Friday Bolts – 3.12.10

Chris Douglas-Roberts has heard of the Skirvin and has avoided it: “Yes!! We’re NOT staying in that haunted hotel in Oklahoma City. If we were I would’ve checked into the Ho-down Inn around the corner.”

James Harden will be a question tonight: “Rookie guard James Harden suffered a strained right hamstring when he landed awkwardly in the second quarter of Wednesday night’s win. Harden ran beyond half court after play stopped to try and stretch out the hamstring. Harden played the rest of the game but did not practice Thursday. “It just tightened up on him,” Brooks said. “We don’t know (if he’ll play tonight). We’ll see how he feels after he gets treatment. It’s day to day.”

NBA.com’s Five on the Rise: “It’s been more of the same from Westbrook, who returns to the Five on the Rise thanks to another solid week. After a rough road loss to the Nuggets, Westbrook was his usual box score-stuffing self against the Clippers (15 points, nine assists, seven steals, six rebounds) and Kings (21 points, eight rebounds, four assists). He gets some bonus points with us, too, for shaking off a poke to the eye — and the six stitches afterward — from Sacramento’s Carl Landry to power a comeback win over the Kings. More impressive than playing through the injury was how Westbrook played in Sacramento: He fearlessly drove to the hoop and had a key left-handed layup with 44.3 seconds left to seal the win. He’s already got a big supporter in coach Scott Brooks and another Oklahoma coach — the Sooners’ Bob Stoops — said he’s impressed with Westbrook, too. “6-3, long arms, ballhawking skills,” Stoops told The Oklahoman of Westbrook. “He’d have made a great cornerback.”

KD on Clipper Darrell: “I think the Staples Center is the only arena where someone has heckled me so much. That’s not to say I don’t get yelled at in other opposing arenas. People talk about my mom, my grandma, everything. I’ve been called skinny, been told I need to eat, but it’s all good. It’s nothing I get too upset over.”

Here is a most excellent picture I was sent of someone getting their Broingtons shirt signed by James Harden:

15 teams use a stat person, 15 don’t, according to this report from the Wall Street Journal: “According to interviews with every team, The Wall Street Journal found that half the league’s teams this season have at least one of these statisticians who helps make in-game, draft-day and trade-deadline decisions. Many of these teams are among the NBA’s best. The list accounts for all six division leaders, including the Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks, who have a data analyst traveling with the team. These 15 teams that have invested heavily in statistics have combined to win 59.3% of their games this season. The 15 teams without such analysts have won 40.7% of their games, and only three—the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz and Atlanta Hawks—are on pace to make the postseason.”

A great photo gallery of the Thunder with pictures from practice, the locker room and game shots.

Right now, OKC is eighth in home attendence. There’s a great chance the Thunder will finish top 10, which is cool.

From ESPN the Mag this week, they present the “Anti-Durants,” a list of guys that have gone the longest without scoring 25 points in a game. Kevin Ollie makes an appearance on the list with 656 consecutive games without scoring 25.