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That's the problem, IMO. Probably wishing he had someone like Lillard to play with..
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15...lone-beat-team
Dion Waiters says LaMarcus Aldridge alone can't beat OKC
OKLAHOMA CITY -- LaMarcus Aldridge has scored 79 points on 33-of-44 shooting in the first two games against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But despite 41 in Game 2 where he made 15 of his 21 shots, the Thunder escaped with a 98-97 win to even the series against the San Antonio Spurs 1-1.
"One man can't beat you," Thunder guard Dion Waiters said Wednesday. "So we're fine with that. If they want to continue to get out of their offense and throw the ball down there to him, we're fine with that. One guy can't beat us, no matter how much he scores."
"We've just got to make adjustments, try to make it tough on him," Waiters said. "He's a great player in this league, an All-Star. He's going to make shots. He's playing tremendous right now. But we're fine with one guy just beating us. We're fine with that. At the end of the day, Serge [Ibaka] and Steven [Adams] got to continue to do what they've been doing, but guys are going to make shots in the NBA and as long as they're not running the offense and dropping it down to them, we're living with that."
Aldridge was asked by reporters in San Antonio if he's putting pressure on himself to not cool down after his two big games in the series.
"I'm just playing basketball. I'm not trying to go do it," he said. "You know, honestly, I didn't think that I'd do it again after the first game. It's just I'm going with the flow of the game out there."
The Thunder primarily stuck with single coverage on Aldridge, with coach Billy Donovan saying they were mostly happy with the defense on the Spurs power forward. In the series, Aldridge is 17-of-26 on contested shots.
"We're making him take the shots that we want, and he's just making them," Adams said. "That's the only thing that's kind of bumming us out right now. ... We're making him take similar shots [as in the past] and he's just making all of them. And it sucks."
Ibaka and Adams have had the main assignment on Aldridge, with the Thunder doubling sporadically in Game 2. Asked if the Thunder are likely to feature that more in Game 3, Donovan said it's a possibility, but he also doesn't want to compromise the rest of the Thunder's defensive integrity just trying to stop Aldridge.
"I think there's been some times where Serge and Steven have done a really good job and he's made tough shots," Donovan said. "I think you have to give him a lot of credit for how well he's put the ball in the basket."
That's the problem, IMO. Probably wishing he had someone like Lillard to play with..
So, if you believe them, it's a "let LMA get his, shut down everyone else" strategy.
LOL............this statement will come back to bite Waiters in the ass. Thanks bro!
Reminds me of the "they keep leaving Danny Green open" comment from someone.
Smartest guy in the league
How so?
Luckily LMA is not the only Spur we have playing on Friday.
Dion Parker Waiters
Just how obvious and stupid a statement like that is.
Bulletin Board material. I know the Spurs would say they don't pay attention to that crap but it's human nature to. They are pissed enough as it is.
lmao Remember when Waiters said back then when he was in Cleveland that he and Kyrie were the best backcourt duo in the League? Guy's crazy.
It's quite possible they know SA is a two man team and so long as they have one of them under wraps, the other alone going nuclear along with some scattered scoring from the committee won't kill them they think and of the two, Kawhi going off is probably the most dangerous to them bc Kawhi gets in a zone that can kill you with the 3.
But it's clear they don't want any role player to get it going off doubling so they will live with LMA, rather than giving up 3s to Danny or Kawhi for example. They risked the 3 with Tony and Tony didn't make those open 3s, but they were selective to not allow Tony to get in a rhythm either. They didn't dare him all night bc bottom line Tony can make those shots and if he gets the jumpshot going all of a sudden they need to worry about Tony too.
It's been a solid srategy so far.
To me that spells trouble for the bench and the roleplayers. If they execute well none of those guys will get anything easy. D west and Dias need to play better or Boban needs minutes with the bench.
After listening to Waiters struggle to talk in a manner you can actually understand, I think the BBIQ and intelligence of the Spurs collective will win out eventually. That guy is dumb as a box of rocks and was allowed to get away with it late game 2.
The ball will stick less and the collective depth will win out for us.
Plus Russ will throw out a 7-22 very soon. Just keep the fool off the FT line for the most part.
Anderson played like the last game, too. Pop needs to get with it, if the regulars aren't scoring THROW IN MARTIN. Spurs got Martin to score. 13 FTs were shot by SA. LMA had 10 of them.... PUT IN A PLAYER WHO GETS TO THE RACK. KL needs to get some balls.
They were down by 43 in game one and beat us by 1 point and now this fool talking ??
He literally almost cost his team a game...
Westbrook shot about about as well as he could, he hardly missed a jump shot. Durant didn't miss many either. Adams had a great game and they won by 1.....
The Spurs on the other hand outside of Aldridge shat the bed, got behind big, but came back to LEAD, only to crap that away.
I mean, had the Thunder won that game by 10, Spurs didn't play their starters much in the fourth, then I'd be worried.
They'd played a C- game and damn near won....
Westbrook scored 28 points on 26 shots, that isn't super efficient either. , he missed a couple layups himself as well. Abaka and Adams' performances can easily be replicated and OKC's bench in general will play much better in the next two games. If anything I'll be surprised if the Spurs don't get blown out in both games.
Yeah he is the only player we have..
No
Need the others to step up
Kawhi better drop 30 on friday.
If there's anything he's better at than inbounding the ball, I'm sure it's analyzing the opponent's strategy.
In other news, water is wet. He's just stating the obvious that the Spurs will need contribution by more than one individual to beat the Thunder. Truth is truth.
Leonard goes off circa 2014 NBA Finals. Book it.
Bulletin board material but watch the Spurs have a "gutless worms" performance because of it.
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