Friday Bolts – 9.10.10
The Thunder were the inspiration for the original Z-Graph and it returns: “It was April, and it was 2009. The Thunder weren’t winning much yet, but Sam Presti’s architecture was starting to reveal itself. This was a team with whom traditional positions simply didn’t register; at times, it was as if they ignored position altogether and just played the game. We and a few others had for some time sensed that basketball was headed in this direction. Oklahoma City, despite its poor record, was poised to force a change in thinking, scrambling positions to make more, not less, sense of the players Presti had assembled.”
Is Scott Brooks on the hot seat? Well judging by history, I suppose he is.
Thundergroud Radio is hosting a live call-in show this Sunday after the gold medal game. So if you feel like doing so, give ’em a shout and talk some hoops.
A nice interview with Rich Cho: “We came from Burma in 1968 when I was three years old. The first time I went back was six years ago, and it really made me feel even more grateful to have the opportunity to be educated and grow up in the States. Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of resources, and we struggled quite a bit. We were on food stamps for a long time, welfare. My dad worked the graveyard shift at 7-Eleven and my mom worked in a library and took an hour-long bus ride into work every day. Coming from a humble background made me not only hungry to succeed, but I also wanted to make my parents proud.”
Former Thunder person Joe Smith is about to sign with the Nets.
Coach K on why KD played so much yesterday: “I learned in coaching you should give your best player the ball a lot of times to make you look good as a coach,” Krzyzewski said. “Probably the worst coaching move would have been to take him out of the game.”
Adrian Wojnarowski was not a fan of Coach K’s motivational tactics yesterday: “To get past the dogged, undermanned Russians, Krzyzewski riled up that old Russian hate for his players and the public. It sniffed of desperation, but Duke’s coach isn’t taking the chance of becoming the first national coach in history to fail in winning consecutive world championships. Never mind the myth of sportsmanship in international basketball, Krzyzewski used up and spit out a most disposable Blatt.”
Chris Silva on yesterday’s game: “Westbrook was a blur on the court. He knew his teammates needed to get something going in the second half so he did what he’s done best: play the passing lanes, force turnovers and get everyone’s juices flowing with some electrifying fast-break dunks. You could tell Westbrook was playing with a ton of adrenaline. One moment he was getting into the paint and dishing out to Chauncey Billups for a 3-pointer, the next he was applying full-court defensive pressure. One moment he was gambling in the passing lane, the next he was soaring through the air for an emphatic dunk and showing emotion.”
