Behind the Box Score, where the Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the fourth quarter. Again (Ball Don't Lie) ...more ?
Oklahoma City Thunder 103, Los Angeles Lakers 100 (Thunder lead series, 3-1)
You get the feeling that every quarter the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder play is worth a column of its own. Our wrists can't handle such an exercise, though, and in a series like this, I'm not sure I can handle another exhausting three games. Though I'd like to see the Lakers and Thunder try.
Where to start? Well, it's almost as if Kobe Bryant realized his own line of [nonsense] emanating from his high free throw total in Game 3. Yes, he got to the line 18 times and secured the Lakers' win, but it wasn't as if he was driving and getting hit to get to the stripe. Most of his looks came on fouls on the perimeter, with Oklahoma City in the penalty, and not some head-down brand of dashing to the goal. Come on, Kobe.
So what did he do in Game 4? Come on, Kobe. Come on so damn good. He was brilliant, to start. Absolutely fantastic in dominating in the post against both Thabo Sefolosha and James Harden, and outpacing even his Game 3 rate (10 free throw attempts at the end of the third quarter in Game 3, 14 of those bad boys at the same time in Game 4) at the free throw line by, you guessed it, putting his head down and driving to the rim. Smart, tough, and cerebral play from a man playing nearly his 51,000 combined regular season and postseason minute, on the second night of a back to back.
Matt Bonner supplies Spurs tickets and autographs to the young fan nearly punished for shaving his picture into a haircut (Ball Don't Lie) ...more ?
"Couldn't you just move him to the back of the class?" Pretty smart, sage advice from a guy who was about to come off the bench of a playoff game, working for a team that hasn't lost in five weeks.
That's San Antonio Spurs forward Matt Bonner for ya, the player depicted in young Spurs fan Patrick Gonzalez infamous haircut that nearly got him suspended from his junior high on Thursday. Rather than face the in-school suspension, Gonzalez decided to shave the design off, much to the chagrin of just about everyone who decided to comment in our post about the incident on Wednesday night . Bonner responded to Gonzalez's gesture by giving Patrick tickets to Thursday night's Game 2 Spurs win over the Los Angeles Clippers , and autographing several Spurs pieces of memorabilia for the youngster. Bonner, who was an Academic All-American in college, said he was mindful of the school administrators' policies, but criticized Woodland Hills Middle School nevertheless. Thankfully. From Mike Monroe at the San Antonio Express-News :
"Couldn't you just move him to the back of the class?" the red-headed 3-point shooting ace said after Thursday morning's shootaround. "Then nobody would see it; it wouldn't be a distraction. Otherwise, the nicest thing a fan has ever done for me is ruined. I'm not going to condemn the school. If anyone is in support of education and academics, it's myself, my Mom being a teacher, and (because of) my own academic success. Like I said, they could have just moved him to the back of the class."