Spurs: Ibaka will not change the outcome of the series

[ambchang]

I am sick and tired of hearing how big of a deal missing Ibaka is.

Note that I am not saying:
1) He will not make a difference
2) The Spurs will win this series

What I am saying is, given what has transpired so far, Ibaka would not have made a 20+ point difference in either of the first two games, and here is why ....

1) Ibaka is a fantastic defensive player, and he would likely have been a primary defender on Duncan. If he played in Game 1, in which Duncan was dominant, he would have forced Duncan out of the low block, but that would allow the Spurs to penetrate into the paint even more so. The issue about the Spurs scoring so many points in the paint in Game 1 wasn't just them missing Ibaka, it's also because their perimeter defense sucked. They allowed Parker, Ginobili and Kawhi to waltz into the paint unimpeded, if Ibaka came over to help, the Spurs would have just passed it out for a perimeter shot or for a dunk/layup inside. To top it off, the Spurs had 16 fastbreak points, and scored 21 points off TO, Ibaka isn't going to do much about those.

2) People point to 2012 and 2014 RS as some sort of "proof" that the Thunder would be a lot better vs. the Spurs if Ibaka was available, but you are comparing apples to oranges. The Spurs had no problems scoring in 2012 playoffs vs. OKC (they had 99+ points in 5 of the 6 games), they had trouble stopping them on offense. Sure Ibaka was hitting everything in that series, but the real difference on offense that year was Harden.

As for the 2014 RS, RS and playoffs are two different animals, especially when it comes to coaching. RS games were more based on individual talent, in which teams didn't have as much time to prepare for each other and can just "wing" it. Playoffs on the other hand, requires a lot of preparation to exploit your opposition's weakness as well as magnify your strengths. Brooks is not even in the same league as Pop as a coach. The only reason OKC won in 2012 was because of the massive talent difference. With Harden out of the picture, and the improvement of Green and Kawhi, the talent level has narrowed. Ibaka is not going to make up for that by himself.

[Koolaid_Man]

^ geez.... learn to show some gotdam humility when your team has been gifted 2 straight finals appearances due to KEY injuries of OKC's top players, especially when it's clear a healthy OKC team completely owns you guys.... This type of grandstanding will only result in an even greater humiliation than last year's 6...

get a clue guy...look at me..I'm languishing in misery right now because I didn't show humility when my team was on top and now the BBall gods are repaying me in full....with the same finals scenario that made me puke last year....learn from Kool's mistakes otherwise 6 will be shoved up your ass times 2....

You SOB you...

[ambchang]

Note that I am not saying:
1) He will not make a difference
2) The Spurs will win this series

^ geez.... learn to show some gotdam humility when your team has been gifted 2 straight finals appearances due to KEY injuries of OKC's top players, especially when it's clear a healthy OKC team completely owns you guys.... This type of grandstanding will only result in an even greater humiliation than last year's 6...

get a clue guy...look at me..I'm languishing in misery right now because I didn't show humility when my team was on top and now the BBall gods are repaying me in full....with the same finals scenario that made me puke last year....learn from Kool's mistakes otherwise 6 will be shoved up your ass times 2....

You SOB you...

Learn to read.

[Koolaid_Man]

Learn to read.

You said what you said and you meant what you said.....no need in backtracking now....I've put the bball gods on notice.....you should start practicing with KY and a 6" no make that 12" dildo.... since it's 6 x 2

[TDMVPDPOY]

spurs will continue to give ibaka those midrange shots, dare him to take those fluke shots that his been hittin

as for him on the other end with perkins can give our frontline some headache when u need inside scoring....

but i dont think both can stop splitter this season who has been playing beyond god mode

[SanDiegoSpursFan]

I disagree but it really doesn't matter until the Spurs play the Thunder next year.

[Capt Bringdown]

Ibaka may not have been THE difference this year, but the Spurs were flat out intimidated and dominated by him previously.

[lefty]

Backdoor sweep IMO

[ambchang]

You said what you said and you meant what you said.....no need in backtracking now....I've put the bball gods on notice.....you should start practicing with KY and a 6" no make that 12" dildo.... since it's 6 x 2

Quoting exact words from my original post is backtracking now? Care to explain your logic?

[mudyez]

^ geez.... learn to show some gotdam humility when your team has been gifted 2 straight finals appearances due to KEY injuries

True, Lakers would have stomped us, if Kobe had healthy.

[urunobili]

I'm not sure the Spurs would have gotten backdoor swept if it wasn't for Harden. Though Ibaka won a game for them on that 11-11 night No Harden = them not winning that series.

[hater]

Ibaka in, Spurs in 6 or 7

Ibaka out, beatdown

[spurraider21]

I think it would be a different series. Ibaka is the only player on their team that deters points in the paint, and that's where we've been murdering them. They'd still be having their struggles offensively unless Ibaka was going Dirkbaka on us with 8-10 shooting nights. Much of our offensive strategy would be disrupted though. I don't think we get in the paint nearly as successfully, and knowing they have Ibaka there, the perimeter guys wouldn't collapse as hard giving up the outside shots. Ibaka is also a problem on the offensive glass from time to time. Not that i'm saying he single handedly would have changed the end result of games 1 or 2, but his absence has turned a compe ive series into a (thus far) uncompe ive one

[tlongII]

He's not coming back is he? Strange thread le...

[Thebesteva]

Ok, lemme know how you would feel going into a crucial series without a key player

[N0 LyF3 ScRuB]

Ok, lemme know how you would feel going into a crucial series without a key player

We played OKC four times this year, three times we didn't have a healthy squad. So quit ing. Parker and Manu were injured in the finals also. Did anyone mention that? Nah.

[Thebesteva]

We played OKC four times this year, three times we didn't have a healthy squad. So quit ing. Parker and Manu were injured in the finals also. Did anyone mention that? Nah.

I said a series you guzzling cat collector not regular season games

[N0 LyF3 ScRuB]

I said a series you guzzling cat collector not regular season games

Are you too re ed to read the second half of the post?

[ElNono]

We'll never know now, but I was certainly one preaching throughout the season that OKC didn't scare me. You can look up TD21's knee jerk thread upstairs after we lost a couple games to OKC during the regular season.

This series isn't over, but matchup-wise, you're seeing what I been saying on that thread: Reggie Jackson and Ostrich-face (© HH), even with Ibaka out there, have been largely underwhelming throughout these playoffs. Reggie has one solid game out of every five. Ostrich-face only plays garbage minutes. They were supposedly the newly-born Spurs killers, but the playoffs are a completely different beast.

tbh, if not for Fisher hitting everything in Game 1, that was another 35pt blowout, IMO. We'll see what we look like in OKC, and the Spurs are due for a poor shooting night, but there are no easy answers for Scotty right now.

[ambchang]

Ok, lemme know how you would feel going into a crucial series without a key player

If the spurs lost Parker or Duncan id be concerned, but not anyone else. Reason being nobody else will turn wins into loses or vice versa.

On the okc roster, only Durant and maybe Westbrook has that impact.

[Thebesteva]

Are you too re ed to read the second half of the post?

Listen Garfield, you were mentioning that you guys lost to OKC 4 times this year due to injuries. Its just embarrassing that you would mention that when they were regular season games. I'm happy for the Spurs as I want them to beat the Heat, but lets not act like you wouldn't be having a nervous catdown if you heard going into the Miami series that one of the key players would be missing. That's almost always synonymous in NBA history with a loss.

Also, Spurs weren't going to win these first two games by 20-35 points if not for that so stop your day dreaming We'll see what excuses you muster up when Miami sharts on Spur fan dream again this year.

[spurraider21]

We'll see what excuses you muster up when Miami sharts on Spur fan dream again this year.

Ara pls

[N0 LyF3 ScRuB]

We'll see what excuses you muster up when Miami sharts on Spur fan dream again this year.

Wanna make a ele bet on that?

Didn't think so quit talking out your ass

[mavsfan1000]

Ibaka in, Spurs in 6 or 7

Ibaka out, beatdown

This.

[SpursBills]

think there's a good chance that the spurs would probably be down 0-2 if they were playing the full strength thunder without kawhi, who's basically the equivalent of losing ibaka for the spurs (emerging but not a primary scorer, key defensive piece), so yeah losing ibaka could definitely change the outcome of the series