Thursday Bolts – 3.21.13

Nick Collison for GQ on his wood-grain mini van: “She had style. She had grace. She was a work of art. She dressed in navy with those rich mahogany sides. She had that shape I like with so much room in the back. We had some unforgettable nights. She even let my teammates come along for rides, because she understood “it ain’t no fun if the homies can’t come.” She was a 1990 Dodge Caravan and I loved her. The truth is, we were both young. We had our ups and downs. I still recall the night when, visiting friends at another school, her sliding door came off the hinges in my hand, and we had to drive 60 miles back home on the highway with no door. I still remember overhearing Drew Gooden tell a girl, “Yeah, I got a car… well I mean, its like all of ours. It’s the team van.” It was a crazy new time. We were just getting started when, tragically, her transmission went out the fall of my junior year. Eventually, I had to let her go. She was my first love.”

Matt Moore of CBSSports.com on OKC: “Like I said, they almost did enough to win this game. But it’s not enough, and that’s now losses to Denver and Memphis inside of a week. They need better late-game execution and better consistency in their sets. They have some things to work on.”

Berry Tramel on OKC’s outside shooting: “The Thunder has slumped. You can blame a lot of things. Lack of defensive focus (Denver, first half). Lack of ball movement (Denver, second half). Tenacious defense (Memphis, 53 minutes). Poor personnel decisions (Derek Fisher keeps playing double-digit minutes despite obviously being overmatched). I don’t claim to know the cause. But I do know the result. The Thunder is not making 3-pointers anywhere close to the rate it did earlier in the season. In its last three games, the Thunder is 11 of 64 from beyond the arc: 2-of-18 in a loss to Memphis on Wednesday night, 4-of-25 in a loss to Denver on Tuesday night, 5-of-21 in a win at Dallas on Sunday night. In its last three losses, the Thunder is 12-of-60 on 3-pointers: Memphis, Denver and 6-of-17 at San Antonio, which actually is acceptable.”

Does the league still care about flopping?

From Elias: “Marc Gasol tapped in the winning basket with less than a second left in overtime to lead the Grizzlies to a win over the Thunder on Wednesday night. It marked the first time that Gasol made a go-ahead field-goal with less than 30 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter or overtime in his career.”

Darnell Mayberry: “This could totally be a reactionary question. I’m willing to admit that. But what is the Thunder’s identity? Does this team have one? We know it has two all-league players in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and wins a lot of games. But what exactly is this team’s hallmark beyond that? Defense? We’ve seen enough this season to know that’s closer to a dream than a reality. Offense? Then why such struggles when it matters most? Teamwork? That’s laughable. Inside? Outside? What is it? I can’t really tell you at the moment. But, hey, all these regular season wins sure look nice.”

3 Shades of Blue: “Imma let Russell Westbrook finish, but he’s gotta know that Marc Gasol and the Grizzlies were just the better team this night. He should have been tossed after trying to shoulder-roll Gasol after his tech early on, and I’d like to thank Russell Westbrook for going 7-25 and 0-6 from three. Punkish behavior for sure.”

Tom Ziller of SB Nation on age vs. quality: “The Thunder have for three years been an anomaly: one of the best teams in the league, and one of the youngest. Oklahoma City is slowly getting older — Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka have not frozen time, and the James Harden-Kevin Martin swap added a couple years on the sixth man spot. But the team is elite and still younger than average. And this is the Thunder’s third year in the elite ranks. The championship window is absurdly wide open.”