Monday Bolts - 11.10.08 - Daily Thunder

Highlights from last night’s game. Be prepared to spend two to three minutes watching and re-watching Russell Westbrook’s two-handed flush.

Peachtree Hoops’ reaction to last night’s game: “I see another good defensive performance (Only deemed “good” rather than “excellent” due to the opposition. If you’re going to be without you’re best interior defender, the Thunder are going to make you pay for that as little as any team in the league.), another excellent rebounding night from Solomon Jones, another perfect three-point shooting night from Marvin Williams (and a key three it was), and the scenario that concerned me before the season: 27 minutes for Flip Murray (14 points on 14 FGA and 4 FTA) and 6 minutes for Acie Law IV.”

Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “You can’t just expect to come in here and roll over this team,” the Hawks coach told his players at their morning shootaround practice prior to playing Oklahoma City. “It doesn’t work like that.” Hours later, trailing the lowly Thunder by seven points with 6:45 to play before a thunderous crowd of 18,231, Woodson’s words must have still been ringing in his players’ ears. It’s a good thing they listened.”

Someone (where’s the byline?) from the Oklahoman makes the case for more Westbrook and I course, join them in that: “Almost as disappointing, though, was Westbrook sitting the bench during crunch time. The rookie point guard threw down an explosive slam with just under 8 minutes remaining in the game. That gave him what was then a team-high 15 points. But after a timeout, Westbrook was replaced and played less than a minute the rest of the game. Why?”

Ball Don’t Lie Behind the Box score: “Here’s a reason to feel terrible for Thunder fans: Oklahoma City still has that tradition (superstition? I don’t know where it came from, besides the NCAA) of standing until the home team puts in its first point. On Sunday night, they had to stand for a good eight or nine minutes of real time until the Thunder threw in its first free throw. Then the home fans were treated to a solid game, in parts, even if they probably didn’t know who any of these guys were (I’m not talking about the big fans or the bloggers, but the neophytes, and there’s nothing wrong with that) save for Mike Bibby. Russell Westbrook continues to look at the part of a someday semi-star, Earl Watson ran a good show for a while, and the Thunder almost pulled off another surprising Sunday night win.”

Joe from Thunderguru on last night: “Why do other coaches use their timeouts and ball stops to insert offense for defense, yet P.J. doesn’t seem to believe in the concept? Why do we let Atlanta finish the fourth quarter with an 18-5 run and turn a blind eye to the obvious mismatches? Why do we allow Atlanta to block 9 of our shots, and three in the fourth quarter while we play small ball? When their bigs get tough with us under the rim, all we can do is foul them and send them to the line for freebies. Ok, enough of my soap box. I think I’ve made it clear that I blame this loss on Coach. It isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last I’m sure.”