Can someone please do a gif of the LMA to Manu to Kawhi sequence at 1:51 It's too cool.
One thing I noticed last night was that Kawhi had a much improved dribble drive game. That was the one thing we were missing with TP's aging. If Kawhi can consistently mix up drives with his elite post up and face up game, watch out NBA.
Spurs are an embarrassment of riches right now with how good Kawhi has developed. Lots of credit to him, and to the incredible Spurs culture and leadership of Pop and the big 3 to nurture him. It's a match made in heaven. His humility and focus are so TD like.
Well said.
good stuff
dude is a star tbh... He signed a big contract and keep on going and improve work his ass off... Sign of a great
Nola doesn't have a sports book IMVHO
The next step is to elevate his drive-and-kick. That, along with his defensive superiority, will put him over the top in the MVP voting, IMO.
I was having flashbacks to game 3 vs Heat.
Reading a couple of Danny Green threads, I remembered this comment. For most of the regular season, Danny Green was only a marginally better scorer than Roberson, and the Spurs set a franchise record for wins. Pretty good indication of how important Danny was to this year's elite defense.
It also makes me wonder what's going to happen to OKC's defense, if they put Waiters in for Roberson. He (Roberson) has obviously been there for his D, since he clearly isn't there to score. Waiters' offense isn't going to turn them into Golden State. How do they make up for the hit on defense? My guess is by getting a lot more physical.
Yeah, me too!
the question is, KL and LMA were obviously red hot, but were both KD and RW cold because of Spurs defense, or both just having off nights?
Maybe a bit of both. That being said, I don't remember them getting a ton of good looks. So I'd give most of the credit to BigDefense.
Well this just made my day!
Will be watching multiple times today! Jeez!
Well at the end of the day OKC has won with offense. Their defense has been middling at best but they are the best offense outside of GS. They will try to win with offense and also hope that with increased focus/activity that SA will miss.
Did you miss the game?
If WB/KD don't score 50-60 points every game, I don't think they can win that game.
Tom Orsborn Verified account @tom_orsborn
Adams: "It was so loud, boy. It was really hard for us to get the guards in position. They couldn't hear us. It was way too loud." #Spurs
Steven Adams said AT&T Center crowd played a role in Thunder's communication breakdowns defensively. #Spurs
I wonder if LA dislocating his finger was a blessing in a disguise, forces him to use his left hand a little more in the post. Gives him more offensive options down there.
Definitely. He was the reverse-Zach Randolph when he was on the Blazers. When the Spurs played them in '14, they just forced him left. He definitely has added that lefty this year, and the hurt hand seemed to make him more comfortable with it.
Takeaways from Game 1:
-Roberson is unplayable in this series. I'm thinking one of Scotty Donovan's adjustments for Game 2 would be to start Waiters instead. If not, then Roberson on Porky and hide Russ on Danny (could lead to a bunch of open 3s for Danny if they run Russ off a bunch of screens).
-There's only one guy in the league that can shut down Westbrook (besides himself tbh) and that's the DPOY. Glad to see Pop going right for the jugular right at the onset. Honestly, if you crafted the perfect Westbrook defender, you'd get Kawhi.
-Ibaka can't handle Aldridge, been the case going back to LMA's Portland days. I'd put Adams permanently on LMA and dare Timmy to try and score on Serge. Would also allow Ibaka to stay close to the basket.
-The overplay on Tony was mindboggling IMO. I'd stay home on LMA and the shooters and dare Tony to finish in the paint.
-That said, the Thunder were average defensively all year. They can do the above but I'm not sure how much better they can get. If I were Scotty Donovan, I'd try to just put the best offensive lineup i could....bench Roberson/Singler, more minutes for Morrow/Waiter, run a lot more stuff for Kanter...
Spurs are in a good spot and if they keep it up, they can take full control of the series heading into OKC. I expect the Thunder to put up a much better effort tho, not sure if it'll be enough.
The Vertical Verified account @TheVertical
On Game 1 and the bigger stakes of the Spurs-Thunder series. @WojVerticalNBA column:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/why-a-s...ail&soc_trk=ma
No Bill, I was lucky enough to attend last night and it was a really fun night! It's just getting to watch all those plays right in row that blows my mind. We just kept coming....!
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