Thursday Bolts – The Eve of Christmas Edition
A lot of people have Christmas Eve off, but I didn’t give myself that. I woudn’t anticipate any Christmas morning
Bolts though. Anyway, you should be spending that time doing something else.
Story on James Harden from his hometown paper: “James Harden is so bland he makes vanilla jealous. Ask him a question, and he spouts a cliche. Ask him another question, and he gives you a quote that’s so boring it could put itself to sleep. In a 100-yard dash with dull, he’d lose by 90 yards. Maybe that’s why I like him so much. Harden’s ego could have gotten a kick-start the last few months. The Oklahoma City Thunder took him with the third overall pick in the NBA draft and then presented him with a three-year, $10.7 million contract. Yet Harden is the same unassuming, unselfish kid that thrilled Arizona State fans for two seasons before bolting to the NBA. He doesn’t talk smack, hog the basketball or act like the world revolves around him.”
Chris Sheridan looks at next year’s salary cap: “The Miami Heat are the most conservative in their estimates, basing their planning for next summer’s cap at $52 million. The New York Knicks are using $53 million as their operating number, and the New Jersey Nets are being the most optimistic, expecting the cap to come in between $54 and $55 million.”
The Daily Dime asked all of us what we wanted for our team for Christmas.
FanHouse dropped OKC to 17 in its rankings, but that was before last night: “Interesting Utah would hand an up-coming player such as Eric Maynor to a Northwest Division rival. The Thunder will take it, adding Maynor to its impressive stable of young talent. Oklahoma City does need a boost, having lost five of six. At least third-year forward Kevin Durant, who overall is having a top-notch season, bounced back with 30 points in Tuesday’s tough 111-108 loss to the Lakers after he had averaged a pedestrian 17.3 points and shot very poorly in his previous three games.”
Valley of the Suns recap: “But yet again the Suns forgot about that all-important 90 percent desire that goes into rebounding and allowd ex-ASU standout James Harden — who finished with 14 points — to corral the long rebound and dish it to Durant who drilled virtually the same shot he missed earlier in the possession. Down four with 14.4 left on the clock, the Suns simply couldn’t muster up enough late-game magic to steal a victory. The Thunder played extremely well especially for a team coming off of a back-to-back against the Lakers, but the Suns’ lack of “go-get it” mentality ultimately lost them the game.”
I found this sort of funny. It was caught during last night’s Suns broadcast:
Scott Brooks says the rotation will stay the same for now: “Serge Ibaka, who grabbed a career high 14 rebounds against the Lakers on Tuesday night, has been getting minutes in crunch time. Brooks, though, said he likes his current rotation and has no plans to change the starting lineup.”
