Monday Bolts – 5.21.12

Jimmy Goldstein to GQ: “Oklahoma City’s arena, (in terms of liveliness) is number one, without a doubt. There’s a lot of civic pride in the people that live there. The fans are not only the loudest, they’re also the nicest. I’d never consider wearing one of the complimentary t shirts though. If I wore a shirt for one team, I don’t think it’d be received well by the other team and I don’t want that. Plus I don’t like to blend in.”

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “For Westbrook, the issue was never a desire to upstage Durant as the Thunder’s top scorer. Often, sources said, his frustrations were with offensive sets that too often unraveled late in shot clocks. Play calls for Durant never materialized, and as the seconds ticked down, Westbrook was left out of necessity – not selfishness – to probe one-on-one for shots. For many, the appearance often looked like a failure to coexist, when, in fact, it was the Thunder’s failure to function.”

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “Now, the Lakers will pay for their many sins in this series — letting a seven-point lead melt away in the final two minutes of Game 2 at Oklahoma City, and spontaneously combusting again with a passive Gasol and a Kobe-centric offense down the stretch after Bynum had put them in position to tie the series up 2-2. “I was forced to take tough shots and they didn’t fall for me tonight,” Bryant said. “I made a couple, felt like I got fouled on a couple and didn’t get the whistle. But still and all, they were tough shots. So either we’ve got to free me up to get better looks in the fourth quarter or other guys have to be more aggressive, one or the other.” Needless to say, whatever’s going on in Lakerland now, Durant doesn’t need to worry about any criticism over the shot he took — and made — to put the Thunder one step closer to the conference finals.”

Justin Verrier of ESPN.com: “The conversation between Thunder coach Scott Brooks and star pupil Kevin Durant that led to the lanky, “6-foot-9” forward checking the 6-6 Kobe Bryant down the stretch was a short one. Mostly because it wasn’t so much a discussion as it was an order. “He said, ‘You get ‘em,’” Durant recalled, laughing. “I had to go guard him. I couldn’t tell Coach no. I didn’t want to back down from the challenge.” With Durant’s long limbs all up in his face and the Thunder big men fronting in the post, Bryant fired off 10 shots in the fourth quarter and connected on only two. He didn’t make any of the four shots he fired up with Durant guarding him; his only points against the OKC forward came on two free throws after Serge Ibaka fouled him on a closeout.”

J.A. Adande of ESPN.com: “Most of all, he’s willing to take the clutch shots. That’s where we place the most value, what we debate and analyze and devote entire segments of TV sports shows to, the clutch shots. The sportstalkosphere has become so prevalent that Durant admitted that when he lofted that final 3-pointer, while the ball was in the midst of his typical high-arching trajectory, he was worrying about the ramifications if it missed.”

Rob Mahoney of Bleacher Report: “The Thunder’s approach may be the least cohesive of any remaining playoff team, and yet it’s amazing how little that truly matters. Though we swoon at the Spurs’ ball movement and admire the Pacers’ balance, the Thunder are productively stilted, deeply flawed, and highly effective. It makes for a hell of a ride, and if the fiber of the Thunder’s play offers any predictive quality, it could make for a hell of a postseason finish.”

Bill Simmons on James Harden: “The Sam Jones/Manu Ginobili/Dennis Johnson/Walt Frazier Award for “Best Job Lurking in the Weeds and Raising Your Game When It Matters Most” To James Harden, who gave us the most important moment of Round 1: Game 4 in Dallas, when Harden drove the dying Mavs to the veterinarian’s office and put them down himself. Oklahoma City’s ceiling before that game: “If Westbrook and Durant aren’t making jumpers, there’s no Plan B.” Oklahoma City’s ceiling after that game: “Actually, there is a Plan B — they can just turn things over to Harden, let him create for everyone else and keep going to the rim.” Oh, and just in case you worried that performance was a fluke, Harden repeated it against the Lakers in Game 2. That spawned an “Is Harden an original prototype?” e-mail thread with me and two die-hard NBA buddies — we finally decided that he has a chance (repeat: a chance) to become Ginobili 2.0, an even more athletic/durable/potent lefty two-guard who gets better when it matters. It’s in play.”

Thunder fans are just relentless. Here’s video of a good number welcoming the team home at 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning. (And another, this one from Nazr Mohammed.)

Kobe talking about Derek Fisher: “It’s just very strange,” Bryant would say later, after leading the Lakers to a gritty 99-96 victory. “I’m used to having him in the locker room. I’m used to hearing his voice, saying things that he and I have talked about, in terms of the direction of the team and what the team needs to hear, and then he vocalizes it. And I don’t have that.”

KD’s game-winner against the Lakers gets Doodle Jumped.

Nick Collison in a Q&A with HoopsHype: “There’s been a lot of change. Before Sam (Presti) took over, I’m the only player (left). There’s a strength coach and an equipment manager. Everyone else in the whole organization is different, so I’ve seen a lot of change. Lots of new players. But I think Sam, when he took over, he had a plan, he had patience, and he wanted to build through the draft and then work on developing young players, and it has worked out well for us.”

Here’s a spoken word poem about the Thunder.

Jonathan Tjarks of SB Nation on the new way to break into basketball: “Basketball is ultimately a players’ game, and as the next generation of stars becomes NBA free agents, they will continue to flock towards each other. Franchises like Oklahoma City, which found four potential All-NBA players in the draft, will still be able to thrive, but it will always be easier for big market teams to hand over their rosters to the best free agents, as Miami and New York have done, and Dallas is trying to do in the summer of 2012.”

Michael Lee of the Washington Post: “Durant wanted that responsibility when the Thunder lost to the Lakers in a six-game first-round series two years ago, but he and Oklahoma City weren’t ready. He has matured from those days, and even from last year. He’s wearing wide-brimmed spectacles and tailored suits instead of walking around with a backpack. His team is no longer satisfied with just being on this stage, and Durant is less than willing to let Bryant have the edge.”

Ben Watanabe of NESN.com: “The most obvious aspect of Durant’s shot Saturday, and his bouncing winner in Game 1 of the Thunder’s first-round series against the Mavericks, was that Durant was not double-teamed. He was not double-teamed because the Lakers and Mavericks could not afford to double-team him. Harden has been one of the league’s best players in the playoffs. Russell Westbrook made several tough baskets to pull the Thunder into a tie in the final minutes, and even Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins have a knack for being in the right place for crucial, easy baskets. The Lakers could not leave anyone defensively without handing the Thunder an open, makeable shot.”