Friday Bolts – 1.3.14
Darnell Mayberry: “With the Thunder’s offense needing him in the worst way, Durant scored just four points in the final period. He had two turnovers and one very fortunate assist. Brooklyn loaded up and locked him down. His catches were tough. His lanes to the basket were non-existent. Everywhere he looked, he saw at least six sets of eyes. Shaun Livingston was hounding him on the perimeter. Kevin Garnett was ignoring Serge Ibaka and sitting in Durant’s lap. And at least one additional defender was waiting with a foot in the paint. This is how teams are again game-planning and playing Durant without Russell Westbrook watching from the bench.”
Rob Mahoney of SI.com: “Oklahoma City’s offense, then, suffers for all the differences between the two. It becomes far easier for opposing defense to overload on Kevin Durant, which then hinders his ability to get to the rim and shapes his shot selection. The shift saps the offensive impact of Serge Ibaka, who feeds off of Westbrook’s dribble penetration. The sets and sequences don’t change, but their execution does — from Jackson’s own style to the way defenses respond to him. Even with all those factors to account for and address, there’s still plenty of opportunity for OKC to subsist without Westbrook. Where they’re likely to come up short is in managing anything further — particularly the championship designs the Thunder cultivated over the last four seasons.”
J.A. Adande of ESPN.com: “I like the concept of the Thunder. They were the most impressive team in the West before Russell went down. I’m just not as high on their chances anymore because we don’t know how Westbrook’s knee will hold up. He lasted 25 games before he needed to go back to the shop. He’ll need to play almost twice as many games if he comes back right after the All-Star Game and the Thunder make a deep playoff run. Which makes me think: His projected return date is right on the line between precaution and prepared. You don’t want him to rush back, but he also needs time to get his timing and game conditioning back and for his teammates to readjust to him. I wouldn’t wait much later than February if I were him.”
KD dominating another small child on a basketball court.
Ben Polk for TrueHoop on that wild Thunder-Wolves game two years ago: “On March 23, 2012, the Minnesota Timberwolves slouched into Oklahoma City to play the Thunder. Both teams were wobbly with fatigue, the result of the grueling, lockout-compressed schedule. The Thunder were cruising to the top seed in the Western Conference while the Wolves were shredded by injuries — Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic and Michael Beasley were all on the shelf — and mired in another wrecked season. We thought we knew what was coming on this Friday. Kevin Love would grab some rebounds. Kevin Durant would score a bunch of points. The Thunder would roll the Wolves in routine fashion and we would all say goodnight, see you again tomorrow. The season would grind on. Instead, we got was a minor classic, a wildly exciting, two-overtime, 149-140 Thunder victory.”
