IBAKA OUT! WERE GOIN TO THE FINALS!!!

[therealtruth]

Time for Reggie Jackson to step up and drop 30 on us.

[Sean Cagney]

Time for Reggie Jackson to step up and drop 30 on us.

You know he will light us up man, one game on the road I can see him going off.

[TheRemix]

[cjw]

That lineup probably is the three seed in the east

[BC3]

lol crawford is old n still contributing to okc.

[Aztecfan03]

Its not going to be the difference between a Spurs series loss and a series win, like so many around here seem to believe. Ibaka is a defensive nightmare for the Spurs' penetration, altering or blocking shots and using his length to break up interior passes. That, plus he's notorious for hitting his shots against SA. Take his shot blocking and his 15 points per game and the Thunder suddenly have to turn elsewhere for interior defense AND floor spacing. His absence doesn't guarantee the Spurs a victory by any means, as Adams and Collison present their own issues. However, considering the impact he has for OKC, the loss of his contributions is a major momentum swing for the Spurs.

? Most of your post contradicts your first sentence.

[DapDaGenius]

Cause it was just gonna be peaches otherwise?

Never said or implied that. It will just be worse, b/c of Ibaka being out.

[daslicer]

This series will still be hard and the Thunder can still win but this injury now gives the spurs a slight edge going in.

[Sean Cagney]

This series will still be hard and the Thunder can still win but this injury now gives the spurs a slight edge going in.

Yes a slight edge SLICER, this series will be hard as you said. I don't doubt we let this one go 6 or 7 without him in there. People forget the Refs man, they are usually key.

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

Without Ibaka, the paint is much more exposed. Spurs have a much better chance now, but I can't say it's a good thing that Ibaka is injured. I don't think any true fans of the NBA would wish for players to get injured.

[Skull-1]

yes! Ibaka is out for the remainder of the playoffs. Tony Parker can now penetrate at will, and the Spurs offense can run seamlessly. It's OVER people. This absolutely positively guarantees that we will be back in the Finals this year.

WOOOO I'm excited!

Great. We get to go to the Finals and have Manu give it away to the cHeat. How exciting. Not.

I doubt we get to the Finals. Thunderefs...ahem.

[quentin_compson]

Well, this sucks for the Thunder, and it should make things easier for the Spurs.
Ibaka's spacing / good shooting from midrange are important for the Thunder, and he has also become a much more well-rounded defender over the last two or so years. I could definitely see Collison having a good series against the Spurs, though. We might also see quite some small ball with Durant at the 4.

[doobs]

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This flip flopped since the last time I looked at it.

These guys are picking themselves to win the series?

[Strategic]

Ibaka's foot speed and quickness on offense are what they won't be able to replace with the crackers, or Perkins.

[doobs]

crofl too bedd ibaka

all you have left is your core health, athletic prowess, fame, future potential and millions of dollars

You forgot to mention large

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Celebrating the loss of another team's key player is a chicken move. But that's why this is a site for fans I suppose. The Spurs won't be celebrating the loss of Ibaka and OKC will likely claw harder knowing he's not there.

Would losing Splitter make us think we couldn't beat OKC? Fans lose perspective sometimes.

[baseline bum]

Celebrating the loss of another team's key player is a chicken move. But that's why this is a site for fans I suppose. The Spurs won't be celebrating the loss of Ibaka and OKC will likely claw harder knowing he's not there.

Would losing Splitter make us think we couldn't beat OKC? Fans lose perspective sometimes.

Losing Leonard would

[AFBlue]

Celebrating the loss of another team's key player is a chicken move. But that's why this is a site for fans I suppose. The Spurs won't be celebrating the loss of Ibaka and OKC will likely claw harder knowing he's not there.

Would losing Splitter make us think we couldn't beat OKC? Fans lose perspective sometimes.

Ibaka is their third best overall player, and maybe second most important for this particular matchup due to his paint protection.

It would be more like the Spurs losing Duncan tbqh. And in that case, yeah I'd give them almost no shot.

[Horry Hipcheck]

? Most of your post contradicts your first sentence.

What I meant to say is, the loss of Ibaka isn't changing this series from a guaranteed Spurs loss to a guaranteed Spurs win. His absence opens up a huge window of opportunity, as the Thunder will undoubtedly miss his interior defense and midrange shooting, but the Spurs can still easily lose the series.

[Hemotivo]

These guys are picking themselves to win the series?

[Splits]

These guys are picking themselves to win the series?

Before the Ibaka injury was announced, the breakdown was:

8 pick OKC in 6, 1 picks OKC in 7
2 pick S.A. in 6, 5 pick S.A. in 7


Now:



Very pleased Gutierrez is picking against us, means we're basically a lock to win.

[KL2]

This loss is HUGE, he was the main guy I was worried about, he's the main reason Splitter is goes from productive to useless. Even TD has trouble getting things going against him

Changes OKC's offense as well, they'll have to go small.

[urunobili]

Never seen a fanbase as scared of a team like spursfan of Thunder

Okc will miss Ibaka but Adams can hold his own. I still see a long toss up series

Injuries suck. Would have much rather played the Thunder at full strength.

Thankfully, even with the injury, Spurs are too smart to relax.

[chrhawk]

spurs fans that still think the Thunder have any chance at winning this series now. Ibaka was the biggest reason that the Spurs offense looked average against them. He single handedly disrupted the Spurs' drive and kick game as well as the interior passing of the Spurs bigs. Now they are being replaced with Adams, Perkins and Collison who are all good individual defenders but don't cover near as much ground as Ibaka does. It'd be an upset to me if this series went more than 5 games tbh.

[-21-]

spurs fans that still think the Thunder have any chance at winning this series now. Ibaka was the biggest reason that the Spurs offense looked average against them. He single handedly disrupted the Spurs' drive and kick game as well as the interior passing of the Spurs bigs. Now they are being replaced with Adams, Perkins and Collison who are all good individual defenders but don't cover near as much ground as Ibaka does. It'd be an upset to me if this series went more than 5 games tbh.

Boy, you sure are confident. Losing Ibaka makes things easier for the Spurs offensively but remember, they still have Sefalosha who can give Parker trouble (in addition to his injury). Also, any of their scrubs can go off against the Spurs. Last but not least, they got the refs on their side. I think the Spurs will win but in no way is it gonna be easy.