That stretch where they got the lead

[testies]

A few things :

-We had Splitter and Duncan matched with Colli and Perk, our worst offensive stretch by far, I hope that match up isn't extended next game. Parker was also going iso too much

-When they finally got the lead, Manu scored a very awkward mid range floater with tip of fingers, that basket was huge. After that we got a Duncan And1, and got knows why Brooks didn't play more that big line up

-If they do play that big line up more, how do we react? Going small because their bigs aren't scoring threats?

[testies]

another thing

MY NIGGA ISO BORIS DESTROYED THEIR SMALL BALL LINEUP

[mercos]

Spurs have been garbage in the third. Even Portland was winning the third against them.

[The Reckoning]

pop just experimenting while he still can

[The_Worlds_finest]

I only know one guy that uses got on these forums

[Hemotivo]

I only know one guy that uses got on these forums

who

[T Park]

If they want to go big that's fine. One less scorer in the game.

[DesignatedT]

Lol I'll still take our chances with that lineup

[Mugen]

I'd be ecstatic if the Thunder played big tbh.

[Malik Hairston]

The Spurs began the game by forcing Collison/Sefolosha to shoot, and I expect Pop to emphasize this if the Thunder remain big..

They defend well when they have their 3 defenders on the court, but all 3 of them are offensive weak points..once they switch to their offensive lineup, the Spurs score at will, as we saw tonight..

The Ibaka injury is just so huge, it changes everything on several levels..

[DMC]

It's "Encephalosha"

[hitmantb]

Remember in 2012, Thunder got destroyed two games straight before they went with a line-up that Spurs couldn't answer and ran the backdoor sweep.

That Thunder line-up is very dangerous, turtle defense and rely on individual ISO talent of Durant/Westbrook to beat the Spurs in a grind. Not sure if Brooks will figure it out in games 3-6.

I still think the Thunder can put up a huge fight even without Ibaka. Duncan's age means whenever he bursts for a huge game he is going to have 1-2 flat games, offense needs to come from somewhere else in game 2 if they put in Perkins who shuts down Duncan completely on one-on-one post-up's.

Brook is slow but he obviously still has the top 2 players in the series, and IMO a (slightly, thank god for Ibaka injury) better set of cards overall.

[freetiago]

heres how they got the lead in the 3rd
the secret behind OKC basketball

http://falseclaimsactattorney.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Whistle.jpg

[EIC]

heres how they got the lead in the 3rd
the secret behind OKC basketball

I feel like the refs really kick it into gear in the third quarter against the Spurs. It was pretty obvious in the Portland series and very obvious here.
http://falseclaimsactattorney.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Whistle.jpg

[heyheymymy]

yeah this will still be a very competitive series with or without ibaka

[spurraider21]

:lol the spurs don't need to "adjust" if OKC decides to play more collison/perkins. thats basically a death wish for OKC. it just allows the spurs to go big (which they prefer) but with no penalty defensively

[T Park]

:lol the spurs don't need to "adjust" if OKC decides to play more collison/perkins. thats basically a death wish for OKC. it just allows the spurs to go big (which they prefer) but with no penalty defensively

The reality is, okc can't do much else.

[spurraider21]

their best hope is still small-ball, but not with Durant at the 5. Steven Adams played like 40 minutes in game 6 against the Clippers. I think he's their best bet as their small-ball center because he has some athleticism/size and can be a decent rim protecting presence. can he shut down duncan/our offense as effectively as ibaka? no. is he as dangerous offensively as ibaka? no. but i think he's their best bet. durant/westbrook/jackson and one of buter/thabo/fish at the 1-4 next to adams is their best bet imo

[KaiRMD1]

OKC's best bet is to play Durant 48 minutes and kep giving him the ball. Durant was on fire against us today and actually looked like an MVP. It was after the whistles stopped coming that ol' sport lost his cool, which is expected when you depend so much on them in the first place. Game 2 should be interesting. 7 more games.

[Fireball]

90% of games the Spurs come out flat in the third quarter ... it has nothing to do with lineups or anything, its just their trademark and as long as we close the quarter good and get back to Spurs basketball in the 4th everything is all right

[G-Dawgg]

This is nothing new, the spurs have been losing the 3rd period of almost all the games they've played since the beginning of the playoffs... you would have thought Popovich would have addressed this trend along time ago.....

[Horry Hipcheck]

The Spurs have been a third-quarter meltdown team for most of the Duncan era. I remember watching playoff games in those frustrating early 2000s when the Lakers were routinely crushing them, and every game seemed to feature a collapse in the third quarter. This team is the Second Quarter Spurs - blow a game wide open by halftime, let the opponents back in it, pull away in the fourth.

[BC3]

spurstalk droppin the solid bball analysis critique tbh

[james evans]

heres how they got the lead in the 3rd
the secret behind OKC basketball

http://falseclaimsactattorney.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Whistle.jpg
basically. people want to ignore this. they weren't calling any fouls on okc in that time. their defense wasn't that good.

[exstatic]

their best hope is still small-ball, but not with Durant at the 5. Steven Adams played like 40 minutes in game 6 against the Clippers. I think he's their best bet as their small-ball center because he has some athleticism/size and can be a decent rim protecting presence. can he shut down duncan/our offense as effectively as ibaka? no. is he as dangerous offensively as ibaka? no. but i think he's their best bet. durant/westbrook/jackson and one of buter/thabo/fish at the 1-4 next to adams is their best bet imo

They actually tried that lineup. All SA did was put Adams in the pick and roll to draw him away from the hoop. Problem solved.

[Spurs9]

They need to defend frogger better so he doesn't get to the rim every drive.

[look_at_g_shred]

They actually tried that lineup. All SA did was put Adams in the pick and roll to draw him away from the hoop. Problem solved.
/thread

[kidd_91]

OKC went with a aggressive defensive lineup in the third and basically the refs swallowed their whistles. The Spurs didn't adjust until Pop threw Baynes out there to give the Spurs some toughness. OKC dished it out, but couldn't take it. They mentally broke down and that was the game. My only concern is both teams were allowed to get more physical, hopefully refs call a fair game in OKC as well.

[sananspursfan21]

So it sounds like you're saying that San Antonio is in fact a horrible matchup for the thunder? Wow, all you ever hear about is how these teams are a matchup nightmare for the spurs

[Budkin]

So it sounds like you're saying that San Antonio is in fact a horrible matchup for the thunder? Wow, all you ever hear about is how these teams are a matchup nightmare for the spurs

Not having Ibaka changes everything.

[itzsoweezee]

OKC still hasn't played the Collison + Adams frontcourt that was dominant against the Clippers. I'm assuming Brooks will eventually figure that out. The Thunder still have options - this is hardly a finished series.

[TVI]

So it sounds like you're saying that San Antonio is in fact a horrible matchup for the thunder? Wow, all you ever hear about is how these teams are a matchup nightmare for the spursyes, with 2 caveats: (1) no Chewbacca, and (2) reasonable officiating.

OKC still got more freebies, but it wasn't the typical ridiculously lopsided favoritism to which they've grown so accustomed.

[Cowboys_Wear_Spurs]

The refs favored OKC up to the point where the game got close. It was obvious. But after that, they let the teams played and the Spurs just flat out outplayed them.

Like I said in a previous thread, those favoritism calls come in spurts now and if the Spurs just hold and continue to play their basketball they will continue to win. By the time the refs could do anything in the 4th, the game was over.

[Horse]

Remember in 2012, Thunder got destroyed two games straight before they went with a line-up that Spurs couldn't answer and ran the backdoor sweep.

That Thunder line-up is very dangerous, turtle defense and rely on individual ISO talent of Durant/Westbrook to beat the Spurs in a grind. Not sure if Brooks will figure it out in games 3-6.

I still think the Thunder can put up a huge fight even without Ibaka. Duncan's age means whenever he bursts for a huge game he is going to have 1-2 flat games, offense needs to come from somewhere else in game 2 if they put in Perkins who shuts down Duncan completely on one-on-one post-up's.

Brook is slow but he obviously still has the top 2 players in the series, and IMO a (slightly, thank god for Ibaka injury) better set of cards overall.

ibaka was a huge part of that they have no one to replace him and it wasnt a backdoor sweep it was backdoor ref-rape.

[Horse]

OKC went with a aggressive defensive lineup in the third and basically the refs swallowed their whistles. The Spurs didn't adjust until Pop threw Baynes out there to give the Spurs some toughness. OKC dished it out, but couldn't take it. They mentally broke down and that was the game. My only concern is both teams were allowed to get more physical, hopefully refs call a fair game in OKC as well.

As long as BOTH teams are allowed to get more physical it wont be a problem.

[BC3]

OKC still hasn't played the Collison + Adams frontcourt that was dominant against the Clippers. I'm assuming Brooks will eventually figure that out. The Thunder still have options - this is hardly a finished series.


do u think this option will work against the spurs? why? doesn't this play into the spurs game going big?

[itzsoweezee]

do u think this option will work against the spurs? why? doesn't this play into the spurs game going big?

Adams is a big upgrade over Perkins. The Thunder couldn't score with the Collison & Perkins lineup, but they would with Collison & Adams.

[spurspokesman]

OKC's best bet is to play Durant 48 minutes and kep giving him the ball. Durant was on fire against us today and actually looked like an MVP. It was after the whistles stopped coming that ol' sport lost his cool, which is expected when you depend so much on them in the first place. Game 2 should be interesting. 7 more games.

This. He got pissed that the refs weren't doing there job lol

[KaiRMD1]

The refs favored OKC up to the point where the game got close. It was obvious. But after that, they let the teams played and the Spurs just flat out outplayed them.

Like I said in a previous thread, those favoritism calls come in spurts now and if the Spurs just hold and continue to play their basketball they will continue to win. By the time the refs could do anything in the 4th, the game was over.

This. Usually, Spurs would get out of rhythm and just lose it but somehow, the ol' sports kept their wits about them and as we all saw, they wound up blowing them out.

[EVAY]

This is nothing new, the spurs have been losing the 3rd period of almost all the games they've played since the beginning of the playoffs... you would have thought Popovich would have addressed this trend along time ago.....

tbh, they have been losing the third period during all of Pop's coaching career. I remember them doing it before they moved into the AT&T arena, and I remember asking Pop about that tendency during a Q and A session that they allowed season ticket holders to have with Pop right after they opened the AT&T Center. So it is a really really really old thing…doesn't mean it shouldn't get fixed, though. They fixed in the 5th game against Portland. Just do whatever they did in that game…I just think it is lack of focus.

[EVAY]

I was so thankful to see Pop counter Adams with Baynes in the game last night. After Adams tried to take off Boris' head off I kept yelling that we needed Baynes to play against Adams. When he did, it was great.

If Brooks goes with the Collison/Adams backcourt, I hope Pop goes Tim/Baynes or Splitter/Baynes until we foul Adams out. The guy is a menace and I don't want our guys getting hurt. Amused Day Sleeper has already started the game thread so we are already in trouble for injuries. No Adams with out Baynes!!!