No, what i mean is no lead is ever safe against this team...you can play a perfect game for 40+ minutes (like the Lakers in Game 4), and still lose.
Their shot-making was good -- clutch or not.
If handily outplaying Westbrook, a second team All-NBA player, is a "vanishing act", then yeah I guess so.
The Thunder got to the line all year, just not against the Spurs. The Spurs got a few bad whistles in Game 6 but you're going to get those in a series against that team, tbh. It's unavoidable with how much they go to the line.
What is thier average points scored per turnover? I'd imagine it is quite high, surely greater that 1 considering how easily they score on fast breaks. Looking at how in one game alone we conceded something like 28 points off 21 turnovers, how can it be said the Thunder would only gain 2 ppg if we limited our turnovers to regular season levels (13/game)
I don't know where to go to look up stats like points from turnovers in each game.
As the series went on Tony did what we have seen him do before become less and less reliable, he had the best game maybe of his career in game 2.. Hardly the first time a team adjusted to slow him down and Spurs lost a series.. This was supposed to be his team now and a chance to elevate his legacy... Yeah he failed that test.. Badly...
They're a jumpshooting team and they made a lot of jumpshots. On one hand, I agree those bumps in percentages are unreal. But they always seemed to be playing within themselves at the same time. To see such a huge jump for so many players makes me think the team was really locked in just as much as they got lucky. Their confidence was sky high. Why was that?...not an easy question to answer. Was it purely their own drive and motivation or was it something about the Spurs that allowed them to shoot that well?
Looking back, I still think they outplayed the Spurs and deserved the win. But ugh, that game 6. The first half Spurs were rolling and all the OKC role players were straight up bricking all the jumpshots they had been previously making. It makes me think they are a team that relies on "getting hot" to keep their collective confidence.
I hope that Lebron dunks on Harden and Durant a few times to shake their confidence. I really hope OKC loses and I will enjoy seeing it happen.
I dont care about stats or who played like , or who gaurded us well... Im still gonna irrationally blame this on matt bonner.... that red head! Get RID OF HIM!!!!
He had his chance to step up big this year and still the bed! Im done with putting up with him, he needs to ing go.
He has been the "under the radar" version of Richard "I got no balls" Jefferson for YEARS now... It's time to drop this choker. He spread the floor in the regular season... then he spreads his ass cheeks in the post season.
Do you have the same stats for the Spurs players?Shooting Percentage on Two-Pointers From 15 Feet and Out
yeah taking a team that people believe at the begging off the season that you would have said they would be in the wcf in a game 6 most would have laughed at you
duncan as the best player and manu as the best playedfailed many times without winning a le
spurs only have 4 les
james failed alot more then tp
This is the problem with analyzing a game strictly based off of statistics, although I'm guessing you were doing so just for the sake of doing it and realizing that statistics can only tell you so much.
The turnovers had a bigger impact on the Thunder winning than you contend, even if the stats say it only cost the Spurs 2 points per game:
1) First off, you can't only look at how many points it cost the Spurs through a reduced number of possessions. You have to consider how many incremental points the Thunder scored as a result of the many layups and dunks generated by turnovers. You have to look at the point swing instead of just one side of the equation and a team that forces a lot of turnovers will statisticall get more fast break points.
2) Most importantly, any NBA player is going to tend to be more effective shooting perimeter jumpers when they are getting some easier baskets generated by fast breaks. These easy baskets energized Durant and Harden and gave them more confidence. Jeff Van Gundy is always a fan of saying when you have a player in a slump, the last thing you want to do is give them an easy layup to get them going.
Also, the issue with this analysis you've prepared is that it doesn't consider how wide open the Thunder's perimeter looks were compared to the looks they got throughout the season that resulted in the lower percentage. That is something that realistically can only be gleaned from a subjective analysis of the game, although in today's day and age perhaps someone actually tracks this data.
The Thunder being more athletic than the Spurs was definitely a major reason they won. The Spurs got beat off the dribble more than the Thunder did which resulted in cleaner looks for the Thunder and thus a higher percentage. For all the talk about Ibaka going 11 for 11, he shot about 4-5 dunks/layups/tipins and the 6-7 jumpers were each wide open looks. And players shoot much higher % when they are wide open.
Their athleticism is also a major reason why the Spurs unbelievable ball movement looked more mortal as the series went on. Lots of great athletes disrupting passing lanes and closing out on shooters.
Another big reason, and I think the main reason they prevailed, is that the Thunder moved the ball much better than they typically do. I think they actually soaked in a lot of the Spurs sensational ball movement in 2nd half Game 1/ Game 2 and really tried to emulate this team approach in Games 3-6. In so doing, they elevated themselves from a very good to a great team. The question remains as to whether they will play like this against an inferior Heat team that may not really force them to play to that higher level in order to win.
You didn't include the Thunder's assist numbers in this analysis, but I'd imagine their assists/FG's ratio went up quite a bit in Games 3-6 vs. Games 1-2.
Great analysis though... It was a very interesting take and really drilled in at at a level you rarely see on ESPN, local beatwriters, etc approach.
The Spurs are an incredible organization and it was a very fun series for NBA fans to watch. Great basketball!
I think what won the game was brooks watched to much film of spurs after the first two games and copied them
they won because they started passing the ball
they had much more assist then they had during the regular season and brooks even said they were watching the spurs to much and wanted to duplicate that
he got the thunder to buy into moving the ball for the most part
look at the damm assist that also might mean the better shooting %
I DARE someone to look up Bonner's stats and say he DIDNT the bed in the ENTIRE post season this year.
He's a ing choker and needs to be kicked in the ing mouth out of this orginization.
I'll be glad if he drives off into the sunset with his Grand Am and his choking ass ways.
This is what killed us. I actually knew something of this sort would happen when i saw the Lakers-Thunder series. Lakers hung in there in all the games but they could never protect a lead. That's what scares me the most for the next decade. They're relentless and can always come back whenever they feel like.
Heat better hope Lebron can contain Durant, otherwise Thunder may well sweep their way to the le. Imagine what they will have accomplished if they win the chip by beating the Mavs (2011), Lakers (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010), Spurs (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007) and the Heat (2006). That's 11 championship teams right there.That's never been done before.
There's rarely fluke shooting like that, especially extended over 6 games, IMO. They obviously felt comfortable taking those shots, and the Spurs defense in that area against this specific team was fairly poor. The Spurs doing a superior job inside also points towards the Spurs packing the paint at the expense of having them beat you from outside.
The more I think back about the series, the more I believe the gameplan was to stop Westbrook/Harden penetration, which also would reduce their amount of freebies. It's not necessarily an unsound plan.
The Spurs picked their poison, and the poison killed them.
Wow! Breaking News! Bonner chokes in the playoffs! Who knew! Thanks for sharing.
Interesting statistics, thanks for the great post.
I don't have the numbers in front of me, but weren't their assists way up from the regular season? Could the reason their percentages were up so much be that they were doing a great job of hitting the open man, so they were simply getting better looks at the basket than they did when they were running isos all year?
There's going to be a regression to the mean at some point. Wouldn't surprise me if it happens with the Thunder next round.
Gives me hope that the Spurs aren't that far off. They just ran into a red hot team.
Yep and those TO's started heaviliy in game 4 at LAC and then game one in SA for OKC, they just continued that TO crap and thought they could win it? I said if we continued that TO crap we would lose the next series, and guess what the SPURS did it for the most part. The TO's were just dumb and careless too, let OKC get out and run you are done and they did that alot on TO's.BRO SPURS were a red hot team, how hot can you get man with 20 wins a row? They are not far off but they are nowhere near it.... Seems.Maybe, but damn man the Spurs are not near their le years with this team IMO and the Lakers regressed as well, they did not beat them in their prime but I see what you are saying! Mavs as well are not near last years team since they let the talent GO, Heat were the worst le team of all times in 06 IMO personally! Good point though I guess that would be insane to do, just years too late on some teams.This is what killed us. I actually knew something of this sort would happen when i saw the Lakers-Thunder series. Lakers hung in there in all the games but they could never protect a lead. That's what scares me the most for the next decade. They're relentless and can always come back whenever they feel like.
Heat better hope Lebron can contain Durant, otherwise Thunder may well sweep their way to the le. Imagine what they will have accomplished if they win the chip by beating the Mavs (2011), Lakers (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010), Spurs (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007) and the Heat (2006). That's 11 championship teams right there.
One of the better answers I've read yet.
We lost because Tim didn't dominate the series like many experts expected him to so it was backcourt against backcourt vs the strongest backcourt in the nba... And the bench also got owned, so your two biggest perceived advantages backfired.
Last edited by Paranoid Pop; 06-11-2012 at 01:58 AM.
Teams tend to hit from outside whenever you are as determined to pack the paint and stop the drive as the spurs were, pretty much giving up wide open looks from outside.
didn't see this before i posted, but you pretty much nailed it head on and saw the exact same things as i did. the spurs were willing to live with giving up the outside shot, unfortunately the thunder can not only drive but shoot too.
Post mortem threads are pretty humorous reads on the whole.
They are, expecially with the coroner analysing a coronary disease potentially hinting at a heart attack, lesions of diabetic origin in the kidneys, chronic pancrea is.
Even in the presence of a few bullets wounds on the body.
All those and Pop
wtf? Spurs had 25 turns in Game 5 alone. Way above their ave and certainly cost them more then "2 pts".
Game 6 the kick ass 1st half 18 pt Spurs lead i count
10 OKC turnovers
4 Spurs
2nd half choke/ref rigged
8 Spurs turnovers
5 OKC
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