Monday Bolts – 4.23.12

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “So the collision of all these factors, plus the NBA’s renewed emphasis on protecting players from blows to the head with its concussion policy, bodes very poorly for World Peace. What he did was unnecessary, excessive, dangerous and with full force, a windup and a follow-through. The fact that Harden was OK won’t matter when Jackson and league officials come up with the length of World Peace’s suspension. What if his elbow had connected with Harden’s face? It might’ve been Kermit Washington vs. Rudy Tomjanovich all over again. And that is what the NBA wants and needs to prevent, which is why I wouldn’t oppose or be surprised by a suspension that’s at least three games in length. And possibly more than that. There’s no place for that in the NBA, and if a heavy suspension is what it takes to send that message before the playoffs begin, so be it.”

J.A. Adande of ESPN.com: “The NBA should suspend World Peace indefinitely, see how many games (if any) Harden will miss, then tack on two to that number. Especially since we just witnessed a case study in Harden’s value to the Thunder. Oklahoma City’s second-half offense without Harden devolved into Kevin Durant chucking jumpers and Russell Westbrook careening into the lane, both with minimal ball movement. Harden is the heart of the Thunder’s second unit and provides a nice balance to Westbrook and Durant when he plays alongside them. Harden scored 14 points in little more than 13 minutes in the first half — before World Peace clocked him. The seven guys besides Durant and Westbrook who played in the second half and both overtimes scored a total of 23 points in a combined 106 minutes. Durant wound up with 35 points, but he required 34 shots to get there. Westbrook shot 3-for-22.”

Matt Moore for PBT: “James Harden’s primary contributions are running an efficient offense and thereby limiting turnovers, creating open looks, and being able to score. Down the stretch, the Thunder needed cohesive offense and a few more scores to win in regulation, or overtime. Or double overtime. Harden wouldn’t have stopped Kobe Bryant. A nuclear weapon wasn’t stopping Kobe Bryant Sunday. But he might have given the Thunder a lift in their biggest area of concern, offense.”

Quick question: What is Perk doing here?

Metta World Peace tweeting: “I just watched the replay again….. Oooo.. My celebration of the dunk really was too much… Didn’t even see James ….. Omg… Looks bad.” Honestly I’d up the suspension for this. Trying to play innocent on this is just insulting to everyone.

Thunder players took the high road for the most part.

Eric Freeman of BDL: “The entire incident happened very quickly, so much so that it’s hard to know exactly what World Peace intended to do. What’s apparent is that he felt Harden and responded by swinging an elbow. However, MWP also didn’t look over his shoulder to see who it was and seemed to throw his elbow as an impulse rather than with the intention to hit a player in the head. It was reckless and absolutely worthy of the ejection and suspension to come, but the exact intent of the action might be impossible to determine.”

Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com: “MWP should be suspended for the first two rounds of the playoffs. If the league wants to deter this kind of behavior, then deter.”

Kobe Bryant: “I can’t speculate (how many games),” Bryant said. “I’m sure he’ll have some type of a suspension. And James, I hope he’s OK. I haven’t heard anything about how he’s doing, but he’s one of my favorite players in the league, one of my young boys, so I hope he’s doing all right.”

Mike Bresnahan of the L.A. Times: “Beyond blowing an 18-point lead, the Thunder had plenty of chances to win, including Durant’s missed three-point attempt at the end of regulation and Russell Westbrook’s missed three-point attempt at the end of the first overtime. Stunningly, Durant made only 11 of 34 shots (32%) and Westbrook made only three of 22 attempts (14%), blurring the distinction between a lucky victory and a skillful one for the Lakers, who before Sunday had been 1-4 against the West’s top two teams, San Antonio and Oklahoma City. Bryant was only two for 13 going into the fourth quarter. Not surprisingly, he hit back-to-back three-pointers in the last 1:20 of regulation, including a running one-footer to his left as the shot clock expired.”

Ben Bolch of the L.A. Times: “The numbers were painfully percolating in the Oklahoma City locker room late Sunday afternoon. Russell Westbrook sat in a chair, shoulders slumped, repeatedly shaking his head. “Unbelievable,” the Thunder guard said to himself. A few feet away, Kevin Durant asked a team official for a stat sheet. “I can count at least eight or nine shots I had wide open,” Durant told Westbrook.”

Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports on Harden’s future: “If Harden and Ibaka don’t sign extensions, they will become restricted free agents at the end of next season. One NBA assistant general manager told Yahoo! Sports that Harden could command $10 million per season on the open market. Presti said the franchise will try to sign both Harden and Ibaka this offseason. “We’re looking forward to having those conversations,” Presti said. “Those guys are guys we drafted and have developed internally. We see them as guys who are important to sustaining our team.”

15 things a young player can learn from KD.

Nick Collison on the Derek Fisher/Billy Hunter situation: “With the way the lockout went for us, I don’t think it’d be perceived as a win for players — by any means — among most players and among most people who followed it,” he told SI.com. “So I think it would be definitely beneficial to take a look at our union, how we’re doing business and how things are run and see if we can make improvements … I definitely think that Derek has earned at least the right to have reservations, if he does. And for the next step to be to try to get rid of him a day or two later after asking to take a look at how we do business doesn’t seem right to me … The whole idea that it’s possible to get rid of him after a day or two speaks to the need for more transparency in how we do business and how the union is set up,” he continued. “A swift action and all of a sudden to try to get rid of Derek — if that’s what happening — doesn’t seem right, I don’t think, to anybody. He’s elected by the players, and I think there definitely needs to be more conversation to what’s going on with this issue.”

A Thunder rap song called “Blue and Orange.”

Chris Palmer of ESPN.com on if Durant or Kobe is better: “Durant will likely be an MVP candidate for the next 10 years. His combination of pure talent, rapid improvement and physical ability has earned him a spot as one of the league’s three or four best players. Kobe is winding down one of the greatest careers the NBA has ever seen, one that Durant himself hopes to emulate. But at least for now, Durant can revel in the knowledge that he’s a better player than Kobe Bryant.”