Friday Bolts – 3.7.14
Darnell Mayberry: “Here’s a question I have about PJ3 in the starting lineup. If he’s viewed as the “utility defender,” why is he being put on non-offensive players? He guarded Michael Kidd-Gilchrist while Kevin Durant was on Gerald Henderson in the Charlotte game. Tonight he came out on P.J. Tucker while Durant was on Gerald Green. I don’t get it. Now, the Thunder did a boatload of switching tonight. So everybody ended up kind of being on everybody. And PJ3′s length comes in handy for something like that. But if he’s not giving you offense and he’s out there covering non-factors defensively, why start him? Ideally, I’d like to see Lamb get a shot with the first string because of the effect his shooting can have on Durant and Westbrook. But if the Thunder is hellbent on a defensive-minded player, then I’d probably even prefer Andre Roberson in that unit so long as he’s actually assigned to an offensive player.”
Jeff Caplan of NBA.com: “The team is built for it barring anything else going wrong with Westbrook’s right knee. His triple-double in 20 minutes Tuesday night revealed an explosive player at his best. He’s regaining his shooting touch and continues to talk of being a smarter player after having sat out all but two of 11 playoff games last season and a large chunk of games this season. Any notion that Westbrook somehow detracts from Durant should finally be dead and buried.”
KD writing for the Wall Street Journal: “Something that’s often overlooked in basketball is mental power. A game is 50 percent mental—mental toughness. Going through ups and downs during a long season, you have to really set your mind to have the power over everybody else—over opponents, fans, bad refs, tough games. You gotta fight through that. When I was young, I was always the skinny kid and got pushed around a lot, and my mental toughness goes back to that. There are so many strong and athletic guys in this league, and at the end of the day, there will always be someone taller, someone stronger, somebody quicker. Having that willpower and extra fight is what’s going to set you apart. On the court there’s trash talk, you can hear fans trying to disrespect you, but just being quiet, never being too high or too low, is the most powerful place to be in a game.”
KD is the MVP of social media.
KD met Muhammad Ali before last night’s game.
Bright Side of the Sun: “For while, it looked dicey as OKC took the lead back. Russell Westbrook couldn’t miss a shot of his own. He made three 3s in the fourth alone to help bring the Thunder back, scoring 36 points on the night. But the Suns would not be denied, and Goran Dragic got the Suns back into the lead with 4 straight points at the rim. The a Morris-Morris oop. Then a Dragic midrange dagger. Holy s$^$t! And TNT didn’t want this game.”
Tom Ley of Deadspin on Gerald Green: “Green embodies a familiar NBA archetype: the big, athletic swingman who possesses all of Michael Jordan’s physical skills and confidence, but not nearly enough of whatever the hell else it was that made Jordan so great. These are the guys who can dunk on anyone in the league, who can take guys off the dribble with ease, who can get hot from three-point range at any moment, but can never seem to do all of those things at once. These players are just as frustrating as they are intoxicating. Just ask any Knicks fan who fell in love with J.R. Smith last year.”
