Friday Bolts – 3.14.14

Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com on Coach of the Year: “Scott Brooks loses Russell Westbrook for over half a season and OKC barely (yeah, I said it, “barely”) misses a beat, and starts playing below-average ball only when Westbrook returns. And not one of those aforementioned gurus above is front-running for this year’s NBA Coach of the Year.”

Caron Butler on playing with Russ and KD: “Him and Russell [Westbrook], man, they’re amazing. I played with some great players and he’s one of the best scorers I’ve ever played with. And you know he’s a willing passer, too. That says a lot about him at this point of his career, a young guy who’s a superstar that is willing to pass the ball and make other people better. Now, at this point in his career, that’s amazing.”

Lang Whitaker of NBA.com ranking contender concerns: “I’ll go Pacers, then Thunder, then Heat. To work in reverse, as I’ve said before, the Heat strike me as the type of team that understands their limitations and are focused only on June and the NBA Finals. They may lose a game here and there, but as long as they’re ready this summer, that’s all that matters. To me the Thunder struggling of late isn’t as much about Westbrook assimilating but the loss of Perkins and Sefolosha. They already work with such a thin bench, to be without two starters is really tough. As for Indy, that’s the team I’m most concerned with. I know they’re trying to work in their own new guys (Turner, Bynum), and perhaps we’re just seeing a bit of boredom/insolence work its way out of their systems, but as a group that hasn’t been to The Finals, to me they’re the one team of these three with something to prove. They can’t afford to coast.”

Gregg Popovich doesn’t think Pat Beverley did anything wrong: “I haven’t noticed him being dirty. I’ll say that,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. “When the name Beverley comes up, the first thing that comes to my head is he’s a monster defender and really gets into people and does one helluva job. Maybe he’s done things that I haven’t seen. But I have never thought of him as dirty. I’ve always thought of him as physical and really good at it.”

Harden says the Rockets got sidetracked by all of Beverley’s antics.

Darnell Mayberry: “Westbrook is certainly doing his part. Since returning from a third knee surgery, Westbrook has dominated as a scorer but still made defenses pay with the pass. He displayed both early against the Lakers, scoring 11 points with three assists in the opening period, finding Durant and Steven Adams for easy layups.”