Friday Bolts – 1.24.14
Jordan White of HP: “So often, Durant’s form is one of minimal effort and fluidity. Breathing may in fact be more difficult to Durant than shooting a basketball. The unorthodox form with which Durant shot those three-pointers against the Spurs and Trailblazers was one of the few times where it appeared as if Durant might actually have expended an iota of effort. Everything contained in those shots was everything previously absent in the season — tension, tragedy, excitement and humanity. Kevin Durant, by destroying the league, is saving the season.”
netw3rk for Grantland on KD: “As the game closed, Kevin Durant released a 3, flying in a perfect arc as if drawn by the hand of an invisible architect, and even before the ball had reached the halfway point of its journey, Kevin was backing away, secure in the inevitability of fate, and the jumper splashed, amen. When asked to describe his performance over the last 11 games, Kevin Durant opened his mouth to speak, but the sound was the sound of a thousand trumpets, and Heather Cox, so close to the sound, was struck deaf.”
Magic Johnson tweets: “To the most athletic point guard that ever played, @RussWest44 hurry back! Your man @KDTrey5 is holding it down for you!”
Tom Ziller of SB Nation writing about David Stern’s accomplishments, one being the dress code: “Player backlash was swift and vociferous; it became a rallying point of sorts, though controversy eventually diminished as stars complied with the rule to avoid sanctions and took their fashion sense in entirely new directions. We can likely blame Stern for Russell Westbrook’s shirts, for example. Whether good or bad, the NBA is now a bit of a hub for urban fashion, with young stars wearing some eye-opening clothes.”
I’ve got Serge Ibaka as an All-Star reserve.
Zach Lowe on the Heat: “It’s not all doom and gloom. Miami should coast into the conference finals, and when the inevitable Pacers-Heat matchup happens, Miami in that series will face a turnover-prone team with ballhandling issues. All smart teams adjust, over the short- and long-term. But the Heat’s level of play is worth monitoring now. There’s something a bit uneasy about them. A team that found a championship identity and spoke reverently of its importance is scrambling a bit to find a slightly altered one for a new season of challenges.”
The nation prefers “Durantula” to “Slim Reaper.” My take? I think I’m going to go against the grain and just start calling KD “Wayne.”
Little taste of the Slim Reaper shirt coming soon from Tree and Leaf.
Also, in case you missed them, a couple new other DT shirts.
