Monday Bolts – 5.28.12

Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com: “Durant also made a few nice plays as a half-court improvisor. It’s fun watching Kevin Durant be a playmaker, something that’s starting to happen a little more regularly. The pindown from Perkins has been Durant’s morning coffee within the Oklahoma City offense over the past year. So it was nice to see the Perkins screen result in a pass to the big men when Leonard tried to top-lock the action. Perkins rumbled hard to the hole, where Durant found him to extend the Thunder’s lead to seven.”

Gregg Doyel of CBSSports.com: “Russell Westbrook was wearing huge brown glasses after Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, glasses that were as showy and useless as he was during the game. See, his glasses had no lenses. I’m not telling you he was wearing clear lenses. I’m telling you, he had no lenses. Just huge brown frames. For show. Which offers a certain symmetry, given the way Westbrook played for the Oklahoma City Thunder in their 101-98 loss to the Spurs on Sunday night. A three-point game? Sounds close. Sounds exciting down the stretch.”

Matt Moore for PBT: “Are there tangible things Durant can do better? It’s hard to say. Should Westbrook or Harden improve? Undeniably. But Durant has the most advantages, as usual, more than usual. It was clear from the start. Durant is going to have to be more than just a scoring machine. He has to be dominant in every area, making a difference on every level. That’s how good the Spurs are.”

Berry Tramel: “Kevin Durant was finding ways to score and Russell Westbrook was throwing himself all over the court with unbridled energy and Thabo Sefolosha and his defensive-minded big men were keeping the Spurs at bay. Through three quarters, the Thunder looked all grown up. Looked capable of knocking off the Spurs, who hadn’t lost in 46 days. Looked capable of making the NBA Finals. Then suddenly, the Thunder looked scared. Dazed. Confused. Young. Awfully young.”

Darnell Mayberry: “This has got to be a gut-wrenching loss for the Thunder. Every player knew they let one slip away. A nine-point fourth quarter lead, on the road, in a game you had to have to snatch home-court advantage. You can only shake your head after the way the Thunder tightened up and blew this one. It was there for the taking, and the Thunder couldn’t take it. It’s the same old story when these two teams meet. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this has the potential to be pretty demoralizing.”

Jan Hubbard of SI.com: “While four key players for the Thunder are 23 or younger, they have obviously benefitted from deep playoff runs the last two years. They play loosely and confidently. But the issue that arose Sunday was whether they can play with focus and, when needed, restraint. When they were at their best in Game 1, that’s how the Spurs played — well, like that with a nice dose of nastiness thrown in for the head coach.”

Fran Blinebury of NBA.com: “These were the Spurs that nobody had seen in more than a month while they were rolling over opponents by more than a dozen points a game. These were Spurs not cutting diamonds, but using jackhammers. These were the Spurs that Gregg.i.am demanded to see and that No. 3 coaxed and cajoled and inspired through the fourth quarter, some of the attitude that is unmatched anywhere. Well, almost. “You wanna see nasty?” asked a grinning Jackson. “Go interview my wife. That’s nasty.” Note to Durant: Run if you see Mrs. Jackson loosening up.”

J.A. Adande of ESPN.com: “Hope is a dangerous concept in the NBA this time of year. There’s much more comfort to be found in probabilities and trends. The good news for the Thunder is that Harden shot 59 percent against the Spurs in the three regular-season games and got to the free-throw line seven times per game. The bad news is the Spurs didn’t have Ginobili in those games. And right now San Antonio has the O.G. Ginobili, and the Thunder have a duplicate made by a copy machine that’s low on toner.”

The Flaming Lips wrote a Thunder song.

Ethan Sherwood Strauss of HoopSpeak: “When Harden predictably slashed towards his open strong-side lane, he was easy to time-up, easy to thwart. When Harden attempted to go against the grain on the left side of the court, his shaky right hand was an issue. On the right side of the court, he was shaded so heavily that leftward drives weren’t a consideration. It’s impossible to prevent James Harden from beating his man left when he has the rock on the court’s left side. Perhaps Popovich knew that he couldn’t prevent this anymore than the Drug War could prevent drug use. So instead of fighting the inexorable, the Spurs dealt with the predictable–like one of those savvy Nordic nations. In doing so, San Antonio made their success inevitable.”

Jesse Blanchard of 48 Minutes of Hell: “In that fourth quarter the San Antonio Spurs attempted 18 free throws. Prior to that they managed a meager seven for the game. Some of the credit belongs to backup center Tiago Splitter for drawing two quick fouls to start the fourth. Though his free throw shooting has dropped of a cliff in these playoffs, his ability to draw fouls still remains an overall plus, especially when it helps get the Spurs in the bonus early–at which time Manu Ginobili feasts on drawing fouls and getting free throws (five fourth quarter attempts).”