Thursday Bolts – 1.2.14

Anthony Slater: “Durant’s November was good. Good enough to be named the Western Conference’s Player of the Month. But in December, he was far better. Overall, in the 17 games, he averaged 29.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists on 54 percent shooting overall and 48 percent from 3-point range. He had 10 games of 30 or more points. He had seven games with double-digit rebounds. His team went 14-3. Player of the Month worthy. Again. Now, if he could just solve those Blazers…”

Jeff Caplan of NBA.com on Westbrook: “That’s again the hope and belief. Cranky knees have drastically affected Dwyane Wade‘s ability to play effectively throughout an entire season and the Heat now closely monitor him. Wade, 31, has already sat out seven of Miami’s first 30 games to keep him fresh for the long haul. For Westbrook, with far less mileage on his body, to endure similar restraints would be a blow individually and obviously the for a Thunder team that had again looked like a worthy title contender.”

KD appears to be LeBron’s only MVP challenger.

Kevin Pelton of ESPN Insider: “Possible long-shot MVP contenders like Anthony Davis and Kevin Love have largely fallen by the wayside, leaving the runner-up the past two seasons (Kevin Durant) as the only serious threat to LeBron James earning his third consecutive MVP award. If James pulls it off, he’ll tie Michael Jordan and Bill Russell with five MVPs — one behind all-time leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — and become the first NBA player ever to win five in a six-year span.”

Interesting: James Harden doesn’t move very much on a basketball court.

Ethan Sherwood Strauss in a 5-on-5 with a bold prediction: “The Rockets will trade James Harden. He’s bad at defense and they care about things others don’t seek to quantify. I could see Houston trading Harden for some depth and high draft picks.”