Friday Bolts - 11.7.08

• Jeff Green is learning on the fly: "But unlike the good old days in Washington, D.C., where Green excelled from the start and led Georgetown to a 67-27 record over his three seasons, Rivers witnessed Green’s baptism by fire continue Wednesday night in the Thunder’s 96-83 loss to his Celtics club."

• No one goes to Salt Lake and wins, writes Mike Baldwin: "The Thunder plays tonight at Utah, which was 37-4 at home last season. "Every time you play there it’s a tough game,” said Thunder forward Chris Wilcox. "We have to run hard in the first half. You need to get off to a good start and try to destroy the crowd early.”

• Not exactly Thunder news (though it could be one day, fingers crossed) but SI.com says Blake Griffin is the top prospect from college: "He's undersized for a 4 but unbelievably powerful," the scout said. "He can jump out of the gym, he has great hands. Really, really strong and explosive. He's going to have to improve his perimeter game a little because his size will make it tougher for him to get to the rim; he can get there with ease in the Big 12, but he can't do it in our league on a nightly basis. He can become a pick-and-pop guy, and I think he will because he has a really good work ethic. He wants to be good, so I think the skills he needs to develop will come his way. He would have been in the lottery last year had he decided to come out as a freshman.''

• Thunderguru previews tonight's game: "Tonight the Oklahoma City Thunder travel to the high desert to play the unbeaten Utah Jazz in a game that has all of the usual suspects minus one: Deron Williams. The Jazz’s impressive Olympian point guard is still out rehabbing his gimpy wheel. Against the solid Jazz we will take any advantage we can get, however this team hasn’t had much trouble dispelling with their opponents so far despite the loss of one of the games best young point guards."

• The Salt Lake News Tribune previews tonight's matchup: "Utah coach Jerry Sloan stands on the precipice of history as the Jazz welcome the rebuilding Oklahoma City Thunder to EnergySolutions Arena on Friday. When Mehmet Okur recorded 22 points and nine rebounds to lead Utah to a 103-96 triumph over Portland on Wednesday, Sloan recorded his 999th win with the franchise. He is now just one victory shy of becoming the first coach in NBA history to win 1,000 games with one team."

• And this is just not acceptable. The Thunderstruck being played during player introductions isn't even the AC/DC one? (I couldn't tell up in Loud City.) It's by the minor-leaguer Nickelback, Hinder? Geez: "If you’ve attended any of the first three home games, you probably realized the pregame introduction of the song "Thunderstruck” isn’t AC/DC’s version of the hit song. Thunder officials hired the Oklahoma City-based rock band Hinder to record a new version."