Spurs vs. Thunder - 2012 Western Conference Finals

I voted spurs in 6. Changed my opinion voted thunder in 6 or 7 because I didn't see the spurs play.i stated it in here just cant find it. The selling point was that Timmy wasn't being aggressive enough.

 

OKC should plan for the Finals every year for the next 5-7 years if they can keep this cast. Team is way too deep/talented, and very young.

 

ok nite all

stay cool headed people...

zz

 

What Pop has done with the Spurs is amazing. He's gotten more out of that squad than anyone else would have. Brooks clearly has the better team. If Pop coached OKC and Brooks the Spurs, this would have been a sweep.

Tonight, I had zero problem with Brooks' rotations. They were solid. The play-calling could have been better, but nobody is perfect. Pop is the one who made a mistake (of desperation) by starting Ginobilli. Danny Green has been trash, but I would have started Neal or SJax instead. Starting Manu broke their team rhythm and is why they fell into the 1st half hole. I'll give Pop credit for realizing the Spurs had to do something different because they were facing a superior team. Unlike Shaq and Kenny, he understood it wasn't just a matter that coming home would solve their problems.

 

And like I said from the start, the Spurs' weakness is defense (allowed teams to shoot 45% in the reg. season). And OKC with 3 straight games of shooting 50%+.

The Spurs have played basically up to their normal selves offensively, or close to it. But defensively, they are not the Spurs of old.

Exactly. OKC boasts 3 of the top 15 players. Spurs boasts ZERO. Nobody thought the Spurs would even contend for a top 4 seed to start the season, let alone be a championship favorite.

Give Pop OKC's or Miami's roster and those teams would just steamroll through the playoffs.

 

For a soon to be 37 year old he sure was going all out

 

Spurs do have a post game. They've got the best big in this series. Tim Duncan did not lose the game. The turnovers in the backcourt lost this game.

Like I said, if the Thunder win, I will give them the credit for being the better team and it will be a changing of the guard. But they still gotta win game 6 or game 7.

 

Lol Shaq is a fool!

 

Wait a minute. Parker was an MVP candidate, right? And I don't know how many people would put Harden in the top 15. I love, love love his game though.

I agree the Thunder are more talented, and I actually agree Pop's done an amazing job. But I'm playing devil's advocate and asking why superior talent looked pretty lame in games 1 and 2, but now, after both coaches can make some adjustments, superior talent finally looks like superior talent.

 

The adjustment was the Thunder realized the importance of sharing the ball, Westbrook in particular. They learned by watching film of the Spurs.

 

Looks like Brooks is growing up too. I hope so. He's shown more flexibility this post-season than ever, especially allowing Harden to dominate the end of games when he's on. I don't want to hijack this thread on the subject, but after the playoffs are over, if you start a thread, I will rant about his past & current mistakes the last 3 years if you like.

Whatever happens, I hope Brooks continues looking at more Spurs tapes in the off-season and incorporates their principles on offense into OKC's offense.

 

I picked OKC in 6 as well, but I thought the two teams would split the first two games in SA and then OKC would win two in a row at home before closing it out at home in game 6.

This series should be over imo. OKC squandered a 9 pt lead in the 4th qtr in game 1, but maybe that was a blessing in disguise and made them refocus.

The Spurs tried to flop their way to a victory tonight, but the refs can only do so much for you.

Game 6 is going to be a battle. I expect a very close, tough game. Should be a good one.

 

BTW, OKC should have won game 1. They simply choked that game.

The Spurs were clearly only superior throughout in game 2. And even superior talent has off games. You can "depend" on "superior" talent to step up more often than not. Kevin Durant has scored over 25 points in 21 of his last 25 playoff games. Tony Parker, Spurs' best player, has had only 1 great game in his last 7 playoff games.

Spurs depended on their ridiculous depth this far. But depth can only carry you so far. Eventually, you'll face a team like OKC where you have 1 guy who can dominate an entire game, and 2 guys capable of doing the same. Depth won't beat that.

 

Of course, you're just referring to the offensive side of the ball. OKC is winning by smothering the Spurs so-called offensive clinic.

And many NBA coaches right now are learning from Brooks' film of what he's doing to Pops offense. Parker and Ginobody cannot consistently get into the lane anymore, and yet OKC is still preventing the precision passing that the Spurs use to beat teams who smother Parker and Gino.

It is a defensive clinic we are watching, and OKC is not getting enough credit for it.

 

Yes... Yes.....

 

I think it's the Spurs' "lack" of defense rather than their "offensive decline" that is responsible for being down 2-3. Outside of game 3, the Spurs have scored 100+ points. But the Spurs' D has allowed OKC to average 107 points the past 3 games. A whopping 107 points. You can't win allowing teams to score that easily against you, no matter how good your offense is.

Spurs averaged 103 points the past 2 games, which is their season average. Shot 50% in game 4/45% in game 5. Still great from 3s. Got to the line. They did "enough" to win offensively.

But their main weakness all season is defense. They were mediocre at best. And they got exposed by a team with 3 elite offensive stars, and role players stepping up at the right time.

 

^ no, it's the defense. Look at the TOs. Look at where the Spurs are getting their shots from now.

I'm not going to bother getting into a semantic argument. Just ask Pops about his TOs since the first 2 games. The Spur defense has never been stellar this entire season...it's their offense that went to a new level, their depth helping a lot with that. Brooks is finally stopping it like no other team this year.

If you think it's about lack of Spurs defense, that's primarily you continue an argument with people who are saying Brooks made better offensive adjustments.

I'm saying, both that arguments are not on point.

It's not about why OKC can score...the change in this series is why can't the Spurs score as easily as they could when people were calling it an offensive clinic?

Do you think the Spurs are putting on an offensive clinic still? No! correct. Then give Brooks and OKC credit and realize you are not a fan of defensive strategy like am.

 

Which has been worse? Their defense or offense? Their defense went from mediocre to pathetic. Their offense went from ridiculously awesome to pretty damn good.

This was my post on page 3 before the series started:

Anybody who watches basketball will understand that their mediocre defense will catch up to them sooner or later. OKC has done just enough defensively.

 

The Thunder are one of the few teams that have the athleticism, length and roster depth to clog up "the clinic" for long periods of time. They are probably the best team in the NBA at protecting the paint and rim and they have young thoroughbreds running around the perimeter. They play defense on a selective basis, but that's been good enough so far.

Their defense in game 3 turned the series around. It proved to both teams what COULD happen. Game 4 was a shootout where OKC's offense just killed the Spurs. Their defense wasn't very good and I was concerned they wouldn't turn it back around. But tonight, OKC played D in enough spurts to win. If you look at the box score, the Spurs shredded them and the only stat OKC's D can hang on to is forcing 21 TOs (many during that dismal 2nd quarter).

 

OKC averages 106 points; Spurs averages 102 points in this series. You take away the game 3 where OKC did shut down the Spurs, the Spurs are averaging 107 points in the other 4 games. Both teams aren't playing superb defense. OKC is making "just" enough stops, and Spurs can't make any to save their lives.