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If anything, blowing a healthy lead and getting abused in the fourth quarter is probably planting seeds of doubt for OKC, tbh.
manu hasn't rolled out this kind of game consistently this whole season, and certainly didn't show many signs of it in the previous two rounds (for whatever reason). so looking at it, okc seem justified in thinking "fine, we lose by 3 but it takes an improbable manu 26 for the spurs to get there."
If anything, blowing a healthy lead and getting abused in the fourth quarter is probably planting seeds of doubt for OKC, tbh.
Manu will dominate the whole series. This game is not a one time wonder.
They threw their best defensive shot at the Spurs for the first 3 quarters and the Spurs still took over in the 4th. This was their best shot to take a game in SA.
As much as has been made about the Spurs allegedly not facing adversity in this postseason, the Thunder haven't yet themselves until now. How will the young team react to being down in a series?
This wasn't really a 3-point win. Should've been 6, or maybe 9 if the Thunder didn't hit several meaningless 3s.
This too.comparing a stat padder to SuperGino
I said it in another thread, but it's like Shaq said after the game, you're not going to scare a young team like the Thunder by winning a game....you have to pound them into submission.
After all, ignorance is bliss.
It will be interesting to see how the Thunder respond. IMO Durant & Westbrook started the game with a huge chip on their shoulder because of the media slobbering all over the Spurs. When OKC took that lead in the third quarter you could sense that Durant was thinking they had it.
To get beaten soundly in the fourth I think will mess with OKC's minds.
How do they respond?
HOU scared them enough with one Finals game, back when he was in ORL.
Spurs win game 2 and this series is over in 5, at most. The Spurs played like crap in the first 3 quarters, credit to the OKC D and to the time off, yet still executed and took the game over when they needed to.
Post game comments by OKC players about the refs being the difference hint to the damage done mentally with game 1. They threw their best shot defensively at the Spurs and still couldn't win. They also haven't faced a team this good on both ends of the floor.
I do expect a similar effort from them in game 2 - going down 0-2 would be devastating to them, home court in games 3 and 4 regardless.
I'm personally indifferent. I feel our chances are the same now as they were prior to G1
I'll go on record as saying this was their chance to steal one in SA and they blew it. They'll be lucky to get HALF of the 9 blocks and 11 steals, total, in any remaining game.
Shaq don't know . I was about 30 feet from their bench, and this game was lost with 3-4 minutes left. Their body language was terrible.
No, this should have been a double digit game, the Thunder made 3 three's in the final 54 seconds im pretty sure. And Manu was only Spur that did pretty good, everyone else could have played better and we had 14 turnovers in the 1st half when the Spurs average 13 per game, If any game this was the game for the Thunder to steal and they got dominated in the 4th. Great win
I love how all OKC fans are playing the Ibaka card saying his shot blocking would have made a difference over Perkins. The thing is, Ibaka is a help defender, a weak side shot blocker. Ibaka needs Perkins out there to get those blocks. If Ibaka was one on one with Duncan, Tim just scores on him at will. If Ibaka helps off the Spurs penetration, guess who has a wide open layup now, Duncan.
What we saw in the 4th was OKC shrinking from the moment with missed jumpers while the Spurs attacked the rim at will.
No they dont gain encouragement from this game. You lead by 9 going into the 4th quarter and lose that lead because you commit 4 offensive charging fouls. You lose the rebounding because your best defensive player is on the bench. You cant stop the Spurs from scoring in the paint. You have foul problems with your bigs and watch the Spurs guards chew up your offensive oriented guards on every possession. 2 of your top 3 are controlled by the Spurs D(dont give me that crap they had a bad night). Durant got his but he had to work for everything because SJax got NASTY. Your top 3 shot 22 of 57. You look at the score and say we scored 98 and were within 1 possession at the end, but you made 3 3's in the last 16 seconds when game was already over. Taking that in consideration, the top 3 really shot 19-54. That is a 35% rate. I dont want to burst their bubble but the Spurs actually only played about 20 mins of basketball last night and still won easily. They played tired basketball in the 4th quarter. I noticed it at the end of the 3rd quarter with about 4 mins left and the entire OKC team were walking up the court, taking full advantage of the 8 seconds to rest. The 4th quarter came and they had NO gas in the tank. Spurs took over.
Scott Brooks will have to find something that will stop them from being overrun in the 4th. No sure if he can, Spurs are too deep.
Most okc fans realize the outcome might not have been different with Ibaka in there but it's hard not to at least question if he could have made a difference, especially if they went big and paired him with Perk
Encouragement? Nah. But I don't think they are as terrified as many Spurs fans would like to think. I think Shaq had a point last night. From Spurs fan perspective - and from some outside perspectives too, apparently - the Thunder should be worried because of what has been pointed out: they had a lead, they played great defense, the Spurs played badly and then OKC gave it up in the fourth. What can they really do differently that doesn't come down to luck? Some more shots will go in (or not) but the Spurs will probably play better as well - I don't see a big change that OKC can make to defeat the Spurs.
But from OKC's perspective, I wouldn't be all that worried. Durant is unlikely to have another such bad fourth quarter, and there is reason to think Westbrook and Harden will bounce back with better games. Perkins can try to limit their fouls and they seemed to have success with disrupting the Spurs passing lanes and interfering with their ball movement. So I think Shaq was right to say that they are probably talking about how they had some poor play that they can bounce back from and they had success for three quarters, and , how they didn't expect to take that game anyway - all they have to do to get HCA is win the next one for a split and then they are golden.
I don't agree with it, but I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't completely cowed by that game. There are plenty of things they can spin positively for themselves if they want to - the problem is that I don't think it matters. I don't think SA plays that poorly again, period.
I seriously hope OKC walks away from this game thinking "Okay, we only lost by three".
I seriously hope OKC walks away from this game thinking "Okay, we only lost by three".
Dude we had a load of unforced turnovers. We should have won by 12-15. And
Encouraged? Doubt it.
They lost a game that they should have and could have won. That's never encouraging.
Considering none of their big 3 had a good shooting night, I think they don't see a close road loss as too disturbing. Only one of our big 3 showed up big, and our two starting
wings were miserable offensively. We
Have plenty of room for impolrovement too
Considering none of their big 3 had a good shooting night, I think they don't see a close road loss as too disturbing. Only one of our big 3 showed up big, and our two starting
wings were miserable offensively. We
Have plenty of room for impolrovement too
"We can build on this!"I seriously hope OKC walks away from this game thinking "Okay, we only lost by three".
Also, Danny Green isn't going to go 0-6 on wide open 3s again.
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