If you had to blame one player for the WCF series loss, who would it be?

[Spurs21Fan4Ever]

There were a couple games where SA was doing well until Bonner came in, then OKC scored like 10 straight points in 1 minute and they took all momentum from SA. But you can't blame just one player, you have to blame all except for Ginobili, Leonard, and Jackson, and Tony and Timmy at times too.

[kobyz]

RJ! i have pangs of conscience about his trade, maybe with him we would win the series, we'll neve know!

[Bruno]

It's Parker fault. It was, is and will be always his fault.


CoM, here I come.

[Obstructed_View]

Canada.

[sexinthatsx]

I blame Boris Diaw. Instead of the reverse layups he made throughout the playoffs and in both games 1 and 2, the ended up kicking the ball out to shooters instead of getting an easy lay-up. Those missed 3's cost the spurs their points

[tesseractive]

Canada.

Yeah, if Cory Joseph hadn't blown it, he could totally have carried us through that series!

[therealtruth]

There were a couple games where SA was doing well until Bonner came in, then OKC scored like 10 straight points in 1 minute and they took all momentum from SA. But you can't blame just one player, you have to blame all except for Ginobili, Leonard, and Jackson, and Tony and Timmy at times too.

Exactly.

[tlongII]

Bonner.

[Wild Cobra Kai]

Bonner.

Oden.

[Dingle Barry]

Fisher

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Love how the NBA fixed it so that OKC would suddenly start making jumpshots that they'd never hit before and never hit again. David Stern is uber powerful.

Exactly. I thought LJ's analysis of OKC's long 2 jumpshooting was spot on. OKC were incredibly hot and hit the shots our defensive system gave them, lots of long 2s, amounting to +6pts/gm. That, and KD's general 4th Q dominance, swung the series. It hurts to be beaten by an outlier, but that's sport (and life).

[Hemotivo]

When something in life goes wrong I still just always blame Beno Udrih

[therealtruth]

Exactly. I thought LJ's analysis of OKC's long 2 jumpshooting was spot on. OKC were incredibly hot and hit the shots our defensive system gave them, lots of long 2s, amounting to +6pts/gm. That, and KD's general 4th Q dominance, swung the series. It hurts to be beaten by an outlier, but that's sport (and life).

You can't give an offense steady looks of the same kind. I understand you want to take away 3's and points in the point but giving an NBA offense a steady diet of open looks is a recipe for disaster. Yeah they shot a higher than usual percentage but those were wide open looks. The Spurs have to regain that desire and effort to compete on the defensive end regardless of their athleticism.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

You can't give an offense steady looks of the same kind. I understand you want to take away 3's and points in the point but giving an NBA offense a steady diet of open looks is a recipe for disaster. Yeah they shot a higher than usual percentage but those were wide open looks. The Spurs have to regain that desire and effort to compete on the defensive end regardless of their athleticism.

Actually, a lot of the looks were still contested, and they didn't just shoot a marginally higher %, they shot over 11% higher than their season average, which is definitely an outlier.

[Stabula]

I blame Bonner for not being aggressive enough with Pop to get more minutes when it counted. A couple of classic Red Rocket 3 balls could have iced game 6 for the Spurs.

[therealtruth]

Actually, a lot of the looks were still contested, and they didn't just shoot a marginally higher %, they shot over 11% higher than their season average, which is definitely an outlier.

I am not arguing they didn't shoot better than usual. I am arguing the Spurs could have put forth more effort into defending better.

[TE]

bump

After thinking back, TP underplayed most of game 5 (which is the game that tilted the series in OKC's favor)...

Bench play was also very much lacking in game 5...

gary neal

[Duncan2177]

Green,Bonner and Neal.

[lefty]

Pop and TP

Pop gor ting the bed in game 5 with re ed lineups
COY my ass


TP for choking as usual

[Sean Cagney]

I blame Bonner for not being aggressive enough with Pop to get more minutes when it counted. A couple of classic Red Rocket 3 balls could have iced game 6 for the Spurs.

When is that bozo gonna hit a few big shots when it counts? NEVER. I don't BLAME BONNER, he is just horrible and we all know it now except for POP.

[T Park]

I think two of the big three's inconsistent play ended up killing them. Along with OKC making an obscene amount of low percentage shots. Tip your hat on that. All you can do.

[gee]

thabo

replacing thabo with a generic SG of proportionate level to his contract / popularity and SA would have won in 4-5

[therealtruth]

Spurs role players (except Jackson). They were outplayed by the Thunder role players. Durant, Westbrook and Harden got theirs, but Cook making those shots in game 5 was ridiculous.

It's ironic Cook wouldn't have played if they hadn't been in foul trouble. Part of us more aggressive in game 5 (inserting Manu in SL) caused them to get into foul trouble which caused Cook to be the X-factor. It's part of why I favored us playing the same way we did in games 1-2 instead of changing the lineup. We won games 1-2 despite Green. If he had a good game 5 we could likely have won easy. Pop panicked and it hurt the team.

[TDMVPDPOY]

if u play the bulk of the minutes and u underperformed, u deserved some criticism

[rmt]

OKC played extremely well when it counted - especially the role players. Gotta tip your hat off to them. I don't have any bitterness toward that series - just got beaten by a better team. It seemed that once they looked at tape of the first 2 games, they decided to share/pass the ball (like SAS) instead of playing the way they had during the regular season (pretty much KD, Westbrooke and Harden going one-on-one trying to break down the defense). Once that team passing came into play, coupled with the offensive power of their big 3, it was lights out for SA.

Unfortunate that they played so (relatively) poorly in the Finals. SA should go after the #1 seed, let LA and OKC battle it out in the semis and hope for better luck (that they're not hot) next year. Anything can happen - hope springs eternal.

Thought that SJax played extremely well and that Neal played poorly but that could be because he had stomach issues.