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.” Read more…
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Nick Collison with a mailbag for GQ answering which Thunder players would survive a Zombie apocolypse: I think most of us would. We are used to running and pushing through fatigue. We are used to being in stressful situations together, and we have each others’ backs. Sadly, however, I think we would lose a couple guys. Take, for instance, Reggie Jackson, our rookie, who cannot seem to stay awake for any extended period of time and passes out on all flights within five minutes, as he did here with Serge Ibaka and Cole Aldrich. I fear Reggie would doze off somewhere and the zombies would get to him. I think Kendrick Perkins would be OK at first, but eventually he would look at a zombie and not like the way the zombie was looking at him. If you know Perk the way I know Perk, you know he wouldn’t be able to resist getting face to face with the zombie and letting him know he doesn’t play. He could fight off a few of the zombies, but eventually there would be too many, and I’m worried he wouldn’t make it. Meanwhile, James Harden would definitely survive, because a zombie is not going to want to get any of that beard in his throat while trying to eat his brain.”
Jordan Kahn of Hickory High breaking down some OKC offense: “On Durant’s game winning basket Shawn Marion played great defense, as many pundits have already noted. However, the way the play was originally set up, Durant would not have had to deal with Marion at all. With Westbrook inbounding the ball, Kendrick Perkins sets a screen for Durant to come receive the ball. The Mavs switch on the screen, leaving Ian Mahinmi to guard Durant. This would be a big mismatch, but Delonte West effectively denies the inbounds pass. Durant is forced to come back to the top of the key to receive the ball, where Marion is waiting. The Mavs switch back and get their best defender back onto Durant. Durant hits a great shot anyway, but perhaps things could have been much easier against Mahinmi.” Read more…
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Brian Phillips of Grantland: “And no, not every young team finds it. But as a Thunder fan, I’m trying to stay cool and look at April as a step back that was necessary to take a big step forward down the road. The first round of the playoffs is going to be fascinating, especially if OKC winds up playing the Mavs, a crumbling post-LWT champion that could force the Thunder to grow up or die trying. Anything could happen over the next few weeks. The Thunder could crash out of the playoffs in the first round,9 win the title,10 or crash out of the playoffs in the first round and then win the title next year. And that, ultimately, is part of what’s so fun about following them. It sucks to be reminded that feeling not-good is a part of sports, but with a team as electric and likable as the Thunder, it’s worth it for the possibility of feeling just extremely not-not-good a little later.”
Sam Amick of SI with an outstanding feature on KD: “I don’t know why [I didn't care]. With basketball, and everything that surrounds basketball, I was working so hard and I wasn’t seeing any results, so I was like, ‘Man, I can’t keep working this hard if nothing is going to happen,’ so I was like, ‘Forget it.’ … I was going to quit, and be a so-called street guy. I would go to practice, but I would slack off. I would take plays off. I would just be there just to be there. I was happy I was just on varsity. I didn’t want any more from myself.” Once again, however, his mother did. “She could see it in my eyes and she pulled me to the side one day, and she slapped it out of me,” he said. “She talked to me, gave me some good words and kind of revved me up a little bit, so ever since then I’ve been on the same path.” Read more…
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Matt Moore of CBSSports.com has KD second for MVP: “Durant is the biggest part of the Thunder having one of the best offensive rating in basketball for the entire season, but he’s not such a dominant force that it outweighs LeBron. Kevin Durant will likely win the scoring title this season. That should tell you something about what James has done, not about what Durant has not. But if you choose to go with Durant, there is no fault to give. His defense has hit the level it needs to for him to be an elite player. He’s become an adept passer who can see the entire floor and deliver it. He’s become better in most areas and at the purest level, Durant is able to hit the tough shot at a better rate than any other player in the league. He’s a worthy candidate, just not quite good enough to bring it home.”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com on James Harden as Sixth Man: “After that lengthy explanation and arduous analysis, the last two awards were pretty straightforward. The Thunder’s James Harden is by far the most important non-starter in the league, both in terms of statistical production and the completeness of his game. Similar to Lamar Odom with the Lakers the past few years, you take Harden away from the Thunder, and they go from being a championship-caliber team to being beatable.” Read more…
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Ken Berger of CBSSports.com on the World Peace suspension: “Seven games. Fair, in my opinion. The seven-game suspension handed down Tuesday for the Lakers’ Metta World Peace for elbowing Oklahoma City’s James Harden in the head sent the appropriate message that such dangerous acts cannot be tolerated. But the NBA also did something else very important: It didn’t overreact. The play I kept thinking about in mulling over the past two days how hard David Stern and Stu Jackson would come down on World Peace was Andrew Bynum’s forearm that blasted J.J. Barea out of midair during the playoffs last season. Bynum got five games for that reprehensible act, and I thought that was a fair point of reference in dishing out punishment to World Peace.”
Henry Abbott of ESPN.com: “World Peace has a body that’s a powerful weapon and has acknowledged mental health issues. I don’t think punishments are likely to extinguish the tinderbox of danger inherent in that combination, which has a track record of producing trouble. I applaud the idea that he can learn to hold it together, likely with continued professional help, but I’d hate to be David Stern explaining to Harden’s family why the two players may well share the court together again in a few weeks.” Read more…
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Sekou Smith of NBA.com on OKC’s late game struggles: “These same late-game issues won’t simply go away because the postseason has started and the Thunder flip some imaginary switch to make it stop. The inability to close out games has cost teams championships. Just ask the Heat about what went wrong in The Finals last year when they failed to close out the Mavericks in Game 2 and it wound up costing them an entire series. Failure to close out games is a fatal flaw that could push the Thunder’s championship clock back another season if they are not careful.”
KD says LeBron is MVP: “He deserves all the love (for MVP),” said Thunder forward Kevin Durant. “He’s playing phenomenal basketball. I’m just trying to get better every single game and trying to help my team as much as I can. I’m just blessed to be in that conversation.” But then again, what do you expect KD to say? “Nah, I’m totally the MVP”? Read more…
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Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “So the collision of all these factors, plus the NBA’s renewed emphasis on protecting players from blows to the head with its concussion policy, bodes very poorly for World Peace. What he did was unnecessary, excessive, dangerous and with full force, a windup and a follow-through. The fact that Harden was OK won’t matter when Jackson and league officials come up with the length of World Peace’s suspension. What if his elbow had connected with Harden’s face? It might’ve been Kermit Washington vs. Rudy Tomjanovich all over again. And that is what the NBA wants and needs to prevent, which is why I wouldn’t oppose or be surprised by a suspension that’s at least three games in length. And possibly more than that. There’s no place for that in the NBA, and if a heavy suspension is what it takes to send that message before the playoffs begin, so be it.”
J.A. Adande of ESPN.com: “The NBA should suspend World Peace indefinitely, see how many games (if any) Harden will miss, then tack on two to that number. Especially since we just witnessed a case study in Harden’s value to the Thunder. Oklahoma City’s second-half offense without Harden devolved into Kevin Durant chucking jumpers and Russell Westbrook careening into the lane, both with minimal ball movement. Harden is the heart of the Thunder’s second unit and provides a nice balance to Westbrook and Durant when he plays alongside them. Harden scored 14 points in little more than 13 minutes in the first half — before World Peace clocked him. The seven guys besides Durant and Westbrook who played in the second half and both overtimes scored a total of 23 points in a combined 106 minutes. Durant wound up with 35 points, but he required 34 shots to get there. Westbrook shot 3-for-22.” Read more…
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David Stein of ESPN Dallas looking at Mav playoff opponents: “The Mavs are 1-3 against the Thunder and the ugly fact that the youthful Thunder found ways to pull games out late is concerning considering the Mavs prided themselves on such heroics during their championship run, and especially so against OKC in the West Finals. Kevin Durant stole the first meeting with a 3-point buzzer-beater at OKC in third game of the season. The Mavs looked great in one of their best all-around wins of the season, 100-87, soon after in the second game at home. The Thunder returned to Dallas a month later and returned the favor. But the Mavs were severely shorthanded without Jason Kidd, Brendan Haywood and Lamar Odom. Durant and Russell Westbrook struggled in the season finale, but the Thunder defense shut down the Mavs in the final minutes to win at OKC.”
Adam Figman of SLAM on KD: “There were growing pains, too, unlike any the Thunder had fought through in the past. As Westbrook’s talent evolved, so did his desire to take over big games, and the result was some minor friction between the two co-stars during a few crucial moments in the Memphis series. Westbrook was benched shortly thereafter as a likely consequence, and then everyone in the Thunder locker room moved right along. No big deal. But perhaps because this OKC team offers little in the way of off-the-court narrative—“We just want to play” was a bit of a media day theme this year, but also a straight-up fact—the national media latched on to the Durant-Westbrook power struggle as one that could lead to the downfall of the current roster.” Read more…
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Baxter Holmes of the L.A. Times on sleep: “When tired, even after a nap, most NBA players do what many non-athletes do: ingest a stimulant. Lakers guard Matt Barnes loves 5-hour Energy Shots. Oklahoma City’s Kendrick Perkins prefers a B-12 vitamin shot or two. His Thunder teammate Serge Ibaka likes green tea, as does Clippers star Blake Griffin. Coffee doesn’t seem to be popular among NBA players. “Coffee makes you too jittery,” Perkins said.”
Steve Aschburner of NBA.com in a roundtable on if OKC is in trouble: “When I saw the Thunder in Milwaukee recently, I was awed by their firepower, chemistry and aggressiveness. But I didn’t fully factor in the opposition – the Bucks offered no resistance in the paint or at the rim, and Russell Westbrook was matchup hell for both Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis. Serge Ibaka blocked five shots in a quarter … but five Bucks’ shots. My concern is that against bigger teams – up front and in the backcourt – OKC is the club that plays smaller, relying on jump shots, without much in the low post and without enough defensive tenacity. There are no perfect teams this season, these guys included.” Read more…
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Bethlehem Shoals for GQ: “This season was supposed to bring some resolution, and with it, the keys to the future. We could see it on the horizon, and it tasted so good, but the transition from old to new would have to be completed for this new class of power teams to take the reins. The Heat made the Finals, but LeBron left us mystified once again. They simply had to win at some point. The Bulls needed another strong season to cement their status. And the Thunder, assuming they could answer questions about the impetuous Russell Westbrook’s place on the team, seemed ready to make LeBron vs. Durant the new LeBron vs. Kobe, even if both dudes are thoroughly enmeshed in their team concept.”
Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak on a Harden-Durant two man game: “Perhaps the biggest problem: quality of screens. Harden sets them fairly well, but Durant still struggles to really lay the lumber on the targets of his screens. The other issue is that the Thunder rarely play three let along five threatening three point shooters, making it more difficult to clear out an entire side. But with Harden and Durant’s combination of ball handling, size and shooting, these two have the makings of an absolutely unstoppable duo in the kind of action that, through thousands of repetitions in games and practice, the Mavericks have perfected.” Read more…
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Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com on clutch time: “Harden’s disappearance in crunch time is stunning. Harden, Durant and Russell Westbrook have shared the court for 134 minutes together in crunch time, but Harden, who is normally one of the Thunder’s go-to scorers, has barely gotten a shot off down the stretch. Remarkably, Harden has only taken 11 field goal attempts in clutch time this season compared to Durant’s 106 shots and Westbrook’s 78 shots. By only using 6.5 percent of the team’s possessions in crunch time, Harden essentially goes from being a third wheel to a spare tire.”
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com on Russell Westbrook: “The question of whether Westbrook is a benefit or hindrance to Kevin Durant and the Thunder will continue to pester throughout the playoffs, and it shouldn’t. He’s an elite player in this league and his production helps the Thunder win. In the past week, Durant shot 46.8 percent from the field. Westbrook shot 46.2. That’s how close it is. Westbrook is no liability, he’s a legit star.” Read more…
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Interesting research from Kirk Goldsberry on where KD likes to score from: “When we look at Durant’s heat map, we can identify more specific areas where he is most and least efficient. In terms of points per attempt, Durant is most efficient near the basket and near the top-of-the-key. There is very little blue on his chart, which is impressive for a 23-year-old guy who shoots a lot from all over the place. If he could work on two things, I might suggest the following: 1) His baseline game. He’s getting a lot of shots there, and he’s tall enough to excel there, but his efficiency is relatively low there compared to other elite longish shooters (e.g. Dirk). 2) That right-side wing (graphic left) 3-point shot. He’s obviously a great 3-point shooter, but his achilles from beyond the arc seems to be here, where he also seems to get a lot of shots.”
Bill Simmons wants OKC to play Denver in the first round: “Up and down, run and gun, get the F out of the way. Durant and Westbrook could average 70 combined, and also, we might have the Greatest Block That Ever Happened with Serge Ibaka and JaVale McGee involved. This is another “cross your fingers” matchup.” Read more…
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Charles Barkley on a sleeper in the West: “The Memphis Grizzlies. They’re finally getting healthy. They went into Oklahoma City and beat them. They went into LA and beat them. We’ve got to wait until they get everybody healthy, but Zach Randolph is rounding into form. I’m not a big Oklahoma City fan because I think they don’t get easy baskets. I don’t think they can score enough down low. I think you can beat them up down low and score on them. I just don’t like jump shooting teams that are not great defensively.”
Craig Brenner of SB Nation on the Harden/Ibaka thing: “Although Ibaka’s offensive game has improved since entering the league, his game will never reach the production that James Harden’s game is at right now. But I’ll say it again; offense is not a worry for this team. Anything the team gets from him on offense outside of put back dunks is gravy. And having that weapon at the back of your defense is a great weapon for the Thunder and makes all of their perimeter defenders that much better. Serge Ibaka is the Scythe, Kevin Durant is Buffy, The Vampire Slayer and the opposing team is The First.” Read more…
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Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com on the game: “Less than a minute before Durant’s game-tying 3, Paul broke to freedom and slung the ball toward the hoop. When the shot clanked off the rim, Paul dove through traffic for the tip back to give the Clippers a 98-93 lead. But it was Paul’s final bucket, following the Durant 3-pointer, that provided the theatrics. Facing the Thunder’s defensive ace Thabo Sefolosha at the top of the floor, Paul waived off a screen from Blake Griffin and sized up his defender.”
Darnell Mayberry: “It’s a shame the Thunder players and coaches keep saying they don’t really care about the standings. Because they had a golden opportunity to regain control of their own destiny with a win tonight. The Spurs got smacked at home by the Lakers, and the Thunder could have gone up two games. Instead, the Thunder remains just a game ahead with the Spurs still having two additional games remaining and the head-to-head tiebreaker.” Read more…
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Zach Lowe of SI.com on hockey assists: “Lastly, Westbrook does quite well here, considering he averages just 5.4 assists for a team that ranks last in assist rate. And Westbrook actually ranked even higher based on the criteria STATS first used in defining hockey assists, says Brian Kopp, a vice president at STATS. The company started with a broader definition of hockey assists that would have allowed for the final passer to hold the ball for up to four seconds and take two dribbles before dishing the actual assist. The company chose that benchmark after studying how the NBA scores actual assists. When using this definition for hockey assists, Westbrook averaged more such secondary dimes than any player in the STATS sample, Kopp says.”
Brendan Bowers of the Plain Dealer on the Thunder Model: “I’ve never been a proponent of the Oklahoma City Model technically, because I’ve always thought the Kevin Durant part can’t literally be duplicated. There was a lot of luck associated with Durant being passed over by Portland, and the model would look pretty awful these days with Greg Oden down in OKC instead. But as it pertains to the Cavaliers, I will agree that winning the chance to draft Kyrie Irving last season was similarly lucky to an extent. There’s also no denying that the Thunder did capitalize on just about every draft pick since, and they certainly do deserve to be the NBA’s current gold standard for building a team through the draft.” Read more…
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