Tuesday Bolts – 1.18.11

Charles Barkley was called out by Ernie Johnson last night about Jenni Carlson’s column. Barkley didn’t really say that he’d come to Oklahoma, only saying, “Yeah, I need to go there.” He also claimed he never called Oklahoma a “wasteland.”

Kurt Helin of PBT: “Meet the new Thunder, same as the old Thunder. Which is a pretty good thing, those old Thunder captured the imagination of the NBA fans nationwide last season. They were athletic, they got and ran, they were just fresh and fun. Thunder players talk openly of wanting to get rings with this group, there is a real chemistry there. That’s one reason before the season started a lot of people thought the Oklahoma City would take another step forward and could be the one team that would take a ring off the fingers of the Lakers out West. There was patience in the front office — Oklahoma City stuck with the players they had rather than trying to make a big splash in free agency. They were going to grow. When they finally got a chance to match up on the Lakers again Monday night and measure themselves… It looked almost exactly like the NBA playoffs last season. Right down to the Lakers winning, 101-94.”

Kobe Bryant on the Thunder: “I think they seem to know their roles,” explained Bryant. “Not that they didn’t last year, but I just think going through a year, going through a playoff series of watching those roles develop, you have an offseason and come into the season knowing exactly what you’re supposed to do. I think that’s what’s going on with them.”

Dave McMenamin of ESPNLA: “The Oklahoma City Thunder are so young, so gifted, so athletic that they got Kobe Bryant amped up enough to hang and swing from the rim after a two-handed dunk Monday night. His dangling legs reminded the sellout crowd that although Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook might have “next,” Bryant and the defending champion Lakers still have “now.” There’s just something about the boys in blue from OKC that gets the Lakers attention. The Thunder did it again Monday as the Lakers, whose focus has been far more lackluster than laserlike through the first half of the season, looked like a sharp, purposeful group in a 101-94 win, perhaps their best win since Game 7 of the Finals last year.”

Darnell Mayberry on OKC getting Kevin Love: “I think we can forget about Kevin Love in a Thunder uniform. It’s a pipe dream. He’s the best rebounder in the league and wouldn’t come cheap. The asking price, unless the Wolves are willing to just give him away, would start, I repeat, start, at Russell Westbrook. Love said recently that he would love to rejoin Westbrook as teammates in the NBA. And I suppose that’s how the talk got started. But I wouldn’t read much into it.”

Mayberry’s postgame: “The outcome prevented Scott Brooks from capturing his 100th victory as Thunder coach. Brooks’ achievement was not the focus of game. In fact, none of the Thunder players were aware he had 99 victories until the topic was broached during pre-game interviews. Brooks, who replaced P.J. Carlesimo as head coach after the Thunder’s 1-12 start upon arriving in OKC, is now 99-93 overall.”

Dexter Fishmore of Silver Screen and Roll: “Incidentally, I’m not sure why Thabo Sefolosha (zero points in 19 minutes) even plays against the Lakers. Defense is his putative calling card, but Kobe has no trouble operating against him. And he brings nothing to the table on offense, meaning the Lakers have somewhere to hide Derek Fisher when the Thunder have the ball. Not that Harden was much better, obviously, but Thabo was definitely not helping the cause.”

Kelly Dwyer: “OKC lost this game because it was playing the defending champs in their building. Let’s not forget that. But it also likely gave up the edge in this game because of a poor allocation of resources. Little things throughout a 48-minute run that turn winners into winners and losers into losers. Like, say, Jeff Green. Green is easy to pick on, here, but even without looking at his box score stats, you could tell he put his team behind the eight ball with poor rebounding, and an insistence on running to the three-point line on every fast break. This helped kill Oklahoma City’s one fearful advantage, that transition game, and that 3-11 shooting mark (0-5 from long range) sealed the deal. Two rebounds in 31 minutes just made it all the more frustrating.”

FB&G: “While stopping Russell was a sore spot for the Lakers, Ron Artest’s outstanding defense on Kevin Durant was probably the difference in tonight’s game. The NBA’s scoring leader was held to just 24 points on a woeful 8-24 from the field. Aside from an early scoring burst in the first quarter and a brief reboot when Luke Walton was guarding him in the second half, he never really established any kind of rhythm, which ultimately hurt Oklahoma City when they needed him to come through down the stretch.”

J.A. Adande: “Ron Artest can bump Durant away from his favorite spots or poke and prod him into annoyance, and if Durant gets by Artest, there is plenty of help from the long arms of Pau Gasol. We don’t think of the Lakers as a defensive nemesis, but they’re turning into the Detroit Pistons to Durant’s young Michael Jordan. (This is all relative; Durant gets the Jordan role only in comparison to Greg Oden as Sam Bowie. Durant can’t truly advance along the Jordan evolutionary path until the Thunder star turns in some legendary performances in road playoff games.) Westbrook is the one who keeps looking legendary against the Lakers. He sprinted into the lane for 32 points and 12 assists, although he missed two free throws and air-balled a 3-pointer in the final minute.”

I know the West is loaded, but hopefully last night showed some  people why Russell Westbrook deserves serious consideration to make the  All-Star team. I just wanted to get that out there.