Friday Bolts – 4.22.16
Rob Mahoney of SI.com: “He also badgered officials, loafed his way through transition defense
and gambled as he liked. This is Russell Westbrook, after all, merely clarified with a sense of what the offense needed at any given time. The passes came early and often. Beyond that, Westbrook did a nice job of backing down Raymond Felton for easy, collected scores when the situation called for it. When it was Durant’s turn, Westbrook made the entry pass and dove through the paint occupying the defense’s attention just long enough for Durant to throw a pass over the top of the defense or fire off an unbothered jumper.”
J.A. Adande of ESPN.com: “You might ask why all the stepping in the first place? It comes with Westbrook. Crazy outfits, harmless antics. Over the weekend, a former All-Star player told me he loved when Westbrook Kevin Garnett-blocked the Denver Nuggets mascot because it showed how ultra-competitive Westbrook is. But he also turned out to be hypersensitive. He never should have acknowledged Villanueva.”
Anthony Slater: “A few minutes later, Kanter powered through Salah Mejri and forced a foul. He went to the line for the first of his five trips, where he made eight of his 10 free throws. Then he got a transition dunk off a nifty Westbrook feed. Then he gobbled up a rebound putback. By halftime, he had nine points and five rebounds. OKC outscored the Mavericks by 17 in his 22 minutes. OKC outscored the Mavericks by 17 in his 22 minutes.”
Berry Tramel: “Heck, just follow the rest of Westbrook’s play. Anthony Morrow picked up the loose ball and got it right back to Westbrook, who fired a left-handed bullet pass to Enes Kanter running the floor. Kanter’s dunk gave the Thunder a 42-31 lead. Dallas knows what it’s up against. The Mavs, 38-point losers in Game 1, beat the Thunder in Game 2 with Westbrook and Durant missing 40 shots and committing 11 turnovers. And still Dallas won by just one point, with Steven Adams’ follow shot ruled a fraction of a second after the final buzzer. The gulf between these teams is vast. Think Kansas-Kansas State. Think Class 6A-Class 3A.”
Chris Mannix of Yahoo: “Durant isn’t bound for Washington, friends say, because … it’s Washington, it’s home, and, like so many athletes, Durant isn’t all that keen on returning to play in the city in which he grew up. Friends, family – some real, some claiming to be – all come out of the woodwork in those situations, and Durant, who has tightened his inner circle considerably in recent years, isn’t interested in dealing with them. His lone trip to D.C. this season was stressful, league sources told The Vertical, reinforcing to friends that wherever Durant signs next summer, Washington won’t be it.”
Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com: “Maybe the most frightening fact about Oklahoma City’s two blowout wins is that the Thunder haven’t had to get spectacular performances from their superstars to run the Mavs off the floor. That’s not to say that the Thunder’s stars have played poorly aside from Durant’s historically horrible Game 2 shooting performance, but they haven’t blown up by their All-NBA standards, either. Yes, a 34-point night for Durant and a 26-point, 15-assist outing for Westbrook are pretty ho-hum performances for them.”