Thursday Bolts – 1.14.11
Jonathan Feigan of the Houston Chronicle: “Shane Battier dove at the ball, smacking it with his right hand, and for one split second, the Oklahoma City Thunder might have thought a win in Houston would never come. The Rockets trailed by 13 with 2:03 remaining, but all but two points of the Thunder lead were gone with 20 seconds left. The Rockets were scoring on every possession. The Thunder had lost 11consecutive games in Houston and finally cracked with the win one bucket from certain. Battier had his chance at a steal, and by then there was every reason to think if the Rockets could come up with the ball, they would swipe the win, too.”
Jenni Carlson, calling out Charles Barkley or something: “Come to Oklahoma, Sir Charles. See our city for yourself. Stroll around Bricktown. See the Memorial. Go to a game at the Ford Center. And you agreed to visit. NEWS 9 anchor Kelly Ogle made the official pitch at the All-Star Game in Houston. He’d been critical of you in one of his “My Two Cents” commentaries, but he brought a gift basket and an invitation to come to Oklahoma. “I’m going to come there,” you said at the time. “I’ve got to look at the schedule, see when (the Hornets) are there for a weekend.” Did we mention it’s been five years since then?”
Jacob Mustafa of Red 94: “Because of the incomparable skills of both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, folding to the Oklahoma City Thunder late in what was once a nail-biter seems pretty easy. No matter the lead built or deficit overcome, those two men can shoot teams down on the first leg of ascent. Westbrook’s chaotic nature appears to make plays happen in dizzying spurts, forcing a viewer to keep an eye on him at all time in fear of what he might do or has already done while the audience blinked; this serves as a counter to the fluidity of Durant’s hammer, the grace and raw power that flow through every part of his meticulously crafted release that allow him to get off and drain shots other players wouldn’t consider putting up for fear of embarrassment.”
Honestly, LeBron backing off the karma tweet is worse than the tweet itself. Just man up and say, “Yeah, I said (tweeted) it.” Take a page from Antonio Cromarite.
Dime says KD is one of the most untouchable players in the league: “Not only is KD one of the three to five best players in the League and on pace to lead the NBA in scoring every year until his arm falls off, he actually embraces the small-town atmosphere of Oklahoma City and has fallen in love with his team and his teammates. The Thunder wouldn’t trade him for anybody right now. Not even home state hero …”
KD, posterizin’:
From Elias: “The Thunder defeated the Rockets despite being outscored 70-42 in the paint. Houston was only the second team to score as many as 70 points in the paint in an NBA game this season. The high was 74 by the Warriors against the Knicks on November 10. The have been three NBA games this season in which one team scored at least 38 fewer “paint points” than its opponent, and the team that was outscored in the paint has won two of those three games.”
Darnell Mayberry: “I had no idea during the game. But Green failed to grab a rebound again tonight. I didn’t realize it because I thought he played fairly well. It’s the second time this season and fourth time in his career that Green hasn’t pulled down at least one board. One of the comments under my game story on NewsOK.com points out a pretty strange fact. ‘Is there any other team that would ever have their starting SG get 13 rebounds and their starting PF get 0 rebounds in a game? Weird.'”
