Tuesday Bolts – 12.29.09
(Fake) Nets color man Jim Spanarkel shared his thoughts on the game last night via Twitter: “And just like that…Kevin
Durant consummated my man crush … I do feel like Bella from Twilight and Durant is my Edward. I bet he glows in sunlight … Nenad making a great homecoming. I miss his scent. I miss his laugh. I miss him being with me.when this is over, we should get an apt together.” UPDATE: Evidently, the Spanarkel Twitter is a fake. I feel so used. And dirty. But mostly used.
Mark Travis of But The Game Is On with some thoughts: “With all that said, this game was all about Kevin Durant. I told y’all he was good. What a fun basketball player to watch. He just gets it. I know I am not a LeBron fan but I can honestly say I think Durant is already a smarter basketball player or at least he is smarter at 21 than LeBron was.”
Mark Ginocchio of Nets Are Scorching; does this sound familiar?: “Another day, another bad Nets loss, and another opportunity for me to openly wonder where and when can the Nets find their victories this season? It’s getting to the point where I’m openly bartering with the basketball gods – I’ll take the bare minimum – give me 10. Just no more history books. No more futility to top all futilities.”
An interesting note on Nenad Krstic: “One may suggest the Nets were wise to pass on matching the $15.6 million offer sheet that Oklahoma City gave to Krstic one year and one week ago: The Serbian center — once a rising star during his four years in Jersey, before tearing his ACL 36 months ago — was averaging 8.2 points and 5.1 rebounds in only 22 minutes per game before last night. Then he trashed the Nets for 19 points (7-for-12) and seven boards in 32 minutes, including a 3-for-3 start that got OKC off to a 16-9 start. “I’m not disappointed with him at all,” said coach Scott Brooks, who plays a lot of small ball out West. “Those aren’t bad numbers. It’s all matchups. It’s like a four-man rotation there … and when teams go super-small, we can switch everything.”
Ball Don’t Lie, behind the box score: “The Nets couldn’t defend, at all. Oklahoma City was playing it’s usual brand of veteran-y ball with youngster-y panache, but this time it led to a hot night on offense — 115 points per 100 possessions. Durant dropped 40 and was fantastic, no Jamal Crawford-stuff here, and the team would have won by 25 had James Harden (who missed all 10 of his looks from the floor, but played well) not had such rotten luck.”
Power rankings! Dime has OKC at 14: “Conversations about the Thunder begin and end with Kevin Durant, but Russell Westbrook has been kind of a beast lately; averaging 18.6 points, 5.6 boards and 8.6 dimes in his last five games.”
NBA.com at 14: “With a visit to New Jersey on Monday, the Thunder have a good chance at their first three-game winning streak. Only one of their next eight opponents has a winning record. That’s Utah, who they host Thursday and trail by just 1 1/2 games for eighth in the West.”
Marc Stein at 13: “Factoids, factoids, factoids: OKC is 12-1 when it puts up 100 points, Durant has 13 30-point games already and the Thunder reached 15 wins on the day after Christmas … after needing until March 2 to get there last season.”
HoopsWorld at 14: “The Thunder earned a lot of respect this past week, giving the Lakers a real challenge and then beating the Suns in Phoenix.”
KD was the Daily Dime’s Monday best: “Dropping a season-high 40 points on the Nets’ curb is one way to keep the Meadowlands down. Overall, Durant made 15-of-22 shots from the field for OKC, which has won three games in a row.”
Kiki Vandeweghe: “I think we did a very good job in the first half,” said Vandeweghe. “We were right there with them. The Thunder are a very good team with a lot of confidence. They are playing at a very high level right now. When you’re that type of team, you turn it up at the appropriate time defensively.”
