Again, why do folks ignore that the Spurs couldn't score against the Duds?
Curry would have been hiding on Danny & conserving energy on defense just like he did against the Blazers. Diaw would have been asked to be the 3rd scorer but he played like shyt against OKC.
Livingston also could use his height advantage which has been neutralized against OKC & Manu couldn't guard anyone. Ezeli would have been looking like Biyombo against D-Worst, tbh.
No way, the Warriors supporting cast is still too athletic for SA and the Spurs offense was awful for most of these playoffs. The Thunder's size and athleticism really hurt Golden State, neither of which the Spurs could punish the Warriors for.
The best thing about SA getting eliminated is that it hopefully allows for GS to be denied a ring.
They wouldn't need to put a bunch of points up against them when holding them to scores in the 80s and 90s. The regular season Warriors would have easily dispatched the Spurs in 5, but with an injured Curry and then Draymond being lazy when he's not getting easy layups off Curry's gravity I'd like the Spurs chances against them.Again, why do folks ignore that the Spurs couldn't score against the Duds?
Curry would have been hiding on Danny & conserving energy on defense just like he did against the Blazers. Diaw would have been asked to be the 3rd scorer but he played like shyt against OKC.
Look at how ty Green is playing when he's not getting easy points off Curry any more. That team goes as Curry does.
Golden State is massively overrated. I'm guilty of overrating them like everyone else, but playoff basketball has a funny way of reminding us what actually works in the post-season. The teams who rebound the ball better and dominate the points-in-the-paint will be the teams that have the best chance of winning the championship. The Thunder do those two very crucial things a bit better than the Spurs and much better than the Warriors.
Tristan Thompson and Mozgov really gave GS problems last year, and I think Golden State might've lost the series had the Cavs been fully healthy.
Wardell and Co, have the next 3 games to prove us wrong, but right now, they're looking like the SSOL Suns: Impressive regular season team with a style of play that is unsustainable in the post-season. Unlike those Suns, they were lucky to sneak in a le due to injuries and/or chokes (Spurs would've probably beaten them last season, but per par, we on ourselves).
Who is to say Curry couldn't play more like he did against the Blazers if he gets to cruise on defense?
Most likely, Softridige would have been playing like he did in Gms 3-6 so Kawhi would have been the only legit scoring option. At best, Diaw would have been a NET neutral considering how he looked in the playoffs.
Gaymond is also pissed b/c he can't punk Adams, Softridge would have been on all 4s the moment he had a bad quarter especially in a hostile environment.
Spurs barely beat them at AT&T when Curry/Klay were clanking & Softridge was having his way when Bogut/Ezeli were out. Bogut came back & dislocated Softridge's pinky.
Last edited by Kawhitstorm; 05-25-2016 at 01:42 AM.
I don't think it's fair at all to compare Golden State to the Suns. Phoenix just flat out didn't give a about the defensive end of the floor, and Nash was never as good as Curry. This Warriors team is pretty unique in being built on a guy you have (had?) to guard as soon as he crossed midcourt. If you want to go by conventional wisdom the Heat should have threepeated, no way a team made entirely of role players should beat, much less dominate LeBron.
I've always said that if Curry is a just a bit limited or relatively cold by his standards (something like shooting 37 percent from 3, which would be a great percentage for anyone else), Golden State is nowhere near the same team. That also illuminates the problem with their style of play. I mean, Duncan has won les on 2 bad ankles, because the Spurs had a versatile offensive style that could attack you in a variety ways. Without Curry creating that immense spacing, the offense sputters. Their defense also suffers, because Golden State's offense is actually their defense in how it tires out players from the havoc Curry causes offensively. It's also why Raymond is a massively overrated defender.
What sucks is that if Golden State loses this series, it'll be excused with "Curry was injured," but many star players have lead their teams to les at 75%. Problem with Curry's game is that it basically requires him to be 100% healthy. Tony had similar issues. A 90% healthy Tony would only be 60% of the player. Curry scales the same way.
Damn, I never thought of it that way with Parker, but that's pretty dead on.
The 2014 Heat were ranked 24th in defensive rebounding percentage. The Spurs were ranked 4th. Those Heat always had trouble stopping players in the post, which is why Spoelstra conceived of that swarming defense to compensate for their lack of size. And in 2013, Parker was chewing them up with penetration (Danny and Neal got all those great looks off Parker penetration) until he strained the hamstring.
Of course GS is better than the SSOL Suns, but some of the flaws are similar in how both teams relied on pace and long range shooting in lieu of controlling the paint.
This forum is always about the knee jerk reaction. At the start of the season, people were talking how Massively overrated the Thunder were.
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=253931
It's hard to call a team overrated after a 73 win campaign the year following an NBA championship even if the league was somewhat watered down. The Nash led Suns team never even made it to a finals so there's nothing to really compare between the two. Dubs are just getting thoroughly outplayed in the series but, until the Thunder notch that 4th win, the series isn't over.
We had one LMA supernova game and didn't beat them.
+1 Ppl here want to delude themselves that the big 2 were not done. The signs were visble against the elite team's in the RS. I remember against the Raptors we went through a long scoring drought when no one outside Kawhi and LMA could score. The supporting cast was too old, undersized and others too green and not ready. The team was done. We were going no further. Two guys by themselves cannot win a championship without support.Again, why do folks ignore that the Spurs couldn't score against the Duds?
Curry would have been hiding on Danny & conserving energy on defense just like he did against the Blazers. Diaw would have been asked to be the 3rd scorer but he played like shyt against OKC.
Livingston also could use his height advantage which has been neutralized against OKC & Manu couldn't guard anyone. Ezeli would have been looking like Biyombo against D-Worst, tbh.
we just have much better defenders for Durant and Westbrook than GS have. Klay is extremely overrated on defense, Harrison is too short for Durant.
watching this series makes me appreciate how good our defense is.. also our post-up slow offense makes sense now
GSW try to play fast and just get torched on fast break.. all in all Pop is still a great strategist but a very dumb rotation guy
^^^ Admission OKC just found a groove defensively as a team, have size athletes and Russ and Roberson were tiring him the F out.
OKC couldn't play KD at the 4 to speedup the pace b/c Diaw punked him in 2014 so Donovan supersized. They also couldn't play Ibaka at the 5 b/c LMA ate him alive.
Donovan adjusts his rotations based on his opponent instead of stubborn season coaches like Pop.
There wasn't much else we could do tbh. Of course playing less West, but it was a very even series, one different call, one made shot was the difference.OKC couldn't play KD at the 4 to speedup the pace b/c Diaw punked him in 2014 so Donovan supersized. They also couldn't play Ibaka at the 5 b/c LMA ate him alive.
Donovan adjusts his rotations based on his opponent instead of stubborn season coaches like Pop.
Teams never admit injuries until the series is over, Chris Paul said the same thing until they lost the Rockets series.
What about starting Diaw & having him guard Ibaka/posting him up while Tim comes off the bench to match up against Kanter.
Poop and the in' Turd Towers cost the SA s this year when it counted
Although I agree that Pop relied way too much on what are effectively role players in Duncan and gino and even Tony, who played his role the worse, This team was definitely capable of a deep playoff run. The role players had a horrible shooting series. They all shot below average, and though the thunder have a good defense, spurs were missing wide open shots constantly. A poor shooting series will do that against any opponent. Spurs were keeping the thunder relatively in check defensively until they lost their will to fight due to the bad shooting.
Doesn't help when you trot out the Turd Towers against Kanter/Adams, Fathead (a guy who can't score or guard anyone quick), Tin Man (a washed up ref-reliant scrub who won't get his calls against the Thunderefs), and Nick Van Mills (a chucking 5' 10" scrub who is absolutely helpless on defense)... this one is on Poop, per par, just like 2012 for the same behind-the-curve and 2015 for the HAJ-when-leading-by-double-digits bull .
Actually, it does help when you make your shots. As evident in game 1. The gameplan was fine. Even with the spurs all shooting below their averages, they were in fighting chance each loss. The shots were there, the players didn't capitalize. On the other side, the thunder role players made the most of their opportunities.
Of course Kerr's going to say that, coming up on a must win he doesn't want to give his team an excuse to blow the game.
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