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Ethan Sherwood Strauss of Bleacher Report: “We need to find a middle on this whole Russell Westbrook debate. People who yell that a team will never win it all with Westbrook as point guard are probably the same people who doubted that LeBron James could ever get a ring. “Will never” is usually a flawed place to start an argument or discussion. I’m also not with the people who say that we must accept the bad Westbrook plays because it’s all part of his aggressive style. Why sell the guy short if we believe he can be great? There’s no reason for why Westbrook has to take contested pull up threes with 20 seconds on the shotclock. He should cut that out because it’d be a mighty squandering of talent not to.”

Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com on why the Clips are better than OKC: “So far, Del Negro has done a great job of balancing the different choices instead of tinkering too much from night to night. In a possible playoff series against the Thunder, Del Negro would have more flexibility with his finishing lineup than Scott Brooks, who tends to rely on Kendrick Perkins down the stretch no matter the matchups. The Clippers also have a variety of options to defend stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. On the wing, Del Negro will have three solid defenders with length in Matt Barnes, Caron Butler and Grant Hill once Hill works his way back from a bone bruise in his right knee. At point guard, both Bledsoe and Paul are terrific defensively, and Bledsoe is one of the few lead guards in the NBA who can match Westbrook in terms of sheer athleticism.” Keep Reading…

Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com with some thank yous: “To Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant: A couple of years ago when he was filling in as the interim head coach in Denver for a recovering George Karl, Adrian Dantley was asked why the Nuggets’ pick-and-roll defense was struggling. He responded incredulously, saying there was no such thing as “good” pick-and-roll defense, that even the best protection against an NBA ball screen was nothing more than damage control because two professional basketball players in that action were virtually unstoppable.  That’s certainly the case when those two guys are Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, who worked in tandem on a number of occasions on Christmas to positive effect.”

Kelly Dwyer of BDL on Perk calling out some teammates: “By any measure, though, Perkins is the weak link. So why is he the loudest voice? The half-full approach gives us a half-empty response, which we don’t mind, telling us we’re big dummies that do not know what’s going on behind the scenes of a team Perkins has been charged to lead as a former NBA champion. We’d love it if Perkins’ words were not only a smartly-crafted and tactful set of shots at an anonymous player or players that deserve it, but one that led to greater things for his team. Without that elucidation, though, we’re left to wonder. And while a person’s character shouldn’t be judged too harshly by a rise of temper in the waning moments of a big game, Perk didn’t mind showing his teammates up after a play that seemed to be completely his fault. While complaining more and more behind the scenes later. We’d like to hear more from Perk. Thunder fans might be getting to a point to where they want to see less of him, though.” Keep Reading…