Tuesday Bolts – 3.7.17

Read Jenni Carlson on Pete Winemiller: “Dennis Waller noticed the man standing at

the front of the room, tall and regal in his well-tailored suit. Chaos swirled around him as the Thunder’s first crop of would-be season-ticket holders arrived at the arena to pick their seats back in the fall of 2008. No one knew where to go. No one knew what to do. But the man at the front of the room was calm, friendly and smiling. Always smiling.”

Erik Horne: ‘Scroll through the Western Conference playoff contenders, and the Thunder’s road record immediately sticks out. While the Thunder gets a much-needed return to Chesapeake Energy Arena on Tuesday against Portland, it still has nine of its final 19 games on the road. It’s been a treacherous season away from home for the Thunder, one in which it’s gone 12-20. To put the road woes in perspective, the Thunder has the same amount of away wins as Sacramento and Orlando.”

Brett Dawson: “For the second time this season, Russell Westbrook is in the technical-foul danger zone. Westbrook’s technical fouls at Phoenix on Friday and at Dallas on Sunday raised the Thunder guard’s season total to 14. Two more would mean a one-game suspension, per NBA rules. After Monday’s practice, Thunder coach Billy Donovan said Westbrook is aware he’s closing in on a suspension.”

Steinline has OKC 13th: “We expected this week’s entry to focus on Russell Westbrook’s recent four 40-point games in a row and how impressively he was holding up in the face of all those folks who said he couldn’t possibly survive to the end of the season coping with the load he’s carrying (and that seemingly unfathomable usage rate of 42.6). Instead? Westbrook has suddenly gone three successive games without a triple-double to match his second-longest drought of the season. Woret yet, Oklahoma City has lost seven consecutive road games, six of those without the injured Victor Oladipo. Westbrook needs 151 rebounds (7.9 RPG) and 187 assists (9.8 APG) in the Thunder’s final 19 games to clinch a historic triple-double average for the season, but his seventh-seeded Thunder desperately need wins above all else now. They’re 24-6 this season when Westbrook triple-doubles and 11-22 when he doesn’t.”

Matt Moore of CBSSports.com has OKC 12th: “Thunder teams under Billy Donovan in the first week of March: 0-5. Now what does this mean? Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. But the Thunder are having a bad time, the losses to Portland, Dallas and Phoenix were outright awful.”