Wednesday Bolts – 3.22.17
Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com on partying: “Then, in less than a decade, the home-court
advantage gap was sliced in half. By 1996-97, home teams won only 57.5 percent of the time, by an average margin of only 2.6 points. And now, after hovering around 60 percent for most of the 2000s, home-court advantage is dropping again. This season, it sits at an all-time low of 57.4 percent. What’s causing the drop? Are refs monitored better and therefore less susceptible to the home crowd’s jeers? Are the crowds themselves quieter, populated as they are by iPhone-gripping, corporate-ticket-holding fans? Is something even weirder going on? I spoke with dozens of players, coaches, team trainers and front-office execs, and most think the same thing is happening: NBA players are sleeping more and drinking less.”
Read this by Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com on PB&Js: “Growing up in Latvia, Knicks sensation Kristaps Porzingis had never heard of a PB&J. Then he joined the NBA. “I fell in love,” he told The Wall Street Journal. Pacers nutritionist Lindsay Langford says rookie Georges Niang begs — yes, begs — for her PB&J recovery-shake recipe (frozen blueberries, vanilla whey protein, creamy peanut butter and milk), which she makes, once a week, to his delight. Warriors forward Kevin Durant is such a fan that he worked with Nike to unveil a PB&J-colored sneaker. His ex-teammate Russell Westbrook prefers a pregame marriage of Skippy and strawberry jelly between toasted wheat bread, halved sometimes, depending on his mood, with butter slathered on the inside.”
Larry Coon of ESPN Insider: “In all, two-way contracts represent one of many improvements to the system in the new CBA, and make the D-League more effective as a place to develop talent. These players represent a useful hybrid between the two types of players that existed previously. In Ferrell’s case, not only could he have made more money this way, but his path back to the NBA would’ve been more clear. And Brooklyn likely wouldn’t have lost out on a productive player. As with any other new rule, NBA teams will look for the cracks and crevices and will try to find ways to tweak the new rules to their advantage. Time will tell if two-way contracts will work as intended, but for now, they appear to be a great addition to the league’s system.”
Erik Horne: “Before Tuesday, Russell Westbrook had a combined nine Russell’s Reading Rooms in Oklahoma City and Los Angeles. That number expanded to 19 before the end of the day. Westbrook gathered in a newly-painted room and handed out book certificates to students at Adams Elementary on Tuesday morning. He then picked up a big pair of scissors and cut the ribbon on the latest effort to improve youth literacy.”
Brett Dawson: “On Wednesday, OKC hosts the Philadelphia 76ers, a team against which Westbrook has four career triple-doubles, all in the past six meetings. That might not matter. Thunder coach Billy Donovan is unconvinced that a player’s history against an opponent has much meaning in subsequent meetings.”
