Monday Bolts – 4.8.13
Seth Rosenthal of Posting and Toasting: “Melo hit his first two shots, but had an otherwise dreadful first quarter. Serge Ibaka funneled his drives toward help defense, then used the split second afforded by the arriving help and Melo’s pump fakes to recover and swat things. Then Melo picked up a second foul and departed, as mentioned above. The statute of limitations on that foul trouble permitted a return a few minutes into the second, at which point Melo commenced cooking soup. He hit threes off the catch, he hit twos off the bounce, and he rumbled into the paint for finishes, sometimes after a few extra attempts. All that work in the paint was most impressive. Melo didn’t draw a shooting foul in this game. Not one! All four of his free throws came on last-ditch intentional fouls in the final seconds. He spent the whole night bulling through contact to tip the ball back and back and back at the rim until it obeyed him, rarely wasting any effort to grouse about the non-calls. In darker times, I feel like Melo might’ve snapped and let the lack of calls affect his performance, but this is April Melo and April Melo is unflappable. He won’t flap.”
Jim Cavan of Knickerblogger with a song: “Cough-ups caused the foes to start the third ablaze, Another gear the Thunder found, but hey, nice try!, How I loathe Russ’s smugness, let me count the ways, Collison’s blood could likely make a Kleenex cry, Late the Bockers won by taking back the trenches, Nineteen OREBs on the day, nine by Melo’s strength, While New York held down the battle of the benches, Kidd’s head, Earl’s touch, and Copeland’s driving length, Shump slinked, Pablo panicked, and Novak hit a pair, While Reggie Jackson’s driving kept the contest close, Kevin Martin’s hoists all the day rang true and fair. And Derek Fisher’s flesh rot flopped into the nose”
Darnell Mayberry: “Those who tend to take it easy on the team will say this the Thunder is in a brutal stretch. Those who are a bit more unforgiving will look at yet another lackluster performance against one of the league’s best teams and question whether the Thunder is a contender or a pretender. Oklahoma City finished 5-11 against the league’s five best teams: Miami, San Antonio, Denver, Memphis and New York. If you throw the Clippers, which is just a half game behind the Grizzlies record-wise, the Thunder is 8-11.”
Jenni Carlson: “Like the Knicks, the Rockets play games like they are track meets, and like the Knicks, they have 3-point shooters who can catch fire. James Harden. Chandler Parsons. Carlos Delfino. Any of those guys can hit from outside in bunches. That makes the Rockets a dangerous matchup for the Thunder. A first-round playoff series against the Lakers doesn’t pose nearly the problems for the Thunder that one against the Rockets does. Los Angeles is the likely No. 8 seed in the West — it controls its own destiny for that last playoff spot — which would be a heck of an accomplishment after the way it started the season. The Lakers have been playing well for several weeks, and if they hold off Utah and make the playoffs, they’re going to come into the postseason feeling good. But the Lakers wouldn’t be nearly the matchup headache that the Rockets would be for the Thunder. Los Angeles doesn’t want to run and gun, doesn’t have a bunch of outside shooters.”
The Knicks are shooting really well right now.
Per Marc Stein’s Weekend Dime: “122: ‘Clutch time’ is defined as the final five minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime with the score within a margin of five points. In 170 minutes of clutch time this season, Miami has outscored opponents by 122 points, good for a league-leading margin of plus-34.5 points per 48 minutes. The Thunder and Bucks are tied for second in that category, but with a margin of just plus-14.5 points per 48 minutes.”
More Mayberry: “New York committed an opponent season-low six turnovers Sunday and also made 15 of 34 3-pointers, completing a comprehensive day of defensive frustration, one that continued the troubling trend of the Thunder struggling against the league’s best. Now, only five games are left to figure it out, to find that defensive toughness, tenacity and consistency which has eluded the Thunder for much of the year. Today, it was just a disappointing regular season loss. Soon, the same issues could be much more costly.”
