Monday Bolts – 12.9.13
Darnell Mayberry: “I don’t know if Durant feels threatened by George, views him as the new kid on the block that’s coming for him or just doesn’t care for the dude. Either way, we saw a side of Durant tonight that we rarely see. He took the matchup personal and made it a point to outplay George. Publicly, I’m sure KD would disagree and even deny it. But his play spoke volumes.”
Jenni Carlson: “Now, all things being equal, there’s no way the Thunder is 20-plus points better than the Pacers, but Sunday showed that OKC is clearly better. So, if the Pacers would finish a long season on the other side of the Finals matchup, the Thunder has to like that. Has to like it a lot.”
Russ is OKC’s new player union rep.
Pretty great picture from Gabe Ikard last night.
I enjoyed this from Bill Simmons: “If you’re not checking out NBA.com’s SportVU numbers, you’re missing out on NBA nerdvana. For instance, I mentioned Teague’s mini-leap this season: 16.8 PPG, 8.0 APG and 17.96 PER, although he’s in a 3-point-shooting slump (just 26 percent). Well, you know what happens if we cover every NBA court with cameras to measure everything an NBA player does? We find out things like “only five players average nine-plus drives per game” and ‘one of those five guys is Jeff Teague.’ Where has this stuff been my whole life? I wish SportVU covered The Walking Dead.”
Anthony Slater: “Toward the end of Wednesday’s loss in Portland, after another hard fall, Russell Westbrook was noticeably limping. Then, two days later in New Orleans, he missed shootaround with an illness. Among the Thunder masses, with Westbrook’s two offseason knee surgeries still fresh in mind, there seemed a sprouting seed of concern.”