Friday Bolts – 12.26.14
Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com: “During a particularly graceful stretch of four consecutive possessions in the third quarter, Westbrook was at his best. First, a pick-and-pop with Serge Ibaka in which Westbrook delivered the pass to his open teammate the instant both defenders came at him. Next, deep penetration off the dribble, then a jump pass to Andre Roberson in the right corner for an open 3-pointer. Forty-five seconds later, he finds Ibaka alone behind the arc off a pick-and-roll with Roberson. Finally, he gets his — quintessential Russ with a nasty drive to the hoop, splitting defenders on the wing, then contorting around Tiago Splitter at the rim. The takeaway here isn’t that Westbrook is a transcendent and versatile talent — we knew that. It’s that attacking and distributing aren’t mutually exclusive. Westbrook stayed as true to his job description on Thursday as he ever has, and he also led a collective shredding of the Spurs’ defense that left Gregg Popovich irate after the game.”
Rob Mahoney of SI.com: “This, more than anything, is what makes the Thunder so terrifying: They can shoot 52 percent from the field without their best player against one of the better team defenses in the league and leave the striking impression they could be doing even better. No team in the West should want any part of Oklahoma City come playoff time. The prospect of wrangling a team this explosive over seven games is daunting. That the Thunder makes this evident even without Durant in the lineup bodes well for their potential this season.”
KD on Westbrook: “Who cares what people say? [He should] just play his game. From watching the last two games, he’s the reason why we had a chance to win — his aggressiveness, getting his teammates involved. Sometimes it’s kind of hard in those situations, knowing exactly what to do when teams are making runs and playing you different ways. But I think he’s handled it well. Of course, he’s not going to be great every game, but that’s how the dice rolls sometimes. I think he’s handled it well to lead the team like he’s been doing.”
Durant on his ankle: “I can’t play basketball. I can’t run. I can’t cut. I can’t jump. I’m not just sitting out just because. If I could play I would play. But I can’t play.”
Anthony Slater: “And as expected, the avalanche came. Over the final two-plus quarters, Westbrook went 13-of-20 from the field, completely taking over the game. He did it with some powerful post-ups. He did it on some smooth drives. And he did it with some ridiculous off-balance, falling to the ground jumpers (two of them VINEd below). And though the late-game results were drastically different, Westbrook just did what he’s been doing every night since his return — scoring a ridiculously high and consistent rate. By game, here are his points in the 14 games since coming back late last month: 32, 21, 27, 22, 28, 26, 34, 28, 32, 33, 31, 29, 40 and 34 on Christmas Day. Right now, he’s averaging 28.6 points per game. If he qualified (you need to play in 70 percent of your team’s games, Westbrook has played in 53 percent as of now) that would lead the entire NBA. James Harden would be next at 27.0. He’s playing six more minutes per game than Westbrook.”
Darnell Mayberry: “On Thursday, Westbrook showed you in 35 wonderful minutes why he wasn’t overly concerned about the Thunder’s two-game skid. The reality is the momentum swung late in both contests and the Thunder simply couldn’t recover. As for his decision-making, Westbrook knew his heart was in the right place both nights. Even if others couldn’t see it, or perhaps refused to believe it, he simply was doing what he deemed best to secure wins, not sabotage his squad down the stretch. His failures as a late-game manager, however, became the story both nights. Yet when he flipped the script on Christmas Day, Westbrook didn’t hear a single question about how wonderfully he orchestrated the Thunder’s offense late against the Spurs.”
