Monday Bolts – 4.29.13
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “The performance was powerful, if inefficient. Durant had the ball in his hands to the start game, dictating tempo and turbulence and constructing for these Thunder a 26-point lead. From bringing the ball down the court to lunging at Jeremy Lin for a steal as the Rockets guard called timeout, the way Patrick Beverley had done on the Game 2 play to injure Westbrook, there hung an element of tribute in the air. Nevertheless, Oklahoma City lost the lead, largely because Durant struggled to make too few of his 30 shots, because Kevin Martin and Thabo Sefolosha and Nick Collison missed 21 of 27 tries together. At times, yes, Durant tried too hard, but the statement to his teammates was unmistakable in the absence of Westbrook: I can do this. Most of all, he needs to show them: We can do this.”
Marc Stein of ESPN.com: “Durant showed up Saturday night at the Toyota Center badly wanting to transmit to the rest of the basketball universe that the Thunder won’t be just rolling over and waiting ’til next year in the wake of the lunchtime confirmation that Westbrook, after undergoing knee surgery, indeed won’t be back this season. But the wild ride that ensued, with Harden uncharacteristically missing five free throws and committing two costly turnovers in the final two minutes after playing more than 40 minutes without one, left a different sort of impression. Now everyone knows just how heavy Durant’s load just got if he simply wants to lead Russ-less OKC back to the Western Conference finals.”
Gregg Doyel of CBSSports.com: “But after watching how this game started and then nearly got away from the Thunder, and after talking with Brooks — after telling him what I saw, and asking if he saw the same thing — I’m telling you: Brooks didn’t see it. He didn’t get it. That can change between now and Monday night, when the Thunder will try to finish off the Rockets in Game 4 at the Toyota Center. Between now and then Brooks will watch the tape. Talk to his staff. Talk to Durant. Either he’ll see it, or he won’t. Either he learns, or he doesn’t. Durant has to dominate the ball for the Thunder, as they are currently built with Westbrook out for the season following Saturday’s knee surgery, to do anything significant in the Western Conference. Beating the Rockets? That would be nice, but that wouldn’t be significant. The Thunder are the No. 1 seed in the West. The Rockets are the eighth seed. Beating the Rockets without Westbrook, after building a 2-0 series lead with him, wouldn’t be significant.”
Ben Golliver of SI.com: “Outsiders should take a more skeptical approach, if only because the Westbrook-less Thunder’s warts are worse than Westbrook’s warts. Oklahoma City is now down to one shot creator, one explosive scorer and two true ball-handlers (Durant and Reggie Jackson). They also lack the on-ball disruptive element Westbrook brings on defense: After forcing 15 turnovers in Game 1 and 16 turnovers in Game 2, the Thunder forced 11 in Game 3, and the word “forced” would be overly generous, given Houston’s carelessness. The Thunder are now fully on Durant’s shoulders and he’s not shrinking from the responsibilities in the slightest. But the first glimpse at life after Westbrook made Oklahoma City look exceedingly more beatable and prone to chance and good fortune (the bounce of Durant’s three, the amazing spin on Ibaka’s over-the-shoulder shot, Derek Fisher’s “right place, right time” steal) than they did as recently as Wednesday. Durant was going to need to do more, that much was a given, but it often looked like he was being asked to do too much.”
Steph Curry’s third quarter was magical.
Dan Devine of BDL on KD pulling a Beverley on Lin: “Surely, any similarity is purely coincidental … right? Westbrook, like many Thunder fans, was reportedly “irate” at Beverley after learning he’d suffered a tear on the play, which is a play Beverley has made before, a play that Westbrook himself has made before, and a play that plenty of other players have made before. Now, Durant’s part of the club. I wonder if we’re going to hear lots of breathless opining from columnists and TV talking heads about how Durant’s play was “bush league,” as many called Beverley’s play. About how the All-NBA forward so brazenly violated one of the unwritten rules of the NBA game by taking a hard, unnecessary swipe at Lin, who’s playing Saturday with a chest contusion suffered during Houston’s Game 2 loss on Wednesday, or about how the 24-year-old All-Star is a cheap-shot artist who has no respect for the integrity of the game and the way it should be played, charges popularly levied against the heretofore little-known Rockets guard after Game 2. Somehow, I doubt it.”
Ballerball on the injuries hovering over this postseason.
From Elias: “Kevin Durant led all scorers with 41 points, while also pacing all Thunder players with 14 rebounds and four assists in Oklahoma City’s 104-101 Game Three win at Houston. Only two other NBA players have scored 40-or-more points while leading their team outright in points, rebounds, and assists in a playoff win by three-or-fewer points: Oscar Robertson did that for the Cincinnati Royals at Boston in 1963, and Paul Pierce did it for the Celtics at Indiana in 2003.”