Friday Bolts – 5.4.12

Matt Moore of CBSSports.com: “The jumpers were wet, and when that happens, you’re doomed against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Ball movement, rotations to find the open shooter, quality, sharp execution, and a hungry active defense. The Thunder had the formula. The Mavs looked too old to keep up, the Thunder looked too young to slow down. Oklahoma City, two years removed from being a scrappy underdog losing in six games to the reigning champs, walked into the house of the team that beat them a year ago and waxed them. The Thunder sent a message Thursday night.”

ESPN Stats and Info: “Kevin Durant had the best shooting night of his playoff career, making 11 of 15 shots. After making on 15 of 44 shots in the first two games (34 percent), he shot a playoff career-high 73 percent from the field on Thursday. His previous playoff high was 59 percent (13-for-22) against the Denver Nuggets last season. Durant was even better from mid- and long-range. After making only 6 of 21 shots from 15 feet or further in the first two games, he was 8-for-10 in Game 3.”

Fascinating piece on Deadspin from a former Sonics employee that went through the move: “In Seattle, we wanted to denigrate the Okies so much that we couldn’t even keep our prejudices straight. We heard Bennett and Co.’s accents and saw their regressive politics, and we labeled them rubes and idiots. At the same time, we painted them as sinister geniuses who’d cynically orchestrated the theft of our team, with David Stern as their co-conspirator. Resentful Seattleites are like those 9/11 Truthers who simultaneously believe that the government is both totally inept and guilty of perpetrating and covering up an immense terror plot. You can’t have it both ways. Either Bennett is an idiot who married into his fortune and lucked into the team, or he’s a canny businessman who played the game shrewdly and won. I have to think he’s the latter. I need only look at the organization he’s put together to know he’s running the club better than Schultz—the media-ordained genius—ever did. It was Bennett who brought in the architect of the club, Sam Presti, based on their mutual connections with the San Antonio Spurs. It was Bennett who allowed Presti to build slowly around Durant instead of demanding wins immediately. Sure, there was plenty of bad faith on Bennett’s part during the sale, but at this point it’s silly to expect anything else from a sports owner. Caveat emptor applies to us as much as it does to owners. They are running revenue-maximizing operations, and a fanbase is of use to them only to the extent that it makes them money. All we can hope for is that an owner cares enough about his product to give us something worth watching every year. By all evidence Clay Bennett cares about his product. Howard Schultz never did. Maybe that’s the ultimate deception in the Sonics’ story: A lot of us had the wrong villain all along.”

My postgame piece for CBSSports.com on last night’s win.

John Krolik for PBT on OKC’s win: “Essentially, this was the game where the Thunder lived up to their billing as the odds-on favorites to win the Western Conference, and the Mavericks looked like an aging title contender who gave up Tyson Chandler for a shot at getting Deron Williams or Dwight Howard next year. Mavericks fans should probably cherish their memories of the 2011 Playoffs right about now, because Dallas’ chances of repeating are about as slim as it gets right now.”

Cool reaction video to Game 1’s winner from the Norman Arts Festival.

Berry Tramel: “The Mavericks trailed by just six, Terry was about to make it a four-point game and American Airlines Center was ready for liftoff. Enter Serge Ibaka. Air Congo flew in from behind, let Terry release the ball and swatted the ball to Grand Prairie. The Rawlings looked like it had been shot out of a cannon. It sailed on a line sideways, the 25 feet to the out-of-bounds line and beyond. Over the heads of the rich and famous in the Nicholson seats. Past the peasants sitting behind them. The ball landed about seven rows up, with all the velocity of a baseball line drive. Holy guacamole, Mav fans seemed to say. And their team seconded the motion.”

Ibaka’s block was pretty awesome.

Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas: “The bottom line to it all, as much as the Mavs and their fans wanted to believe otherwise, is that this stripped-down version of the title team lacks essential parts to properly function. Gone: the fiery leadership, rebounding and defense of Tyson Chandler; the penetration of J.J. Barea; and the fierceness of DeShawn Stevenson. These Mavs really are too old and too slow to keep up with the Thunder’s remarkable foursome of Durant, Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and James Harden, all of whom have yet to turn 24. And to think this is the team most fans wanted over the Los Angeles Lakers. It probably didn’t matter.”

From Elias: “The Thunder rolled into Dallas and whipped the Mavericks, 95-79, to take a three-games-to-none lead in their first-round series. That is the largest margin of defeat in history by a team playing in its first home playoff game in defense of an NBA championship.”