Friday Bolts – 2.21.14
Scott Brooks to NBA.com on defense: “I look at it in a bunch of dimensions. One, I look at it as strictly an offensive team and a defensive team. And I look at it combined, hand in hand. I believe you have to be able to be a be a two-way team in order to have success. Especially in the West, there are so many great teams. And that’s the thing I take pride in. I know there are so many times when we have to focus on defense, defense, defense, and there are holes. We have to try to repair it. And we do that and the offense becomes stagnant, and you try to fix that up. That’s just part of coaching. You have to find balance, fix the problems as you see them, and try to envision problems before they even happen.”
Kevin Pelton of ESPN Insider projecting Durant and LeBron: “Barring injury, Durant will eventually catch James. Their difference in age makes that an inevitability, because it’s larger than the difference in their established performance. There’s far too much noise in the projections to know whether that might happen next season or not until several more down the line.”
I wrote another thing on the game.
Berry Tramel: “Even? This series? Until three weeks ago, Miami had won six straight against the Thunder, including the final four games of the 2012 NBA Finals. Miami seemed a horrid matchup for the Thunder, whose best bet for an NBA championship was to meet the Indiana Pacers in the Finals. Now, after this undressing, the Thunder is back to flying the Indiana flag. This game was not complicated. Miami played ferocious defense, the Thunder absolutely did not.”
Darnell Mayberry: “I didn’t blame Brooks one bit for starting Perk in the second half. Again, most did. But as I’ve said in the past, you can always pull the plug if he’s not effective. But sit Perk and he has no chance at being effective. What does Perk bring against Miami, some asked. Interior defense and rebounding, two things that are proven to be some of the biggest problems for Miami. If Perk is on his game, he can do those things and give the Heat trouble. It’s been a while since he has, no doubt. But sit him and you have no way of knowing.”
Jenni Carlson on Westbrook: “He knows that there’s no guarantee that everything will be fine from here on out. That’s probably hard for Thunder fans — and front office folks — to stomach, but there are no for-sures with Westbrook’s knee or any other body part that he flings around the court. But from the looks of things against the Heat, he has come to terms with that. He didn’t play scared. We even saw that familiar fire boil over late in the game when Westbrook picked up a technical foul protesting a call. And you know what? I’m not sure anyone minded that his emotions got the best of him. That’s how good it was to have him back.”
Kevin Durant has no killer instinct.
Mike Wallace of ESPN.com: “If Thursday’s result proved anything, it’s that the Heat can take a punch. Now, they’re punching back. Having scored at least 30 points in 13 games since Jan. 1 and leading the Heat back to their dominant ways, James is showing that the MVP award many conceded to Durant is long from decided. And having closed to within 1½ games of the Indiana Pacers for the best record in the East, the Heat are making a convincing case that there indeed remains a race for the No. 1 seed in the conference.”
