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The Spurs were literally 3 possessions away from winning the series 4-1.
Let's not get carried away by the last two games vs GSW. OKC is better but the margin is razor thin.
OKC couldn't play KD at the 4 to speedup the pace b/c Diaw punked him in 2014 so Donovan supersized. They also couldn't play Ibaka at the 5 b/c LMA ate him alive.
Donovan adjusts his rotations based on his opponent instead of stubborn season coaches like Pop.
It's easy to make adjustments when you have the tools. I give Donovan credit, he used them properly.
Pop just didn't have them for OKC. That said this series was basically a coin flip form a game 7 in SA.
Just break it down
Blow out wins 1 each (1 and 6)
Solid Wins 1 each (3 and 4)
Coin flip wins OKC 2
Let's also give OKC some credit. The number one problem they've always had was not being smart. Somehow they've reined that in.
Also this team is loaded with talent. They've got 5 lottery picks under the age of 30. The Spurs? One Lottery pick aged 30. One aged 40.
The Spurs were literally 3 possessions away from winning the series 4-1.
Let's not get carried away by the last two games vs GSW. OKC is better but the margin is razor thin.
Didnt hear many people say Curry was hurt when he broke the OT record against the Blazers or when he played a solid game in game 2.
The fact is he is no-showing the same way he did in the finals for a couple games last year.
OKC was like a terminator robot learning from us the first 4 games. Once they knew how to play us, they anihilated us. If they had played more games, OKC would win each additional game by 45.
Lets not lie to ourselves and believe we were close to OKC
The Thunder were up dbl digits in every game during the RS....they found out how not to lose against the dubs this time around
Only his vagina hurts
If any team can come back from 3-1 it's this Warriors team. With that said, OKC looks like it has put all the pieces together and it would take an epic breakdown for them to choke away three games in a row.
The thing I saw in the Spurs series was the OKC role players find their confidence. 2014 was so special because Green/Mills/Splitter/Bobo/Marco et al were playing great at the same time. When guys like Roberson are contributing offensively and Waiters is knocking down clutch shots it makes OKC great. On top of that, the Thunder found a great coach in Donovan. When every team in the league was focusing on getting small enough to defeat the Warriors he valued rebounding and protecting the rim. We had to listen to pundits talk about how D Bag Green was the future of NBA bigs and Donovan is proving all of them wrong in two playoff series.
I believe both the Raptors and Cavs are better equipped from a roster standpoint to compete against the Thunder. The Raptors would be an interesting series. Biyombo and Valanciunas are big enough to rebound with OKC and Lowry/Derozan are the middle class version of Westbrook/KD. Unfortunately, unless the Love injury is something serious, I still think the Cavs advance. After beating a 67 win team then moving on to dismantle a 73 win team the Thunder's confidence is going to be at an all time high. They should be favored going into the Finals regardless who they face.
To the OP's question, the Spurs had a better roster to handle OKC on paper. Between Pop's unwillingness to change the bench rotation and Tim's decline the Spurs fell short. I can empathize with the angry feelings towards the officials, but the Spurs had a great chance to win Game 2 and 5 in spite of the refs. Game 5 was more disappointing because the Spurs couldn't score down the stretch. Offensive possession after offensive possession of an ineffective Tony Parker sealed the Spurs fate. After the first game the Thunder out rebounded the Spurs by an average of 10 rebounds per game. Just not good enough.
It is cathartic to see Draymond be the biggest negative on this Warriors team.
A bunch of revisionist history right here. If rebounding and points in the paint were all that mattered, the Grizzlies would have a ring or two by now. A team can absolutely shoot well enough to overcome deficiencies in other areas, and the reason the Grizz never truly threatened for a le is because their piss-poor outside shooting did them in.
And these Warriors play far better defense than those SOL Suns ever did.
You made a good point here:
I agree that Curry's injury is having a large impact on the Warriors. They don't play as a defense-first team, so when the offense fails to wear out the opposing team they get uncomfortable.
But in that case, you can't use two bad games by the Warriors (with a less-than-100% Curry) to completely invalidate their style of play and the fact that they won a le and 140 regular season games in 2 years. Seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
We played stronger D, plus we were robbed in Game 2 and 4 at the end. Regardless, we lost.
Curry didn't look injured when he scored 40 points (16-32, 17 in OT) and dished out 8 assists in a game 5 win at Portland and he certainly didn't look injured when he scored 29 points (10-20) and dished out 11 assists in game 6 series clincher vs Portland. He's NOT injured. He's just playing better compe ion that happens to have two wing defenders (not named Green and Leonard) with athleticism that have been able to slow him down. He's struggling to shoot over the top of Durant and he can't get to the rim and finish against Westbrook.
As were the Thunder.
But, but ibaka was hurt
Pretty much this. To follow this up Curry had 28 points in game 2 on 9/15 shooting. He's fine from what I can tell from his movements on the court. He's able to do his crossovers and lateral movements which is something he wouldn't be able to do if he was injured. Curry is using the injury card to cover up getting embarrassed by Westbrook. A lot of great players play the injury card when they get humiliated in a series. I remember Shaq and Kobe making up injuries after the Spurs eliminated them in '03 just to cover up the embarrassment Duncan inflicted on them.
that ref rape over and over thats the story! I'm even shocked to say the refs are ing the warriors too.
OKC is still a very stupid team. If anything they beat us because of their athleticism. What pisses me off is that the Spurs should have won that series. Our players simple choked and so did our coach. We lost 2 games by what? A combined 5 points? Not to mention the ref factor.
Curry missed a couple of uncontested layups & couldn't shake off Adams. If he is 100% then he's just shook or worn out from guarding WestBrick.
NBA is fake
Pop would have made Kerr seem like prime Phil Jackson & Softridge would have been getting punked by GayMond/Bogut.
OKC is beating the Duds in transition, by attacking Curry & shutting down Gaymond by switching along disrupting the Duds offense w/ their length, none of which the Spurs could do effectively. Pop would have been trying to beat them in a grind it out half-court game which would have meant layup drills for the Duds b/c the Spurs would have no rim protectors & the Duds would have been able to setup their defense. The Duds also wouldn't commit as many turnovers w/ Porky/LMA/Diaw playing turnstile defense.
Where in my post did I mention the Dubs? I was talking about beating OKC.Pop would have made Kerr seem like prime Phil Jackson & Softridge would have been getting punked by GayMond/Bogut.
OKC is beating the Duds in transition, by attacking Curry & shutting down Gaymond by switching, none of which the Spurs could do effectively. Pop would have been trying to beat them in a grind it out half-court game which would have meant layup drills for the Duds b/c the Spurs would have no rim protectors & the Duds would have been able to setup their defense.
Key phrase "Best Chance".
It's rare for teams that lack an inside offensive presence (whether that inside scoring presence is a penetrator or post player), an inside defensive presence, and rebounding to win the le. The exceptions off the top of my head are the 2011 Mavs (they still had Chandler, who was a great paint anchor during that run. Dirk also played more in the post, as well) and the 2015 Warriors.
There's no "revisionist history" here. Name all the teams that won les who weren't above average in those three areas?
This is what I think is going on. Westbrook has him rattled mentally and has destroyed his confidence. Curry missed a few free throws in this game which is rare since he shoots above 90 percent from the line which shows he's shook.
Well put
This^ tbh. Big bodies and length has always bothered Curry and the Worriers. This is no surprise. From the Bucks to the Nets to the Pistons to OKC they all have tons of it and love to pound the paint. Unlike the Spurs, they all gave the Worriers real problems during the regular season. Granted, OKC lost all 3 games but not before leading by double digits and melting down in the 4th.
So I guess he has Tony Porker-itis
What the point of beating OKC if they can't beat the Duds?
The Heat should of 3-peated,but it was 2011 they blew,not 2014.
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