– Kevin Durant Leading From The Front (from Michael Wallace, ESPN):
“Conventional wisdom in Oklahoma City and around the league might suggest Westbrook’s expected seven-week absence to recover from minor knee surgery opens the door for Durant to boost his scoring numbers and MVP chances. Instead, Durant is leaning on his teammates now more than ever in hopes the supporting cast can use this valuable time to bond and build confidence for the playoffs.
That much has been obvious over the past two games the Thunder have played since Westbrook left the lineup after the Christmas win in New York to have his third surgery on his right knee since last spring. Oklahoma City has since beaten Charlotte and Houston and is now 4-1 on the season in games Westbrook has not played. Along the way, there have been more points from Durant.
And just as many pointers from him, too.
Durant suggested Sunday that he learned from last season’s playoffs, when Westbrook initially tore the lateral meniscus in his knee in Game 2 of a first-round series against the Rockets. The Thunder won the series, but were eliminated by Memphis in the second round as Durant put up huge numbers but was largely inefficient and struggled to get adequate help from his teammates.
Durant is drawing from that painful experience now, and doesn’t believe the answer is simply for him to try to do more to fill the void of Westbrook’s 21.3 points, 7.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds. The more logical approach, Durant insists, is to spread the wealth and teach every step of the way.”
Read it here: http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-131229/daily-dime-kevin-durant-leading-way
– Marcin Gortat’s screens open floor for shooters (from J Michael at csnwashington.com):
“An unsung player in the Wizards’ three-game winning streak is Marcin Gortat, who has yet to regain his groove on the offensive end. Gortat is 14-for-34 shooting and has been to the foul line just six times in that span, but he is setting screens to free the shooters.
It’s a lost art that a lot of big men don’t do as well as they used to…
” “I give a lot of credit to March. He screens his butt off,” (Brad) Beal said of Gortat, who is 6-11 and 240 pounds. “He makes life easier for you. He gets you open when you need to.”
Read it here: http://www.csnwashington.com/basketball-washington-wizards/talk/marcin-gortats-screens-open-floor-shooters
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