Can't argue with that.
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Ibaka shot like Steph Curry.
Adams rebounded like Dennis Rodman
Westbrook played like westbrook.
Kanter played like Ben Wallace
And they still lost.
Game 2 was an anomaly with our atrocious start.
Im feeling confident
Tough to know. Will Westbrook miss 21 shots again? Will LMA return to +50% shooting? Which third player will step up? Tonight it was Tony, Game 1 Green, Game 2 no one really.
I'll says Spurs by 2.
"The hard part is over" I have to agree.
The pressue is now on OKC and they are more likely to choke, while our guys will be very confident.
A safe win by 7-10 is the best bet. But still OKC is OKC let's not dismiss them.
Spurs win, who cares about the score. The way that the Spurs can guard and score they have the advantage. Sweep OKC and head home for the win.
I say the thunder come out strong we weather then storm pull away mid 4th quarter.
Help me out here. Boban played for exactly 3:13 in that game. He came in, and the Spurs were down by 2. When he left, the Spurs were up by 2. Explain to me how that one 3 minute stretch of +4 scoring was one of the reasons the Spurs lost.
Just for laughs, lets look at what happened when Boban came out:
Duncan replaced Boban and played 3:15 Spurs went from +2 to +1.
Diaw replaced Duncan and played 3:11 Spurs went from +1 to -3.
So in almost the EXACT same amounts of time, the Spurs were +4 with Boban, -1 with Duncan, and -4 with Diaw.
I agree that Pop isn't likely to play him. But if Tim is retiring after this season anyway, this might be a good time for him to look into some PED's. (They aren't going to blood test him in the next couple of weeks, right?) Because the Spurs need help in the middle.
Game 1 was a perfect game
Game 2 the Spurs got good looks and missed, starting a frigid 2-16. Like Pop said "I thought we lost the game 3 times". That's different than "they beat us on both sides of the ball"
Game 3 if the Spurs don't shoot 59% from the FT missing 10 going into the 4th it's a blowout
Until the Thunder prove they can defend and run more than an 2 on 5 for their offense the Spurs should be expected to win every game. This series is the Spurs to lose.
Thunder give the ball away a lot.
Spurs win.
Spurs win by 10+. KL/lma double doubles, and the bench hits 6 3s.
We played one great game and played two crappy games. If we come out and just play a decent game we win easy.
For the record, I didn't call you a dumbass. It's obvious that Pop didn't want to put Boban back in the game, so it's pointless do argue that. And I'm sure Pop sees a lot of things that I don't. But there's not much to back up the idea that Boban's 3:11 where the Spurs were +6 (I said +4 earlier) helped the Spurs lose that game. Pop may not have liked the matchups going forward, but that statement is just ridiculous. You can't just fall back on Pop to say that Boban's 3 minutes helped lose the game. If anything changed the "dynamic" of that game, it was Tim going 1-8 and getting blocked 3 times. That plus that disastrous lineup with Anderson, Manu, West, and Mills.
Meh... one of those arguments no one can win. I disagree with you, but I'm not calling people names just for having a different opinion.
Good point. There was no way we win that 3rd game without Tony showing up. Aside of what is expected from LMA and Kawhi, others need to show up. If they do, we win.
It will be tough bc I don't think Westbrook will be looking to take 31 shots again. His shot selection will still be Westbrook-y but he will look for others. He was pretty ashamed of himself for that.
These teams are both top heavy so it will depend on which other roleplayers show up.
In term of predictions, how can I prognosticate a loss? We win.
If you can just keep the game close, OKC will really feel the pressure and beat themselves....again lol
Joining you about Boban, bc Pop was very complementary of him after his play in game 2. I thought I'd see him again this past game but I think he's benched for the same reason TD is. I am guessing they don't do well on switches or in transition. POP made a calculated guess with his strategy to switch more bc Ibaka was killing us with that jumper and he'd rather give the mismatch than the open 3 or the penetration. I can't say I understand everything Pop's doing but he steered in a different direction in favor of more switching at the risk of the rim protection. That was to be supplied as best he could by LMA.
If I am right we are likely not seeing him again outside of garbage time or foul trouble to even a couple of bigs. I doubt Pop rethinks his strategy, but he might introduce a wrinkle or two if Donovan does too, but I don't think Donovan has anything else he hasn't shown.
Do you have a source for the "ashamed" comment?
I agree with your "top heavy" analysis. But they also have bruising bigs that pose a serious problem for us. Pop will have to teach our guys to box out, limiting their offensive boards. Those are killing us. Typically role-players play better at home, so that would give the edge to OKC; however, the Spurs have the better role players. Kind of a push. I predict that we will see more of Boris, and he could be the difference - one way or the other. I predict we sweep the next two in close games.
Thunder will come out with a lot of energy, but Spurs will shoot well again. Get up by double digits in the second quarter, and Spurs will keep it like that for most of the game. Thunder will make a little run, get it to around 8 or 9 midway through the 4th. Spurs then pull away and win by 15.