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I'm hoping the pressure the Spurs put on him results in Westbeook chucking the ball up more trying to make the big play rather than pass to Durant.
I believe.
Use the Thunder's youth and speed against them. They'll be closing hard on three point shooters. Leonard, Green, Ginobili, Neal, Jackson, Diaw, Bonner (not so much) should side step the closers and get the Thunder defense moving. This will open up all kinds of offensive options.
I'm hoping the pressure the Spurs put on him results in Westbeook chucking the ball up more trying to make the big play rather than pass to Durant.
I believe.
A bunch of delusional homers. There will be an annoiting starting Sunday. Durant as the best player in the West and Westbrook as the top PG in the game. OKC in 6.
How did having the best players work out for Miami in the finals last year?
Team > stars
timvp, do you see Brooks gambling by having Harden start if they lose their first two games?
@okc thunderstorm: regarding your sig, I'm not saying they can't or won't, but why would the thunder WANT to " on" my porch?
Ignore the clowns people.... Please....
that's nice
yes, he has dominated a young Jazz frontline and an injured/ ty Clippers frontline. my point is can he still dominate a much superior OKC frontline?
@ false bravado.
it, I'm calling sweep. Been dancing around it. I wouldn't be shocked if the Spurs drop a game, but there's not really any excuse for them to do so. This group is on a mission not to let up, so I therefore think they won't.
Timvp sidepoint question.
Of course Durants wingspan is huge and that is your point.
However, why did he not appear on the chart provided on the superb threadby Knoxxx
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthre...62#post5890062
Believe your eyes: Spurs Outsize LAC Bigs
Here is the chart:
http://swishscout.com/wp-content/upl...ish-chart1.jpg
Durant doesn't make the top 10 for standing height vs wingspan difference. (Altho if he is not in the top 10 he must be right on the bubble, like 11th or 12th or....)
Were you approximating the 7'5" wingspan?
Or mathmatically does Durant just miss the +8.54 dif that #10 has?
Last edited by Fabbs; 05-24-2012 at 12:42 PM.
To be honest, the pace of the series is what interests me a lot. The Spurs play best at a fast pace now, so would the Thunder actually try and slow them down to slow down the game? They are average in the half court still, so that's an interesting prospect
The Thunder are only good at "playing fast" if it's with fast breaks. The Spurs are good at "playing fast" both in fast breaks and in the half court. If the Spurs goad the Thunder into taking fast shots in the half court setting, we'll end up blowing them out since they take tougher shots while ours tend to be pretty open ones.
So it'd be interesting to see what OKC tries to do there. I think we can grind them out and win over the course of 48 minutes, but it's it's tied or close in the last 2 minutes, the advantage is with OKC imo due to officiating and their shady track record of getting nearly 80% of the calls favoring them in the last 2 minutes of close games this year. I mean, how many times have you switched between Spurs and OKC games, and seen them at the free throw line almost every time? Or finished watching an OKC game and heard a stat similar to: "OKC hasn't made a field goal in the last 7 minutes but has 12 points in that span"? Yeah.
So I think the main focus should be to get out to a sizable lead before the game starts to come to a close. That way the officiating can't decide the outcome as easily as it can in close games. If we can be up by say, 8 or so with a couple minutes left, we should be able to take the games. But if it's a 1-3 point game, I'm concerned there will be the typical OKC march to the free throw line while the refs swallow their whistles when the Thunder hack people on the wrists on the other end.
The refs haven't done us any favors in the playoffs in a long ass time, so I don't expect that to change now. Especially against the league-preferred Thunder. So taking advantage of all the early minutes will be key, not just playing close and hoping the refs will call it down the middle late.
lol I'd like some of what you are smoking. I mean, is it a possibility for OKC to win this series? I think so (I would consider it a moderate upset if it happened), but I think you're a BIT overly optimistic here with all the annointing references.
Brooks will NEVER start Harden unless Thabo is hurt. I assure you.
It takes one, to know one.
Just to answer your questions, mathmatically 7'5" (89 inches) is 8.53% larger than 6'10" (82 inches). So he should've been on the list if that was the case. If they're listing him at 6'9", then the gap is even greater at 9.88%.Timvp sidepoint question.
Of course Durants wingspan is huge and that is your point.
However, why did he not appear on the chart provided on the superb thread
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthre...62#post5890062
Believe your eyes: Spurs Outsize LAC Bigs
Here is the chart:
http://swishscout.com/wp-content/upl...ish-chart1.jpg
Durant doesn't make the top 10 for standing height vs wingspan difference. (Altho if he is not in the top 10 he must be right on the bubble, like 11th or 12th or....)
Were you approximating the 7'5" wingspan?
Or mathmatically does Durant just miss the +8.54 dif that #10 has?
So either his wingspan is smaller than 7'5" and he's not on the list, or he's just not put on the list for some reason.
I looked up his draft express stats and it says he's 6'9" even (6'10 1/4" with shoes), and has a wingspan of 7'4 3/4th". So that's 9.12% according to draft express, and should be right where Marshon Brooks is.
Lol @ nazr Mohammed and Nick Collison and Perkins being better than Jordan Martin and Griffin
You're leaving out a first team all NBA defensive player in that list.
You talkin bout the one who got absolutely yammed on by Leonard?
All-Defensive team or not, Ibaka's a stat . He gets a ton of blocks, but his man-to-man d is questionable.
I hear what you're saying. In my opinion, Clippers bigs have a higher ceiling but they're a bit crazy and/or disappear. I don't think the OKC bigs are better, they're not, but I think they will be consistent and give better effort. Will that matter? I don't think so ultimately. But I do think Ibaka will have some success swarming the paint and blocking Tiago at the rim a few times. It will make some highlight reels, but again, shouldn't be a huge game changer.
True - Ibaka's man to man defense was one aspect at which he really needed to improve - and he has, very much so. Still, his weak side help and shot blocking is still his main asset. Ibaka was voted onto this NBA all defensive team by the league's coaches, not media idiots who just look at stats. Ibaka is flat out a game changer defensively. Anyone who thinks otherwise has not seen enough of Ibaka. The coaches around the league recognize his impact on the defensive end, despite any shortcomings he might have in some areas.
Perk/Ibaka/Collison/Nazi are defensively much better than injured Griffin/Jordan/Martin/Trashman
thinking otherwise
The Thunder thrive off energy either via their crowd, or Ibaka's highlight blocks, or their Big 3's isolation plays.
Honestly, I'm not even sure what their team system is. They were able to stay close with LA and then were able to make a few big runs to open the game up.
The difference when they play the Spurs is that when OKC isn't making big runs we will methodically and slowly pull away from them. I'm sure OKC will still go on occasional runs, but as has been the case time after time with them, we wear them down mentally because they really don't have a mature/playoff approach to the game: no inside offense, thrive off of transition, thrive off of their home court. Against a solid team like the Spurs I just don't see them getting the same opportunities to get into their "zone". I think they will lose focus and energy due to our "surgical approach" of constantly wearing them down with precision.
Isn't that what happens everytime we play them?
Edit: And even when we really weren't that good and were still playing with that bozo RJ, we still found a way to win the game. Obviously, this gives motivation for them to overcome us, but I don't think their approach to the game has changed enough just for them to give more effort and expect to win.
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