Thursday Bolts – 4.11.13
Ethan Sherwood Strauss tries to sort out the fourth best player in the league: “He’s a fine passer and an incredible athlete. If only that shot fell a bit more often, if only his decisions were a bit better. Though the public mood swings rightfully cause concern, this has been another impressive Westbrook season. Again, he’s highly involved in a great offense. If Russ could just stop inexplicably taking terrible, early shots off the dribble, he could even do better than ‘fourth-best player.'”
Darnell Mayberry: “Oklahoma City has gone 3-1 in the first four games of this month and, despite the difficulty of the schedule, has made things look rather easy. In those three wins — against the Spurs, Pacers and Jazz — the Thunder limited its opponents to an average of 81 points on 38.9 percent shooting. OKC out-rebounded those teams 146-118, which included a 34-26 advantage on the offensive end.”
KD and a few others checked out the Giants yesterday.
Jenni Carlson: “Is the Thunder a title contender? With only a week left in the NBA’s regular season, you can answer that question with a hearty yes. Despite trading away an all-NBA-caliber player right before the season, Oklahoma City is once again among a handful of teams that could win the title, and for a small market team, that is a big-time accomplishment. Don’t let the fun pass you by, Thunder fans. Don’t get so wrapped up in what could go wrong or what might happen next that you forget to enjoy what’s going on right in front of you. What we’re witnessing is pretty amazing.”
Who owns Iman Shumpert’s head?
Kevin Pelton of ESPN Insider on if OKC wants to avoid the Lakers: “Alas, the numbers don’t back that up. Oklahoma City would be at least a 95 percent favorite against either eighth seed, making the Lakers (or better yet the Utah Jazz) the choice over the Golden State Warriors. The worst-case scenario from the Thunder’s standpoint would be slipping to second and seeing the Houston Rockets finish seventh. While Oklahoma City would still be a heavy favorite in that scenario, the Thunder can’t relish the prospect of seven games against former star James Harden. Looking further ahead, Oklahoma City would hate to see the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals. The Nuggets won the season series 3-1 and injured Danilo Gallinari wasn’t a major factor in the four games, shooting just 31.1 percent from the field. In the semifinals, the Los Angeles Clippers look like a much more favorable matchup for the Thunder than the bruising Memphis Grizzlies, who took the series 2-1 and won in Oklahoma City in November.”
Kelly Dwyer of BDL: “In years past, “these are the Lakers” meant something positive. It meant, “never count these bad dudes out.” For the last two years, though, it’s just meant disappointment as we watch what should be great teams on paper fail themselves on the court. And that’s without even getting into the 9-3 record Oklahoma City owns over Los Angeles dating back to last year’s regular season. We’ve got a week to go before we get there, though. A week to worry if Russell Westbrook is shooting too damn much, and a week to wonder if the Lakers could actually start to play to their potential in the 2012-13 regular season, much less the postseason. Whatever the outcome, the bookends race in the Western bracket has been must-watch TV.”
