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Great writeup, and thank you for the comparison to 2006. So basically if Pop doesn't decide to go away from what's been working and bench the entire center rotation, they should be fine.
L.J., I see the point you're making as far as OKC's offense vs. Spurs D, but shouldn't you worry about the other end of the floor? Seems to me that the '06 Mavs were a far superior defense (and better defensive rebounders) than the '12 Thunder, and also the '12 Spurs are a superior offense to the '06 Spurs.
Great writeup, and thank you for the comparison to 2006. So basically if Pop doesn't decide to go away from what's been working and bench the entire center rotation, they should be fine.
Probably why it's a "Why Spurs Might Lose" thread and he picked the Spurs in 5.
The Spurs have done a good job in the past of not putting key players for the opponent to the ft line a lot during a series. They certainly focused on that at times in series vs the Lakers as far as Kobe and I expect Pop to make that a primary focus in this series.
If they keep Durant and Westbrook off the line, there is no way OKC hangs in this series chucking jumpers.
Great write-up as usual, LJ!
What I may disagree is that even if things don't go in Spurs' way, the series may not be necessarily short ( c.f. The 2006 wcsf.) These 2012 Spurs should also fight until it ends.
Better watch it timvp, your analysis could get plagiarized somewhere but very good points made sir
I would like to point out that the 2006 Spurs lost in the WCF because of one simple mental mistake at the end of the game. Manu fouled Dirk with 21 secs left for an and 1, to tie the game. Then of all things to happen, Manu and Tim both missed easy buckets from close to the rim. No foul meant the Mavs would have to foul the Spurs or time would have run out. Also, we had NO bench against the Mavs, we have a strong bench for this series. I remember screaming at Manu to let him go but he tried to block Dirk. I dont think we will see that happen again.
Everyone says we are weaker in the front court. I think it is the opposite. Diaw and Duncan starting with Splitter, Bonner and Blair to sub against Obaka, Perkins and Collison. OKC has Nazi and Cole Alrich as their 4th and 5th bigs. The only true proven subs on the entire team are The Beard and Derek Fisher and he is so old that James Anderson would have a field day with him. So it will be up to the Spurs to stop Westbrook then when Harden enters game keep stopping Westbrook and slow down Hardin. When Westbrook is off the court, the Spurs have to shut down Harden. And they have to rebound on the defensive end so as to keep second chance points from being a problem. Durant is going to score, but the Spurs can keep a fresh body on him for 4 quarters where other teams have not done that.
For my prediction, Spurs in 5 or maybe 6 if we dont stop Westbrook.
tl;dr
waiting for the John Carroll version.
Alright, tha timvp officially says we gonna lose.
Time to bust out those bravatars
From what i've seen the Thunder are mainly a long jumpshooting team. Historically speaking those teams don't go too far. You need easy high % baskets, layups, open threes etc. which the spurs excel at. The Thunder take a lot of long 2's, pullup 18 footers etc. sometimes they fall sometimes they don't. That's not a high % offense in my oppinion. Some nights they fall, some nights they don't.
San Antonio on the other hand, have a great interior game with Timmy Boris and Tiago etc. Tony getting the ball in the paint as well as anyone in the league. We have the midrange game and shoot the three ball as well as anyone else in the nba.
I think our higher % offense and more versatility gives us an edge.
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/ey...vs-okc-thunder
i thought this article on cbs was quite good accurate read
http://www.poundingtherock.com/2012/...uage?ref=yahoo
courtesy of the guys at pounding the rock. I enjoyed this overview of our spurs to.
the comment section ruins that CBS Sports article...
Nice write-up as always timvp.Props. Never really thought of the 06' Mavs comparison either, I found that interesting....
The biggest difference between this Thunder team and last year's is that they're excellent in 4th quarters of playoff games now...they're the opposite of what they looked like against Dallas last year. They have the best HCA in the playoffs and their 3 stars played amazing ball against 2 pretty good defensive teams. People will say they could've lost 5-6 games by now, but wasn't the same true with last year's Mavericks?
As much as some of you think the Spurs will dominate, I'm just not seeing it. I think they'll ultimately win, but the first 2 games of this series will be the most important--and dictate what we're in for.
Let's be honest here. This is the best basketball team I have ever seen. No one, and I repeat NO ONE is beating the Spurs 4 times.
It's good to see the NBA is gaining new fans every year. Welcome
Let's be honest. Pop and his stupid small ball lost to the Mavs in 2006. The refs made it even more difficult with their bull calls. If Pop had coached it right we would have been able to overcome that piece of Javie and the other zebras.
The defeatist at udes on Spurstalk right now really disgust me. I'm not blind that we are facing a better opponent than the Clippers and Jazz, but I'm not going out thinking like this.
Spurs are gonna kick some ass.
What bizarro world SpursTalk are you logged in on? It's tough to find a Spurs fan who thinks this series is going seven games, much less find one that thinks the Spurs won't win. Myself included, tbh.
Great analysis. The 06 comparison is interesting. I think you've applied just the right amount of wet blanket to temper some fans' irrational exuberance. This will be a great series.
Off topic, but where's TD21? I thought he'd be nitpicking/trolling this thread by now...he must be working hard to find a new angle to complain about. Ha.
Actually there are some people on here who have been acting like we should be scared.
But anyway, I think Pop is who messed up in 2006.
Yeah, it's not a dead-on accurate comparison ... and thus the reason why I think the Spurs in five. There are a lot of similarities regarding OKC's offense and how they score points ... but that's about the extent of it.
Oh, and both teams were good at blocking shots . . .
Good points; let's hope they prove to be accurate.
Their equalizer is their free throw shooting. They get to the line a ton and they don't miss. If you can take away their high rate of free throws, then perhaps they will be inconsistent. But with those freebies, they are as consistent as any offense in the league.
Good writeup, should be a heck of a series.
I got a feeling it will be kinda like the Dallas series last year.
Close games, but SA makes the plays in the clutch, hope i'm wrong.
The only thing that worries me is having Westbrook and Durant (or Harden for that matter) go off like Lebron and Wade did against the Pacers. Short of that I would be shocked if OKC managed to come out on top. The Spurs simply have to many advantages across the board. They own the Thunder. It is a real possibility though, because they are both having amazing postseasons.
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