Western Conference Finals: Dallas Mavericks vs Oklahoma City Thunder

Sac Kings are still waiting for Peja to step it up in the playoffs.

 

Major props to Scott Brooks for finally breaking the mold tonight. Letting Hardin take over the game for a good chunk of the 4th quarter was huge. During the season for some insane reason, even when Hardin would be going off, Brooks would direct the offense to run through KD or WB and Hardin would usually disappear. Props also for leaving the bench in to finish the game, especially Maynor. Hopefully WB will learn something from this.

Something that gives me hope going forward is Hardin and Maynor seem to have Terry and Barea measured and they are very comfortable going right at them on offense. They should be able to keep that up because neither is a good defender.

I think Dallas will win one in OKC.

 

The problem is just that he's so young and still learning to be a PG. Veteran PGs with similar passive superstars, such as Rafer with Tmac, and Cassell with KG and Elton Brand, would say "You're our best player and we need you, so you have to be aggressive. You're getting this damn ball whether you like it or not and you're doing something with it."

Russell just says, "F**k it, guess I'll shoot."

 

Carlisle went full r****d this game. From my count, the guy who almost fouled out OKC the previous night and put up 48 points - who just happens to be playing unstoppable basketball right now - put up 5 attempts in the 1st, 3 in the 2nd, and 2 in the 3rd. Then, when the game was beginning to slip away, THEN the ball starts going to Dirk and brings the team back from the grave. I don't see how hard it is to realize you have one of the games greatest talents and get him at LEAST 20 shots. The mavs didn't even try to get Dirk the ball for most of the game. But yeah - Stevenson, Marion, etc...lets funnel it through THEM.

 

Fear the beard! OKC's bench came to play tonight. They got what they needed and hopefully they'll take both at home (but I think Dallas will steal one).

Hey A_3PO, I have a question. Why do you spell Harden "Hardin"?

 

Because I know someone personally who spells it Hardin. Can't help myself.

 

There's being posterized as an individual, but this is kind of posterizing the whole team and the city of Dallas and one of the fundamental forces in physics.

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While I agree with this somewhat, you also have to credit Nick Collison and OKC as well as putting some blame on Dirk. Brooks and OKC had a great gameplan of ball denial, fronting and having the weakside defender come to double even before the catch at times. Collison did a great job of denial and often forced Dirk to catch the ball further out (during those rare times he did get the ball). In the 4th, Carlise and Dirk deserve credit for being more aggressive in getting the ball, Carlise for having Dirk catch it on the move often around the ft line and Dirk for simply being more determined to get open.

I thought both coaches did a great job this game and it was a great game by both teams.

 

Either way, as easy as it was in the 4th, that adjustment should have come in the 2nd quarter. And that "ball denial" is hilarious. The only thing that makes it successful is the mavs guards other than Kidd having an idea how to make an entry pass. Just watch them sometimes. They struggle if it's not a clear opening to Dirk's hand.

 

I'm quite impressed by coach Brook tonight. He made a gutsy call there in the 4th that not many other coaches would have done. You've got to love KD. He is the perfect superstar in a lot of ways including the way he handles the media. And I just love James Hardne. In general I love the Thunder. They make it easy for me to root for them.

 

Nowitzki is their top player, but you need to get other players involved early and often if you want to win. I thought OKC defended Nowitzki pretty well most of the night, not only on double teams but even one-on-one by Collison, and Nowitzki passed out to keep the ball moving. Unfortunately, Dirk just didn't have the offensive support of the Mavs' guards tonight.

And I don't know about Stevenson but with Marion, he had barely contested shots around the rim for most of three quarters, and he missed a ton of them. It was painful to watch, but it's not like Carlisle was calling for these plays. The defense was leaving him open for it, and he was just not making them.

 

He is great off the court but he's basically a volume shooter on the court. He's still very young and I expect his game will open up in time.

 

gutsty call by brooks to leave the bench in the entire fourth. also nice to see westbrook not b**** and moan and take one for the team. as gundy said, he must have been dying inside, but knew this was good for the team.

go thunder!!!
die mavericks!!!

 

He's very young, as you say, but let's compare career stats to other "volume shooters," just for fun. Durant has the % of a good inside player instead your typical volume shooter.

Iverson, lifetime
FG% 42.5
true shooting % 51.8

McGrady, lifetime
FG% 43.5
true shooting % 51.9

Durant
FG% 46.2
true shooting % 57.6

All three average a lot of FGA though, so you're right in that respect, I guess.

 

Harden is 21 but looks 41

 

I really like how Brooks knows his players enough to alter the rotation and play the hot hand. If that had been Adelman in there he'd put in Westbrook for 30 mins just because he was the starter and WB will shoot the Thunder out of the game.

 

he looks like someone out of the Hellenistic wars.

“There are two kinds of people in this world that go around beardless — boys and women — and I am neither one.” – traditional Greek saying

 

Exactly, Durant is great because he can close out games AND he's efficient. He's basically the only guy I consider LBJ's rival for best SF of this generation.

 

great game today and a good win for the thunder

 

This is something new for Brooks. He didn't do it last year against the Lakers where I believe it cost OKC game 2. During the regular season this year, he was so stubborn with his rotations and with who was allowed to shoot in crunch time it was maddening. He did some things tonight for the first time that should have been tried a long time ago. Better late than never and this was a great time to wake up and smell the coffee.

The "bust" James Harden sure played well.