2014 Western Conference Finals-Game 3-San Antonio Spurs @ Oklahoma City Thunder

[Mugen]

The Spurs are in trouble tbh. Hopefully they come out with a better effort in Game 4 because they lost this game on the glass.

[crc21209]

What did the Spurs do in the 2nd half to deserve free throws?

No, the question is what did OKC to deserve 20 in ONE ing quarter.

[cd021]

Bonner +8 king of the +/- lives on

[703 Spurz]

As soon as I saw the schedule for the series, I thought, darn, they are giving Ibaka all the time possible to try and come back for game 3 if they are in a hole. They didn't really need him as much in game 1 and 2 because if they lost both, it wouldn't cost them the series, but they absolutely did need him for game 3 onwards. So as soon as I saw that schedule, I thought they were trying to help the Thunder out.

You think the schedule was created to help Ibaka back in the lineup? Miami/Indiana had 3 days off as well. That's insane to say.

[Harry Callahan]

Monkeyball and Chimpball get a game.

That horse call on Mills should have been reviewed. They were hanging around until then. Asshole officials. This will likely be a long series now. Too bad.

[mVp]

It's not just OKC. Parker is one of the easier players to shut down and this goes as far back as the 2004 series against the Lakers. Crowd the paint and dare him to shoot. More often than not, he falls apart. This was a non-issue in the past with Tim and Manu being the first/second options on the team. Ever since they declined and TP became the top dog, Spurs have stopped winning les. Even as a third option, he was never very efficient - Expecting him to lead a team to a le is asking too much from a mediocre player.

Thankfully, this year's Spurs isn't solely reliant on any one player. We were able to overcome the Mavs despite Parker's overall tyness in that series. Just need to regroup and come back strong in game 4.

This tbh.

[cd021]

actually wouldn't be a terrible idea to play Bonner some of Baynes minutes. Have him guard Adams or Butler even.

[Mugen]

Spurs hung in longer than I thought. It's a brand new series, and the Spurs are gonna have to rise to the occasion. TP, Kawhi, and a lot of people outside of Manu were MIA tonight. They'll have to play better to have a chance at winning game 4.....

[hitmanyr2k]

No, the question is what did OKC to deserve 20 in ONE ing quarter.

I would say they didn't deserve about 6 free throws on ticky tack fouls called away from the rim. The rest were legit. Six of those free throws came from intentional fouls on Adams. And unlike the Spurs the OKC players were going to the rim and putting pressure on the defense. And it would have helped if someone on San Antonio wanted to rebound rather than give more scoring opportunities for an aggressive OKC offense.

[jARS mEsH sEt]

I would say they didn't deserve about 6 free throws on ticky tack fouls called away from the rim. The rest were legit. Six of those free throws came from intentional fouls on Adams. And unlike the Spurs the OKC players were going to the rim and putting pressure on the defense. And it would have helped if someone on San Antonio wanted to rebound rather than give more scoring opportunities for an aggressive OKC offense.

I agree. So what's the problem? I don't understand what your point is.

[Crookshanks]

The only good thing to take from this game is that the Spurs sucked in every category - so there's tons of room for improvement. Plus, Timmy, Manu and Tony are so compe ive, and they're going to probably not sleep much tonight because of replaying every ghastly minute of that horrible game. So, hopefully, they will come out with more energy and intensity for game 4. It's like they expected to lose this game, and just let OKC have it because of the Ibaka resurrection.

[ElNono]

Do we let Amused start the Game 4 thread?

[Ice009]

It's not just OKC. Parker is one of the easier players to shut down and this goes as far back as the 2004 series against the Lakers. Crowd the paint and dare him to shoot. More often than not, he falls apart. This was a non-issue in the past with Tim and Manu being the first/second options on the team. Ever since they declined and TP became the top dog, Spurs have stopped winning les. Even as a third option, he was never very efficient - Expecting him to lead a team to a le is asking too much from a mediocre player.

Thankfully, this year's Spurs isn't solely reliant on any one player. We were able to overcome the Mavs despite Parker's overall tyness in that series. Just need to regroup and come back strong in game 4.

Exactly what I've been saying about TP. I feel that I am a better 3 point shooter than TP, which is not a ing good thing at all. I really believe that if they developed a somewhat consistent 3 point shot with him it would have made a huge difference to his game. I don't have access to one of the best shooting coaches in the world like TP does, so I just find it negligent that the Spurs have never made it a top priority for him to have a somewhat consistent 3 point shot as a part of his game by now. He doesn't have to be a lights out shooter, but if he could have started taking 3-4 of those shots each game and shooting around 37%-38% from 3 point range, I think it would have helped him become a more versatile, unguardable player that could perform better in all these same games and situations he seems to fail in (Athletic shot blockers/long defenders). Back in 2006, I thought that by 2009-2010 he'd have that in his arsenal and be shooting them as a regular part of his game.

Trying to take midrange jumpers, and jumpers close to the rim when the other team has athletic shot blockers, or just long athletes around the rim in general is not a good shot IMO. His percentage goes right down against those teams. A three point shot would have been better to be able to get cleaner looks off, and then if that shot was going in for him, it would open up the rest of the game for him to go inside more.

[jARS mEsH sEt]

Do we let Amused start the Game 4 thread?

That attention will take the liberty to do it anyways regardless of what you think, tbh

[Trill Clinton]

kawhi is getting off easy. he stunk it up tonight too. his jumper wasn't falling, took some bad shots and wasn't aggressive enough at attacking the rim. i know parker turned into ray charles and wasn't looking at getting everybody involved, but he still needs to be assertive and demand some touches. he's not a rookie anymore. closed mouth don't get fed.

[jARS mEsH sEt]

mouse poaching this thread for post-loss spurfan tears per par

[SpurPadre]

Pop indirectly just said the team was soft tonight.

[Hoops Czar]

This was so predictable that nearly half the talking heads didn't even see it coming. That was also predictable.

[jag]

It's not just OKC. Parker is one of the easier players to shut down and this goes as far back as the 2004 series against the Lakers. Crowd the paint and dare him to shoot. More often than not, he falls apart. This was a non-issue in the past with Tim and Manu being the first/second options on the team. Ever since they declined and TP became the top dog, Spurs have stopped winning les. Even as a third option, he was never very efficient - Expecting him to lead a team to a le is asking too much from a mediocre player.

Thankfully, this year's Spurs isn't solely reliant on any one player. We were able to overcome the Mavs despite Parker's overall tyness in that series. Just need to regroup and come back strong in game 4.

Are we just ignoring 2007 because it's convenient?

[Crookshanks]

Pop indirectly just said the team was soft tonight.

Soft? - the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man was tougher than the Spurs tonight!

[SpurPadre]

Pop just said Manu is out for the rest of the playoffs and told reporters to let presti know, lol.

[spursparker9]

Are we just ignoring 2007 because it's convenient?

Duncan was still the MVP that year.

Just that Parker had a better match up in the Cleveland series.

[cjw]

I would say they didn't deserve about 6 free throws on ticky tack fouls called away from the rim. The rest were legit. Six of those free throws came from intentional fouls on Adams. And unlike the Spurs the OKC players were going to the rim and putting pressure on the defense. And it would have helped if someone on San Antonio wanted to rebound rather than give more scoring opportunities for an aggressive OKC offense.

As soon as I saw the BONUS flicker on at the bottom of the TV with 7+ minutes left in the third, I knew we were in for it.

Need to get Ibaka into pick and rolls in game 4 and test that hammy early, and also get him away from the rim.

[Sean Cagney]

The difference back then is that we had a younger Manu and Tim. I don't trust a 31 year old TP. He's nowhere near as good as those guys at the same age, yet people call out Tim and Manu, but don't get on Parker hard enough.

Tim and Manu were delivering in big games at 31. Tony Parker, what the is his excuse? The main problem is that Tony Parker simply can't deliver in the biggest games in the toughest of environments. If he can't at least play much, much better than he did tonight, Spurs are in big, big trouble.

lol as I am typing this Kerr just said the same thing. TP needs to be big in game 4, he sets the table. I'm sorry Steve, but TP ain't no Tim or Manu.

That dumbass played over the summer, but then again in some series he routinely will dissapear on you so I agree there. He has been that way since a rook. I agree Spurs will be in trouble as well if they lose game 4 and this continues, being up 2-0 is cool but then after getting whipped in game 3 you have to get back to business and focused.

[jag]

Duncan was still the MVP that year.

Just that Parker had a better match up in the Cleveland series.

So if he has a bad matchup it counts, but if he has a favorable matchup it doesn't? Got it. I thought that le counted, as well as the Finals MVP.

I keep forgetting Duncan had such an unfavorable matchup with Z's corpse and Varajao