Spurs vs. Thunder - 2012 Western Conference Finals

iirc Ginobli shot 2 - and was upset he didn't shoot 3.

I still have Spurs in 6!

Stop jinxing the Thunder.

 

Win or Lose, Clay Bennett and the Thunder still owe the Spurs a favor.

Spoiler

And Portland.

Original link is 404, but this is a link to SpursTalk forum copy/paste about Bennett throwing Wilkins to the curb and giving Presti the reins.

 

Same crew that reffed the travesty of a Game 4 in the Miami/Boston series: Joe Crawford, Bill Kennedy, Greg Willard

Stole this from a commenter at DailyThunder.

Hopefully he is still mad at SA.

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Expecting an awesome game tonight. Spurs won't go out lightly, but OKC's way too good right now. Their big 3 is "on."

Tony Parker isn't just that guy.

 

Expect a blowout with a tiny push late by the Spurs.

The Thunder will come out looking to shut down the Spurs defensively.

 

Yep. The Thunder are the cream of the crop. It's sad and scary how good they are, will be, and how long it will potentially last.

 

No way this is a blowout. No way at all.

 

can't wait

 

The Spurs have been playing hard. They didn't quit at all even though the Thunder were hitting insane shots.

 

OKC cannot shut down the Spurs. They're winning b/c they're scoring more. Both teams have been mediocre defensively outside of OKC's game 3 performance.

This is going to be a shoot-out like every game outside of game 3.

 

The Spurs unlike the Heat have shown heart IMO. I trust them to come out and play hard.

 

That's your opinion. imo, they have completely taken the Spurs out of their precision "offensive clinic" game displayed in the 20-game win streak and most-recently Game 2 of this series. Sorry you can't appreciate the defensive clinic on the Spurs PnR that OKC is doing, while also taking their secondary passing away. The weakside is getting closed-out as well. The rotation after stopping the PnR is further taking away easy "clinic" buckets.

Spurs are having to rely more on perimeter shooting than Popovich likes.

Plus, the big thing about the OKC "offensive efficiency" is the amount of points off of turnovers they are getting...just ask Popovich. OKC got 28pts off of TOs in the last game ... that's way too many ... and it is ALL BECAUSE OF THEIR DEFENSE....not like this veteran SAS team would just all of a sudden get sloppy with no cause.

Forcing TOs makes the OKC stat-line look like it is an efficient offense, but the efficiency is due to easy baskets generated by the defense.

bottomline: OKC is doing this with superior defense. It shows in lack of easy baskets by SAS (than normal) and points off of TOs that increases easy baskets for OKC's offense.

 

I trusted the Spurs to come out "hard" in game 4 after getting blown out in game 3. Instead, OKC was in control from start to finish. All the Spurs could do was hang around.

Last night in the 2nd quarter for about 5 mins, the Spurs showed no heart at all - AT HOME. This was after opening up a lead early in the game.

Tonight is all about OKC, not the Spurs. If they bring their "A" game, Spurs don't have a chance. If they are tight and choke, Spurs will win. How OKC reacts to "the moment" will be the story. Denver had their moment in game 7 against the Lakers and wilted. Pacers had several moments against the Heat and blew it royally.

t_mac1, if OKC brings the energy from game 3 (or anything close to it), we'll have another beatdown. They are the better team and control their destiny. They are superior, the Spurs know it and they are in the Spurs heads.

I lost some serious respect for the Spurs in the 2nd quarter of game 5. If OKC blows it tonight and loses, I will lose some respect for them also.

heypartner, I wouldn't say OKC is winning with their defense, but both teams know if OKC ramps it up high enough, they can stop the Spurs. The reverse is not true. But this series is mainly about offense IMO.

 

That's not my opinion; that's a fact. "Shut down" means a team can't score at all, or struggle mightily to score. Outside of game 3, the Spurs don't have that much trouble scoring.

The Spurs averaged 102 points coming into the series v. OKC. They're averaging 102 points v. OKC. You take out game 3, and they're averaging 106 points per game v. OKC.

Their defense? They allowed 88 points prior to the OKC's series. They're allowing 107 points to OKC. They did not allow an opponent to score 100 points on them EVEN ONCE in the first 2 rounds. OKC has scored over 100 points in every game but game 1, where they scored 98 points.

They're losing this series b/c their defense is so pathetically bad. OKC's D is only good in spurts. So sure, OKC's D is superior, but it's nothing spectacular or anything to write home about. This series is going like I predicted. The Spurs' mediocre defense was going to catch up to them sooner or later.

 

I expect the series to end tonight. OKC is the better team, but not by a wide margin. What I do fault Pop is going away from the identity of defense that characterized his team throughout the early 00s. They have the athletes and a capable Duncan still, and yet their defense is so porous; it's baffling to me.

This game will be a very high-scoring and exciting game. Both teams will bring it to start. But OKC's just have the better and creative scorers in KD/WB/Harden.

I'm actually very pumped for this game. This could be the best game in the entire playoffs so far.

 

You can't have a team play all-out on both ends of the court. The closest I've seen are a couple of MJ's Bulls teams. Even then, they were selective in how hard they played. Sometimes they played offensive, other times defensive and sometimes they made up their mind to pulverize the opponent. But they had a LOT more talent and athleticism than these Spurs, who don't have the athletes and size to bring hard defense IMO. When you add the fact OKC is passing the ball well and avoiding TOs somewhat, forget it.

The "clinic" style offense + transition takes a lot out of the Spurs too and subtracts from their D. I think it kills Pop inside not to have a good defense but he's adapted himself to their talent, which is inferior to OKC's.

 

The difference in SAS's 20-game winning streak and the last 3 games is the OKC defense. SAS has not all of a sudden forgot how to pass the ball for easy buckets in "buckets." We can call this defensive pressure and ability to still cover the weakside all about the youth, length and athleticism of OKC all you want, but the OKC defense is stopping the PnR and weakside attacks and the low post is pretty much being guarded 1 on 1 the whole way.

The amount of TOs is creating a "faster pace" because OKC can score quickly in transition...hence relatively high scoring, but it's the defense that is making the difference.

 

Every team is sluggish for some time.

The Thunder just beat the Mavs and Lakers. I don't think the moment is too big for them. They hit insane shots to beat the Spurs in Game 5. Those Harden and Westbrook shots were insanely hard but they went in.

By no means were the Spurs outta that game.

 

Barkley thinks it won't even be a game and OKC will blow out.

Game 7 confirmed!