Western Conference Finals: Dallas Mavericks vs Oklahoma City Thunder

Harden is quite impressive, can he make the next step?

 

Ibaka has been disappointing in this series so far.

 

He's got plenty of time to do it. Hard to believe he's only 21.

 

OKC doing one thing the Lakers couldn't with guys like Fisher and Blake, go to whoever Barea is guarding.

 

For those who missed it:

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Nasty dunk

if dallas is gonna win they need to keep the leads they get

 

Harden's outplayed Terry so far, while the Thunder is attacking Barea and keeping him on his heels.

If OKC's bench can neutralize Dallas's bench, they'll have a great chance to win.

 

Jesus, no joke. I thought game one was more of a fluke (Joey Crawford). Their secondary offense (after durant) seems to be drive to the basket, create contact, throw up a ridiculous shot that has no hope of going in, and hope for a foul call.

More power to them, I guess, cause it's keeping them in the game. But my GOD this series is never going to have any flow whatsoever.

 

This matchup could very well be the best series of the playoffs. Both teams seem evenly matched, both have good entertaining offense as well as good defense, both have entertaining x-factors (terry, westbrook), impact players off the bench (terry,barea, Harden, maynor) and most importantly, both have superstars raising their game to match the moment. Not suprisingly its been an up and down and highly competitive first half. Durant was on fire, Dirk was super efficient as well as being a distributor, while x-factors terry and Westbrook both having great games.

The Mavs are doing a great job of spreading the ball, but need to do a better job of limiting penetration, rebounding (especially Dirk) and getting the ball to Dirk in the second half. While Barea has hit a few shots and penetrated well, he needs to do a better job on defense and avoid over dribbling. Several times in the 2nd quarter he has had difficulty or plain missed Dirk in the pick and roll. In fact the Mavs are clearly having difficult time getting Dirk the ball while he is fronted and while it hasnt hurt them much in the first half, due to other players scoring at a high rate, it could be a big problem later.

OKC has Durant and Westbrook both playing great, while Ibaka is owning the offensive boards, with several easy putback dunks already. They are also doing a great job at attacking Barea and limiting his effectiveness on the pick and roll. Though Scott Brooks gets alot of flack for his offensive sets (mostly deserved) his strategy to front Dirk is a very good one (if not an obvious one, as JVG noted it in the first game) and should be even more effective in the second half.

 

And actually, they've only shot 3 more FT's than Dallas. For some reason it seems like more.

 

Just stop it Durant, a 7 footer is not supposed to be able to do that.

 

Marion is playing like crap.

 

Man, the Thunder starting lineup has fewer scoring options than the Hayes/Battier/Alston '07 Rockets.

 

Marion's missed quite a few of those shots around the rim.

The coaching battle going on this game is pretty interesting. The way one coach tries to take advantage of a matchup and the other counters.

 

If dallas wants to win this game, they need to get Dirk. He only has 7 shot attempts, but more importantly hes had less than 5 touches this half. Its on the coach and on Dirk to get him the ball. He doesnt necessarily needs to shoot it a ton, but the offense needs to go through him.

 

SO tired of seeing that lame ass Blake Griffin dunk commercial every break. Weakest dunk ever. Wasn't even over the whole car, but the 3 foot front end of the car which is how high you have to jump to dunk in the first place. And then how it shows him walking away all cocky like he's the **** "Yeah I'm Blake Griffin, I have a penis".

 

Adelman must be drooling watching the midrange games of Westbrook, Durant and Harden.

 

Moses with the 4 point play!!!

 

James Harden is a Kool Kat.

 

Durant needs the ball more.