Daily Thunder.com

The Thunder’s official site talked with the nice lady KD hit in the face: “Mrs. Liddell’s ‘souvenir’ for the night is a black eye from where the ball hit her, but she said she is fine. ‘That’s minor when you have somone [sic] like Kevin give me a kiss.’ She said Thabo and Jamal Crawford of the Clippers came over to check on her after she was hit the second time, one of the referees gave her a hug and Rumble came and sat in her lap. ‘After a while I said, everyone go away so I can watch that game again,” she joked.’”

Jenni Carlson on the 66ers new coach: “Darko Rajakovic knows that he is so close yet so far from the NBA. Even though the last two men who had the job he now has are currently coaching in the NBA, he doesn’t think about the next step. He lives the one-game-at-a-time sports cliché, but he comes by it honestly. Embracing the here and now is a lesson he learned during a time when bullets and bombs were as much a part of his life as basketball.” Keep Reading…

John Hollinger of ESPN.com on OKC’s offense: “Again, this is one of the league’s best organizations, and it’s quite possible that they’re engineering a dramatic response to these issues at this very moment. But as the Thunder strive to win a championship, it’s a bit jarring that the two main issues that were holding them back in the spring of 2011 are still in their way now. They have a commitment to a starting lineup that isn’t working, and a commitment to a starting center who can’t play. At some point they have to rethink those commitments.”

Justin Kubatko for the NY Times on Kevin Martin: “One thing to keep in mind is that it is still early in the season, and it is unlikely that Martin will continue to shoot at his current clip. But the good news for Thunder fans is that even if Martin regresses toward his career norms, he will still be one of the most efficient scoring guards in the league. Harden grabbed the headlines by scoring 37 and 45 points in his first two games with Houston, but Martin has been a steady force off the bench for Oklahoma City. Although it is much too early to make any sweeping judgments, thus far the trade has worked out just fine for the Thunder.” Keep Reading…

ROYCE COMES HOME TODAY!

Kevin Martin is super efficient: ”He doesn’t have to create his own offense as often this season. Martin is playing off the ball more this season alongside Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, as compared to last season when he had the ball in his hands more often. His usage percentage -– an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he’s on the floor — is 22.3, his lowest since 2005-06, his sophomore campaign with the Sacramento Kings. Martin is second in the NBA this season in catch-and-shoot points (behind O.J. Mayo). He’s shooting 52.1 percent on catch-and-shoot jumpers and has a 75 effective field-goal percentage on those shots. Now that he isn’t the focal point of his team’s offense, Martin is able to let his offense come to him. As a result, his shooting numbers have blossomed in Oklahoma City.”

Here’s an easier way to watch the new BIG commercial featuring Russell Westbrook: I’m still trying to figure out a way to teach my students this.

Go inside KD’s backpack: “Now thanks to Nike Basketball’s “Inside Access” series, which will provide an inside look at Nike Basketball through the lens of design innovation, with new features on the first and third Tuesdays of each month throughout the basketball season, here’s an answer to everyone’s favorite question: what exactly does KD carry in that thing? “Since I was seven years old, I’ve always been attached to my backpack,” Durant tells Nike Basketball. “It represents the hard work I learned from my family, and it will always remind me of my journey to get to where I am.”  Keep Reading…