Thursday Bolts – 4.2.15
Berry Tramel: “But the truth is, without Ibaka and perhaps Roberson, this Thunder team is incapable of playing solid defense. Much less the elite defense required to win Western playoff games. At times in the second quarter, the Thunder had D.J. Augustin, Morrow and Enes Kanter on the court together. You can sometimes hide an abysmal defender; you can’t hide three. Later in the period, Scotty Brooks played 3-point specialist Steve Novak for four minutes, with a clear mission: guarding Dirk Nowitzki. In the third quarter, Brooks even tried Perry Jones, who has been in the doghouse for months. Nothing worked against Dallas. Nothing figures to work against Golden State, should the Thunder hang on and make the playoffs.”
Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas: “How often do three teammates score 30-plus points … and play on the losing team? Per Elias Sports Bureau, it hadn’t happened since 1997. You’d have to go all the way back to 1995 to find the last time it happened without overtime periods. Well, welcome the Oklahoma City Thunder to a select club.”
Lee Jenkins of SI wrote about Russell Westbrook: “Last fall Westbrook watched a video of his reactions to plays positive and negative. He noticed how the Thunder responded to his body language for better and worse. “Let’s say a teammate turns it over, and I’m screaming and moving my hands, you can see in his face that he let me down,” Westbrook explains. “And then, on the next play, you can see the lack of confidence.” The opposite was also true. When he celebrated a teammate for hitting a shot, another bucket often ensued. “I saw how my energy can bring the group very high or very low,” Westbrook says. “It was a huge thing for me, a great thing.” He shared his observations with coach Scott Brooks, a former point guard. “Even if the guy should have caught the pass, you have to take the heat,” Brooks says. “You have to take the blame. You have to tell him, ‘My bad.’”
I wrote about the Thunder’s terrible defense for ESPN.com.
Tramel also wrote this: “What I’m about to say sounds like nonsense on the surface. But I think it’s true. The Thunder, as currently constructed, as it sits here on April 2, misses Serge Ibaka more than it misses Kevin Durant. Long-term, no. In most situations, no. But this Thunder team? It needs Ibaka’s defensive protection more than it could use Durant’s all-around greatness and spectacular scoring.”
Darnell Mayberry: “Against the Mavs, they were plenty: poor pick-and-roll defense, non-existent rim protection, slow closeouts, silly fouling, not stopping the ball not rotating fast enough to the ball, whether on the perimeter or at the rim. The Mavs had 35 assists on 56 made field goals, both setting opponent highs this season. Dallas turned the ball over just six times, an opponent season low that tells the story of how lax the Thunder defense was.”
