Donovan: "I really actually thought we played pretty good defense and did a good job"

I expect to see a lot of Durant in the post in Game 2 to try to pull Leonard off Westbrook. If not, I don't know what the fuck Donovan is thinking after seeing Leonard completely take away Westbrook's post game.

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Originally Posted by baseline bum

I expect to see a lot of Durant in the post in Game 2 to try to pull Leonard off Westbrook. If not, I don't know what the fuck Donovan is thinking after seeing Leonard completely take away Westbrook's post game.

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That would make sense, but Barkley has been bitching at him all year to post up, and he hasn't. I really don't expect it now.

Not sure what they should've done differently. It's not like they can afford to double LMA on the perimeter. Spurs got a lot of baskets on turnovers. Thunder shoot a little better and Spurs miss some of those jumpers they made and game 2 will be closer. And SA media will talk about OKC's improved defense.

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Originally Posted by Ron Swanson

That's Billy. He's in my class. I heard he's retarded or something.

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Nice!:lol

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Originally Posted by cd98

Not sure what they should've done differently. It's not like they can afford to double LMA on the perimeter. Spurs got a lot of baskets on turnovers. Thunder shoot a little better and Spurs miss some of those jumpers they made and game 2 will be closer. And SA media will talk about OKC's improved defense.

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LMA was wide open all night. It has nothing to do with them doubling or not, they just couldn't guard the pick and pop.

There are things he can do. Double up? LMA specially is not very good passing out of doubles. Sometimes it forces a reset and a bad contested shot from a roleplayer, others it's a live TO. Force Tony to shoot jumpers, go under picks, double off Anderson forcing Pop to play Martin, call more plays for Durant coming off screens, play him GSW style, quick trigger coming off a screen, force switches with a big, look for post ups with Tony, if not Durant/Westbrook then Dion Waiters must go right at Tony. There are a lot if things they can do.

Like they say in th playoffs, each game has a life of its own.

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Originally Posted by Xevious

LMA was wide open all night. It has nothing to do with them doubling or not, they just couldn't guard the pick and pop.

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I don't think he was wide open. Maybe on a few shots. It's just that the Thunder bigs can't guard him on the perimeter. So if he's making his shots out there, he's going to have a big night. And Thunder can't put a small forward on him to bother his shot bc he can work them in the post. Needless to say, he won't make all those jumpers tomorrow, but he'll make enough to cause headaches.

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Originally Posted by 313

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Maybe. He doubled down on that by saying "but there are things we need to do better". If you are talking about specific possessions, then it's bad form to expound by dragging the entire game into the same phrase. 'There were possessions....I really actually thought" He didn't say "we had some good possessions at the defensive end". He said "there were possessions" then "I actually thought we played good defense".

Spurs fans are not accustomed to seeing a coach trying to protect his job in the media through gaslighting but it's much more common than how Pop handles the truth.

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Originally Posted by cd98

I don't think he was wide open. Maybe on a few shots. It's just that the Thunder bigs can't guard him on the perimeter. So if he's making his shots out there, he's going to have a big night. And Thunder can't put a small forward on him to bother his shot bc he can work them in the post. Needless to say, he won't make all those jumpers tomorrow, but he'll make enough to cause headaches.

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Danny's contributions to the offense are underrated for that game. If Danny doesn't go forest fire mode, guys can sag off him and he probably doesn't play as aggressive on defense, and maybe Pop doesn't even leave him out there as long. When Danny and Manu are hitting 3's, the floor is going to be wide open for LMA and KL.

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Originally Posted by Ron Swanson

That's Billy. He's in my class. I heard he's retarded or something.

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Ron Swan...

My nigga.

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Originally Posted by Mugen

:lol WTF?

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I didn't think anyone could be a bigger pussy than Scott Brooks.

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Originally Posted by DMC

Spurs fans are not accustomed to seeing a coach trying to protect his job in the media through gaslighting but it's much more common than how Pop handles the truth.

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Pop never tells the truth after games like this. He usually overplays the humility card. He usually says things like "we had a great night, they had a poor night. It happens." Then later you hear guys like Danny, parroting this same message.

I understand they don't want to give the Thunder and the media any bulletin board material, but it would be fun to see Pop say, "we executed our game plan to perfection, and we kicked the living shit out of them. Hopefully, we can crush them again in game 2". :)

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Originally Posted by Xevious

LMA was wide open all night. It has nothing to do with them doubling or not, they just couldn't guard the pick and pop.

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Like I said earlier, Barkley was asinine to say Ibaka was going to be the difference in this series. Before yes. But with LMA, he can't just guard the penetrating players anymore and go for blocks. LMA will eat him for lunch on the pass out, which he did just that on Saturday. If Ibaka plays this way again, expect another 30+ night from LMA and a Spurs double digit win.

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Originally Posted by Cowboys_Wear_Spurs

Like I said earlier, Barkley was asinine to say Ibaka was going to be the difference in this series. Before yes. But with LMA, he can't just guard the penetrating players anymore and go for blocks. LMA will eat him for lunch on the pass out, which he did just that on Saturday. If Ibaka plays this way again, expect another 30+ night from LMA and a Spurs double digit win.

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This.

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Originally Posted by Cowboys_Wear_Spurs

Like I said earlier, Barkley was asinine to say Ibaka was going to be the difference in this series. Before yes. But with LMA, he can't just guard the penetrating players anymore and go for blocks. LMA will eat him for lunch on the pass out, which he did just that on Saturday. If Ibaka plays this way again, expect another 30+ night from LMA and a Spurs double digit win.

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I think Pop's strategy is let Ibaka try to score 30 points on jumpers and limit Durrant and Westbrook. So it shows you how far afield Barkley is at understanding the game stratigically.

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Originally Posted by spursistan

if Sam Presti wasn't hipster and fake-smart type, he would be Mark-Jackson status once he eventually get fired in OKC.. the way he bungled the coaching part--among other things-- in his tenure is absolutely unforgivable..

the soon-to-be OKC closed title window (2012-2016) is going to be a case study on how a franchise can waste the prime years of two top 5 players :lol

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:lol

I actually thought this the other day. He doesn't seem anything like the dude who used to be in SA.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/nba/nba/team...presti_200.jpg

http://www.rantsports.com/nba/files/...Sam-Presti.jpg

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Originally Posted by baseline bum

I expect to see a lot of Durant in the post in Game 2 to try to pull Leonard off Westbrook. If not, I don't know what the fuck Donovan is thinking after seeing Leonard completely take away Westbrook's post game.

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Originally Posted by exstatic

That would make sense, but Barkley has been bitching at him all year to post up, and he hasn't. I really don't expect it now.

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Posting up Durant doesn't work well for OKC. Even so, they did it repeatedly last game. Don't let Webber fool you. I haven't gotten to that point of the breakdown, but there was a stretch early in the game where the Thunder posted Durant on Green for like six straight possessions. One problem was their entry passes sucked, so Green could force Durant to catch the ball near the three-point line.

Biggest problem, though, is the Durant doesn't have an advantage in the post. He's tall and skinny, and that doesn't help you back down people well. Don't people remember Game Six of the WCF where that was all OKC ran, and Danny took Durant's cookie four times in the second half? KD couldn't even back down CP3. People like Chuck are just idiots for suggesting it. Even when Durant gets some success, it's not enough to force a switch. KD isn't getting 30-plus points off posting up Green, or Manu OR Anderson. He's just not a good post player.

The adjustment needs to be the same on Brooks made for Westbrook in 2014. Russ has to attack Leonard. Kawhi got into foul trouble essentially doing nothing last game. In Game Six of the 2014, Kawhi picked up four fouls against Westbrook, and Russ was perfectly efficient in that match-up (14 points on 12 possessions) compared to the poor game he had overall (34 points on 39 possession). Obviously, Kawhi is a lot better now, so I don't think that's an easy fix for OKC. But rather than getting something awful like .8 PPP with Durant, they have to get Westbrook involved.

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Originally Posted by cd98

Not sure what they should've done differently. It's not like they can afford to double LMA on the perimeter. Spurs got a lot of baskets on turnovers. Thunder shoot a little better and Spurs miss some of those jumpers they made and game 2 will be closer. And SA media will talk about OKC's improved defense.

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If the Spurs defend the same as they did game 1 the thunder won't shoot much better.

Hell Serge Ibaka shot almost perfect and they still got boat raced.

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Originally Posted by SAGirl

There are things he can do. Double up? LMA specially is not very good passing out of doubles. Sometimes it forces a reset and a bad contested shot from a roleplayer, others it's a live TO. Force Tony to shoot jumpers, go under picks, double off Anderson forcing Pop to play Martin, call more plays for Durant coming off screens, play him GSW style, quick trigger coming off a screen, force switches with a big, look for post ups with Tony, if not Durant/Westbrook then Dion Waiters must go right at Tony. There are a lot if things they can do.

Like they say in th playoffs, each game has a life of its own.

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I hope to god they post up Andre Roberson on Parker.

You should coach the thunder, that's brilliant.

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Originally Posted by Chinook

Posting up Durant doesn't work well for OKC. Even so, they did it repeatedly last game. Don't let Webber fool you. I haven't gotten to that point of the breakdown, but there was a stretch early in the game where the Thunder posted Durant on Green for like six straight possessions. One problem was their entry passes sucked, so Green could force Durant to catch the ball near the three-point line.

Biggest problem, though, is the Durant doesn't have an advantage in the post. He's tall and skinny, and that doesn't help you back down people well. Don't people remember Game Six of the WCF where that was all OKC ran, and Danny took Durant's cookie four times in the second half? KD couldn't even back down CP3. People like Chuck are just idiots for suggesting it. Even when Durant gets some success, it's not enough to force a switch. KD isn't getting 30-plus points off posting up Green, or Manu OR Anderson. He's just not a good post player.

The adjustment needs to be the same on Brooks made for Westbrook in 2014. Russ has to attack Leonard. Kawhi got into foul trouble essentially doing nothing last game. In Game Six of the 2014, Kawhi picked up four fouls against Westbrook, and Russ was perfectly efficient in that match-up (14 points on 12 possessions) compared to the poor game he had overall (34 points on 39 possession). Obviously, Kawhi is a lot better now, so I don't think that's an easy fix for OKC. But rather than getting something awful like .8 PPP with Durant, they have to get Westbrook involved.

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Nice. :toastPosts like that are the reason we all come to Spurstalk.

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Originally Posted by Old School 44

Pop never tells the truth after games like this. He usually overplays the humility card. He usually says things like "we had a great night, they had a poor night. It happens." Then later you hear guys like Danny, parroting this same message.

I understand they don't want to give the Thunder and the media any bulletin board material, but it would be fun to see Pop say, "we executed are game plan to perfection, and we kicked the living shit out of them. Hopefully, we can crush them again in game 2". :)

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Didn't say Pop tells the truth. I said "how Pop handles the truth". Pop doesn't explain, just deflects to the questioner as if they have no business asking the question.

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Originally Posted by TampaDude

Billy Donovan was one of the best college basketball coaches in the nation.

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Was he, though? Seems like just about any decent coach could win with three top-ten NBA lottery picks on your roster for two years. It's pretty hard to just skate by on superior talent in the NBA.

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Originally Posted by Cowboys_Wear_Spurs

Like I said earlier, Barkley was asinine to say Ibaka was going to be the difference in this series. Before yes. But with LMA, he can't just guard the penetrating players anymore and go for blocks. LMA will eat him for lunch on the pass out, which he did just that on Saturday. If Ibaka plays this way again, expect another 30+ night from LMA and a Spurs double digit win.

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The only thing more asinine would be if Lamarcus doesn't immediately sprint to the low block every time Ibaka checks him.

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Originally Posted by SAGirl

There are things he can do. Double up? LMA specially is not very good passing out of doubles. Sometimes it forces a reset and a bad contested shot from a roleplayer, others it's a live TO.

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After our 3P% in last game, Donovan can be too afraid to double LMA, even is he's not that good at finding the open guy.

Who knows but he could copy the Warriors, they let LMA open in pick and pops but trap Kawhi high and double him too.

LMA was feasting with those shots but it wasn't enough to win.

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Originally Posted by SAGirl

look for post ups with Tony, if not Durant/Westbrook then Dion Waiters must go right at Tony.

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They need to attack Parker all game from every spot on the floor, but they can't do it with Roberson. If they don't start Waiters, at least, they should play him more minutes.