Tuesday Bolts: 01.21.20

The Thunder did it again, coming back to beat the Rockets yesterday in glorious fashion. Brandon Rahbar recaps the action.

Russell Westbrook finally got his first triple double against the Thunder, fittingly the last team Mr. Triple Double hadn’t triple-doubled against.

Daily Thunder turned 11 yesterday. ThunderChick made us a lovely video for the occassion:

Olivia Panchal celebrated DT’s birthday (and her own) from atop the community predictions, which have been updated for the week.

Zach Lowe (ESPN) gushes about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in his “Ten Things” piece: “I recently debated with a few non-Thunder executives whether Gilgeous-Alexander would grow into an All-NBA player. That they framed the question in those terms — and not around whether Gilgeous-Alexander will make All-Star teams — is indicative of how good he has been.”

I needed that, to keep me from gazing longingly at the player featured earlier in the column (Ja Morant).

Tyler Parker (The Ringer) on what Gilgeous-Alexander has meant to Oklahoma City since arriving: “Talk about a ray of light. I have commissioned 12 SGA murals in the last seven days. I’m planning on at least four tattoos. Him in the Reba shirt is obviously the first overall pick. Then another will probably just be this picture across my entire back.”

Billy Donovan tells Jonathan Feigen (Houston Chronicle) that he’s enjoyed sharing basketball notes with fellow junkie Chris Paul this season: “The thing I love is I’m obviously a basketball junkie and I love the game,” Donovan said on Monday before the final Rockets game against Paul and the Thunder this season. “The thing I love about him is he can talk about it 24/7. Even away from the court, to be able to talk about things, talk about our team, talk about what he’s seeing out there, as a coach, you really enjoy that. It’s great when you have a point guard that’s thinking about it all the time as well.”

Ruben Palacios (CBS Sports) has both Gilgeous-Alexander (#4) and Darius Bazley (#7) in his latest sneaker rankings.

Bazley’s featured kicks compel me to remind you Bazley is the true Fresh Prince of OKC:

In a bolt that might give you déjà vu, Royce Young on the Thunder’s #13 spot in ESPN’s latest power rankings.

John Schuhmann (NBA.com) notes that three of OKC’s starters are in the top-10 for league-wide offensive rating differential.

Jake Fischer (Washington Post) on the evolution of front office titles in the NBA: “A handful of positions are a major departure for the sport: The Oklahoma City Thunder, for instance, has vice presidents of “insight & foresight” and “identification & intelligence,” while former sportswriter Lee Jenkins serves as the Los Angeles Clippers’ “executive director of research and identity.”

Thought I’d pass along this template from r/Thunder for your meme-ing needs:

Jerry Bembry (The Undefeated) on Kevin Durant’s very cool MLK Classic.

Michael McCarthy (Front Office Sports) reports that Bill Simmons has set the asking price of The Ringer–which Spotify is interested in acquiring–at $200 million.