Friday Bolts – 6.6.14

: “In a way, Westbrook’s the extreme face of the Thunder, a team that can take on the world when they get that feeling, but can appear very mortal when they’re not utterly, inescapably on. Nobody does this little dance with death quite like Westbrook—he’s practically a caricature of it–but to varying degrees, we’ve also seen it hold true for Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka, Reggie Jackson, and pretty much every other player of note on OKC. Maybe it’s youth, maybe temperament, but this is a team that, for better or worse, relies on emotion to put them over the top. That, as much as Ibaka’s injury, is why their season is over and San Antonio’s is headed to the NBA Finals.”

Noam Schiller of Hardwood Paroxysm: “At just 25 years old, enough of Durant’s prime (maybe, terrifyingly, all of it) should still be ahead of him to get out of that dark spot. And this should be the main takeaway from any Durant missives that dare try and present a career-long perspective – this is incredibly premature. But much like LeBron before him, Durant has done so well as the youthful underdog that he’s accelerated his own timeline. Now no longer playing with house money, staring free agency two years down the road and playing in a league where no long-term guarantee is safe from torn ligaments and Anthony Davis’ wingspan, there is an increasingly loud urgency factor.”

Darnell Mayberry: “It’s official. Scott Brooks is coming back next season. Most expected that to be the case. But listening to Jeff Van Gundy on the call reminded me of how I thought he could have been in play had Sam Presti pulled the plug on Brooks. Instead, the Spurs are one win closer to allowing me to see if my Pop theory will soon play out.”

Derek Fisher reportedly discussed the Knicks job with Phil Jackson on Wednesday.

Ben Golliver of SI.com on last night’s shenanigans in San Antonio: “The high temperature in San Antonio was 91 degrees on Thursday, and the outside temperature still topped 83 degrees after the 8 p.m. local time tip. Inside the building, it was sweltering. Fans, stadium employees and media members sweated through their shirts. Tim Duncan said that “cramps started setting in” for “a couple of different guys.” Greg Oden, who didn’t play a second, sat at his locker room afterwards, wearing an oversized ice pack on his head like a French beret. During breaks in play, the AT&T Center crowd looked like a flock of crows flying at full speed, with thousands of patrons using black fans to try to keep cool. ABC’s Doris Burke reported during the telecast that temperatures on the floor reached as high as 90 degrees.”