Tuesday Bolts – 6.19.12

Zach Lowe of SI.com: “True, James Harden is accustomed to running the offense by himself as the kingpin of Oklahoma City’s second unit. But Harden spent a lot of time playing against second-unit opposition during the regular season, not so much against starter-heavy lineups that include three All-Stars. This might have been a tenable option if Eric Maynor was healthy, since Maynor provides a combination of long-range shooting and playmaking that nobody, other than Harden, could provide on the unit that Brooks rode at the end of the third quarter. Brooks famously benched Westbrook for Maynor during the stretch run of Oklahoma City’s Game 2 win over Dallas in last year’s conference finals, but this is the Finals, and Maynor is out with a knee injury. The Thunder miss him.”

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com on Russell Westbrook: “Westbrook usually knows how to depress the accelerator; it’s the brake pedal that he has trouble finding. He’s 23, so that kind of maturity and judgment and feel can’t be manufactured midway through his first trip to the Finals. So for now, he’s better off sticking with the accelerator. If James and Dwyane Wade are going to challenge him on the perimeter, he’s going to have to find a way to make them pay. Nothing will help James Harden, utterly ineffective in two of the three games, more than Westbrook putting Miami’s defense on the move by driving to the rim or driving and kicking to the open man.”

David Whitley of Sporting News writing something familiar: “It started with him supposedly brooding over Kevin Durant’s star status. When he went 0-for-13 in the third game of the season, it was apparent something was bothering Westbrook. As to what, don’t check his Twitter page for clues. Westbrook composed his last tweet on Dec. 29. “Mindset,” is all it said. He hasn’t tweeted since. So what’s he really thinking?”

Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com says the series is going back to OKC: “As awful as the Thunder looked in Game 3, I can’t see them fumbling through four straight games. Not with how they completely dismantled the Spurs, Lakers and Mavericks. Remember, they were down 2-0 against the Spurs and then looked like the 1992 Dream Team thereafter. The Thunder will be back.”

KD is the 34th highest paid athlete in the world.

Bryan Curtis of Grantland: “When Kevin Durant goes to the bench after getting a series-shifting, you-must-be-joking fourth foul, I’m really bummed. Time for a thought experiment to distract me. Here it is: In what sense was Kevin Durant ever a college basketball player?”

Fran Fraschilla says Andrey Vorontsevich is close to signing with OKC.

Israel Gutierrez of ESPN.com: “It wasn’t the first time this apparent mismatch happened in this series, and it won’t be the last. On this particular occasion, Durant nailed a pull-up jumper over the extended reach of Wade then decided to tell Wade exactly why it was possible. “You’re too small,” the cameras caught Durant telling Wade with a smile.”

Michael Rosenberg of SI.com: “Brooks and Westbrook are so close to a championship, but that doesn’t mean they will get there. It is easy to look at the Kevin Durant-Westbrook-James Harden Thunder and figure that this group will win a title, either this year or soon after — and that Brooks will re-sign this summer and win it with them. But NBA history tells us this is not necessarily that simple.”

Serge Ibaka said LeBron isn’t a very good defender.

The NBA is weighing penalties for floppers.

Via Michael Lee of the Washington Post, KD is playing with a heavy heart: “When the Oklahoma City Thunder pulled off its greatest road victory in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals in San Antonio, an emotional Kevin Durant used the postgame interview to announce that he had dedicated the game to his uncle, Tyrone Pratt, who was recently hospitalized with an undisclosed illness. His uncle’s condition has deteriorated in the past two weeks, and Durant’s father, Wayne Pratt, recently acknowledged that his brother might not have much time left.”

Beckley Mason of TrueHoop: “Yes and no. The tape shows Durant is hardly struggling in one-on-one confrontations with James. In fact, James has not been able to stay in front of Durant off the dribble and Durant has also been able to shoot with relative ease because James tends to play one-on-one defense with his hands low. Durant has missed some open shots, but for the most part he’s getting the same looks he did against Battier.”

Do the Thunder care too much? Henry Abbott of TrueHoop: “The road team, the one that has to deal with all the screaming and distractions, they tend to shoot free throws absolutely normally in those moments. Amazingly, it’s the home team, the team that is obsessed with being extra careful to hit those big freebies to please those fans, that tends to miss more than normal. And the bigger the moment, the more the game is on the line, the bigger the effect.”

Mike Sherman of NewsOK on Westbrook’s benching: “Brooks attributed that more to freak plays than Westbrook’s absence. The Heat hit six straight free throws (courtesy of Serge Ibaka and Derek Fisher’s fouls on 3-point shooters) and Oklahoma City missed five straight. That is pretty freaky. Still, does anyone else think we’ll see Durant and Westbrook out of the lineup as long as this series is competitive? I didn’t think so. It was as mistake. Fortunately for Thunderworld, everyone seems to have turned the page. Brooks was back to his usually “I love Russell” talk. And Westbrook was, well, Westbrook.”

Jon Sacraceno of USA Today: “Time to panic? Not really. Coach Scott Brooks, Mr. Equilibrium, tried to calm his young team Monday, one day after losing 91-85 to the Miami Heat in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The Thunder could have, and maybe should have, won. A loss has left them trailing the series 2-1 and in a precarious position, with the next two games in Miami.”

Shaun Powell of NBA.com: “Durant was terrific in the fourth quarters of Games 1 and 2, aside from missing the short runner with a few seconds left of the latter game. But clearly, James is concentrating as much or more of his fourth-quarter energy on guarding Durant, which he knows is the key to winning a close game. It’s all a chess game being played by two coaches and two superstars and there’s no telling what will happen as a result. Every game is different than the next. But the next adjustment must be made by Brooks and Durant.”