Thursday Bolts – 3.3.16

Berry Tramel places last night on two people: “A frustrated Thunder fan sent me an email

early Thursday morning. It was succinct. ‘Who gets fired?'” He was talking, of course, about the Thunder’s total meltdown in the fourth quarter at Los Angeles. The Thunder led 85-65 with 30 seconds left in the third period and 95-81 with five minutes left, yet the Clippers won 103-98. My answer was succinct, too. You can’t fire the guys responsible. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.”

Anthony Slater: “Kevin Durant, who went from dominant to lost as the game turned to its most crucial moments, couldn’t hold onto the ball. Durant fumbled itaway on a crucial drive with under four minutes to go. It fortunately landed in a teammate’s hands and then swung back to Durant. So he tried to drive again. And he fumbled it again, this time to Jamal Crawford who turned it into a layup. It was one of his six giveaways.”

Ananth Pandian of CBSSports.com: “Oklahoma City is third in the West and have 1.5 game lead over the Clippers. With 21 games left in the season, if the Thunder become more disciplined as Durant says, they should be able to maintain their lead over the Clippers and finish as the third seed in the West. But with their recent play, that is looking like a big if. So now it is up to Thunder to finish the season strong and show that they are indeed a true championship contender.”

My ESPN.com story on last night’s debacle.

Tramel on Aubrey McClendon: “It’s no stretch to say that without Aubrey, the NBA would not be in OKC. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and the Hornets needed a temporary home, Bennett put together a corporate sponsorship team, called the Pioneer Partners, led by Aubrey and Chesapeake, that wowed the NBA with its speed and breadth. When Bennett formed an ownership group to buy the Seattle SuperSonics, Aubrey was a partner so enthusiastic his emails of OKC support drew a $250,000 fine from the NBA. When that ownership moved the Sonics to Oklahoma and created the Thunder, Aubrey remained content to leave the business and basketball to Bennett, supplying only cheers at the games and a financial safety net for shaky times that have yet to come.”

KD says the Thunder are fooling themselves.

Kelly Dwyer of BDL: “Kevin Durant doesn’t want any more wake-up calls (at least not from that hotel), but perhaps this Clipper loss served as an appropriate, final one. The Thunder has been made to look silly in front of a national audience four different times in a fortnight, and that tends to burn. Durant isn’t looking at the final six weeks of the regular season as his last go-round with the team – even if he bolts for another franchise on July 1 he genuinely isn’t working with one foot out of the door – and he wants the chance to get this right. No injury excuses, no coaching carping, no Kendrick Perkins, no nonsense. Kevin Durant wants to be a part of the upper crust, and he’s got a month and a half to drag his team by the collar into the realm of the elite.”

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “Whenever a coach starts openly wondering if there’s an accountability problem in his locker room, there already is. It’s moved in and set up shop in its very own cubby, with a gold name plate, charging station and everything. Accountability problems typically don’t come with 10-day contracts. Once they take hold in a locker room, they’re fully guaranteed. Sometimes, the Thunder are brilliant, as they were for most of a tight, back-and-forth showdown with the Warriors on Saturday night — a game punctuated by Curry’s cruel, 38-foot pullup at the end of overtime. Sometimes, they are downright maddening, as they were in the second half against the Clippers.”

Sam Amick of USA Today: “Westbrook made it clear that he was trying to get fouled in his train wreck of a game-winning attempt, when he leaned into Chris Paul and Jamal Crawford for a three-pointer in those final seconds that clanged off the glass. Donovan, who continues to offer candid commentary on this team that he has been coaching for just six months now, was far more focused on the troubling themes of the collective effort than he was Westbrook’s miss.”

Barry Petchesky of Deadspin: “There is no reason to freak out just yet; the regular season has six weeks to go, plenty of time for ships to be righted—or for cracks to widen. But the West, which not long ago looked like it had the clear three best teams in basketball, now looks like it might be a four-horse race. Or, more worryingly for the Thunder, just two.”

Ethan Strauss and I talk tonight’s game and what’s going on with the Thunder.

Tom Haberstroh of ESPN Insider on best duo: “They might be the best scoring duo in NBA history (considering pace and efficiency), but their overall box score production is impressive as well. If we pull up their player efficiency ratings (PER), we can see Westbrook (28.9) and Durant (28.2) rank second and third, respectively, in the NBA. (Curry reigns supreme at 32.9.) No other team features two top-10 players in PER. Combined, Durant and Westbrook have a 57.1 PER, while Curry and Green put up just a 52.1 combined figure. So, OKC has the best duo in the NBA, right? Not so fast.”