Keyrock

Durant took 32 shots because he had to, he doesn't have a choice. Westbrook can't stay on the court and when Durant passes the ball to other guys they miss wide open shots by comical distances and yet KD's assist numbers are rather close to LeBron's. KD played 50+ minutes tonight because he had to, that's what it took to win the game. If he didn't play 50+ minutes and shoot 32 times the Thunder would have lost, plain and simple. It's called doing whatever it takes to win the game and it's exactly what being a MVP is all about. The object of the game is to win the game. Unlike the Heat, the Thunder can't afford to lose because they play in a real conference, not in a children's playpen. If the Heat go on a losing streak they still get a 2 seed. if the Thunder go on a losing streak they could fall all the way to a 5 seed. LeBron is a better defender, but not by nearly as big a margin as he used to be, KD is much improved. LeBron is a better passer, but again, the margin has narrowed. KD is a better rebounder and shotblocker (shockingly). While LeBron has a higher FG%, LeBron and KD have an identical PPS (points per shot), which is the purest scoring efficiency stat out there IMHO (fun fact, only DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard have higher PPS than KD and LeBron). So KD scores almost 5 1/2 more points per game at the exact same shooting efficiency as LeBron. KD has straight up been better this season by stats, by the eye test, by whatever fair and reasonable measure you want to use. If KD wins the MVP this year it won't be a bogus MVP win like when Barkley won over MJ because it was "his turn". He will certainly have earned it. But, by all means, go on and live in your fantasy world where LeBron is still 100X better than anyone else (mind you, he is still way better than anyone not named Kevin Durant). Everybody else lives in the real world where KD has straight up outplayed LeBron this year, though not be a large margin, as LeBron has been great.

So, with approximately a dozen games left, Durant is clearly in the lead for the Maurice Podoloff Trophy: Current Stats: PPG RPG APG FG% FT% 3% STL BLK Kevin Durant 32.2 7.7 5.6 50.7 86.8 40.9 1.3 0.8 LeBron James 26.8 6.9 6.4 57.1 74.4 38.0 1.6 0.3 The stats are in Durant's favor, but not overwhelmingly so. Durant plays in a much harder conference and the Thunder have had a harder strength of schedule, which plays in Durant's favor. Both players have had hot streaks, with Durant having a longer and more impressive streak. LeBron has had the more impressive singular game with his unearthly 61 point performance. The biggest difference at this point is consistency. LeBron has had some slumps (by his standards) while Durant hasn't had anything remotely resembling a slump all season long, he's been good, great, or unbelievable all season long. If the two were to wind up in basically a tie then Durant would likely get the nod because of the "don't want to give LeBron a 3rd straight" and "it's KD's turn" bullcrap, but the fact is that KD has simply been better this season so far. Long story short, it's KD's MVP to lose at this point. LeBron would either have to go on a ridiculous tear for the remainder of the season (which is definitely possible) or KD would have to go into a deep slump (which is highly unlikely given how consistent he's been) for LeBron to pass KD down the stretch. I'm not ready to say Durant is a better player than LeBron, because things like that aren't decided in a single season (and LeBron is definitely better over his career and over the last 3 years or so), but it's a conversation now, whereas before LeBron was FAR AND AWAY the best player in the NBA and no one else was in his league. KD is in the same league as LeBron now.

I switched over to the Thunder/Raptors game just as it went into overtime, and boy am I glad I did. KD was straight beastin', draining shots, getting rebounds, blocking a shot, and trying to get assists, but no one not named Kevin Durant could hit the broad side of a barn in the 1st OT. The Thunder should have won it easily in that 1st OT with dudes getting st00pid open shots to ice the game and missing again and again (Fish was missing by so much it was comical). Lowry made a clutch 3 and the game went to a second OT. In the second OT the Raptors took over and built a 8 point game with some 45 seconds left. Game over, right? Not quite. The Thunder clawed their way back in with KD making buckets, Fish finally making something, and the Raptors missing free throws. Then, with the Thunder down by 2 and 1.7 seconds left, KD drained a 3 for the W from about 5 feet beyond the arc with a dude all over him, just straight pure. KD's final beastly stats: 51 points 12 rebounds 7 assists. The MVP race ain't over yet, but Durant definitely helped his cause tonight. The bad news: Westbrook left the game with a "knee sprain" after he collided with Lowry. I'm hoping it's really only a sprain and he'll be back for the playoffs, but I'm definitely very worried he's just become Derrick Rose 2.0.

Great googly moogly this Providence/UNC game is fun! March Madness is just the best. Basketball isn't even my favorite sport, but March Madness is far and away the most fun sports watching time of the year, any year. So ridiculously entertaining. Edit: Oh man, this Providence/UNC game is giving me such a boner. So back and forth so freakin' good! It's clear that UNC is the more physically talented team, but Providence is just so scrappy and playing with so much heart. This is the best!

Pfft, you guys can make all the weight jokes you want. Check out how rugged that beard is: Sex appeal level = OVER 9000!

So when the brackets came out there seemed to be a lot of grumbling with people hating on Wichita State getting a 1 seed. While all the other 1 seeds so far have won, none of them have done so impressively. Meanwhile, Wichita State is STRAIGHT MURDERING Cal Poly right now.

After watching a highly entertaining Kansas/Eastern Kentucky game I switched over to OK State/Gonzaga. Ugh, what a disappointment. Freakin' Whistle Fest 2014. This game is nearly unwatchable. Edit: Switched over to George Washington/Memphis because that OK St/Gonzaga game was just way too brutal to watch.

Does it feature any gratuitous GabeN shots?

I'm drinking The Good Stuff: Magnificent potato vodka made in Poland, where vodka was invented. Don't let any Russian or Scandinavian tell you otherwise.

March Madness is so great. Duke just got bounced in the 1st round. This.... This is so great... I told myself I wouldn't get emotional... /breathes heavily //wipes away tears of joy

Yeah, losing the original voice files is a bummer, the game does look quite pretty, though.

I don't think I've ever used the term 'douchewaffle' before, but now I just might have to start using it.

^ Yikes. I do have a proper vise and all the necessary equipment at work, but the idea of going at a $350 chip with a hammer doesn't sit well with me. I'd probably feel less queasy with the scoring it with a razor knife method then using a hammer and a block of wood. I really hope Intel follows through with their claims and puts some proper quality thermal paste between the chip and heatspreader. Soldered on would be the best, but that ain't gonna happen. Spend a few bucks for some Arctic Silver, you cheap ass bastards!

So, there's a new Quest For Glory game out... sort of. It's called Heroine's Quest and it looks insanely like Quest For Glory, which was originally called Hero's Quest, except, as you might have guessed, you play a female character. Check it out: http://kotaku.com/classic-pc-series-reinvented-with-female-lead-1548435140 http://store.steampowered.com/app/283880/ Oh yeah, and it's free. Hopefully the game manages to capture some of the charm and humor of the games it's so obviously paying homage to. I'm going to give this one a go when I get home. Edit: Apparently, this game has been out prior to this, it just hit Steam today. Why had no one told me about this before? Quest For Glory is my jam.

GDC Mighty No. 9 Alpha Gameplay Footage Holy smokes that looks like the good ol' blue bomber.

Yeah, the hardcore aim was ridiculous. Sitting at the very edge of my Dragunov's scope, barely able to make out enemies, crouched down and in partial cover, meanwhile they are hitting me with almost perfect accuracy with assault rifles.

Oh, yeah I did misunderstand, and I'm not sure I'm willing to pry apart the heatspreader and chip. I'll likely still put my own thermal paste between the heatsink and heatspreader.

I don't much care about Iris Pro IGP as I'll be getting a dedicated GPU anyway, but does this confirm higher end Broadwell desktop chips? I hope so. Seems a bit weird to put an IGP into higher end desktop chips, though. Won't the people in that segment of the market be getting a dedicated GPU anyway? It's down to Haswell refresh or Broadwell for me, I've mostly talked myself out of Haswell-E. I don't know if I trust Intel about the "Improved TIM". Does that mean they'll use better paste or just more of the garbage they've been using? I'll likely just drop 10 bucks on a small tube of Arctic Silver, it's a small price to pay for the peace of mind of knowing the chip will run nice and cool. The properly hardcore people will just run bare-die! But I'll take any improvement, really, I'm not even going to consider going at a $200-300 CPU with a knife or pliers just to get the heatspreader off (and of course, voiding the warranty). A knife!? Pliers!? Jesus Christ almighty, I'm not letting this guy within 1000 yards of my CPU. You use a Q-tip and a little bit of rubbing alcohol or acetone. When you buy a CPU, generally the CPU and heatsink come separate, they're not pre-attached.

March Madness!

I had the same experience with the Misery Mod (it was 2.0 when I played) minus the stuttering. I like some of the changes, but other changes straight up ruin the game adding nothing but tedium and making enemies beyond insanely difficult (no human should survive multiple headshots from a Dragunov, I don't care if he's wearing 3 helmets layered on top of each other).

Every time you fold a piece of paper over its thickness doubles, so we're dealing with an exponential here. You would be doubling the thickness 42 times, so if you start with a thickness of 1 then it would go 1 > 2 > 4 > 8 > 16 > 32 > 64 > 128... You do that 42 times and you wind up with a ridiculously huge number. I'm not great with exponents, so I could be off here, but I think it would wind up being <thickness of paper> X 2 to the 41st power

I knew like 11 or 12 of those.

Maybe Advanced Fighting in Tunnels could be adapted into a MMO? You wouldn't leave that market untapped, would you, Monte?

"Vodka" healing to "Red Bull" healing? Speaking of healing items, they'll have to change Pirozhki to Doritos Locos Tacos. As an aside, changing to Red Bull and Doritos Locos Tacos has the side benefit of making the game ready for eventual console release. I can already see it "Pick up specially marked 4 packs of Red Bull for a special code that gets you a weekend of double experience in Skyforge".