Monday Bolts – 3.6.17

An update for the faithful commenting community of Daily Thunder: If you haven’t

noticed by now, there was a change in commenting systems. This is due to Livefyre shutting down its system and sort of leaving us high and dry in looking for a viable option to replace it that is sturdy and has the live element. We’re looking into a number of options and after a week trial of Disqus, we’re gonna see if we can find something better. Hang with us.

Brett Dawson: “Westbrook finished with 29 points, six rebounds and five assists, snapping a streak of four straight games with at least 40 points that had been the longest in the NBA since Kobe Bryant did it in 2011-12. As Westbrook got heated, his team stayed cold on the road. Oklahoma City has lost seven straight away from home since it beat the Pelicans 114-105 on Jan. 25 in New Orleans. The Thunder is 12-20 on the road and this week was swept on a three-game road trip against opponents — Portland, Phoenix and Dallas — that ended Sunday with a combined record of 72-114.”

Neil Johnson of ESPN.com: “While Thunder fans might not be too excited about a first-round playoff exit, you could make the case that it will be an accomplishment just for the Thunder to make the postseason after losing an MVP-caliber player like Durant. The fact that the West likely will have two 60-plus-win teams in it further narrows their chances of a meaningful playoff run. Even if the future is a little murky for the Thunder — they should be capped out this summer, and Gibson is just a rental — there’s always the chance that Westbrook can take over a playoff series. Watching him play at 100 percent night-to-night is a treat not many fans get to experience.”

Westbrook’s triple-doubles chances have dropped form 81 percent to 62 percent.

Rebecca Lawson of Mavs Moneyball: “Despite leading for most of the game, the Mavs really had trouble early with Steven Adams. Adams is a great player in his own right, but the Mavericks really don’t have anyone who matches up well with him. Nerlens Noel has been great, obviously, but he still doesn’t quite have the size to match up with Adams, and when Noel was off the court, Dallas had someone helping on Adams at almost every step. Fortunately, because of the fourth bullet, that didn’t matter much tonight. Still, it’s a problem for this Mavs team when they play opponents who have Adams-type players the rest of the way out.”

Mark Cuban doesn’t have Westbrook as an MVP candidate.

Marc Stein’s third trimester MVP: “Harden has the slight edge with us here entering the season’s final 20 (or so) regular-season games, undoubtedly helped by Oklahoma City’s slip to seventh in the West despite all of Trimester 1 MVP Westbrook’s triple-double brilliance. But the time to truly put their respective cases under the microscope is about a month from now. We’re here today to pay tribute to the perennially overlooked excellence that emanates from San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard, whose résumé for the season’s middle third can live up to anyone’s you wish to submit.”