Seth Rosenthal of Posting and Toasting: “Melo hit his first two shots, but had an otherwise dreadful first quarter. Serge Ibaka funneled his drives toward help defense, then used the split second afforded by the arriving help and Melo’s pump fakes to recover and swat things. Then Melo picked up a second foul and departed, as mentioned above. The statute of limitations on that foul trouble permitted a return a few minutes into the second, at which point Melo commenced cooking soup. He hit threes off the catch, he hit twos off the bounce, and he rumbled into the paint for finishes, sometimes after a few extra attempts. All that work in the paint was most impressive. Melo didn’t draw a shooting foul in this game. Not one! All four of his free throws came on last-ditch intentional fouls in the final seconds. He spent the whole night bulling through contact to tip the ball back and back and back at the rim until it obeyed him, rarely wasting any effort to grouse about the non-calls. In darker times, I feel like Melo might’ve snapped and let the lack of calls affect his performance, but this is April Melo and April Melo is unflappable. He won’t flap.”
Jim Cavan of Knickerblogger with a song: “Cough-ups caused the foes to start the third ablaze, Another gear the Thunder found, but hey, nice try!, How I loathe Russ’s smugness, let me count the ways, Collison’s blood could likely make a Kleenex cry, Late the Bockers won by taking back the trenches, Nineteen OREBs on the day, nine by Melo’s strength, While New York held down the battle of the benches, Kidd’s head, Earl’s touch, and Copeland’s driving length, Shump slinked, Pablo panicked, and Novak hit a pair, While Reggie Jackson’s driving kept the contest close, Kevin Martin’s hoists all the day rang true and fair. And Derek Fisher’s flesh rot flopped into the nose” Keep Reading…
