Spurs -Thunder previews/prediction (ESPN,SI,Dime mag and others)..

three really good ones..

Thanks for sharing! Good previews!
I found this very significant for the x factor:

• Enes Kanter played more minutes (112) and grabbed more rebounds (59) against the Spurs than he did against any other opponent. The rebounds weren’t just a product of the minutes. His rebounding percentage (he grabbed 29.1 percent of available boards while he was on the floor) was also his highest mark against any opponent.
• Steven Adams and Kanter played only 127 minutes together all season, but 34 of those minutes were against the Spurs (in three different games).
• The Thunder’s effective field goal percentage of 48.1 percent was their lowest mark against any Western Conference opponent. Their turnover rate of 19.3 per 100 possessions was their highest mark against any Western Conference opponent and the highest any team had against the Spurs. OKC’s offensive rebounding percentage of 34.9 percent was also the highest any team had against the Spurs.

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Originally Posted by SAGirl

Thanks for sharing! Good previews!
I found this very significant for the x factor:

• Enes Kanter played more minutes (112) and grabbed more rebounds (59) against the Spurs than he did against any other opponent. The rebounds weren’t just a product of the minutes. His rebounding percentage (he grabbed 29.1 percent of available boards while he was on the floor) was also his highest mark against any opponent.
• Steven Adams and Kanter played only 127 minutes together all season, but 34 of those minutes were against the Spurs (in three different games).
• The Thunder’s effective field goal percentage of 48.1 percent was their lowest mark against any Western Conference opponent. Their turnover rate of 19.3 per 100 possessions was their highest mark against any Western Conference opponent and the highest any team had against the Spurs. OKC’s offensive rebounding percentage of 34.9 percent was also the highest any team had against the Spurs.

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Stay away from Diaw-West combo and have Boban at the ready..plus, attack Kanter relentlessly on PNR ..need to expose his cement-footed presence on D, maybe Donovan limit his spell..

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Originally Posted by spursistan

Stay away from Diaw-West combo and have Boban at the ready..plus, attack Kanter relentlessly on PNR ..need to expose his cement-footed presence on D, maybe Donovan limit his spell..

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I hope Donovan will break his tendency to pull Kanter as soon as he gets burned once or twice on defense. He has actually improved quite a bit, and I just like to have a guy who scores a point a minute in the game. If there are stretches where the teams are trading baskets because Kanter is scoring and getting scored upon, I'll take that against SAS.

Thanks :tu

Pop's gonna run the Diaw-West combo into the ground, isn't he?

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Originally Posted by SAGirl

Thanks for sharing! Good previews!
I found this very significant for the x factor:

• Enes Kanter played more minutes (112) and grabbed more rebounds (59) against the Spurs than he did against any other opponent. The rebounds weren’t just a product of the minutes. His rebounding percentage (he grabbed 29.1 percent of available boards while he was on the floor) was also his highest mark against any opponent.
• Steven Adams and Kanter played only 127 minutes together all season, but 34 of those minutes were against the Spurs (in three different games).
• The Thunder’s effective field goal percentage of 48.1 percent was their lowest mark against any Western Conference opponent. Their turnover rate of 19.3 per 100 possessions was their highest mark against any Western Conference opponent and the highest any team had against the Spurs. OKC’s offensive rebounding percentage of 34.9 percent was also the highest any team had against the Spurs.

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It's hard to rely too much on the regular season matchups between these two. One game was that disastrous season opener, when the Spurs were making adjustments to the new lineup. One meeting was at the end of the season, when it didn't mean anything, and the Spurs were totally flat. One was a Spurs win at home, where the Thunder got 18 offensive boards, but shot something like 35%. And the other game, the Spurs started Mills, Anderson, Boban, Boris, and Danny.

They all count toward the regular season record, but I'm not sure they tell us much about what to expect in this series.

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Originally Posted by Jimmy Early

I hope Donovan will break his tendency to pull Kanter as soon as he gets burned once or twice on defense. He has actually improved quite a bit, and I just like to have a guy who scores a point a minute in the game. If there are stretches where the teams are trading baskets because Kanter is scoring and getting scored upon, I'll take that against SAS.

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If Donovan wants to have a chance, he has to play Kanyer more. He's too valuable offensively in a series where you're going to need all the offense you can.

I expect the Spurs to be extremely rusty out of the gates with so much time time off. And a classic ST meltdown will ensue.

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Originally Posted by GSH

It's hard to rely too much on the regular season matchups between these two. One game was that disastrous season opener, when the Spurs were making adjustments to the new lineup. One meeting was at the end of the season, when it didn't mean anything, and the Spurs were totally flat. One was a Spurs win at home, where the Thunder got 18 offensive boards, but shot something like 35%. And the other game, the Spurs started Mills, Anderson, Boban, Boris, and Danny.

They all count toward the regular season record, but I'm not sure they tell us much about what to expect in this series.

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I watched all 4 games. Diaw/West have had troubles rebounding all season against a lot of teams, not just them. Just Kanter is specially aggressive and talented and he's really a handful. He has owned them. Pop will address it though. The last couple of games were about putting guys in uncomfortable situations and asking them to step up. It still showed you things if you watched the games, like Boban being able to play against them in certain situations and Anderson helping out in rebounding.

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Originally Posted by spursistan

Stay away from Diaw-West combo and have Boban at the ready..plus, attack Kanter relentlessly on PNR ..need to expose his cement-footed presence on D, maybe Donovan limit his spell..

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Boban can put some offensive pressure on them, but he really doesn't seem to be much of a defensive rebounder. This could limit Pop's ability or confidence to play him.

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Originally Posted by SAGirl

I watched all 4 games. Diaw/West have had troubles rebounding all season against a lot of teams, not just them. Just Kanter is specially aggressive and talented and he's really a handful. He has owned them. Pop will address it though. The last couple of games were about putting guys in uncomfortable situations and asking them to step up. It still showed you things if you watched the games, like Boban being able to play against them in certain situations and Anderson helping out in rebounding.

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Thanks. I should have thought to watch one of the games. :rolleyes

You're the one that posted about Kanter and Adams (especially Kanter) having some of his best nights of the season against the Spurs. I just pointed out that the first and last games weren't the Spurs at their best.

The game where the Spurs started their bench against OKC's starters (and OKC left Durant and Westbrook in even with a 20 point lead and 5 minutes to play)? Do you think that might be a big night for Kanter? I'm thinking those three games probably have something to do with Kanter's regular season stats against the Spurs. What do you think?

If you want to move the goal posts and talk about Boban and Kyle, fine. But now you're talking about something different happening in the playoffs vs. the regular season, which was exactly my point.

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Originally Posted by Robz4000

Pop's gonna run the Diaw-West combo into the ground, isn't he?

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He's stubborn enough to play them together this series.

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Originally Posted by GSH

Thanks. I should have thought to watch one of the games. :rolleyes

You're the one that posted about Kanter and Adams (especially Kanter) having some of his best nights of the season against the Spurs. I just pointed out that the first and last games weren't the Spurs at their best.

The game where the Spurs started their bench against OKC's starters (and OKC left Durant and Westbrook in even with a 20 point lead and 5 minutes to play)? Do you think that might be a big night for Kanter? I'm thinking those three games probably have something to do with Kanter's regular season stats against the Spurs. What do you think?

If you want to move the goal posts and talk about Boban and Kyle, fine. But now you're talking about something different happening in the playoffs vs. the regular season, which was exactly my point.

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Nah I was just really pointing out that of all the points in the reviews, at least to me the ones I quoted were the only significant ones bc they reflect a trend. They are less a fluke result of the unusual lineups as they reflect that these guys were overmatched 3 or 4 times. It was really stars resting. If I was pointing out something about the regular starting lineup that has a lot less value and still just watching Kawhi do so well against Durant and Westbrook when they played I feel very confident about him. I don't need 4 games to validate what I saw. For the SL I agree with you, stats are meaningless.

For example, I didn't point anything about LMA bc yes, first game of the season, just one real game-the second one, the 3rd he sat and the last he played only 19 mins and had the sore pinkie. Stats don't mean much for him. But Diaw/West, it's significant. I only mentioned Boban and Anderson bc they are part of thebench and a couple of guys Pop has tested to help the bench out with rebounding. In reality they are plausible options to help the bench or Pop could just split Diaw/West and space out TD and LMA, which is what most said.

I was not in the mood to be argumentative, but yes I don't have much confidence in Diaw/West. They could show up to show me I was wring in my concern, but we shall see if any adjustments are required.

I think the Spurs win this in 5. OKC is who we thought they were. They are careless, selfish and undisciplined. UNLESS Durant and Westbrook decide to trust their teammates and share the ball AND the Spurs go cold offensively, this broken record will keep playing the same tune. SAS are just too ready and determined to suffer a slip-up against an inferior team. All the OKC hype being spilled about by Antonio Daniels in ridiculous. I think he did their TV play-by-play this year. Anyhoo - Kanter has been a good player but certainly not the 3rd offensive weapon they've lacked since Harden left. Added to that, he's an awful defender.

Ibaka is not what he once was and spends entirely too much time jacking up 3's.

KD said one thing that made sense recently, "the regular season match-ups don't mean a thing now". The Spurs should handle them easily imo. No classic series to see here. No heavy weight fight like David Chancellor predicted.

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Originally Posted by tmtcsc

All the OKC hype being spilled about by Antonio Daniels in ridiculous.

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What are you talking about?

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Originally Posted by Keepin' it real

What are you talking about?

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He's been on local and national radio talking about how terrific Kanter is. Like I mentioned before, he worked closely with the Thunder this year and seems to have drunk the Kool-Aid.

http://www.foxsports.com/southwest/s...klahoma-102215

Enes Kanter = PENIS CANCER.

Spurs gonna dominate, tbh.

Hopefully the Spurs don't come out too rusty, it feels like it's been about a week since game 4 in Memphis. Having safely secured the second seed seemingly months ago and with a 4 game sweep against the most injury hit team I've just about ever seen, the Spurs haven't really played a tough meaningful game in a while. Might be a tough opening to game 1 against the Thunder. Hopefully there's no cobwebs and we take home games 1 and 2 before hitting the road. Do that and it's Spurs in 4.

From all the previews I have read it basically comes down to Ibaka for the Thunder and Parker for the Spurs. If those two play well, it could swing the series either way. My prediction for Game 1 since it's been a long break since the spurs beat the grizzlies: Spurs will come out very rusty and slow. So I expect the Thunder to be ahead until halftime. But I also expect the Spurs to take the lead in the 3rd and maintain that lead into the 4th and win game 1. Hopefully, anyway.

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Originally Posted by Robz4000

Pop's gonna run the Diaw-West combo into the ground, isn't he?

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LOL Pop thinks ST meltdown is worth it

Good previews. :toast

The bottom line.

We have the defensive capabilities of really frustrating them. KL is huge for us. If we crush them quickly, fine. But I see us rusty and drawing it out some. A slow tortuous process for them. We keep games close with 5 minutes left and they fold, especially late in the series. The Dallas series showed me they have no new wrinkles. They are a comfortable known, even though they have two of the best offensive players in the league. It's really all on us, we know them.

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Originally Posted by pgardn

The bottom line.

We have the defensive capabilities of really frustrating them. KL is huge for us. If we crush them quickly, fine. But I see us rusty and drawing it out some. A slow tortuous process for them. We keep games close with 5 minutes left and they fold, especially late in the series. The Dallas series showed me they have no new wrinkles. They are a comfortable known, even though they have two of the best offensive players in the league. It's really all on us, we know them.

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Yes, agreed. - If Spurs play their game, they will win. Those 2 guys are extremely dangerous on the offensive end BUT despite Westbrook's triple doubles this year - they still don't trust their teammates. Not enough. Harden used to be huge for them with his scoring off the bench. They don't have that anymore. So, their game drops when they substitute and that's when the Spurs can really stretch the lead or get one. OKC is very predictable.

Westbrook is predictably unpredictable with his terrible shot selection. TP and Green can make him work for everything.

As far as rust though: I think the Spurs will come out with tons of energy, maybe too much. Once things settle, they will run away. IF DG and Patty get it going, Spurs win by at least 20.

ESPN "expert picks: Spurs (13) - Thunder (3)

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/...-spurs-thunder

I'm surprised Elhassan, Gutierrez and Thorpe have chosen us

Thanks for the articles :toast

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Originally Posted by SAGirl

Just Kanter is specially aggressive and talented and he's really a handful. He has owned them.

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Kanter has been great for OKC in playoffs, he's #1 in PER in the league this postseason, an unresolved issue in the paint and the most efficient in the picks and rolls with Westbrook.

But I want to see LMA and Boris attacking him in the post all game because Kanter is so awful on defense.

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Originally Posted by YGWHI

Thanks for the articles :toast



Kanter has been great for OKC in playoffs, he's #1 in PER in the league this postseason, an unresolved issue in the paint and the most efficient in the picks and rolls with Westbrook.

But I want to see LMA and Boris attacking him in the post all game because Kanter is so awful on defense.

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Kanter won't guard Aldridge or Diaw; he'll guard Duncan and West. Although he's a terrible all around defender, his biggest weaknesses are pick-and-roll and protecting the rim; not post defense.

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Originally Posted by TD 21

Kanter won't guard Aldridge or Diaw; he'll guard Duncan and West. Although he's a terrible all around defender, his biggest weaknesses are pick-and-roll and protecting the rim; not post defense.

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With who they paring Kanter in the second unit? Collison? Or one of Ibaka-Adam tandem? Against Mavs I saw Collison just a few minutes but can't remember most regular season games.

Because I can't see Collison or Adam defending Boris and Kanter guarding Duncan or West, I think Donovan is more traditional about PF and C on defense.

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Originally Posted by YGWHI

With who they paring Kanter in the second unit? Collison? Or one of Ibaka-Adam tandem? Against Mavs I saw Collison just a few minutes but can't remember most regular season games.

Because I can't see Collison or Adam defending Boris and Kanter guarding Duncan or West, I think Donovan is a more traditional about PF and C on defense.

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They don't have a constant, when it comes to backup power forward. Kanter can and will be paired with any of Ibaka, Durant, Collison, Singler or Adams, with Kanter sliding to power forward.

Adams won't defend Diaw either. He'll defend Duncan, Aldridge and West. Ibaka, Collison and Durant, will defend Diaw.

If Donovan were smart, he'd play a Payne-Waiters-Morrow-Durant-Kanter bench, but I fully expect to see Foye and Collison ahead of Payne and Morrow, with Singler eventually replacing Collison, in a (futile) attempt to provide better spacing.

http://a4.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img...nder.png&w=570

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Originally Posted by Escawun3

I'm surprised Elhassan, Gutierrez and Thorpe have chosen us

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The folks who actually watch the games & aren't part of the OKC media have ALL picked the Spurs.:wakeup

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Originally Posted by GSH

It's hard to rely too much on the regular season matchups between these two.

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Originally Posted by GSH

The game where the Spurs started their bench against OKC's starters (and OKC left Durant and Westbrook in even with a 20 point lead and 5 minutes to play)? Do you think that might be a big night for Kanter? I'm thinking those three games probably have something to do with Kanter's regular season stats against the Spurs. What do you think?

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Originally Posted by SAGirl

I was not in the mood to be argumentative, but yes I don't have much confidence in Diaw/West. They could show up to show me I was wring in my concern, but we shall see if any adjustments are required.

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It's only the first half of the first game, but so far not much resemblance to the regular season. Especially Kanter and Adams.

So far the only negatives for the Spurs have been Patty and Fathead.

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Originally Posted by tmtcsc

As far as rust though: I think the Spurs will come out with tons of energy, maybe too much. Once things settle, they will run away. IF DG and Patty get it going, Spurs win by at least 20.

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I just bumped myself. I feel dirty.

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Originally Posted by GSH

It's only the first half of the first game, but so far not much resemblance to the regular season. Especially Kanter and Adams.

So far the only negatives for the Spurs have been Patty and Fathead.

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They were off. That can happen. Kyle did a good job defensively and stayed within the offense. Patty took shots he can make. Hopefully they will even it out, so that as far as roleplayers go they can provide scoring when others are cold.

Perimeter players did a good job containing dribble penetration for the most part which allowed the bigs to stay back boxing out and not help on those drives. The team executed really well and I think that surprised OKC. Definitely an encouraging sign. POP did split Diaw and West, but the game got in garbage time so early and OKC was never able to close that gap bc they couldn't slow down LMA or Kawhi, plus all the fouling on 3 pt shooters... Hopefully we continue to play this well as a team.