3 min read

Thursday Bolts – 8.13.15

Thursday Bolts – 8.13.15
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Bradford Doolittle of ESPN Insider on the schedule: “But the big news comes in the four-games-in-five-nights category. These dreaded stretches have been substantially reduced, with just 27 on this year’s slate, as opposed to 69 a season ago. (There were 69 4-in-5s in the original 2014-15 schedule, but a 70th incidence was created during the season when a Kings-Knicks game was postponed because of weather.) It appears that the league was able to achieve this by cutting down instances of teams playing on three or more days of rest. Meanwhile, teams will be playing on one day’s rest 2.6 percent more often this season, and on two days’ rest 11.6 percent more often.”

Anthony Slater: “Forget the Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis matchup, which is about as intriguing as it gets. Or the revenge factor from last year, when Davis hit that infamous buzzer-beater and the Pelicans held the Thunder out of the playoffs. This one will mark the return of Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City. The ornery but lovable big man took his lumps from Thunder faithful during his tenure in the metro, but the bruising enforcer carved out a memorable place in this franchise’s formative years. He will get a much deserved monster ovation.”

Kevin Durant: “No disrespect to anyone else but I feel like I’m the best player in the world.”

Matt Moore of CBSSports.com: “Well the answer’s pretty simple. In order to be the best player in the game, you have to believe you’re the best player in the game. Durant is saying the same thing that James, Curry, or Harden would say. It’s part of the ethos of being an elite player. Davis is probably the only one who wouldn’t make that claim, and that’s only because he’s still young and trying to be respectful of the veterans before him.”

Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com: “Though the season is not being extended, the back-to-backs were reduced because TNT agreed to give up exclusivity on Thursday nights and more teams can now play that night. Also, ABC agreed not to have exclusivity on Saturday nights. This enabled the All-Star break to remain a week long, a change to the schedule that increased back-to-backs last season.”

Here’s my big list of can’t-miss games.

Nice d’aww story from Jenni Carlson: “So, here we were giving Lilly a comp registration, but how was Michelle going to pay for Mateo? Or the trip? Or the hotel? Or anything else coming all the way from Kansas City to Oklahoma City? I started emailing people. First up were Jerry Wagner, who is in our advertising department and does a ton of stuff with sports, and Will Gage, who is in our marketing department and is our connection with KD’s camp. Did we have any hotel contacts who might do a reduced rate or even comp a night for Michelle and the kids? Then, I reached out to Love’s Travel Stops. Everyone in the Love family is big supporters of the Thunder. Would they be interested in donating a gas card to help pay for some of the Reynolds’ driving expenses? Before I could figure out who to contact next, I got a reply. Love’s didn’t just want to help with gas. It wanted to pay for the entire trip.”

Melo and LeBron had a laugh at Westbrook yesterday.

Matt Moore of CBSSports.com on the schedule: “Meanwhile, back-to-backs have also been cut significantly, from an average of 19.3 per team to 17.8. The impact of these kinds of changes should be significant in reducing the number of injuries, especially when combined with the longer All-Star break the league instituted last season. The league has not made the move to pull the season start-date back while reducing the preseason, but that determination could be made next year.”