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Happy Monday, a good day following the Thunder's massive win over the Pacers last night. Here is what is going on in the league, where a meeting of perhaps the 2 best teams in the league were somehow overshadowed by Kobe Bryant's gimpy return, a Rudy Gay trade, and LeBron James vs the Pistons.
Darnell Mayberry writes that one of the goofy-cool moments of the night, on a night when a lot of things went right, was Kendrick Perkins' YOLO jumper:
By far the best moment of the night was when Perk pump faked a jumper as his defender dared him to shoot and caused 18,203 to let out a collective gasp. Perk pumped again, pushing his home fans to near heart attacks. Then, finally, Perk let it fly from 15 feet…And it rattled it. When it did with 40 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Perk celebrated as he typically does while transitioning back on D. Meanwhile, he nearly got a standing ovation from the Thunder faithful. Classic.
Mayberry also wrote that Kevin Durant had a special message for the writers and the rest of the league, but did it in a way that kind of irked me:
I don’t know if Durant feels threatened by George, views him as the new kid on the block that’s coming for him or just doesn’t care for the dude. Either way, we saw a side of Durant tonight that we rarely see. He took the matchup personal and made it a point to outplay George. Publicly, I’m sure KD would disagree and even deny it. But his play spoke volumes.
Mayberry admitted that he doesn't know how KD feels about PG, but then proceeded to assign possible motives instead of just asking him. Why can't it be that Durant went HAM on George because George is a great player and the Pacers are a great team, ergo Durant had to do it to give his team a chance to win? Occam's Razor, man.
Royce Young writes that Kendrick Perkins, a standout performer with his defense against Roy Hibbert, had this to say:
"Our theme right now is, ‘how can you help your teammate?’" Kendrick Perkins said. "So whatever that means whether a guy cutting hard, or setting a screen or doing whatever he needs to do, passing the ball on time, making a shot, however you can help a teammate. I think if we keep living by that and being honest with ourselves and just keep holding each other accountable, we can keep moving forward in a positive way."
Kobe Bryant returned to action 8 months after rupturing his Achilles. Not surprisingly, there was a bit of rust. More importantly, can Kobe fit into the fold of a suddenly exciting Lakers team?
Nick Young, ya'll. Bonus points for Kelly Dwyer's photo at the top, which may look as if Kobe wants to murder Swaggy P, but in reality Kobe's just pissed that Young stole Kobe's signature move and then managed to botch it.
Ian Levy from Hickory High is back with some more efficiency optimization charts for you. Always great stuff.
From The Starters, the Rockets' mascot managed to do something pretty cool. Your move, Rumble.
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