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With home court its a toss up. Without home court spurs have 25% chance
I don't care what any of you Negative Nancies want to say since the Spurs lost, but I still think the Spurs are more than capable of beating the Thunder in a 7 game series. I saw the Thunder requiring the services of Durant and Westbrook to maintain the lead while the Spurs' starters sans Leonard were out on the court. Throw in the fact that Parker (although he was playing like dog ) and Duncan were on the bench for the whole fourth quarter should testify to this. I also noticed one adjustment that could be made that could spell trouble for the Thunder. Last night the Spurs were extremely guilty of overpassing. Especially in the interior. There were several possessions when the much better thing to do would be to put up a shot yourself instead of making a pass against a Thunder interior defense that was very sharp in their rotations. I would rather see a shot rather than a pointless turnover. I think this is a relatively simple adjustment and one that I believe the Spurs will employ should these teams meet in the playoffs. The Spurs did seem rushed to make their passes (credit to the Thunder defense) however the aggressive nature of the Thunder defense creates hard closeouts and opens up seams to drive the lane upon receiving the pass. The Spurs players seemed very unsure about their passes or shot selection. The small hesitation with the decision making or pump fake is all the Thunder require to close up the holes in their defense. I love the Spurs system, but it bit them in the ass this game. To beat the Thunder, you will have to play with some instinct as well as system play. This is just my humble opinion as I am no coach or player. Just a spectator doing his speculating. Nothing more....
GO SPURS GO!!! ONE FOR THE THUMB!!!!
With home court its a toss up. Without home court spurs have 25% chance
An athletic team which the Thunder are, when playing with high intensity which will happen in the playoffs will beat the system that works during the regular season for the Spurs because the Thunder just are a quicker more explosive team than the spurs and will close off the easy passing lanes that the spurs rely on to get open looks.
Thunder have proven they can win in San Antonio. The Spurs are going to need an injury to get past OK City.
I dont think Thunder will get 31 points off Spurs 19 turnovers again!
Spurs played a sloppy uninspired game. The Thunder really wanted that game and it showed when KD was still out there with a couple of minutes left. Pop would of played Manu if he really wanted the win. Manu plays outstanding defense on Durant just in case some of you forgot. If the Spurs had won the Thunder and their fans would pull up the no Thabo and Perkins first game back card. A win would of been nice but it ultimately means nothing in the playoffs.
THICK
I could tell how badly OKC wanted this win during the post game interviews. We always qualify and downplay the significance of a win during the regular season based on the cir stances involved. OKC never mentioned the schedule discrepancy. I need the OKC monkey off my back, we need to beat them this postseason. We need to beat the man who beat the man that beat the man.
65% spurs win
honestly, we can beat the thunder, but we can't beat the thunder getting special treatment from the refs.
the thunder are a team designed to beat the old spurs, but our offense is too good this year to completely stop. there's just too many options. the thunder are relying on ibaka, jackson, and fisher to win, and there's just no telling if they're going to show up or not. they have so far, but will they in the playoffs, that's the main question.
the other major factor is, are the refs going to continue to call the game in favor of the thunder? leonard gets absolutely no respect when playing this team. they call ticky tack fouls, phantom fouls, etc. which is fine if you're going to call the game both ways, but they don't. they let the thunder get away with playing aggressive defense. there's no way you can win if parker goes into the lane, gets hacked to pieces, bumped, and then loses the ball which leads to a thunder fast break. meanwhile, westchimp/ KD drives into the lane with reckless abandon, gets a light bump, still finishes with ease and is rewarded with an and 1. there's just no way you can win unless you're miami and the refs don't call bull like that.
That is what I mean. If you hesitate, the lanes for passing and driving close up. If the played with instinct, the passes, drives, and looks would be there. There is no time to second guess yourself against the Thunder.
First off, make no mistake, we are going to meet the Thunder in the playoffs (the WCF).
We have a great chance. People forget that 2 years ago, when we lost to them four times in a row in the playoffs, 3 of those games were just one possession games that could have gone either way. And having home court advantage helps us A LOT. Playing those first 2 games at home and playing well in them sets the tone for the entire series. And our arena is rocking during the playoffs making our advantage at home is just incredible in comparison to other teams.
I'd say we have a 70% chance of winning should (when) we meet the Thunder in the playoffs.
The Thunder beating LAC in the 2nd round is far from a foregone conclusion. I'd say there's about a 60% chance they beat a healthy Clippers team.
Spurs in 5, tbh.
Don't assume Spurs will beat Rockets in WCSF.
I know I get down sometimes but there are some real debbie downers on this site.
even if Thunder are a tough matchup, there's no reason to be a pussy about it. Have some faith in this team. As long as Spurs play with confidence and resolve, I'm cool.
Clippers have been playing worse the past 3 weeks. I think OKC takes them in no more than 6 games in the 2nd round. The Rockets will actually be a tough matchup for the Spurs should they meet in the 2nd round as well. It's no gimme. Then OKC would be waiting for us. Gonna be a tall task to get back to the Finals.
spurs will have a game plan for a series that will get them through, esp if they have home court. they were half gas, half interested, minus manu on the road on a b2b and exhausted and there were still times in the 3rd and 4th that they could've stepped on the gas if they had any and pushed the game closer.
Siemens...
The Thunder will not be a pushover for the Spurs. A potential West Finals matchup with that team is a minimum 6 game series. They're a team that the Spurs CAN beat, but it will require a great deal of intensity to do it.
Yep just like so and so will not light us up again like they did (Pick which game), yet they continue to do it.
50-50 tossup they are great squad.
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