Daily Thunder.com

David Thorpe of ESPN Insider: “Westbrook’s will to win pushes him to an interesting conundrum. When he is making shots, he distributes the ball beautifully, orchestrates a devastating attack and is ready to explode when the defense spreads out to cover their scorers. When he is missing shots, he wants to keep shooting as if he must be the one to get his team going. Mediating that urge is simply part of a player’s maturation process. The Thunder are scoring 110.5 points per 100 possessions, which is the league’s best and a full two points better than what the San Antonio Spurs led the league with last season. When Westbrook is making shots as well as distributing them, the Thunder can easily continue leading the league in scoring efficiency. Indeed, they won four of their past six games by double figures, including huge blowouts over hot teams (Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors) on the road.”

Mike Wise of the Washington Post on KD’s MVP chances: “Steve Nash. Larry Bird. Mark Price. Reggie Miller. Dirk Nowitzki. That’s it. That’s the list. And Nash and Bird are the only players to do it more than one season. Durant is now on pace to become No. 6 in the .50/.40/.90 club. Third in scoring, he takes two fewer shots per game than LeBron and Carmelo, the other two genuine MVP candidates. He’s also averaging career highs in assists, steals and blocks. As good a season as Anthony is having, Durant is a better defender; he plays both ends of the court as well as anyone outside of LeBron. And clutch, so clutch.” Keep Reading…

Jonah Bromwich of Off the Dribble on 50-40-90: “There is still a lot of season left. And while Durant has built a small cushion with his 3-point and field goal averages, he will need to stay focused at the line to join the ranks of the 40-50-90 pantheon. His free throw percentage in his last five games was just under 90 percent, and with only a tiny buffer between his current percentage and the dreaded 89 percent, every missed free throw represents a missed opportunity.”

From Elias: “The Wizards, who entered Monday with a record of 4-28 (.125), posted a 101-99 home win over the defending Western Conference-champion Thunder. Last month, Washington brought a 1-13 (.071) record into a victory over the defending NBA champions, the Heat. Only one other NBA team has ever posted victories over each of the previous season’s finalists in games it entered with a winning percentage under .200 (minimum 10 games). In 2004-05, the Hawks were 3¬-15 when they defeated the defending-champion Pistons, and 9-37 at the time of their victory over the Lakers, the runners-up in 2003-04.” Keep Reading…

From Elias: “Russell Westbrook scored 23 points and Kevin Durant added 22 in the Thunder’s 104-92 win at Toronto. It was the fifth consecutive game in which both Westbrook and Durant scored at least 20 points. They had two such streaks of at least five games last season. Only two other pairs of teammates did so even once during that time: Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum (5 games last season) and Stephen Curry and David Lee (5 games last month).”

Marc Stein’s power rankings: “Tough to move the Thunder up after the shock of (A) OKC getting spanked at home by the Nets and (B) Kevin Durant getting ejected near the end of that spanking. Can’t get too worked up about it, though, when KD & Co. are 17-3 in their last 20 games and 23-1 when they score 100 points.” Keep Reading…