Friday Bolts – 11.20.09
PROGRAMMING NOTE: I will be going out of town for a few days. Daily Thunder will still be up and running at full capacity though. Joe will take you home. BUT,
your Monday – Wednesday Bolts of next week will be missing. I hope I didn’t destroy your day. But the pregamers and postgamers will be up in a timely fashion as always. And thank you.
Jack McCallum on Bill Simmons’ book: “Some critics complain that The Sports Guy could’ve written The Book of Basketball in far fewer than 700 pages and 7,000 footnotes. But that’s like walking into a Greek restaurant and yelling, “Why the hell is there baklava on the menu! I hate baklava!” Oversized is what you get from Simmons, who can safely be called the only human being to bring the relationship between Mario Lopez and Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Saved By The Bell stars in the early 90s — I had to look it up) into a discussion about the relationship between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.”
Kevin Durant, Evan Turner fan: “Evan Turner is the real deal…i love his game! he plays point gaurd for ohio state..at 6’7!!!”
Darnell Mayberry on KD’s shoulder shimmy, something I’ve always wondered about: Kevin Durant begins his routine by mumbling three motivational words to himself, a quick reminder of his purpose as all eyes descend upon him. “Knock it down,” the Thunder forward says as he marches to the foul line. Durant takes a deep breath, relaxes his shoulders. He spins the ball, takes one dribble and bends his knees. While crouched, Durant gives the ball one last spin as he scrunches his shoulders twice over. The last bit, the shoulder shimmy, is the quirk that’s become a staple in Durant’s free-throw shooting routine and the latest in a long line of peculiar free-throw rituals by NBA players. “I don’t even think about it. I just do it,” Durant said of his unique free-throw approach. “Sometimes I don’t even remember I do it.”
Nick Collison has still been on a bum ankle, but it’s improving: “Collison is emerging as the Thunder’s top interior reserve. The past week, Collison has played some game-on-the-line, fourth-quarter minutes. He said an ankle injury that’s hampered him since training camp is 90 to 95 percent healed. “It feels pretty good but it was still a little tender in our last home game (last Sunday),” Collison said. “Hopefully it will keep improving. It depends on what happens in the game. If I jam it or something it’s sore the rest of the night.”
NBA.com looks at five players on the rise: “
Why does Sefolosha — who shot 23.8 percent and had a 4.3 ppg scoring average in three games last week — land in the Five on the Rise? Because during his struggles, Sefalosha slowed down one of the NBA’s elite players (Miami’s Dwyane Wade) and pestered another (San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili). The Thunder’s go-to defensive stopper was quick to give credit to his teammates as he and Oklahoma City kept Wade to 22 points on 6-for-19 shooting in Tuesday’s win at Miami. “Everybody did a very good job playing team defense,” Sefolosha told The Oklahoman. “You have to be excited going against guys like (Wade). The team did a tremendous job closing down his drives and taking away the easy stuff.” Against the Spurs, Sefolosha helped keep Ginobili to an 0-for-8 night and also held Richard Jefferson to 1-for-4 shooting in a big win on Saturday in San Antonio. Oh yeah, and Sefolosha had what was essentially the game-winning steal on Jefferson, too.”Fox Sports’ power ranking: “Two weeks ago, they followed a rout of Magic with a loss to Kings. Last weekend they beat Spurs in San Antonio, then lost at home to Clippers. That’s talent and immaturity in action.”
Another reminder: Daily Thunder t-shirts are coming soon. Tell your friends. We should be releasing some designs in the very near future so be ready for those. The first run is going to be slightly limited so if you’re interested, don’t hesitate.
And another thing: No Smart Thoughts of the Week this week. You guys didn’t say anything smart! Kidding of course. Just didn’t have a chance to get to it and I promise they will make a glorious return next week.
I hope one day we don’t have to REALLY regret passing on Roddy Beaubois: “Beaubois was an unknown who was supposed to be too raw to contribute. Injuries have forced him into the rotation, and he has responded by attacking the basket and playing solid defense. “Beaubois brings a different kind of athleticism and feel for the game,” Carlisle said. “He has done a lot of extra work with Jason Kidd, that has been great for the kid. And we need him.”