The pre-draft assessement of Aldrdige was spot-on

[TheGreatYacht]

You talk about "Kawhi's bricks" but forget that LMA missed several wide open jump shots in the 4th quarter of game 5... These haters/trolls

don't attack my favorite player, what about LMA (First year as a Spur) & our 34yo PG? Why aren't you criticizing them? You act like Kawhi is in his athletic prime, is a max player, and Pop was gassing him to be the future

[YGWHI]

But but BUT LMA IS PERFECT, Kawhi sucks

[TheGreatYacht]

LMA isn't perfect, he's a 1b option who needs a 1a. Kawhi is a third option

[tholdren]

Usually stats>opinions.

But even stats can be used in many strange/incomplete ways. Like when Chinook uses just PPP to grade defense.

Stats in the OKC series - KL highest usage, KL Most TO's, KL 6th in TS%, KL 28% from three.

KL LOST and hasn't led SA to any playoff series victory.

Keep trying

[Kawhitstorm]

Not even a good troll tbh. Aldridge was the best player in the playoffs. Kawhi second. Anyone who says otherwise is a player fan.

Ever heard of defense? (I suggest that you google it)

[AFMadison]

Ever heard of defense? (I suggest that you google it)

LMA tripled the amount of blocks Kawhi had in the series, and Kawhi tripled the amount of steals LMA had in the series. For their given positions, sounds pretty even to me. Sorry I had to wreck your post like that. Kawhi is a great player dude, I'm just keeping it real.

[Kawhitstorm]

LMA tripled the amount of blocks Kawhi had in the series, and Kawhi tripled the amount of steals LMA had in the series. For their given positions, sounds pretty even to me. Sorry I had to wreck your post like that. Kawhi is a great player dude, I'm just keeping it real.

Steal/Blocks (Based on your logic Curry was the best perimeter defender during the regular season b/c he led the league in steals)

[offset formation]

Remind me but there was a spur that had 30+ points the first 3 games vs okc?

That should have been enough to win the series. But Kawhi and co decided to the bed on game 2. ing pathetic s

And boom goes the dynamite

[skulls138]

I'm all Kawhi Leonard man, I created a damn YouTube dedication video for the guy: Kawhi Leonard Lebrons Kryptonite. But when the playoffs REALLY mattered. LMA was the best player on the team. Kawhi was the guy all season, not against the thunder though.

Best scorer, yes, except in the fourth quarter, game 6

[Kawhitstorm]

Remind me but there was a spur that had 30+ points the first 3 games vs okc?

Softridge didn't score 30+ on the road, dude got lost at the airport.

Softridge was feasting on the tiest post defender in the league (ChewBaka) & turned into a when Adams switched onto him FULL-TIME in Gm 3 (8-21). Kawhi had more rebounds than Softridge & carried the team in the 4th quarter.

That should have been enough to win the series. But Kawhi and co decided to the bed on game 2. ing pathetic s

You mean the same game Kawhi held WestBrick to 5-18 shooting meanwhile Softridge had 8 rebounds in 42 minutes compared to Kanter's 8 in 18 minutes.

[Kawhitstorm]

Best scorer, yes, except in the fourth quarter, game 5

[Gagnrath]

The thunder got really hot for about 7 games in a row. When they do they beat anyone even greatly great teams. This spurs team didn't have much margin for error (especially after Tim and the knee thing) against the other top teams in the league. Spurs having a down night or the other team going nova would beat them.

I did not want to see the spurs big 3 go out like this, but I am afraid it happened. Unless Duncan's legs are close to beginning of this seasons I would rather not see him be a s of himself. Manu has
been painfully his or miss for a few seasons now and Parker's one trick first step isn't an amazing trick anymore. When his jumper is on he is alright because his man has to be in his face but it isn't on much as the season wears along. Where to hide him on defense is also a painful question.

[skulls138]

And further more the story of the series was rebounding, over and above KD and RW. Stephen Adams was literally exactly center under the basket for multiple offensive rebounds. How does that happen? The little bit that Duncan was in there he was battling Adams. He was ready for a fist fight. One game Duncan got in foul trouble but Pops really screwed Tim over...again, by not playing him.

[Mnky]

Stop deferring and come at me with something relevant.

That's the majority of responses on here. They defer like crazy and never post relevant statements. It's alright to make a new argument. but not before ceding the original argument.

Logic alludes them.

[Kawhitstorm]

Kiwi shriveled up, per par. Had he even made 1 or 2 of his bricks in game 2, it would've been the Spurs playing the Warriors right now... But his Beta DNA took over

Softridge shrunk as the series progressed b/c he didn't any part of Bogut after he dislocated his pinky.

Kawhi meanwhile gave the league the blue-print on how defend Wardell/GayMond.

[AFMadison]

Steal/Blocks (Based on your logic Curry was the best perimeter defender during the regular season b/c he led the league in steals)

Deferring at its finest. You claim Aldridge was soft because he hurt his pinky, then had a 38 point game, then a 41 point game, followed up by averaging around 20 points a game after that. I guess injuries progressively get worse as time goes on . Seems to me like other players needed to step up and couldn't do so. You reference defense and I reference defensive stats and you blow it way out of proportion with dumb comparisons. If Kawhi was so fantastic at defense why did KD and Russ consistently go off as the series went on? Is your excuse that Danny or Tony were guarding them? Kawhi is the best defensive player in the league imo, but didn't show it when it mattered. He slowly disappeared and in game 6 let freaking Andre Roberson push him around. LMA looked like the only guy that went into the series with a killer mentality. When the defense shifted to stop him, nobody else came through. Stop deferring with emojis and come at me with some real bball talk.

[TheGreatYacht]

Softridge shrunk as the series progressed b/c he didn't any part of Bogut after he dislocated his pinky.

Kawhi meanwhile gave the league the blue-print on how defend Wardell/GayMond.

Kawhi didn't guard any of those guys

OKC is switching on everything, which has nothing to do with Kawhi.. Pop game planned that

[Kawhitstorm]

Kawhi didn't guard any of those guys

OKC is switching on everything, which has nothing to do with Kawhi.. Pop game planned that

Dumbass, KD playing the 4 & guarding Draymond was what bamboozled the Duds. Kawhi switched onto Draymond when the Spurs shut them down at AT&T. (Kerr didn't want to call the Draymond/Curry PnR)

[AFMadison]

Lol. Starts swinging and runs

[TheGreatYacht]

Dumbass, KD playing the 4 & guarding Draymond was what bamboozled the Duds. Kawhi switched onto Draymond when the Spurs shut them down at AT&T. (Kerr didn't want to call the Draymond/Curry PnR)

Did you even watch the ing games? The only win the Spurs got on those ers was when Parker shut Curry down by himself. Draymond was their starting Center that game and LMA was ours, Diaw also helped on him. Kawhi was guarding Harrison Barnes and Brandon Rush...

Draymond wasnt doing against OKC because they were going big KD has been on Green for the past 2 games because of Adams' foul trouble... And it ain't working

[Kawhitstorm]

If Kawhi was so fantastic at defense why did KD and Russ consistently go off as the series went on?.

So, we're going to blame Kawhi for not guarding WestBrick & Dominos at the SAME time.

Kawhi held WestBrick to 37% shooting w/ a minus defender (Porker) & an average defender (LMA) on the court for the MAJORITY of the series. Even Tim was sub-par defensively & D-Worst/Diaw/Patty/Manu were atrocious. Danny was basically the only other plus defender in that series & he was at times over-matched against 6'11' Durant.

Gm 2-WestBrick didn't score a SINGLE basket against Kawhi but let's blame Kawhi b/c Tim bricked 5 point blank layups which put the team in a 19-6 hole & Patty air balled a WIDE open 3. (BTW, Kawhi MORE THAN redeemed himself in Gm 3 & stole back HCA)

Gm 4-Kawhi held WestBrick to 5-18 shooting in Gm 4 but let's blame Kawhi b/c Durant caught fire when Danny was guarding him & Kawhi couldn't put it out.

Gm 5- Kawhi shot 12/20 w/ 5 steals while forcing Westbrick into committing 8 turnovers & 12/27 shooting night despite making terrible hero shots that had Pop shaking his head: (see Pop's reaction at the 9 sec mark:)



Let's blame Kawhi for going 2/3 in the 4th quarter while Softridge was throwing up brick in the 2nd half (3-12) & getting his ass dug on the boards. The worst offender was none other than Porky Pig who put on a brick show during crunch time when OKC was daring him to beat them:

1:08.0			90-90		T. Parker misses 2-pt shot from 19 ft
1:08.0	Defensive rebound by D. Waiters		90-90
0:55.0	Shooting foul by D. Green (drawn by K. Durant)		90-90
0:55.0	K. Durant makes free throw 1 of 2	+1	91-90
0:55.0	K. Durant makes free throw 2 of 2	+1	92-90
0:43.0	Personal foul by S. Adams		92-90
0:43.0			92-91	+1	T. Parker makes free throw 1 of 2
0:43.0			92-91		T. Parker misses free throw 2 of 2
0:42.0	Defensive rebound by R. Westbrook		92-91
0:42.0	Oklahoma City full timeout		92-91
0:30.0	Turnover by K. Durant (lost ball; steal by D. Green)		92-91
0:11.0			92-91		T. Parker misses 2-pt shot from 20 ft

**Durant was 1/4 & committed a cruitial turnover at the end of Gm 5 but Porker bricked what should have been the go ahead shot w/ 11 seconds left so NOBODY called him out. "the victor goes the spoils"**

Gm 6: The Spurs were up 19-17 then Kyle checked in for Kawhi & OKC went on a 10-0 run from which the Spurs NEVER recovered. Kawhi started jacking up shots trying to shoot them back into the game b/c nobody else could make a shot. He tried to lead a charge in the 3rd quarter but the Spurs couldn't stop OKC b/c even Roberson was knocking down 3s.

2:47.0	K. Anderson enters the game for K. Leonard		19-17
2:37.0	Turnover by K. Anderson (lost ball; steal by S. Adams)		19-17
2:26.0			19-19	+2	K. Durant makes 2-pt shot from 11 ft (assist by D. Waiters)
2:07.0	Turnover by P. Mills (step out of bounds)		19-19
1:51.0			19-19		Shooting foul by M. Ginobili (drawn by K. Durant)
1:51.0			19-20	+1	K. Durant makes free throw 1 of 2
1:51.0	K. Martin enters the game for P. Mills		19-20
1:51.0			19-21	+1	K. Durant makes free throw 2 of 2
1:41.0	K. Martin misses 2-pt shot from 2 ft (block by R. Foye)		19-21
1:40.0			19-21		Defensive rebound by K. Durant
1:31.0			19-21		K. Durant misses 2-pt shot from 10 ft
1:30.0	Defensive rebound by K. Martin		19-21
1:12.0	K. Anderson misses 2-pt shot from 20 ft		19-21
1:12.0			19-21		Defensive rebound by Team
0:49.0			19-21		R. Foye misses 3-pt shot from 25 ft
0:48.0	Defensive rebound by K. Anderson		19-21
0:41.0	K. Martin misses 3-pt shot from 24 ft		19-21
0:40.0			19-21		Defensive rebound by S. Adams
0:26.0			19-23	+2	S. Adams makes 2-pt shot at rim (assist by R. Foye)
0:06.0	Turnover by M. Ginobili (lost ball; steal by D. Waiters)		19-23
0:02.0			19-25	+2	K. Durant makes 2-pt shot at rim (assist by D. Waiters)
0:01.0			19-25		Personal foul by D. Waiters
0:00.0	M. Ginobili misses 3-pt shot from 44 ft		19-25
0:00.0	Offensive rebound by Team		19-25
0:00.0	End of 1st quarter

Who's to blame?:




Instead of typing dense sentences I need you to break it down for me w/ FACTs not w/ your EMOTIONS.

[Kawhitstorm]

Did you even watch the ing games? The only win the Spurs got on those ers was when Parker shut Curry down by himself. Draymond was their starting Center that game and LMA was ours, Diaw also helped on him. Kawhi was guarding Harrison Barnes and Brandon Rush...g

Dumbass, Kawhi was guarding Draymond in the 4th quarter while Diaw/LMA were on either Barnes/Rush. The Duds avoided using GayMond as the screener & instead tried to attack Softridge by using Barnes as the screener which had terrible consequences.

But here’s where things get interesting: Kawhi was matched up with Draymond Green, the C of the Warriors starting line-up. This meant that Aldridge and Diaw were responsible for Barnes and Rush. There is opportunity for the Warriors to exploit this. For one game, at least, they were unable to.

The Kawhi-on-Draymond pairing is at the crux of this series. Both players are wholly unique and provide so much flexibility for each team. Both players are similar in size and skill. Both players are excellent two-way players. Draymond, however, has found his greatest value as an extreme small-ball center, while Leonard still does most of his damage as a forward.

We see what dangerous cross matches are presented when Leonard guards Green. So why is this match-up so important? Because of the Curry-Green pick and roll. The Warriors love to use this to get a big switched on to Curry and to get a small on to Green. Suddenly, the Warriors have huge mismatches at two significant positions.

So when the Spurs put Danny Green on Curry and Kawhi on Draymond, suddenly switching that pick and roll becomes a lot less advantageous for the Warriors. Kawhi can match up with Curry, and Danny can do his best on Draymond.

We didn’t see a whole lot of this last night, partially because the Warriors went away from it. If the Warriors aren’t using it as much, that’s a victory for the Spurs.

As far as Curry, I'm talking about the game last season where Kawhi used his length to suffocate him & forced him to cough up the ball which is what OKC is doing.

[TheGreatYacht]

Dumbass, Kawhi was guarding Draymond in the 4th quarter while Diaw/LMA were on either Barnes/Rush. The Duds avoided using GayMond as the screener & instead tried to attack Softridge by using Barnes as the screener which had terrible consequences.

Kawhi guarded Raymond in the 4th... What, you want me to give him props or some ? It's the least he could do after shooting 5/14 and hiding on defense for three quarters.

As far as Curry, I'm talking about the game last season where Kawhi used his length to suffocate him & forced him to cough up the ball which is what OKC is doing.

Oh that game 2 seasons ago when Curry wasnt at his peak yet.

I didn't see Kawhi do anything special defensively against Golden State this year. Could've had at least 4 more shots at them... But y'know

[AFMadison]

So, we're going to blame Kawhi for not guarding WestBrick & Dominos at the SAME time.

Kawhi held WestBrick to 37% shooting w/ a minus defender (Porker) & an average defender (LMA) on the court for the MAJORITY of the series. Even Tim was sub-par defensively & D-Worst/Diaw/Patty/Manu were atrocious. Danny was basically the only other plus defender in that series & he was at times over-matched against 6'11' Durant.

Gm 2-WestBrick didn't score a SINGLE basket against Kawhi but let's blame Kawhi b/c Tim bricked 5 point blank layups which put the team in a 19-6 hole & Patty air balled a WIDE open 3. (BTW, Kawhi MORE THAN redeemed himself in Gm 3 & stole back HCA)

Gm 4-Kawhi held WestBrick to 5-18 shooting in Gm 4 but let's blame Kawhi b/c Durant caught fire when Danny was guarding him & Kawhi couldn't put it out.

Gm 5- Kawhi shot 12/20 w/ 5 steals while forcing Westbrick into committing 8 turnovers & 12/27 shooting night despite making terrible hero shots that had Pop shaking his head: (see Pop's reaction at the 9 sec mark:)



Let's blame Kawhi for going 2/3 in the 4th quarter while Softridge was throwing up brick in the 2nd half (3-12) & getting his ass dug on the boards. The worst offender was none other than Porky Pig who put on a brick show during crunch time when OKC was daring him to beat them:

1:08.0			90-90		T. Parker misses 2-pt shot from 19 ft
1:08.0	Defensive rebound by D. Waiters		90-90
0:55.0	Shooting foul by D. Green (drawn by K. Durant)		90-90
0:55.0	K. Durant makes free throw 1 of 2	+1	91-90
0:55.0	K. Durant makes free throw 2 of 2	+1	92-90
0:43.0	Personal foul by S. Adams		92-90
0:43.0			92-91	+1	T. Parker makes free throw 1 of 2
0:43.0			92-91		T. Parker misses free throw 2 of 2
0:42.0	Defensive rebound by R. Westbrook		92-91
0:42.0	Oklahoma City full timeout		92-91
0:30.0	Turnover by K. Durant (lost ball; steal by D. Green)		92-91
0:11.0			92-91		T. Parker misses 2-pt shot from 20 ft

**Durant was 1/4 & committed a cruitial turnover at the end of Gm 5 but Porker bricked what should have been the go ahead shot w/ 11 seconds left so NOBODY called him out. "the victor goes the spoils"**

Gm 6: The Spurs were up 19-17 then Kyle checked in for Kawhi & OKC went on a 10-0 run from which the Spurs NEVER recovered. Kawhi started jacking up shots trying to shoot them back into the game b/c nobody else could make a shot. He tried to lead a charge in the 3rd quarter but the Spurs couldn't stop OKC b/c even Roberson was knocking down 3s.

2:47.0	K. Anderson enters the game for K. Leonard		19-17
2:37.0	Turnover by K. Anderson (lost ball; steal by S. Adams)		19-17
2:26.0			19-19	+2	K. Durant makes 2-pt shot from 11 ft (assist by D. Waiters)
2:07.0	Turnover by P. Mills (step out of bounds)		19-19
1:51.0			19-19		Shooting foul by M. Ginobili (drawn by K. Durant)
1:51.0			19-20	+1	K. Durant makes free throw 1 of 2
1:51.0	K. Martin enters the game for P. Mills		19-20
1:51.0			19-21	+1	K. Durant makes free throw 2 of 2
1:41.0	K. Martin misses 2-pt shot from 2 ft (block by R. Foye)		19-21
1:40.0			19-21		Defensive rebound by K. Durant
1:31.0			19-21		K. Durant misses 2-pt shot from 10 ft
1:30.0	Defensive rebound by K. Martin		19-21
1:12.0	K. Anderson misses 2-pt shot from 20 ft		19-21
1:12.0			19-21		Defensive rebound by Team
0:49.0			19-21		R. Foye misses 3-pt shot from 25 ft
0:48.0	Defensive rebound by K. Anderson		19-21
0:41.0	K. Martin misses 3-pt shot from 24 ft		19-21
0:40.0			19-21		Defensive rebound by S. Adams
0:26.0			19-23	+2	S. Adams makes 2-pt shot at rim (assist by R. Foye)
0:06.0	Turnover by M. Ginobili (lost ball; steal by D. Waiters)		19-23
0:02.0			19-25	+2	K. Durant makes 2-pt shot at rim (assist by D. Waiters)
0:01.0			19-25		Personal foul by D. Waiters
0:00.0	M. Ginobili misses 3-pt shot from 44 ft		19-25
0:00.0	Offensive rebound by Team		19-25
0:00.0	End of 1st quarter

Who's to blame?:




Instead of typing dense sentences I need you to break it down for me w/ FACTs not w/ your EMOTIONS.

I think you've forgotten your entire proposition. Your proposition was that Kawhi was the best player in the series against OKC. I stated it was LMA. These posts are worthless because your entire point is "but let's blame Kawhi". Nobody is blaming Kawhi. Statistically LMA was the best player on the court for the Spurs against OKC. Use less of these: , and stick to the point of the topic, which you completely deferred from. We did not see one breakout game from Kawhi. Maybe game 5. When you have a team change their game plan because of one player, you realize who the threat is, and they weren't game planning to stop Kawhi. Get back to the subject matter and make a case for Kawhi and not excuses. It's a desperation tactic to try and win an argument you've already lost buddy. Go back and re-read our conversation. We're not here to blame other players, we're simply comparing Kawhi and LMA as to who was the best player on the floor for the Spurs against OKC. Try again.

[Kawhitstorm]

Kawhi guarded Raymond in the 4th... What, you want me to give him props or some ? It's the least he could do after shooting 5/14 and hiding on defense for three quarters.

Last I checked Pop doesn't play his cards in the regular season until the 4th quarter & the usage rate for the Curry/GayMond PnR increases the 4th quarter.

Besides, Kawhi led the team in rebounding including the game sealing offensive rebound after a Porker brick & he also had a better TS% than the offensive star of the game: Softridge (51% vs. 48%).

Oh that game 2 seasons ago when Curry wasnt at his peak yet.

Yeah, the same season he won the MVP & broke the 3 point record.

I didn't see Kawhi do anything special defensively against Golden State this year. Could've had at least 4 more shots at them... But y'know

Nobody was pressuring Curry when he crossed halfcourt back in 2014-15 b/c of his handles that had cats ending up on highlight reels then Kawhi made him cought it up & all of a sudden everyone started pressuring him.