Tuesday Bolts

• Sports Illustrated’s online preview of the team. Be sure to pay close attention to the lower right-hand corner as the good guys at Blue Blitz have a little blurb about the upcoming season. Well done men.

• Kevin Durant is good, from Thunder Rumblings: “Kevin Durant showed tonight why the NBA world says he’ll someday be great. He simply took over down the stretch, scoring 18 of the team’s final 25 points and had 20 of his 26 in the fourth quarter. But he was the complete package tonight, playing even more impressively on the defensive end and finishing with five rebounds, four assists, four steals, three blocks and only two turnovers in only 33 minutes. He blocked two shots in the final minute that secured the game.”

• Jimmie Tramel of the Tulsa World: ” Watch out, mayor. If Kevin Durant ever wants to run for office, he’s going to be popular enough to steal a lot of votes. Durant showed Monday night why he was the NBA’s rookie of the year last season, scoring 20 fourth-quarter points and 18 of his team’s final 25 points in a 110-104 preseason victory over the Houston Rockets at the BOK Center.”

• Jonathan Feign of the Houston Chronicle: “For the fourth time in four preseason games, Rockets coach Rick Adelman changed starting shooting guards. Von Wafer got the start against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, and keen observers likely noticed the difference between Wafer and the regular-season starter, Tracy McGrady. Wafer struggled Monday but had done enough the first two weeks of training camp and preseason games to push for a spot on the Rockets’ roster, demonstrating shooting range and ability to put the ball on the floor and finish above the rim.”

• Post game reaction from Blue Blitz: “It didn’t look good at first. I was relieved when I heard T-Mac wasn’t going to play, but when I saw Nick Collison guarding Yao Ming, probably giving him a good 8 inches, I again had my doubts. My doubts may have been legit if it wasn’t a pre-season game, he had 15 points and 16 rebounds in just 24 minutes. Nevertheless, as the game progressed, you could see a certain fight in the Thunder that just wasn’t there before.”

• Reaction from Thunderguru: “Houston was kind enough to keep Yao Ming, Ron Artest, Shane Battier, T-mac and Rafer Alston off the court in the 4th quarter, so we were definitely playing against their second team. We finished with Earl, Westbrook, Durant, Petro and Nick. My hat is off to PJ for realizing that Defense wins games. He interspersed that lineup with a little bit of Desmond Mason and no Chris Wilcox. Wilcox is nice but he is nobody’s tough defender. Petro hasn’t really impressed me with his defense either in his career, but he is 7 foot and can occasionally block a shot.”

Analysis from Darnell and Mike:

Kevin Durant, P.J. Carlesimo, Desmond Mason speak about the win: