Monday Bolts – 3.7.16
Anthony Slater: “Serge Ibaka timed his jump well, rose right through the forest of
outrageously long Milwaukee Buck arms and secured a crucial offensive rebound that kept the Thunder in possession, up eight, with 35 seconds left. A huge, game-sealing play. Then Ibaka threw it out to Kevin Durant, sprinted to the wing, received it right back and jacked up an ill-advised 3-pointer with 20 seconds still left on the shot clock. A head-scratching, silly decision that kept Milwaukee temporarily in it. The Bucks didn’t capitalize. OKC closed out a needed road win 104-96. But that late Ibaka sequence encapsulates the current state of the on-again, off-again Thunder.”
Kevin Durant on Nazr Mohammed: “We were going through the same thing we are going through right now,” Durant said. “Lost a few games in a row, we were struggling a bit, locker room was down. We were expected to be a contender. Nobody knew it from the outside, but the inside we were going through it a bit. And after every game, Nazr would invite all of us to his house. It would be Reggie (Jackson), Lazar Hayward, Royal (Ivey), myself, (Derek Fisher). We would just all hang out at his house after every game. He opened his doors for us and his wife was amazing just letting the boys hang out. It was just cool, man. It was something I always thought about when he left and all the other guys left. Just going through a tough time and he was always a guy to lean on, someone you could talk to about anything. Like a big brother.”
Mohammed on his blog: “Once I got the green light from my family, it was a fairly easy decision to make, given that I’ve played in OKC before. Plus, I have great relationships throughout the organization, from management to the players (especially guys like KD, Russ, Nick Collison and Serge Ibaka). I also played with Royal Ivey, one of the assistant coaches. And since Billy Donovan and I both played for Coach Pitino, I consider us part of the same basketball family. I have a pretty good grasp of this organization, which has always been so great to my family and me. I had such great experiences there, which is what made the decision to go back much easier. From a basketball standpoint, I have a lot of confidence in this team. I have high hopes that this is one of the five or six teams that could compete for a Championship. They have more than enough talent.”
Tom Haberstroh of ESPN Insider on the Warriors’ loss: “This wasn’t the Milwaukee loss when they were zombies following a double-overtime game on the second night of a back-to-back. The Warriors got smacked because the supporting cast has sneakily played underwhelming basketball for a while and they finally paid for it when the stars couldn’t hold their own.”
Berry Tramel: “And while Thunder cornerstones Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook do a decent job of holding teammates accountable, who exactly holds them accountable? Not the coaches. Not in the NBA. At least not anywhere north of San Antonio. This isn’t Hoosiers. Gene Hackman wouldn’t make a dent in the NBA. So this isn’t on Billy Donovan. The Thunder needed a ballplayer whose voice carries weight. Which explains Mohammed’s return.”
Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders: “By signing a two-year deal in 2016, and essentially postponing his full max contract, Durant would be able to pocket an extra $58 million. The gap is even wider when compared to signing a max four-year deal with a non-Thunder team this summer. In that scenario, he’d potentially be sacrificing nearly $100 million in guaranteed money. On the flip side, Durant has dealt with a foot issue, so maybe he would be hesitant to sign only a two-year deal and would prefer to lock in long-term deal as soon as possible? Only time will tell.”
