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Thursday Bolts – 3.10.11

Kevin Durant is the No. 1 Oklahoma sports figure according to The Lost Ogle: “Since arriving in Oklahoma City less than 3 years ago, Durant has made Oklahoma City NBA crazy. He is one of the great young talents in all of sports. He is a scoring champ. He is a National Team star. He is an MVP candidate. And he is the leader of the NBA squad best in line for future success. All this coupled with an attitude that I am sure Heat fans wish a few of their players possessed.”

The 76ers want to be like the Thunder: “That’s who we want to be,” said Collins, obviously disappointed after his team let a five-point lead with a less than 40 seconds left in regulation slip away. “They built through the draft, their younger players have gotten better. They’ve got a dynamite point guard, they’ve got a tremendous player in Durant, they’ve got a young big guy in [Serge] Ibaka and [James] Harden. We think we’ve got some nice, young pieces. The difference they have right now is they’ve got that big shot-blocking in the lane. It’s tough to finish in the lane.”

This picture of KD is ready to be your new background.

I’ll admit, I chuckled mildly at this. Especially the part about Owen Wilson. Because I thought the same thing. Stupid Marley and Me.

Who is the best in the West? I did the Thunder. But be sure to notice the awesome canvas painting in the background. Mrs. DT did it.

It’s possible Kendrick Perkins could debut Friday versus the Pistons for the Thunder. He started practicing today and depending on how that goes, he could play. Friday would basically be two weeks to the day since he was ruled out 2-3 weeks.

From Elias: “The Thunder registered an overtime victory in Philadelphia with Russell Wesbrook (four points in OT) and Kevin Durant (two) each chipping in as Oklahoma City posted a 9-4 advantage in the extra period. Westbrook leads the NBA with 44 points in overtime this season and Durant has the second-highest total in the league (36).”

Is the MVP race over?

John Rohde: “At Philly on Wednesday, the Thunder went with even a smaller, four-guard lineup at the start of the second and fourth quarters with James Harden, Eric Maynor, Thabo Sefolosha, Daequan Cook and power forward Nick Collison. In the second quarter, that lineup came from six down to forge a tie at 41 before All-Stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook re-entered. In the fourth quarter, though the lineup struggled to score early, it set the defensive tone that eventually resulted in victory.”

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Keith :@OzarkhickPER and Win Shares are based heavily on usage and scoring. Defensive players (even the elite of the elite) don’t show up well unless they have an offensive game to match.

That's exactly what I was explaining. Why would somebody try to run down a defensive center by saying his PER and win share aren't good? Unless they don't understand how those numbers are derived?

Mrs. Daily Thunder :

Daniel Plainview :

dylan :

Daniel Plainview :

Stephen :I’m still pissed off about how Omar went out.

and Stringer Bell. Marlon Stansfield really grew on me. That scene in the jail where Marlon screaming was frightening

MARLON?!?!?!??! physician, heal thyself
(it’s Marlo)

Yes, you are correct. Sorry, been talking about “A Street Car Named Desire.” this morning

Did you guys see this? Royce emailed it to me this morning: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimor...

As long as Chris wasn't involved.

@Mrs. Daily Thunder
Wow, thanks! Thats too bad, I heard, awhile ago, that she was really involved with her community

Daniel Plainview :

dylan :

Daniel Plainview :

Stephen :I’m still pissed off about how Omar went out.

and Stringer Bell. Marlon Stansfield really grew on me. That scene in the jail where Marlon screaming was frightening

MARLON?!?!?!??! physician, heal thyself
(it’s Marlo)

Yes, you are correct. Sorry, been talking about “A Street Car Named Desire.” this morning

Did you guys see this? Royce emailed it to me this morning: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimor...

@Ozarkhick
PER and Win Shares are based heavily on usage and scoring. Defensive players (even the elite of the elite) don't show up well unless they have an offensive game to match.

lemur123 :@SammyHe’s an offensively challenged big man with a career PER of 12.9 and a career WS/48 of .105 despite being 6’10 and reasonably physically gifted (not graceful or quick, but strong). He’s a great defensive center, but I don’t feel like he reached his potential under Rivers and is unlikely to do so during his career.

You do realize that PER and Win Share are the types of stats that won't measure the value of a defensive big, right? Do they measure screens? Box outs? Altered shots? Improved defense by other froncourt players? Less overhelping? Decreased scoring efficiency by opponents?

dylan :

Daniel Plainview :

Stephen :I’m still pissed off about how Omar went out.

and Stringer Bell. Marlon Stansfield really grew on me. That scene in the jail where Marlon screaming was frightening

MARLON?!?!?!??! physician, heal thyself
(it’s Marlo)

Yes, you are correct. Sorry, been talking about "A Street Car Named Desire." this morning

innocent bystander :re-watching the tying 3 from KD last night, I noticed something funny — actually not that funny from our perspective…
Serge comes off his man to go set a screen on Iggy. But it was a pretty bad screen. Didn’t do a thing to stop Iggy or slow him down. All Serge really did was move to get out of Durant’s way — and then grazed Durant, which was the only contact. That would have been bad if he had actually knocked his own guy down.
In Serge’s defense, Iggy was chasing Durant like lightning. Pretty hard to screen a fast moving guy like that from that angle.

I agree it wasn't much of a pick but it did make it so Iggy had to take a wider path than he would have if Serge wasn't there at all. I also thought it was interesting that the thing Doug Collins pointed out first that they didn't have was a young shot blocker to protect the paint and alter shots. Sounds like that disrupted there ability to get to the hole. I think we don't give Serge enough credit for what he does around the basket defensively.

Daniel Plainview :

Stephen :I’m still pissed off about how Omar went out.

and Stringer Bell. Marlon Stansfield really grew on me. That scene in the jail where Marlon screaming was frightening

MARLON?!?!?!??! physician, heal thyself

(it's Marlo)

OSU nearly beat Kansas...

@steve.thunderfan
good news

re-watching the tying 3 from KD last night, I noticed something funny -- actually not that funny from our perspective...

Serge comes off his man to go set a screen on Iggy. But it was a pretty bad screen. Didn't do a thing to stop Iggy or slow him down. All Serge really did was move to get out of Durant's way -- and then grazed Durant, which was the only contact. That would have been bad if he had actually knocked his own guy down.

In Serge's defense, Iggy was chasing Durant like lightning. Pretty hard to screen a fast moving guy like that from that angle.

@Struts
Thanks man, I appreciate the help!

I have to give props to KD last night. I criticized him last game for not playing hard on the defensive end on defense or on the boards(Allen and Battier got a combined 8 offensive rebounds). He absolutely shut down Iguadola. That is the way a superstar plays defense. He should expect the same intensity from his teammates. He played great!

Stephen :I’m still pissed off about how Omar went out.

and Stringer Bell. Marlon Stansfield really grew on me. That scene in the jail where Marlon screaming was frightening

@andrew
why do you assume it is bad? We are at the 2 week mark, they should be annoucing his return

this guy (Rich Levine) has some funny posts on his twitter page
twitter.com/rlevin33

here's another good one:

"Demarcus Cousins is both the best and worst case scenario of himself"

Rich Levine has a funny tweet:

"Everyone wondered why Shaq chose No. 36 w/ the C's. Apparently it was for how many regular season games he planned on playing"

heh, hope that logic doesn't hold true for Perkins (wearing #5)

@Sammy
He's an offensively challenged big man with a career PER of 12.9 and a career WS/48 of .105 despite being 6'10 and reasonably physically gifted (not graceful or quick, but strong). He's a great defensive center, but I don't feel like he reached his potential under Rivers and is unlikely to do so during his career.

Okay, fine.
Droid=awesome
IPhone=sucks

:)

@Kfmsooner. That's the problem that I have with him getting so many mins. Some act like he's been this lock down defensive man, but to me he's just been average.

@kreese29
He was signed very cheaply, and was signed the same year we drafted Harden, so Harden hadn't seen the floor yet. At that time, he was very good defensively. No one foresaw his defense declining so rapidly...

@andrew
they're expecting the announcment of the exact game he'll debut. He's practicing today.

@ Andrew
You can definitely tell its about the leg kick cause watching him in shoot around he nails like ten in a row. I know that's different then a game but a lot of his looks lately have been open.

I guess you get what you pay for.

DarnellMayberry
Stay with newsok.com today for updates on Kendrick Perkins.

I have a bad feeling about this. If Perk needs some kind of knee surgery I am going to hurt something.

@Sammy
What's that from?

I agree that James is struggling with his 3 pt. shot because he is too worried about the leg kick. Just shoot the ball, please.

hahaha... Dwyer wins:
I actually appreciate Kevin Durant telling the press that "fifty percent of the game is mental" following Oklahoma City's win. Not, "99 percent of the game is mental" or "above all, this game is all about the brain." No, "fifty percent." Because the other 50 percent is all about being a badass 7-footer that can make 25-foot bombs look like lay-ups.

@kreese29
and early turnovers.

@kreese29
He's cheap

@Struts
Its there for me on the mobile site as well, I'm on a Droid.

@F5alcon. I'm still trying to figure out why would we sing him for that long. Is he really that big of a pice to our team? I know he plays pretty good d but I'm sick of seeing him throw up bricks

Also: James Harden's 3 ball can't get back soon enough. His numbers gonna be amazing once he's hitting 3's again.

interesting stat:

"Oklahoma City (40-23) improved to 17-6 versus the East with a 110-105 overtime win at Philadelphia on Wednesday. That’s the second-best record of any West team behind NBA-leading San Antonio’s 21-6 mark."

not sure why... you could say that the East has more scrub teams. But Philly, who we swept, is no scrub. Maybe just a coincidence of matchups. Or maybe the West has more teams with big front courts that vex us.

Also, I wonder if his 3pt percentage is a bit artificially lowered since earlier in the year it seemed he was only taking the shot as a last resort as the clock was running down or on a broken play. During his recent hot streak, he's been looking to take the shot but only looks for it once or twice a game.

@Sammy
yeah his 3 point shot selection is really good, as long as he stays under 100 attempts a year i dont think he is overshooting

@kreese29
he is under contract for 3 more years and brooks likes him, he will be back

@Royce Young
Thanks for giving it the college try.

@anonymous
Not on the mobile site only on full site via smart phone.

I have no problem with Russ taking catch and shoot 3s.

IMO it is one aspect of his game that will definitely develop in the future.

@justin
Russ's gotten himself into a mindset to take 3's very selectively and it's working out great. I'm really happy that this small run of success hasn't gotten to his head and have him jacking them up all game; he seems to wait for his spots, usually in the fourth.

Think we will bring back thabo next yr. I think we cam get by without him. It would be nice to bring in a little more scoring next yr

@Keith

I don't mind it if it's late in the clock and options have been exhausted. Russ is very good at creating space to get his shot off, so even though he shoots a middling percentage overall, I think it's a good shot to take in those situations. I don't like Russ shooting jump shots early in the clock or in transition (most of the time).

@Royce Young
The video's gone on Truehoop

@justin
Now THAT (50% on his last 26 attempts) is crazy. I still don't like him taking jumpers. At best, it's giving the defense what they want. At worst, it's throwing up a low percentage shot for him.