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(counts games)
The Spurs are 32-3 in their last 35 games...just wanted to point that out. That's badass.
Limit transition. Force OKC to execute in halfcourt and have Durant take "75 foot jumpshots" - to me that's the big picture.
Whoever Durant is guarding - have them run around screens like crazy to make Durant work. Try to tire Durant so his legs aren't as strong in the 4th and hope this affects his shooting.
Anyway, very curious to see what chess moves Pop attempts on D for the first game. It's not as simple as just frustrating Paul like last time.
(counts games)
The Spurs are 32-3 in their last 35 games...just wanted to point that out. That's badass.
If the Spurs were susceptible to losing to the style of play of OKC they would have dropped a game or two to the Clippers. Or, have some faith in your team.
Except that Manu and Parker both going off in the same game just doesn't really happen anymore (one of the "drawbacks" of being so deep). The number of games where both of them have scored at least 17 points this year? Three. (The last time was April 20th.)
You seem to be arguing that the Spurs should be able to outscore them, Can't_Be_D'Antoni'd. No matter how good the Spurs' offense has become, that's still a Fool's Gold strategy in the playoffs. What's made them unstoppable the past month has been the step-up in defense, and beating the Thunder is going to depend on on how well they continue doing that.Spurs have the ball in their court. how many series has this team lost when the defense packs the paint and Parker and manu brick open jump shots they should hit?
If our guards play elite, game over we win
Yes, well, I didn't want to make it the reference too obvious.
I just bought tickets to game 2, plaza level 109 row 21. Are they pretty close? Never set there before. Spent a pretty good amount on them though but never been to a Spurs playoff game before so its worth it.
Wade hasn't even been the best 2 guard in the NBA for a while, let alone #2 in the entire league. Durant's clearly surpassed him this year to anybody who's watched this entire season.Only Howard, it could be argued, was better than him the previous few seasons (other than James, obviously). Durant wasn't even close until this season.
Funny you bring up McGrady who also never got past the 1st round while KD is leading his team to its 2nd straight WCF appearance. KD, again evidenced by his play this season, is already a better all around player than Melo ever was.I don't care about "leading the league in scoring"; it's all cir stantial. McGrady won two scoring les and I don't ever remember him being widely regarded as a top two player. Anthony is eminently capable of winning one or two and if he does, will you consider him top five, let alone top two?
Same can be applied to your #4 Chris PaulThere's no question Durant is improved defensively, but let's not pretend he's a lock down defender; he's not and he probably won't ever be.
Like I said, hes improved his playmaking and if Westbrook doesn't dominate the ball so much in that offense, KD prob has more chances to make plays for others instead of playing mostly off Russ.His play making is very average. In fact, with the exception of Anthony, he's the worst play making elite perimeter scorer in recent memory. Best closer, because he's made a few clutch shots this post season, so everything that came before that is suddenly forgotten?
Name a better closer in the game right now...Wade, who missed a point blank layup in Game 3 against the Pacers? CP3, who was deferring to the Clipper bench against Mem Game 7 and turning it over against the Spurs? the only guy i can think of is Dirk and KD bounced him with a game winner as well.
Spin the question however you want. Poll a GM on who theyy want out of those group of guys going into a playoff series or a playoff game and the overwhelming majority is going with Kevin Durant.Of course no one would trade Durant for Wade, genius. That's a different question though. We're talking right now and right now, Wade is still the better player. He's got a knee injury, that's why he's struggled for much of the playoffs. What does immaturity have to do with anything or being "irrelevant in crunchtime"? How relevant was O'Neal in the clutch? Was he not a top two player in his prime? A PG that's 6-0 and has had mostly terrible teams around him that he's dragged to respectability and beyond. Give him the talent Durant's had surrounding him, then we'll see if he doesn't get past the 2nd round.
There are so much parameters and key matchups that's it hard to tell who will win this series. What's weird is that I'm almost like a neutral fan for this series. I'm, of course, rooting for Spurs but I wouldn't be really upset to see Thunder winning it. Thunder are a really nice team that is hard to dislike.
May the best team win and let's have fun watching what should be an amazing WCF.
Good point. Sweeping the Clippers wouldn't have been possible without the improved defense. They didn't just get hot they just shutdown the Clippers defensively.
I agree. The impressive part of the 24-0 run in game three wasn't the 24 it was the 0.
I only read the op, vn post btw. I think it's going to be very interesting how scott manages sefolosha's playing time. Is he going to start him and have him start ding up tp? imo the best move is startting harden and bring in sefolosha when manu comes i. I think scott majorly ed up last year vs dal by not starting harden and giving collison too few minutes in favor of perkins who's best asset is defending post scorers and who is complete aids on offense. collison w/his ability to catch the ball and finish quickly at the rim when a guy hedges off him or shoot is a terrific asset on offense. I'd actually bring collison in to the game earlier around the 8 min mark, especially if the thunder are having a hard time scoring.
It's going to be very interesting to see if the spurs' wide open offense full of guys who can pass/shoot will tire out this young thunder team. It's much more tiring having to defend against a team that uses much of the shotclock passing the ball to multiple players whereas vs lal they could just let kobe dribble, dribble, dribble, force up a bad contested jumper at less then a 40% clip allowing everyone who isn't ding up kobe to stand around. My prediction is spurs in 6 or 7 for what is the nba championship.
Durant has shown tremendous growth in these playoffs, all the soft edges are falling off. The dude is hard. I think he'll be the Spurs killer, unfortunately.
Disagree, the Manu Harden match-up is arguably the most favorable for OKC, no point in avoiding it. If Manu was putting big numbers and playing great D that would be another story of course.
"I don't see nobody beating them." Al Jefferson, pretty recently.
Durant is an overrated chucker like all the rest and probably always will be. He gets by and sheer size and athleticism and hasn't really added anything to his game since he was a rookie. You'd think a guy with that kind of size would have developed some kind of post game but he hasn't (similar to Lebron, more on that in a second). He lives purely on the perimeter and uses his size and length advantage to shoot jumpers and wreak havoc in the transition game. He'll put up MVP type seasons and probably be good enough to lead his into the conference finals on occassion (maybe a finals appearance someday), but I don't see him winning multiple les. He might get one if he's lucky (Lebron wasn't).
Right now he's where Lebron was 3-4 years ago, good enough to carry a team deep into the playoffs but not polished enough to close it out. Exciting to watch for sure, and a lock to make the sportscenter highlight reel, but in the end that will be his legacy.
IMO it could be argued this is the worst of the front courts that they've played in these playoffs yet.
Didn't see this posted anywhere, so thought I would post. Sorry if it is old news:
http://newsok.com/okc-thunder-five-q...rticle/3677833
They make a couple of the same points as TIMVP...
OKC Newspaper:
TIMVP:Who will guard Kevin Durant?
Spurs rookie Kawhi Leonard will get the start defensively on Durant. In the regular season, Leonard actually did a decent job on Durant — and the reigning three-time scoring champ still averaged 22.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists. Those averages might seem impressive, but Durant's scoring average against San Antonio was his lowest against any opponent he faced more than once this season.
Jackson is expected to come off the bench and be thrown at Durant as well. Between Leonard and Jackson, the Spurs have an athletic and physical duo that possesses ample strength and length to make Durant work to get his points. But after watching how Durant annihilated Metta World Peace and the Lakers, there may no longer be a defender on the planet who can cover him.
OKC Newspaper:Kawhi Leonard vs. Kevin Durant
Although Kawhi Leonard was really good against the Clippers, there's a galactic difference between Caron Butler and Kevin Durant. If Durant isn't the best player in the NBA, he's in the conversation. In my opinion, there's no question he's the game's most potent scorer. His length, touch and courage make him virtually unstoppable.
Welcome to the NBA, rook. Your task now is to save the Spurs season by slowing this wunderkind of a basketball player. No pressure or anything.
We'll see if Leonard is up for the challenge. So far this year, we haven't seen any reason to think that Leonard won't give it his all. Will that be enough? Let's hope so. Hypothetically, the Spurs could go with Stephen Jackson or Danny Green on Leonard but the only Spur who has the length and footspeed to bother Durant with any type of consistency is the rookie.TIMVP:How significant will the point guard matchup be?
The series could be decided by Russell Westbrook and Tony Parker. That's how significant of a matchup this is. But don't expect Westbrook and Parker to cancel out each other. Both are much too good and far too dominant for that. Neither will be able to defend the other.
So the key will be which player can consistently make others better while contributing in other areas. Because the Spurs' offense is much more pass-oriented than the Thunder's, it seems Parker will have the advantage in that department and Westbrook will have his work cut out for him.
Westbrook will have to be locked in while defending Parker in the pick-and-roll and try to limit Parker's penetration. If Parker can blow by Westbrook it will break down the Thunder's entire defense and lead to layups and open 3-pointers. So Westbrook needs to focus on defense first and offense second. He doesn't have to be great. He just has to be solid.
Parker averaged 23.7 points and 7.7 assists against the Thunder this season, including a 42-point game on Feb. 4. If If Westbrook can make Parker one-dimensional, either as a scorer or a passer, the Thunder can have success. Parker can't be both.
But this was probably the most interesting part of the article:Tony Parker vs. Russell Westbrook
This is going to be a bloodbath. Two fantastic compe ors at the top of their game clashing with a ton at stake. While Parker is probably an eyelash faster, Westbrook can elevates further off the ground.
Early in his career, I thought Westbrook was overrated. Then everyone turned on him and suddenly now I think he's underrated. Westbrook is probably the best pure athlete at point guard in the NBA and he plays very hard. He can catch fire scoring the ball and he has a well-rounded enough game to beat you multiple ways.
Parker has been very good defensively for much of this season -- and has been especially good on D in the playoffs. But this could go down as the biggest challenge he has ever faced, especially once you consider the Spurs likely won't be able to send much help his way. Westbrook has freedom to do basically whatever he wants and he has the tools to explode at any given moment.
On the other hand, let's not forget how much success Parker has had going back at Westbrook. Two of Parker's better games of the season came against Westbrook, including his season-high of 42 points back on Feb. 4. For the Spurs to pull this off, they need Parker at the top of his game.I love it that they are worried about Blair!Should OKC be relieved that DeJuan Blair has been squeezed out of the rotation?
San Antonio always seems to have some sort of X-factor who torches the Thunder. At least once in each of the past three seasons, that guy has been Blair, the second-round draft pick the Thunder passed on.
As a rookie in 2009-10, Blair came to Oklahoma City and posted a 28-point, 21-rebound game. Last year, he annoyed the OKC crowd by grabbing seven offensive rebounds in a game. And this year, he came to town and put up 22 points while pulling down 11 boards.
But with Diaw in the mix, Blair has been banished to the bench. He's appeared in just six of the Spurs' eight playoff games and averaged only 8.2 minutes. With Blair becoming the 11th man, the Thunder might no longer have to deal with a rugged and relentless rebounder that it had no answer for.
But in Diaw, the Spurs added a more versatile threat who can put pressure on the Thunder with an inside-outside offensive attack, as well as his ability to defend multiple positions. It very well may end up being a pick-you-poison proposition for OKC. Either Blair keeps possessions alive and puts the Thunder at a greater risk of putback opportunities, or Diaw finishes drives and kicks with equally deflating 3-pointers.
Durant makes them the best & Ibaka /Perkins are really solid role players.
Yes, pretty darn good tickets. You may just have to deal with some of the less enthusiastic fans around you if you stand up to cheer too much. I've been told to sit down more than once.
Cool Picture
Ric Renner @RicRenFSSW
Spurs practicing hard tday..2 hours and counting
Ric Renner @RicRenFSSW
Since the Thunder has been a playoff team..the Spurs r 8-2 vs OKC..Durant scores over 5 pts fewer vs SA..Westbrk shoots 8 % less...#spurs
Maybe do offensively but defensively this is the best you will face.
Jefferson Milsap Favors >>>> Ibaka Perkins
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