Friday Bolts – 3.15.13

Darnell Mayberry explores if the Thunder are better this season: “According to a recent survey of NewsOK.com readers, 62 percent of more than 700 polled think the Thunder is worse without Harden. Various other quibbles, such as the lack of a “true” low post scorer, the coach not playing certain players, erratic ball movement and, of course, Derek Fisher’s playing time among other things, has only added to the belief that the Thunder would be hard-pressed to knock off Miami in a potential Finals rematch. Then there’s the matter of whether the team’s All-Star duo is ready to sprout in this year’s postseason and offset any and all flaws, or if the tandem will continue to be handcuffed by their biggest weaknesses. The Thunder, after all, has been plagued at times this season by Kevin Durant’s turnovers and Russell Westbrook’s tantrums. Only 17 regular season games remain in this vengeful journey. Soon, the answer to the only question that matters will be revealed to us. Exactly what are we to make of this year’s Thunder?”

5-on-5 where Israel Gutierrez of ESPN.com takes Westbrook’s season over Wade’s: “And that’s only because you have to take the entire body of work into play. Wade, once he has gotten completely healthy, has been the better player. But Westbrook, despite the inefficient shooting, has had a greater responsibility for a longer stretch of the season and has still kept his team in the running for top record out west.”

Russell Westbrook wants all your pi.

The league hath spoken: Kobe was fouled.

Henry Abbott of TrueHoop on the play: “Who’s next? James Harden sure beats his man off the dribble a lot. How will his playoff opponents handle that? The no-layup rule? That’s a license to kill, figuratively speaking. Derrick Rose knows that upon his return he’ll be facing far more than shot-blockers when he gets into the paint. Kobe, D-Rose, Kevin Durant, D-Wade, Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Ty Lawson, Stephen Curry, LeBron and many more of our greatest players — these are the players the fans want to see. Yet they are not only the NBA’s most precious commodities, the stars who drive the ratings and traffic and revenues and fun, but also the players who are most commonly facing dirty opponents with the potential to end their seasons. Everyone understands that basketball is tough and physical — a contact sport. Everyone accepts that. That’s not the problem Kobe is addressing.”

Zach Lowe’s latest Grantland piece has nothing to do with the Thunder, but man, it’s great.

Rest easy: The Durantula lawsuit is settled.

DeMarre Carroll on if his foul on KD was payback: “I wasn’t even thinking about that,” Carroll said. “My whole thing was just trying to stop the ball.”

Thunder get an A+ from CBSSports.com in their third quarter report: “The Thunder have really been incredible this season, which is in-depth analysis, I know. They gave up a guy who has probably moved into the conversation of being a top-10 impact guy in this league and yet their winning percentage went up. Russell Westbrook has improved, Kevin Durant has scarily improved, and the role players are stepping up consistently.”

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com has LeBron as MVP: “I had Kevin Durant holding a slight lead over James at the midway point, but Miami’s 20-game winning streak and LeBron’s utterly dominant stretch of play has him solidly in possession of a fourth MVP trophy that is now his to lose.”

A nice breakdown of what players can do to combat social media heckling.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Rob Hennigan made one of the most important decisions of his life here, just a short walk from where the Orlando Magic will play the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night. He made that decision with Sam Presti, a friend and mentor, by his side. It was 2008, and Presti, the Thunder’s general manager, offered Hennigan a job in the Thunder front office. They walked through downtown, discussing the type of team Presti wanted to build, talking about the meaningful connection Presti wanted to create between the franchise and the city. They eventually reached the Oklahoma City National Memorial, the site where, 13 years earlier, Timothy McVeigh detonated explosives in front the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.”