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IMO that's what you do against OKC. Take Durant out of the game as much as possible and let Westbrook beat you. That's the role he wants to play anyway. Guy thinks he's Jordan.
To beat the Thunder, you have got to offset the threats of Westbrook and Durant. Easier said than done. Durant has been Leonard's responsibility and he has been tackled well by someone like Ron Artest as well, but Westbrook has killed teams like the Lakers. Except he flopped against the Spurs. Here's evidence for how -
http://www.welcometoloudcity.com/201...s-what-he-2012
"In the Spurs game, Westbrook took an unusually high number of jump shots from the same geometric sector. It is always to the left of the lane, always toward his off-hand (Westbrook is right-handed), and is never along the baseline. Do you think this happened by accident?"
IMO that's what you do against OKC. Take Durant out of the game as much as possible and let Westbrook beat you. That's the role he wants to play anyway. Guy thinks he's Jordan.
Is 13-27 against the lakers "far more efficient" than the 13-29 he posted against the spurs? That's 2 more misses in total if my math serves.
More evidence from the games against the Spurs -
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...012&opp_id=SAS
Sound strategy. Another positive, as far as guarding Durant, is Pop can throw jack on KD as well. The wildcard for the Thunder, imo, is Harden.
I think an even more important wildcard will be keeping OKC's bigs from getting offensive rebounds and second chances. Which Perkins and Ibaka have been doing quite well lately.
Tim and Tiago need to at least share some floor time together for the spurs to really keep the foundation leak proof. Of course, we all know that isn't going to happen any time soon, though.
Blair has his best games against OKC for some reason. Be interesting to see if he would get burn against them as well.
easy solution for stupid overrated james harden........................................
MAKE HIM GO RIGHT.
People have said this same thing about Manu for a decade.
Really? It's not?
Got a link to the story telling that?
Ya...I'll link the insanely low amount of minutes they've logged together.
I don't know what moves Harden has going right.. but from my observations Manu will go left 90% of the time, but that other 10% (usually at a critical juncture in the game) he'll instead fake and cross over to the right and leave his defender in the dust (who mind you was already shading him to go left and leaning in that direction).
It's pure joy to watch.
I guess we've come to that point where it's kosher to pretend they actually play meaningful minutes together on the court.
Let's just call it political correctness, spurstalk style.
and manu gets all his points and assists off pick and rolls ( or draining a 3 in ur grill )
harden just catches and shoots or plays 1 on 1..
so MAKE HIS ASS USE THAT RIGHT HAND.
excuse my french.
I believe harden is the key he gives us fits. durant is gonna get his and westbrook can be dealt with. The thing is we struggle with size and length. The thunder are long but not big and bulky so I think that's why we will beat them.
Don't let harden take over their offense. Block the passage for Durant. And let Westbrick brick shots.
I'd be reluctant to say that the Spurs have owned the Thunder this year. The Spurs have won twice and by big margins on each occasion, but OKC was the only team in the building each of those nights playing the back end of a back-to-back.
The one time the Spurs played the Thunder on the second night of their own back-to-back, the Thunder were up 22 at the end of three quarters. Oh, and OKC was on the third night of a back-to-back-to-back in that cir stance.
There are some favorable matchups for the Spurs against the Thunder, but context means something too.
OKC's bigs have no ability to create their own offense, which allows Blair and Bonner to play extended minutes, without becoming liabilities to the extent that they are against other teams..
Our bigs>OKC's
Manu>Harden
TP>Westbrook
and we have many guys that we can put to guard Acne
Our bigs>OKC's
Manu>Harden
TP>Westbrook
and we have many guys that we can put to guard Acne
Why would you want Bonner and Blair to play extended minutes instead of Diaw and Splitter?
He never said he wanted that.
Thats a good point. Scheduling has helped the Spurs against the Thunder as well.
They may not excel at creating their own offense but they'll have a field day getting 2nd chance rebounds for Durant/Westbrook/Harden. That's just as bad, IMO.
Tim's last 2 games against them he's averaged 17 boards against them & I don't recall many second chance points in those games. Perkins was a non factor in those games & Ibaka just gave the Spurs so many second chances with those overrated blocks. Assuming Tiago is gonna get some good minutes in the Playoffs I'm not all that concerned with their big's.
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