Tuesday Bolts – 5.1.12
Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game: “Westbrook, on the other hand, has been the Thunder’s saving grace in light of Marion’s shackling of Durant and James Harden’s fits of passivity. And, in pitch-perfect fashion: Westbrook is beating the Mavs without even masquerading as the pure playmaker his critics demand that he be. Westbrook hasn’t been selfish by any means, but he’s dominating the game as a shot creator. He’s creating looks for others by way of passing and penetration, but the bulk of his damage is done by getting to the rim, getting to the line, and elevating on — as Matt Devlin did an excellent job of highlighting on TNT’s broadcast — those idyllic pull-up jumpers. This isn’t even Westbrook at his best, and yet he’s put up more points in this series than any other player, and anchored his team’s efforts in two keynote victories.”
Kurt Helin of PBT: “While Dallas is in a tight spot down 2-0 it doesn’t feel hopeless — they are not getting dominated. They could easily take the next two and make this a best out of three. The Thunder win either one of the next two and they will be in total command. But to do that they are going to have to play a better — improve their ball movement, get Durant going, play better defense. The Mavericks are the defending champions, they will not go quietly.”
Darnell Mayberry: “Major credit goes to Thunder coach Scott Brooks tonight. He made the most important adjustment he needed to make tonight. When he inserted James Harden at his usual four-minute mark, he subbed Harden in for Ibaka as opposed to Thabo Sefolosha. That allowed Sefolosha to remain in the game and take the assignment on Jason Terry. Sefolosha didn’t come out for the first time until 1:34 was left in the first quarter.”
Berry Tramel: “The Thunder inbounded the ball under its basket with 2.6 seconds left in the shot clock but got the ball to Durant in a scramble near the corner. Durant exaggerated a bump from Terry, and the whistle-happy crew was more than happy to stop the game again. Durant made two foul shots with 50.4 seconds left for a 98-97 lead. Fortune? Yes. That’s what happens to big brothers.”
Jenni Carlson: “And here we thought Dirk was one of the nice guys in the league. Guess that reputation might hold up in other NBA hamlets, but not here. Not after Monday night. The Dirk devil blew into The Peake and wreaked some serious havoc. And we’re not talking about the kind of chaos he usually causes. This wasn’t Dirk hitting all kinds of crazy, beautiful, mystifying shots. This was Dirk shoving and complaining and flopping. And it almost worked.”
Dirk has been awarded Flop of the Night.
Ben Golliver of CBSSports.com: “Two nail-biters, two must-win-to-hold-serve slugfests, two Thunder victories. OKC won the free throw shooting battle on Monday, knocking down 37-for-39 to edge out Dallas, who hit 38-32. The sheer size of those numbers says all you need to know about how intense this first round series already is. OKC dodged some bullets thanks to a few unexpected Dirk Nowitzki misses late. Holding serve was absolutely vital in the playoff’s best series.”
ESPN Stats and Info: “Kevin Durant was held to 0-4 shooting inside 10 feet of the basket in Game 2. It’s the first time all season that Durant has failed to make a field goal from inside 10 feet and the first time since Game 6 of last season’s Western Conference Semifinals against the Grizzlies.”
Another one from ESPN Stats and Info: “Russell Westbrook took 4 more field goal attempts than Kevin Durant in Game 2, the 28th time this season Westbrook has out-shot Durant. Including Monday, the Thunder are now 23-5 (.821) in games where Westbrook attempts more field goals than Durant.”
Henry Abbott of TrueHoop on the final play last night: “But watch what Dirk does: He wanders inside the 3-point line a few steps. Players are drawn to the ball like moths to flames. He would have looked like a genius had the rebound come to him. But that’s not what happened. Three young Oklahoma players crashed the boards, but somehow an aging Vince Carter was first to the ball, getting hands on leather with four seconds on the clock. As he landed, knowing the Mavericks needed a 3 — and fast — he looked to the perimeter.”
Sekou Smith of NBA.com: “The tennis analogy seems inappropriate, given the mixed martial art nature of the action on the floor in Game 2. And you can bet things are going to get even more intense Thursday night with the Mavericks seeing their home crowd in the playoffs for the first time since Game 5 of The Finals. They’ve been smashing each other from start to finish since the opening tip of Game 1, cultivating a genuine disdain for each other that has grown like a weed out of their testy matchup in the Western Conference finals last year.”
Randy Renner of NBA.com3: “After all the complaining Carlisle did about the physical play of the Thunder after Saturday night’s game and then again during today’s shootaround, the Thunder wasted no time in mixing it up with the Mavs. Perkins body checked Shawn Marion to the court twice in the first quarter, then Perkins and Nowitzki were called for double technicals after shoving each other. The dustup between Perk and Dirk almost started a brawl but things settled down a bit after that. It all added to an intense atmosphere inside the arena.”
