Beyond The Arc: Thunder weekly awards Christmas edition

I love NBA games on Christmas. I always have and always will. I liked it back when it wasn't as big as it is now and I love that the NBA has embraced Christmas as a platform to showcase the best talents and the best teams in the league, NFL has Thanksgiving, College Football has New Year's day, College Basketball has the entire month of March, and MLB has....um...Fourth of July? Either way I love that there are now five games on Christmas day we get an entire day of viewing the best and the brightest. That being said lets look back at the past week that was for the Thunder and the rest of the NBA.

Uncle Phil Award - Kendrick Perkins

I love that Perk went all Uncle Phil on Jazz from The Fresh Prince when Joakim Noah accompanied Thabo Sefolosha to the Thunder locker room after their win over the Bulls. Honestly, I am shocked Perk's reaction was as tame as it was towards Noah. By the way, Noah's reaction to the entire thing makes me like him that much more.

The cherry on top to this entire story was when Russell Westbrook was asked his thoughts about who should be allowed in the locker and he offered this gem "If your name is not up there, you shouldn't be in here. including you guys." Oh Russ...never change. Seriously...never ever change.

Hasheem Thabeet Selfie of the week

I decided to go ahead and give Hasheem Thabeet he own spot on Beyond The Arc for his strong selfie game on Instagram. Clearly he gets the whole purpose of social media.

Siskel and Ebert Award - Alex Abrines and Steven Adams

They both share the award this week for their insightful reviews of The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug or as I like to call it another excuse to watch Benedict Cumberbatch do awesome stuff.

First Abrines who offered this short and sweet tweet about The Desolation Of Smaug

No words.... #thehobbit2 #DesolationOfSmaug

— Alex Abrines (@alexabrines) December 14, 2013

Then Steven Adams weighed in on his trip to Middle Earth.

Just watched @TheHobbitMovie It's 3 hours long!!! It should be 4 hours. #BarrelRider

— Steven Adams (@RealStevenAdams) December 24, 2013

I tend to side with Adams thoughts on Smaug. I was ready for that bad boy to go another hour but instead it was two and a half hours for a to be concluded.

Punchable Face Award - Steven Adams

What is it about Steven Adams that makes his face so easy to want to punch? First it was Vince Carter throwing an elbow to his face then Jordan Hamilton got in on the action that resulted in a one game suspension. I love that Adams is drawing all of the Kiwi fouls on other players. He is slowly becoming that player that makes the opponent react and do stupid things that results in pointless fouls and/or technical fouls.

Celebration Injury Award - Glenn Rice Jr.

I fell like this an award that could become a nice weekly feature on here because there always seem to be some bench player who gets a little too hyped and ends up injuring himself. The latest victim is Glenn Rice Jr. who has apparently fractured his wrist celebrating and being too enthusiastic with his high five. I really can't knock him for this injury though. I mean, throwing out high fives is a lot of fun and there are so many different ways to throw them out there. You can go double hands high five, Top Gun high five, Turkey high five, Snail high five, and you can even go with the Squid high five.

Block Party Award - Serge Ibaka

Serge really wanted to make sure Noah was able to enjoy his time at Serge Ibaka's Block Party.

Metropolis Destruction Award - LeBron James

In the last week Bron Bron has done about as much destruction to players in the NBA as Superman and Zod did to Metropolis in the final fight scene in Man Of Steel.

First victim was Luis Scola. RIP Scola.

Next was rookie guard Ben McLemore. RIP McLemore

And finally there was Paul Millsap. RIP Millsap

It is clear the whole trying to take a charge on LeBron James isn't working so I suggest people quit doing it.

Lump of Coal Award - Toronto Raptors

Talk about a buzz kill. Thunder just got done handling the Spurs in the second half the night before and returned home to take on the Raptors before their Christmas day match up vs. the Knicks. I knew there was a chance for a let down given the circumstances and all but most of the game I felt like the Thunder were going to be able to make the plays they needed to in order to put away a pesky bad team. An off shooting night from KD and the Raptors making plays in the final few minutes while the Thunder did not equaled an end to the Thunder's 13 game home winning streak and ended the overall 10 game winning streak. Thanks for nothing Raptors.

Danger Zone - Kevin Love

K-Love makes a second appearance in the DANGER ZONE after his monster game vs. the Clippers. He scored 45 points on 23 shot attempts, grabbed 19 rebounds to go along with 6 assists and a steal. Unfortunately for Love his team did not get the win because Kevin Martin decided that ball security was overrated. Either way Kevin Love was a monster that night and deserves the recognition.

Walter White Empire Scale - 9 (Last Week 9)

The Thunder were damn close to getting a 10 on the scale. A home loss to a bad team keeps them at a 9. There were many valid reasons for the loss to the Raptors but regardless a loss at home to a bad team when you are an elite team is not a good thing. I did have some fears about the Thunder going into this season and the more the season progresses and the more games they win the more I began to believe this team can and will win the West.

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