Thursday Bolts – 4.21.16

Anthony Slater on Westbrook’s defense: “Westbrook can terrorize opponents on defense. Twice

this series, just the threat of his strength and speed combo has spooked Dirk into a couple fumbles on would-be post-ups. But he’s only good when he’s locked in, which he wasn’t down the stretch on Monday night. The Thunder doesn’t need him to publicly own up to that. But OKC does need him to correct it.”

Andrew Keh of the NY Times: “The professional sports locker room is a sanctuary, a place that is supposed to be free of outside distractions. At halftime of an N.B.A. game, for instance, players sit attentively, absorbing the coach’s instructions. They rehydrate, and maybe even change into a fresh uniform. Their focus for those 15 minutes rests entirely on what must be done in the second half to win the game. Except when they’re flicking through their smartphone notifications on the sly.”

David Thorpe has thoughts on KD.

Berry Tramel: “Payne became Westbrook’s partner just from “goofing around. We dance all the time.” Their dances are improv. They dance in the tunnel leading onto the court, then dance in front of the scorer’s table a minute before tipoff. The crowd loves it. Just because these guys get paid exorbitant amounts of money to send the entire state into euphoria or despair doesn’t mean they can’t slip into tomfoolery on occasion. The dancing is not disrespectful. And Charlie Villanueva knows it. He also knows the Mavericks have little chance of dancing with the Thunder stars.”

The Thunder are opposed to a new gun bill in Oklahoma.

Zach Harper of CBSSports.com: “Game 2 wasn’t good for OKC. Durant shot horribly on the night and they failed to cash in on one seemingly easy game-winner in a flurry of opportunities. But I don’t think this struggle or the previous struggles spell doom for the Thunder in the next round against the Spurs. Kawhi Leonard is a great defender, but Durant is still the best all-around scorer in the world. Danny Green and Tony Parker are still overmatched by Westbrook. And the athleticism this Thunder team possesses can cause problems for the plodding Spurs. I’ll still put my money on the Spurs winning that series, but let’s not sleep on the Thunder and pretend they don’t have enough to disrupt what’s supposed to be a collision course in the conference finals.”