Friday Bolts – 11.21.14

Darnell Mayberry with a great piece on the Thunder’s immediate future: “That’s why these next eight games will reveal to us who this 2014-15 Thunder team is. Six of these next eight games are against teams with a combined record of 24-46. Five of the eight are at home, beginning with Friday’s rematch against the Nets, the first of a four-game home stand. Of course, the Thunder already has fallen to three of the team’s in this typical cakewalk of a stretch, losing to the Jazz, Pistons and Bucks. So wins against anyone are far from a given. But many of these next eight have become must-wins. How will the Thunder respond? The season could be slipping away, and so far this situation has resulted in only close-but-no-cigar efforts and sparked never-before-seen skepticism from the fan base.”

Andrew Gilman of Fox Sports Southwest: “Ibaka is averaging 4.8 3-point attempts per game and is shooting 36.8 percent on 3s. That’s fine when there’s no one else to take them, but he’ll become more valuable when Durant and Westbrook return doing what he’s done over the past few years. Ibaka is averaging 15 points per game, but he’s been resistant to getting into the paint. Maybe it’s because Ibaka is not wanting to tire and he’s trying to conserve energy by avoiding contact in the paint as he is one of the best options left on offense for the Thunder. He took just two of his 15 shots from the paint. Ibaka only took two free throws on Wednesday against Denver, too, showing his inability to get to the basket and to settle for jumpers. Ibaka took three free throws against Utah and none against Houston, Detroit or Boston. He has six games this season with no free throw attempts. That basically means Ibaka is taking too many jumpers.”

Berry Tramel on how the Malice in the Palace changed the NBA: “In OKC, this is what the NBA looks like. Not just Westbrook dunking or Kevin Durant scoring or Serge Ibaka blocking shots in the third row. The NBA looks like Kendrick Perkins with a Santa hat on during a holiday shopping spree for a needy family, or Jeremy Lamb calling out Bingo at a senior citizen center, or Westbrook, with a fractured hand, serving Thanksgiving stuffing to awestruck kids. That’s not what the NBA looked like 10 years ago.”

Grant Jerrett has been recalled. Again.

Ben Golliver of SI.com saying what I’m saying: “(The NBA might consider a shot-blocking competition for All-Star Weekend in which Payton and Sixers guard Tony Wroten fly toward the basket at full speed, serving up circus attempts for the likes of Davis, Serge Ibaka and Larry Sanders to smash into the audience or pin against the glass.)”

Interesting from Eli Saslow of ESPN the Mag on Melo: “He arrived in New York as an eight-year veteran, but in some ways those first months in New York taught him how little he actually knew. He felt scrutinized in Denver, but everything intensified in New York: expectations, successes and failures, all played out every morning on the tabloids’ back pages. This is a place where fifth is never good enough and where his legacy is not just a private preoccupation but a citywide saga. He thought coming to New York would increase his influence and amplify his voice, but instead he now believes it mostly distorted it.”