Wednesday Bolts – 1.20.16
Anthony Slater: “Since that loss, the Thunder has played 24 games. It has won 20 of them. The
latest was a nice victory against a pesky Nuggets team in Denver on Tuesday night. OKC’s offense, which is humming right now, put up 30 assists for the second time in the past week and fourth time this season. The Thunder only did that twice all of last year. The defense, which remains hot and cold, has been hotter of late and good enough on Tuesday. Things are working well right now, particularly during this current five-game win streak. The league-wide stats since that Miami loss may surprise you.”
OKC gets a B+ from ESPN Insider for its first half: “There’s nothing Oklahoma City can do about the success their West rivals are enjoying, but it does put pressure on the Thunder. Oklahoma City continues to excel whenever Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, both enjoying All-NBA First Team-caliber seasons, play together. Per NBA.com/Stats, the Thunder outscore opponents by a whopping 17.9 points per 100 possessions with both stars on the court. The problem is Oklahoma City has been outscored by 7.5 points per 100 possessions with Durant and Westbrook both on the bench — similar to the Brooklyn Nets’ performance over the course of the season (minus-7.7). Whether Billy Donovan can get better play out of its bench-heavy lineups will go a long ways in determining whether the Thunder can truly challenge the Spurs and Warriors in the postseason.”
KD has the fifth best selling jersey.
Erik Horne: “Yet, unlike in 2013, when Russell Westbrook denied Denver fans free Qdoba queso by swatting away the mascot’s shot, Westbrook remained in the Thunder huddle on the sideline. Westbrook instead saved his energy for two crowd-pleasing (yes, the Denver crowd was pleased) dunks in the fourth — the first a drive inside and slam followed by a scream toward the Nuggets bench, the second a lob from Durant to extend the Thunder’s lead back to nine at 106-97. A group effort if there ever was one, enough to send the Thunder back home on a five-game winning streak … even without its best game in the Mile High City.”
All-Star picks from CBSSports.com.
Rachel Nichols is back at ESPN and has a new NBA show.
Tom Ziller of SB Nation on MVP: “LeBron has been phenomenal and deserves a ballot spot every year, even though his jumper has regressed and he’s finally showing a bit of age. Westbrook has continued to be a monster, and I’m starting to wonder if that Durant injury last season — one which sprung Westbrook into THIS — was a small blessing in disguise. But for me it’s Kawhi (for the reasons outlined above) and then Durant. Like Curry, KD is flirting with 50-40-90 at a high usage and he’d be the unanimous best scorer in the league if not for Curry. The problem is there is no credible case for Durant over Curry right now, plus KD has so fully alienated the media that he’s getting no benefit of the doubt in the end. But man. This is the best Durant’s ever been in my opinion, and he already has an MVP and multiple scoring titles on real good teams.”
