Tuesday Bolts – 1.8.13
Jonah Bromwich of Off the Dribble on 50-40-90: “There is still a lot of season left. And while Durant has built a small cushion with his 3-point and field goal averages, he will need to stay focused at the line to join the ranks of the 40-50-90 pantheon. His free throw percentage in his last five games was just under 90 percent, and with only a tiny buffer between his current percentage and the dreaded 89 percent, every missed free throw represents a missed opportunity.”
From Elias: “The Wizards, who entered Monday with a record of 4-28 (.125), posted a 101-99 home win over the defending Western Conference-champion Thunder. Last month, Washington brought a 1-13 (.071) record into a victory over the defending NBA champions, the Heat. Only one other NBA team has ever posted victories over each of the previous season’s finalists in games it entered with a winning percentage under .200 (minimum 10 games). In 2004-05, the Hawks were 3¬-15 when they defeated the defending-champion Pistons, and 9-37 at the time of their victory over the Lakers, the runners-up in 2003-04.”
Eddie Maisonet of SB Nation on things the Thunder need to do to win a title: “Scott Brooks has to believe in his small-ball lineup: During the finals last year, I always believed that a lineup of Westbrook-Harden-Sefolosha-Durant-Ibaka was the best five to counter what Miami would throw on the floor. For whatever reason, Brooks wanted to have former reserve Derek Fisher in the lineup, which frustrated me to no end. With this team, there are several iterations that could work, but with Maynor back and Durant capable of playing bigger, its something I’d like to see more of. Could a lineup of Westbrook-Sefolosha-Martin-Durant-Ibaka work? What about more Maynor? Perry Jones even? We must find out eventually.”
Henry Abbott of TrueHoop on Brad Beal: “Looking back, though, it’s clearer now what Presti may have been thinking — a young score-now guard like Beal, on a rookie scale contract and improving by the month, would have done wonders for the Thunder’s long-term cap situation. In all likelihood that ship has sailed, and Beal is likely a Wizards keeper. But no doubt, however much the Thunder may have liked Beal and his game on draft day, surely they respect it even more today.”
Trade rumor about the 76ers being interested in Eric Maynor.
KD last night: “We let them stick around because we’re not taking it serious enough,” Durant said. “We can’t do that, man. We can’t do that, and it falls back on the leaders. We can be beat by anybody. Everybody’s going to bring their best against us. No matter who we’re playing, they want to beat us.”
Zach Lowe of Grantland singing music to my ears: “A bane of League Pass is when one of the sponsored mini-segments stays on the screen too long, preventing us from watching the actual game. I hate you, Hyundai Drive of the Game and KFC Bucket Chart.”
