Thunder: Interesting stuff on last year's WCF series

[thunderup]

Spurs also had Danny Green and Bonner 3 pointers magically dissappear. Splitter also couldn't play much due to the hack-a-Splitter.

That's what happens when you rely on scrubs. I'm not that worried about Green and Bonner, they will disappear most likely when it matters. Splitter and Leonard are players that worry me.

We're much improved defensively this season, and Splitter freebies are not longer an issue. KMart also has a fame of choking on the playoffs. If we were to play this season, I think we could take them.

I think the defensive improvement has more to do with putting Splitter in the starting rotation. It's essentially a twin tower look that we haven't seen since playing the Lakers the last couple of years. I will hold my expectations on KMart, like Green and Bonner, he is essentially a scrub role player. A Thunder-Spurs series will no doubt go 7 games this time around.

OKC is still a solid team, and it's arguable KD can be contained.

The combination of Leonard and Jackson will give him fits. That said, Kevin will still get his and then some.

[ElNono]

Thabo is an athletic defender standing at 6'7 that has the team responsibility of being the "lockdown" defender. He didn't shut down Tony by any stretch of the imagination but he disrupted the offensive execution. Starting from game 3, Parker encountered an entirely different defensive philosophy from us. Scotty gameplanned to keep TP and Manu from driving to the hole at will and it worked. Parker and Ginobili's ability to drive into the lane and cause chaos opens up possibilities for other things to happen on offense. Putting Thabo on Tony essentially disrupted Parker's ability to run the offense.

Not really. Again, Game 5, Parker drops 20 and Manu 34. That's actually more than normal production from those guys. Duncan had 18, but nobody else stepped up.

Game 6 Parker drops 29 pts. But a 10+ freebie differential on the road is difficult to overcome.

Spurs didn't have a problem scoring, dropping 99+ on 5 out of the 6 games of the series.

The Spurs simply had a defensive problem, and the role players didn't step up when it mattered (Game 5). The average defense gave the team a slim margin of error.

Harden cancelled Ginobili and Kevin took us to the Finals with his brilliant play.

Harden was great. More than volume scoring, he was timely in making shots. Ibaka shooting lights out was also a timely fluke.

OKC was the better team throughout the series. I'm a firm believer that a winner of a 7 game series is the better team.

[spurraider21]

That's what happens when you rely on scrubs. I'm not that worried about Green and Bonner, they will disappear most likely when it matters. Splitter and Leonard are players that worry me.


I think the defensive improvement has more to do with putting Splitter in the starting rotation. It's essentially a twin tower look that we haven't seen since playing the Lakers the last couple of years. I will hold my expectations on KMart, like Green and Bonner, he is essentially a scrub role player. A Thunder-Spurs series will no doubt go 7 games this time around.


The combination of Leonard and Jackson will give him fits. That said, Kevin will still get his and then some.

Bottom line is the Thunder aren't as good this year as they were last year due to the loss of Harden. Martin is a nice fill in but in late game situations I'm sort of relieved that Westbrick will be your only decision maker.

On the flip side, the Spurs are better than they were last year. Duncan has been playing better than he has in the 3 seasons prior to this, Parker is somehow outdoing last season's MVP caliber year, Splitter is finally getting big minutes (played about 10 mpg in the WCF last season) and Kawhi Leonard has improved by virtue of no longer being a rookie.

[Mao Zedong]

Yay, let's post a 9 months old article about a even older series...
It would actually make much more sense to troll Thunder fans about today's loss against the Jazz.

As for how the Thunder won, it's simple: "Durant/Lebron Finals" promo x (Thunder roleplayers playing perfectly + Spurs roleplayers sucking terribly) = Stern's Erotica

[ElNono]

That's what happens when you rely on scrubs. I'm not that worried about Green and Bonner, they will disappear most likely when it matters. Splitter and Leonard are players that worry me.

Last season we relied heavily on offense, because of an average defense. This season is a bit different, so we have more margin for some of those guys not to show up.

I think the defensive improvement has more to do with putting Splitter in the starting rotation. It's essentially a twin tower look that we haven't seen since playing the Lakers the last couple of years. I will hold my expectations on KMart, like Green and Bonner, he is essentially a scrub role player. A Thunder-Spurs series will no doubt go 7 games this time around.

You have to add Leonard progression also as a defender, and the fact we're relying much less on trotting out terrible defenders like Bonner out there.

Scrubs matter. Martin might be a scrub, but he gets hot and he can ruin your night. Green is the same. They're not consistently good like Harden.

The combination of Leonard and Jackson will give him fits. That said, Kevin will still get his and then some.

KD will get his. No doubt about it.

[DeadlyDynasty]

Yes, it was the refs' fault you were backdoor swept

[midnightpulp]

So if it isn't outcoaching, then what do you call Scotty's adjustment to put Thabo on Parker and give him fits (which had a profound effect on offensive execution) to which Pop couldn't counter?

Pop drives me insane sometimes with his re ed rotations and falling in love with certain players, but the most logical counter to Brooks' move was working through Duncan in the post. The Spurs tried it and it failed massively, stagnating the flow of the offense and stopping ball movement. Other than that, I see no other counters Pop could've made. Thunder are super quick and super long on the perimeter, and were the only Western Conference team that had the horses to disrupt the Spurs' passing game, which was being called "one of the best ever" prior to that series.

I don't think he got outcoached at all. Thunder simply matched up well with the Spurs, especially after the Thabo switch.

Plus, you have Kevin Durant. He's pretty good.

[KaiRMD1]

It's 2013 brah, we're all out of the past brah

[Richie]

thunderup with some surprisingly good takes in this thread.

[thunderup]

Not really. Again, Game 5, Parker drops 20 and Manu 34. That's actually more than normal production from those guys. Duncan had 18, but nobody else stepped up.

Game 6 Parker drops 29 pts. But a 10+ freebie differential on the road is difficult to overcome.

Spurs didn't have a problem scoring, dropping 99+ on 5 out of the 6 games of the series.

The Spurs simply had a defensive problem, and the role players didn't step up when it mattered (Game 5). The average defense gave the team a slim margin of error.

You're conveniently ignoring game's 3 and 4 where the defensive philosophy change came about. In game 3, Parker had 5 TO's, shot 6/12 and had a -13. I remember it being Thabo's guarding him that took him out of the game. In game 4, Parker shot 5/15 and played a little better with regard to turning the ball over. Nonetheless, Thabo still disrupted his ability to get the Spurs into comfortable sets. In game 5, Parker scored 20 points but 10 of those were on free throws (some of those calls were just blasphemous btw), he shot 36% on 5/14 shooting. I think Thabo had a lot to do with the subpar shooting. Game 6 is the only game I think Parker wasn't affected as much by Thabo. Parker was VERY aggressive in that game early on irrc.

The point I'm trying to make is Thabo had a lot more to do with the outcome of this series than you are willing to give him credit for.

[Floyd Pacquiao]

Tbh they for got to also mention the flukishly hot shooting of okc's roleplayers, perkins and collison knocking down fluke 18 footers, hardens clutch 3s with Leonard all over him, freethrow parade in game 6 that helped okc get back in the game, spurs being a middle of the pack defense last year etc.

[apalisoc_9]

You're conveniently ignoring game's 3 and 4 where the defensive philosophy change came about. In game 3, Parker had 5 TO's, shot 6/12 and had a -13. I remember it being Thabo's guarding him that took him out of the game. In game 4, Parker shot 5/15 and played a little better with regard to turning the ball over. Nonetheless, Thabo still disrupted his ability to get the Spurs into comfortable sets. In game 5, Parker scored 20 points but 10 of those were on free throws (some of those calls were just blasphemous btw), he shot 36% on 5/14 shooting. I think Thabo had a lot to do with the subpar shooting. Game 6 is the only game I think Parker wasn't affected as much by Thabo. Parker was VERY aggressive in that game early on irrc.

The point I'm trying to make is Thabo had a lot more to do with the outcome of this series than you are willing to give him credit for.

[Clipper Nation]

In game 5, Parker scored 20 points but 10 of those were on free throws (some of those calls were just blasphemous btw)

the officiating

Self-contradicting, hypocritical got

[Texas_Ranger]

I dont like facing the thunder....... with harden.

[thunderup]

Clipper Nation with the same boring "i'm rubber your glue" shtick
calling it hypocrisy when it's not something I blame losses on but rather a stat I'm using to make a point out of

[KaiRMD1]

You're conveniently ignoring game's 3 and 4 where the defensive philosophy change came about. In game 3, Parker had 5 TO's, shot 6/12 and had a -13. I remember it being Thabo's guarding him that took him out of the game. In game 4, Parker shot 5/15 and played a little better with regard to turning the ball over. Nonetheless, Thabo still disrupted his ability to get the Spurs into comfortable sets. In game 5, Parker scored 20 points but 10 of those were on free throws (some of those calls were just blasphemous btw), he shot 36% on 5/14 shooting. I think Thabo had a lot to do with the subpar shooting. Game 6 is the only game I think Parker wasn't affected as much by Thabo. Parker was VERY aggressive in that game early on irrc.

The point I'm trying to make is Thabo had a lot more to do with the outcome of this series than you are willing to give him credit for.

Seriously, you cannot call any refereeing bias blasphemous when your team is the f'n Thunder. Come on man, you're team lives on the free throw line ALL THE TIME. I'll admit, Thabo did do some good for the Thunder in the series BUT the shooting of Collison, Ibaka and Harden did more of the work than anything.

[ElNono]

You're conveniently ignoring game's 3 and 4 where the defensive philosophy change came about. In game 3, Parker had 5 TO's, shot 6/12 and had a -13. I remember it being Thabo's guarding him that took him out of the game. In game 4, Parker shot 5/15 and played a little better with regard to turning the ball over. Nonetheless, Thabo still disrupted his ability to get the Spurs into comfortable sets. In game 5, Parker scored 20 points but 10 of those were on free throws (some of those calls were just blasphemous btw), he shot 36% on 5/14 shooting. I think Thabo had a lot to do with the subpar shooting. Game 6 is the only game I think Parker wasn't affected as much by Thabo. Parker was VERY aggressive in that game early on irrc.

The point I'm trying to make is Thabo had a lot more to do with the outcome of this series than you are willing to give him credit for.

Games 3 and 4 are the games the Thunder were supposed to win, and games the Spurs didn't have the urgency to.

You could argue Parker had to adjust to the new defense in those games, but even if you do, that *did* happen (looking at Game 5 & 6).

Not trying to take anything away from Thabo or Scotty. The series was won by Durant, who was unguardable, and the fact that OKC had, overall, more talent. Better bench too with Harden and Collison playing extremely well, versus our bench which only had Manu sporadically playing well, and guys like Bonner or Neal who are turnstiles on defense. The other observation I would make is that guys like KD and Westbrook can play 40+ mins a game, and the Spurs stars can't. Over a physical 7 game series, that's something that can still be an issue even now.

[LarryDavid]

OP, you're about 6 months late in posting this article. Why now???

[Latarian Milton]

refs didn't hand them enough food stamps in the finals so they lost