Thursday Bolts – 2.23.12
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com picks his midseason awards and has Harden as his Sixth Man: “Plenty of great candidates for this award, and with the compressed schedule, one can argue that quality bench play has never been more important. Look for Mo Williams, Lou Williams, Thaddeus Young, Al Harrington, Jamal Crawford, Jason Terry and others to all be in the mix in the second half. Harden affects the game with his scoring, driving, passing and 3-point shooting, so he’s in the lead.”
Chris Broussard of ESPN.com’s midseason awards are Thunder heavy with KD as his MVP and Ibaka as his DPOY: “The preseason pick by many has been phenomenal, especially of late. He has improved his efficiency, defense and rebounding while leading the Thunder to the best record in the West. Second in the league in scoring (27.7 ppg), Durant is averaging career highs in rebounds (8.2), assists (3.3) and blocks (1.3) while shooting a career-best 51.6 percent, which is far better than his career FG percentage of .467.”
A wonderful feature by Jordan Brenner of ESPN the Mag including a proper defense of Westbrook: “Hogwash. They’re the Thunder’s first two guys in the gym and the last two to leave. For a supposed gunner, Mr. Westbrook has assisted on a remarkable 36.5 percent of Mr. Durant’s field goals since the beginning of last season. And please accept the statement of Mr. Durant as a character witness: “I don’t know why people say that; it baffles me. People put him under that umbrella of one of those guys who has a bad attitude, that people don’t want to play with him. But you don’t see him every day. He works so hard. He does so much for this team.” Westbrook is not a point guard. If that’s the case, why has the team he runs been ranked in the top five in offensive efficiency last season and in the current one? Mr. Westbrook has assisted on 39 percent of made baskets while he’s been on the floor over that period of time, seventh in the league for players with at least 1,000 minutes.”
NBA 411 talking All-Star tweaks.
Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston: “Apropos of this roller-coaster season, the Celtics made things far more interesting than they should have been in the second half, putting a legit scare into the Thunder, who finally pulled away over the final three minutes. Boston did more than prevent widespread panic with its rally — it gave itself a healthy dose of optimism that it can be a more consistent team — the type that can hang with the league’s best — when it gets healthy.”
Darnell Mayberry: “Go back and watch the Celtics’ discipline. It is amazing. They play the same way whether they’re up by 10 or down by 20. They don’t force shots when they get down. They don’t freeze each other out. They run through their sets and remain committed to their system. It’s extremely impressive to watch. That’s where the Thunder is trying to get. And someday, the Thunder will.”
John Rohde: “Ibaka clearly was too frustrated to play with his desired passion or energy on this night. Consider it a lesson learned for one of the league’s rising defensive forces, who came in as the NBA-leader in blocked shots at 3.28 per game, having blocked 57 shots so far this month alone. Against the Celtics, Ibaka essentially was non-existent. He got off to a horrid start against Garnett, who had seven points and three rebounds by the time Ibaka had picked up his second foul in the first period.”
From Elias: “The Thunder, with the third-highest scoring average in the NBA (102.3 per game) defeated the Celtics, with the league’s second-lowest average of points allowed (87.5), 119-104, resoundingly ending the Celtics’ streak of 29 consecutive games without allowing an opponent to score 100 points. That had been the Celtics’ longest such streak since the NBA introduced the 24-second clock in 1954, and it had been the longest single-season streak in the league since the Pistons had a 30-game streak to end the 2003-04 season. Russell Westbrook scored 31 points against Boston on Wednesday, making him the first player to score 30 or more points in a game against the Celtics since Christmas, when Carmelo Anthony dropped 37 points on Boston in the season opener. Boston’s streak of 30 straight games without allowing an opposing player to score 30 points was the longest current streak of its kind for any NBA team, and it was the longest such streak for the Celtics during the shot-clock era (1954-55 to date).”
ESPN Stats and Info: “The only guard to have more 30-point games this season than Russell Westbrook is Kobe Bryant. For Westbrook three of those games have come in the last four days. In his last three contests Westbrook has scored 102 points.”
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com gives OKC an A: “Kevin Durant is having his best season as a pro, and it shows. His defense has been terrific. There are lingering questions about this team’s ability to defend, but their offensive is the most powerful in the league and they’ve managed to stay exceptionally healthy this season. The West may be largely a crapshoot this season, but the Thunder are still the prohibitive favorites to make it to the Finals. Their late-game execution has been a mixed-bag, but that’s still better than the circus clown show it was last year.”
