Thursday Bolts – 3.10.16
Anthony Slater: “The vaunted fourth quarter started with Anthony Morrow, pried from a
rotational deep freeze, improving late in the shot clock to get two free throws off the rarest of successful post-ups. A bit later, Randy Foye slid a slick pass to Enes Kanter for a layup. Then Kyle Singler dunked, set up by the 18th of Russell Westbrook’s career-high 20 assists. The fourth quarter scoreboard, which has been so bad to the Thunder of late, was finally good to them on Wednesday night thanks to contributions from both the likely and unlikely. Final: Thunder 120, Clippers 108 – a fourth quarter lead convincingly kept and a brief sigh of relief heard across the state.”
Dan Woke of the OC Register on Wes Johnson and the Dirty Skirv: “Two years ago, Wesley Johnson woke up to a full bathtub in his room at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City. He never turned on the faucet. He never opened the door for someone else. The water, it just appeared. ‘It was crazy,’ Johnson said. The possibility of that aquatic haunting wasn’t crazy enough to scare Johnson out of the supposed haunted hotel because a tub full of water isn’t as bad as a bed full of bugs.”
My ESPN.com story from last night.
Kelly Dwyer of BDL: “The Thunder have worked through an embarrassing few weeks, losing routinely in close games against top opponents. And, because they’re the Thunder and employ Kevin Durant, each of these games has been on national TV. Rookie coach Billy Donovan has struggled at times to recognize his best rotations, and the team has sunk like a stone defensively over the last month, but this is still a squad that features Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka. Alongside several other intriguing contributors. Durant knows this. He knows that the Lakers are years away (if that), the Knicks are a joke, Miami probably can’t pay him a max deal, and that Washington has myriad issues to work through until it can stumble its way into a pitch. Golden State would be the leader, but that’s only if Durant turns down more money to stay in Oklahoma City.”
Dan Woike of the OC Register: “No one knows if Durant is going to leave at the end of the year for the Warriors. No one knows if he’s going to the Lakers, to the Miami Heat, to the Clippers or to the Knicks. No one knows because Durant’s offered few hints, and the unnamed sources, in this case, for now, have been relatively silent. It’s been an effective PR campaign as much as it’s been an effective season, with Durant rebounding from an injury-shortened 2014-15 season by returning to his MVP standards.”
This poll says Chris Paul definitely hit KD on purpose.
Danny Leroux for Sporting News: “If Durant does not join the Warriors, their offseason will be much more linear. Both Barnes and Ezeli will be restricted free agents so they can negotiate with Golden State while trying their luck on a thirsty market. Expect Barnes to have multiple teams willing to give him an offer sheet for three years at his maximum plus a player option, which would be a higher salary than both Green and Thompson for each season of their respective deals. Ezeli’s free agency will be more variable, especially since this season’s knee surgery reignited durability concerns.”
Fortune on Aubrey McClendon’s ownership stake: “Neither the Professional Basketball Club, the investment group including McClendon that owns the Thunder, nor Oaktree immediately responded to questions from Fortune about whether there are plans to put McClendon’s stake of the team up for auction. But it stands to reason that Oaktree, which specializes in distressed debt, would eventually seek to unlock the value of the NBA stake through a sale. Even if its agreement with McClendon does not grant it an actual ownership claim on the team, Oaktree could perhaps line up a buyer and broker a transaction with McClendon’s estate.”
Before the game, I wrote about the weird fourth quarter giveaways, if you want to read something that’s not really relevant anymore.
