Tuesday Bolts – 12.21.10
Darnell Mayberry writes that KD’s getting locked in: “Kevin Durant has stumbled upon a seasonal sweet spot. And it might be causing fans to experience déjà vu. Here in the middle of December, the Oklahoma City Thunder star is again quietly finding his rhythm. It was a year ago Wednesday that Durant started last season’s 29-game streak of at least 25 points. And just like last year, Durant now looks dialed in. Durant enters tonight’s game at Charlotte shooting 48.6 percent in December, shaking off a slow shooting start that had some questioning his MVP front-runner label at the start of 2010-11.”
Marc Stein’s power rankings: “Not so surprised to see Grant Hill turn back the clock on the Thunder. The bigger surprise was seeing this season’s kings of the close game fail to pull that one out: OKC’s now 9-2 in games decided by five points or fewer.”
NBA.com’s rankings and I’m sure they meant “winning” streak: “Sunday’s loss to the Suns ended the Thunder’s five-game losing streak and was just their second loss (vs. 12 wins) by seven points or less. Though Phoenix put up 113 on them, their defense has been generally improved (102.0 points per 100 possessions) over the last 11 games.”
KD is back in NBA.com’s MVP watch: “More pecking-order dilemma, a la Miami. Russell Westbrook has been outstanding, but Durant still draws more defensive attention. He continues to lead the NBA in scoring, a major factor in the awarding of past MVPs. Durant figures to be here (and higher) at the end, while Westbrook might have trouble gaining All-NBA status vs. Williams, Rose, Paul and Rajon Rondo.”
Jeff Van Gundy calls OKC’s expectations silly: “I think some of the expectations were so silly,” Van Gundy said during a teleconference discussing his network’s Christmas Day lineup. “People were acting like it’s easy to go from 50 to 60 wins. And that’s like the hardest jump to make … I don’t think they’re underachieving this year,” Van Gundy said. “I think they’re achieving at a great rate. I think they’re achieving to their talent level. I think people were expecting far too much from this team, and anybody saying they’re underachieving was not probably objective from the start about where they should be.”
SLAM’s game notes against the Suns: “Gentry is informed by a writer that Thunder coach Scott Brooks, just minutes earlier, had talked about Oklahoma City’s ability to win in Boston earlier in the season even though they were missing Kevin Durant and Jeff Green. The reason Brooks was talking about that was simple: Phoenix is shorthanded tonight, and should still be feared. When Gentry heard this he roared with laughter, and then asked one of the writers to run down the hallway and ask Brooks if he would mind sitting out KD and Green tonight.”
Zach Lowe of SI: “Let’s be blunt: The Thunder’s defense is not good enough now for anyone to consider Oklahoma City a serious threat to do anything significant in the playoffs. The Thunder are allowing 107.5 points per 100 possessions, the 18th “best” mark in the league and down from their top-10 work last season (104.6 points allowed per 100 possessions). The regression has been significant, and Nick Collison’s return has not proved to be a cure-all. The drop-off is almost all related to opponent shooting, particularly from three-point range, where Thunder foes have hit a robust 39 percent. The Thunder don’t protect the defensive glass well, but they didn’t last year, either, and they’re playing small a lot lately with Nenad Krstic going in and out of the lineup. Maybe this is just bad luck and teams will start clanking their threes soon. But when I watch OKC, I see a lot of over-helping from their perimeter guys and a lot of switching that creates unfavorable mismatches.”
