Friday Bolts – 5.6.11
ESPN.com 5-on-5 on where the Thunder-Grizzlies series is headed: “I don’t expect Zach Randolph to miss every field goal in three out of four quarters again, but Oklahoma City figured out how to be physical against the bully in the yard. Now it’s up to Memphis to figure out how to keep up with Kevin Durant and his immense scoring help.”
Deadspin has to put together a 16-man one-on-one tournament and KD is the third-seed: “My only caveat about including Durant is that a lot of what makes him such a force in the NBA — that rip-through-and-jump-shot combination, for instance, which seems to put him on the foul line six times a game by itself — would render him completely insufferable in our hypothetical one-on-one tournament. Dwyane Wade and Paul Pierce would call cheapies all game long; Durant would draw real ones. It’d be unwatchable.”
Enjoyed this story about the Thunder’s PA guy Jim Miller.
Berry Tramel on fan reaction, or overreaction: “The Thunder’s Game 1 loss to Memphis certainly seemed to send Oklahoma City into a sky-is-falling funk. In a state accustomed to apocalyptic sporting events — college football games that determine Oklahoma’s collective psyche; do-or-die NCAA Tournament games — the NBA playoffs throw us a curve. Series basketball. Not 40 minutes, but a fortnight, to determine the superior team. Adjustments made from game to game. Rivalries developing from scratch. Two weeks worth of ebbs and flows that build to a possible epic showdown but most definitely do not include a Game 1 Armageddon.”
Chad Ford’s first mock has OKC taking Tyler Honeycutt: “The Thunder are solid at virtually every position on the floor. But with Jeff Green being shipped off to Boston this year, Honeycutt could come in and bring some depth. Honeycutt isn’t as big as Green, but he’s a talented, versatile wing with a great basketball IQ. He’d be a great fit in OKC.”
Nick Collison earns his money.
Nate Robinson on his future in OKC: “We’ll see what happens in the summer If I’m here I’m here. If I’m not I’m not. I just want to play basketball.”
Sean Deveney of Sporting News on unsung postseason heroes: “Harden struggled in the opener of the Thunder’s series against the Grizzlies, but he was terrific in Game 2, scoring 21 points and joining up with benchmate Eric Maynor (15 points) to keep Oklahoma City afloat when the starters were struggling.”
NBA Playbook on how OKC took away Zach Randolph’s space: “Zach Randolph struggled on the block the whole game, scoring just 8 points on 10 post up possessions in game two (0.80 PPP). Seeing Randolph struggle when forced to put the ball on the floor, expect to see Ibaka, Collison, and Perkins press up on Randolph every time he gets the ball on the block here on out. You are going to shut Randolph out by doing this (he was actually able to draw a couple fouls when getting to the rim), but I think this is more of an effective way to stop the hot shooting Randolph right now.”
Ronald Tillery of the Commercial Appeal on Memphis adjusting: “By their own admission, the Griz didn’t handle the aggressive infiltration of their offense with the intelligence that’s guided them to this point. Memphis watched film Thursday morning and the popcorn-less viewing only confirmed what the team already knew: Oklahoma City did nothing special. The Griz had poor spacing. They made bad decisions passing the basketball and settled for jump shots.”
