings.
• He wants to win a sixth ring and is willing to take on a supporting role to do it.
• He has played with some of the best players in NBA history (Shaq, Kobe) and so he knows how to fill in a specific role and play to the leaders' strengths.
• Fisher is not afraid to take the big shot.
• He brings basketball knowledge and experience that could help the Thunder navigate through the playoffs. On top of that, Fisher was the NBPA President during last summer's tortuous lockout, so he carries a great deal of cache and respect amongst his peers.
• He is affordable and could fit into the Thunder's cap structure without much long-term damage.

The Thunder are sitting atop the West with a record of 27-7. We all had high hopes for the team heading into this season, and at least from my perspective those mid-season expectations have been exceeded. Going into this shortened season, I had a prediction of 46-20, or about 24-10 by the All-Star break. Let's see how the predictions stood up (and yes I'm fully aware that predicting wins for a loaded team is like shooting fish in a barrel).

So to size things up:

• I gave the Thunder 3 more losses than they actually accumulated
• I missed on 9 out of 34 possible outcomes, which is about a 74% rate of accuracy. Not too shabby, but then again, fish in a barrel.
• The only two truly surprising outcomes would have to be the Wizards loss on1/18 and the Kings loss on 2/9. In retrospect though, we probably shouldn't even feel bad about the Kings loss because that was a very special night for them and they were playing for something much more significant than just a game.
• Boy, that Wizards loss stings.
• 32 games to go.

Kendrick Perkins didn't mind getting dunked on (hard) by Blake Griffin. He told Yahoo! Sports in a recent story that it's his job to challenge shots and that it would be a "coward move" to get out of the way of the Blake Train in that situation. If it happens again, Perkins said, "He'd just have to dunk on me again."

What the Oklahoma City Thunder big man did have an issue with was the public hazing he took from a certain NBA star from Miami (by way of Ohio).

Mr. LeBron James tweeted the followed after "the dunk":

"Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess I'm No. 2 now. Move over #6."

Perkins fired back at James in the Yahoo! Story:

"You don't see Kobe [Bryant] tweeting," Perkins said. "You don't see Michael Jordan tweeting. If you're an elite player, plays like that don't excite you. At the end of the day, the guys who are playing for the right reasons who are trying to win championships are not worrying about one play.

"They also are not tweeting about themselves talking about going down to No. 2. I just feel [James] is always looking for attention and he wants the world to like him."

Take that, "King" James.

The pick and roll offense is a staple of all NBA teams. The Thunder like to employ this offense ordinarily by putting the ball in the hands of either Russell Westbrook or James Harden (and sometimes Kevin Durant). All of these players possess the skill and athleticism to put a defense on its heels and exploit either a seam in the defense or a defensive switch. What though about the screener? How often do guys like Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins, and Nick Collison get a chance to finish the play?

Ian Levy at Hickory High has the answer:

Picking, Rolling, Balancing | Hickory High

You can enjoy his pretty picture diagrams at the top, or you can delve into the data in the table below. In order to make sense of it:

• PNR Ball Handler % is the percentage of time the ball handler finishes the play.
• PNR Sreener % is the percentage of time the screener finishes the play.
• PNR Overall % is the percentage of offensive plays the pick and roll is employed.
• PPP represents respective points per possession.

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The Thunder organization announced today that single game tickets for the second half of the season will be available to the general public for purchase next Monday, January 30th, at 10AM.

Second-Half Thunder Tickets Go On Sale Jan. 30 | Claremore Progress

Per the story, single game tickets include 19 home games, beginning with the February 22nd game against the Celtics. Only four tickets per transaction is allowed. Tickets may only be purchased online at the Thunder web site.

The 2012 NBA All-Star Game first returns are in, and the Thunder are well-represented. Kevin Durant leads all Western Conference forwards in votes so far, with over 633,000 votes. Russell Westbrook is currently fifth in voting for guards with over 107,000 votes, and Kendrick Perkins is sixth for centers, with over 41,000 votes.

Howard Leads All Players in First All-Star Ballot Returns | NBA.com

This year's All-Star game is scheduled to be played in Orlando on February 26th. Magic center Dwight Howard currently leads all vote-receivers with almost 755,000 votes. He is followed by Derrick Rose and LeBron James in Eastern Conference voting.

In the west, the league's 7th best player, Kobe Bryant, is the top vote receiver with over 690,000 votes, followed by Durant. Westbrook faces stiff competition at the guard spot, as Kobe, Chris Paul, Steve Nash, and Ricky Rubio are all currently receiving more votes. Perkins too is going to have a difficult climb up the mountain, as he is sixth out of six potential centers. Two guards, two forwards, and one center will be selected by the voters, and the remaining roster spots will be selected by each conference's respective coach.

Interestingly, Thunder coach Scott Brooks is in the running to be named Western Conference coach, since this designation is reserved for the coach of the team with the best record as of January 31. If Brooks wins the coaching spot, I think it is a lock that Westbrook will make the team, for obvious reasons.