Andre Iguodala on the Thunder: "They were better than us, better than Cleveland"

Truth hurt

 

How are you defining best team? You're looking at them on paper and their performance in aggregate, not who is playing the best at that moment - the latter of which clearly the most important. For most of the season OKC did not play at the level that they played against GSW. Same with Cleveland. GSW had the harder path to the Finals but I think it's very hard to say that they weren't better than OKC. Similarly, it's hard to say GSW was better than Cleveland when Cleveland stepped up in a big way in the Finals and beat them. Cleveland wasn't exactly a regular season slouch either.

The bottom line is that all speculation is fine on paper but you can't make a good argument that the best team in the playoffs lost in the semifinals unless there is overwhelming evidence that something flukish happened. Losing 3 games in a row isn't flukish by OKC standards.

 

"Better" is an opinion. Winning a series is a fact. A lot of people fail to understand this distinction.

There is something called "upset" in sports. The "better" team does not always win. The best players do not always perform the best.

The Rockets was 20 points behind in an elimination game late in the 3rd quarter. The Clippers choked and the Rockets caught up with their best player on the bench and an unreliable Josh Smith (who, BTW fell on the Rockets' lap because of an unlikely situation where a team waived a max player in the middle of the season) went nut. The Rockets escaped elimination on an extremely low probability.

Saying that the Thunder was a better team than the Warriors may or may not be true, but the fact that the Warriors won does not necessarily mean that they were better.

 

Good ol internet.

So if its not Silver writing drama, it's the players rigging the league?

At least the fans are hooked...

 

Don't forget, Andre iguodala also joined the Warriors after his team lost a playoff series to them. (When he was in Denver)

 

You're right but conversely you need substantial proof to say that the better team did not win. For example, you could make that case when Dallas lost to GSW in the 1st round in 2007 (?), or Seattle when they lost to Denver.

But in OKC's case, it's very hard to say they were better than GSW despite being up 3-1 at one point. And it's nearly impossible to compare them to Cleveland when assessing their performance at that point in time.

 

"Better" is an opinion? Can you define opinion? If you mean that the word "opinion" means "subjective", then you cannot make a statement such as "the Thunder was a better team than the Warriors may or may not be true. That is because a subjective statement is not a truth statement.

 

That's a pretty salty statement by Iggy - feels a bit like he is taunting OKC. He really should have kept his mouth shut on that one but then again, this is a team that has proven itself time and time again to be in an arrogance class all of their own.

I believe in karma and when freak accidents start happening out in GS(and they will - landing on a foot, a puddle of sweat on the floor, etc), look no further than statements like Iggy's, Curry's walking off and dancing before the shot goes in, Joe Lacob's "Light years ahead of every other front office" statement, the GS team essentially calling Lebron a baby in this year's playoffs(although I would say Lebron served that Karma back to them and is why he has the title), and many more.

 

Nothing more arrogant than saying a team was better than you.

 

2 teams battle first to win 4 in a 7 game series

Whichever team wins is the best amongst those 2 teams in that 7 game series while the other is eliminated and that is a fact!

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As meaningless as Matt Leinart claiming "I still think we're the better team"

 

He looked very broken down in the finals

Rocket River

 

Saltiness aside OKC probably was the best team . What I mean by that is that at their peak level of play they were the best . KD and WB both clicking is impossible to beat . Throw in Adams and some others playing well OKC had the top form in the playoffs . They couldn't maintain it and lost . But for a few games they better than any other had or would play .

 

I think that's the problem with Russ and KD, they can never maintain a high level of play through a 7 game series. Igoudala saying this is just bitterness from his team blowing the series. After he said this, I went and watch Lebron swat his junk away at the end of game 7 and laughed.

 

The Warrior's loss was well earned and they should be congratulated for it. They swagged so hard all year for it. Hard swag always pays off.

I mean, who cares about winning when you look like you won a championship!



Even though these guys eliminated us from the playoffs twice in a row, you just have to love them and stick up for them no matter what, right? Gotta show that enemy how much you love what they do to your team!

 

#ArrogantSZN byke

 

okc was the most loaded team i think... i thought they were a better team than GSW tbh... they should have won game 5.

 

Who cares

 

Your first sentence said it all, and you should have stopped there. Yes "better" is an opinion, and "winning a series is a fact". So the team that won the series (GS), was/is the better team. Fact!

 

with everything fair and square, a student who graduated c*m laude can be better than the student who finished summa c*m laude? or it is only in sports?