Thursday Bolts – 12.11.14
Darnell Mayberry on Andre Roberson: “Roberson might not start out defending James — that assignment could go to Kevin Durant — but it’s his potential to guard the game’s best perimeter players that enticed the Thunder to take a chance on Roberson with the 26th overall pick in 2013. Roberson was and still is viewed in the same mold as Thabo Sefolosha, the Thunder’s former starting shooting guard who served as the team’s defensive specialist for the better part of six seasons. Sefolosha frequently defended all three wing positions and often guarded the opposing team’s best player. Roberson is projected to blossom into the same Swiss Army type defender. As a longer, younger and more athletic version of Sefolosha, the tools are all there.”
Jeff Ziligit of USA Today: “The Thunder are in no position to lose many games. After playing a stretch without Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, the Thunder must scramble to get into playoff contention in the brutal Western Conference. They are 3-1 since Westbrook and Durant returned to the lineup and are 8-13, three games behind Phoenix Suns for eighth place in the West. But also still behind Sacramento, New Orleans and Denver in the standings. Of the eight consecutive victories for Cleveland, four were against opponents with losing records and the two victories against Toronto came without Raptors All-Star DeMar DeRozan.”
Are the Thunder due for a defensive regression?
Anthony Slater: “Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook are both point guards. LeBron and Durant – widely considered the two best players in the world – are both small forwards. Kevin Love and Serge Ibaka are both power forwards. Against Miami, only two of the three aligned. As of yet, these teams clearly haven’t developed the rivalry that the Thunder and Heat formed over the past four seasons. But that doesn’t mean the newest Big Three cast members – Irving and Love – don’t have a history with the Thunder. They do. And the portfolios are impressive.”
KD isn’t worried about re-injuring his foot.
Berry Tramel on KD versus LeBron: “There’s only one problem with the script. It’s not true. Oh, everything you’ve heard about LeBron is dead-on. But Durant against LeBron has been fabulous himself. And not just fabulous, but consistent and fabulous. In fact, it’s eerie how consistent Durant has been against LeBron. In 13 Thunder-Heat games that matched the superstars, here are Durant’s point totals: 33, 29, 28, 30, 36, 32, 25, 28, 32, 33, 40, 33, 28. Of course, big-time scorers end up scoring, no matter how well they play. But now go to Durant’s shooting. In those13 games, Durant got enough from 19 to 24 shots every single game. Not once did he get held down. Not once did he jack up a ton of shots trying to get his points.”
Tom Haberstroh of ESPN Insider on LeBron cooling down: “As I hinted at the top, the bulk of the blame can be placed on James’ struggles at the rim. Overall, James is shooting 47.5 percent from the floor, a far cry from his 56.7 percent mark last season. Driving that percentage down is the fact that James’ otherworldly finishing abilities seemingly have disappeared this season. Last season, he was a freight train in the lane, shooting an NBA-best 72.9 percent on paint field goal attempts, according to NBA.com. This season? James’ field goal percentage in the paint has fallen to 60.1 percent, which places him 37th, just behind the Sacramento Kings’ Omri Casspi.”
