Thursday Bolts – 3.28.13
Steve Marsh of GQ on the NBA’s style wars: “Consider the OKC Thunder. When they’re in uniform, Westbrook and his All-NBA teammate, forward Kevin Durant, are the league’s youngest, most exciting Batman-and-Robin act; in street clothes—the term feels nearly archaic—they are two opposite fronts in the NBA’s escalating style wars. If Westbrook is the NBA’s Kate Moss, then Durant is trying to become its Kate Middleton—aristocratic and punctilious. Whereas Westbrook invites regular hazing from Charles Barkley and three-quarters of Twitter for dressing like a badass Ziggy Stardust in glammy Neil Barrett silver-leather shirts and Givenchy hoodies, Durant keeps it on the Take Ivy tip, seldom venturing far from the prepped-up hipster look favored around the league of late, pairing his Air Jordans or AF1s with various combos of custom-tailored cardigan, collared shirt, and corduroys. He’s running for president, not leading an insurgency.”
Berry Tramel on Derek Fisher: “Against the Wizards, Fisher made some solid plays. A couple of steals, an assist, a rebound. What appeared to be solid defense. And though we joke about the intangibles, truth is, Fisher does bring them. Experience. Calmness. Readiness. A locker room presence. Heck, for all I know, Fisher serves as some kind of dorm monitor for the still-young Thunder. Maybe everyone shapes up with Fisher and his five NBA championship rings around. I don’t have a problem with Fisher playing, so long as his minutes don’t get too high. Brooks played Fisher 20.4 minutes a game last season, then upped that to 22.3 in the playoffs, same as Thabo Sefolosha. Which is just nuts.”
Scott Brooks: “He hasn’t made shots, that’s no question. But the good thing about it, he does so many things for us. He’s a very physical, smart, cerebral defender. He got a couple of steals and he always seems to be in the right spot taking charges. His shots are going to fall. He’s going to get three or four shots a game and there’s going to be a streak where he had earlier in the year where he made nine out of 12. That’s part of being a guy that comes off the bench that’s not going to be a focal point of the offense. I don’t worry about his last shot. I just want him to believe in his next shot.”
Darnell Mayberry: “Wonder what would have happened if old friend Daequan Cook missed 18 straight shots?”
The Lost Ogle with seven reasons why Fisher is playing: “There’s just something Derek Fisher brings to the court that you can’t put into stats. You know, when he’s out there on the court missing threes, I think the other players are inspired by the majestically failing arc he puts on the ball. Or maybe when he’s running on a fast break and gets completely and utterly blocked by Amare Stoudemire, as you can see in the video above, other players think about how they could have simply dunked the ball and avoided that situation altogether.”
John Wall says he’s the fastest player in the league.
From Elias: “Kevin Durant was 10 for 10 from the free-throw line and Russell Westbrook was 10 for 11 in the Thunder’s win over the Wizards on Wednesday. Durant and Westbrook have each made 10 or more free throws in a game four times this season; all other NBA players have combined for three such games this season and no other duo has done so more than once.”
Per ThunderStats: “Derek Fisher recorded his 5th straight game with at least 2 field goal attempts without a make, matching the longest such streak since 1985.”
John Rohde: “There’s also power forward Serge Ibaka, who last season finished runner-up to New York’s Tyson Chandler for NBA Defensive Player of the Year. If Ibaka’s all-around defense has improved this season — and it has — does that make him worthy of Defensive POY? Even the scoring tandem has joined the act. Brooks earlier this season endorsed Westbrook as one of the league’s premier point guard defenders. With 10 games left, Durant is averaging his career-high in blocked shots, steals and defensive rebounds. When is the last time a team leading the league in scoring and shooting also had three worthy all-defensive consideration? I’ll let you know when I find out.”
Ben Golliver if SI.com gives Jeremy Lamb an incomplete: “Lamb hasn’t gotten the chance to show he is or isn’t more than another potentially valuable asset in GM Sam Presti’s war chest. The scoring guard has played more than 10 minutes only twice, owing to the depth (Thabo Sefolosha, Kevin Martin, DeAndre Liggins, Reggie Jackson and now, sadly, Derek Fisher) in front of him. The Thunder acquired him in the James Harden blockbuster but might eventually decide that he is more valuable as a trade commodity than as a player. For now, Lamb’s affordable rookie contact and the fact that he appeared to have significant upside coming out of UConn provides a fall-back plan for OKC as it considers Martin’s fate in free agency this summer.”
