Zach Lowe of SI.com: “That said, the Thunder, as documented here and here, are riding a ridiculous wave of super crunch-time play that has pushed their record above where it probably should be. They remain a so-so defensive team, except in the final minutes of close games, when they turn into the 2008 Celtics. They struggle to find any scoring at all beyond their top three players; Oklahoma City piled up 115 points last night against the Suns, and only five of their players scored any points. Floor-spacing can be an issue, Russell Westbrook remains addicted to pull-up 20-footers in the first five seconds of the shot clock and the three core big men –Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison — are almost total non-threats on the pick-and-roll. If this team really has another gear on defense, as perhaps evidenced by its crunch-time play, they might be able to waltz through this conference. If they’ve been lucky, they could be had.”
Scott Brooks on if Royal Ivey could start: “I’ve definitely thought about it, (but) never to the point where I’ve wanted to pull the trigger,” Brooks said before Monday night’s home victory against Dallas. “I like his (Ivey’s) energy off the bench. I like DC’s ability to stretch the floor, and he’s been guarding much better. Definitely thought about it, but not enough to make the switch.”
James Harden and KD did a Skull Candy commercial with Kate Upton.
SportsGrid on being KD: “Can we begin the speculation? Dare we say that Kevin Durant and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl Kate Upton are an item? No. They spent the afternoon together because they were filming a commercial. Boring. It wouldn’t be all that bad of an idea, though. Upton is the Kevin Durant of hot chicks, right? There’s no spark here, at least not to our knowledge — as people who are typically in the know — but if Durant did want to make the move on Ms. Upton, might we suggest opening up that hand a little? Just a little pointer from a dude who will never come within a mile of Kate Upton in his lifetime.”
Joe Treutlein for TrueHoop on reinventing the box score: “Because teams have more of an incentive to utilize data to get an edge on their competition, a larger budget to develop solutions, and more confidence in using their own methodology to determine the division of credit and blame among players, the public is at a large disadvantage in seeing the most useful statistical advancements reach them. Still, the field of sports analytics is growing exponentially, and many of the advancements seen from teams will eventually make their way to the public in some form. In the mean time, there is still some that can be done with what is publicly available, and fans will just have to wait and see where the next innovation comes from.”
Shaun Powell of NBA.com OKC going for Dwight Howard: “For the Thunder: They get a low-post offensive presence which they currently lack, bolster their interior defense (who’s gonna attack the rim against Howard and Serge Ibaka?) and become dangerous in the half-court style that’s needed to go deep in the postseason. Really, the margin for error is slim. Yes, Oklahoma City would be removing a top-flight point guard without having a capable backup handy; remember, Eric Maynor is done with a torn ACL. But that can be rectified. Oklahoma can ask Orlando to toss Jameer Nelson in the deal. Nelson would be fine for what OKC needs, a player who can manage the position. With Durant, Howard and Harden on the floor, you don’t need an All-Star point guard.”
NBA.com’s race to the MVP: “If you want a true measure of the force that Durant has become, just take a peek at his shooting percentage in four of the Thunder’s last five games. Only once did make it above 40 percent and yet he still averaged 29.6 points during that stretch. It certainly helps when you shoot free throws as frequently (11 per game) and as well (.855) as Durant does. Lost in the glare of his offensive arsenal is Durant’s significant improvement on the defensive end. He’s a much more complete player than he gets credit for.”
[...] Daily Thunder’s Royce Young, an awesome James Harden [...]