They ditched Kobe after LeBron won his first MVP last year, which is fine by me. Too bad the Thunder doesn't stand a chance against all those lengthy bigs the Fakers have. Why could not Morey draft players with some damn size?!!! I will be rooting for the Nuggets to beat the crap out of the Lakers in the second round.
The Thunder need to get Westbrook involved more. Not only to take pressure off Durant but to exploit how utterly inept the Lakers are at PG -- especially against fast, athletic points. You might think 16 shots and 23 points qualifies as getting him involved enough but that's not nearly enough, IMO. This PG battle is and should be as one-sided as a matchup can get so you might as well exploit it as much as you can.
why do all these games except(heat-celts) feel like the lower-seeded team is down and out in the first qtr itself? maybe i was spoiled by the celts-bulls series last yr but this yr the top-seeded teams seem invincible.
100% agree. Westbrook had the "deer in the headlights" look in the 1st half until he got aggressive at the end. In the 2nd half, he disappeared for stretches when the Thunder really needed him. It's on Scott Brooks to make sure the Thunder use Westbrook to beat on the Lakers until they have to adjust. It's on Westbrook to understand he must take over the game while on the floor. He's done it before and destroyed teams. Melechesh, Artest is the ideal defender for KD. His brute strength & intensity, combined with the fact KD cannot go around him, forces the jumpshots. At some point KD will have to give up the isolations on Artest and focus more on moving without the ball.
Reading comprehension, folks. The claim wasn't that Yao doesn't get dunked on. Quicker guys can dunk on him because they beat him to the position. The claim was that Bynum and Gasol wouldn't dunk on him. Big guys have a hard time dunking the way Bynum did on OKC's front line.
Yeah I've noticed that when the two teams played each other in the regular season. Too bad the Thunder has to live with that in this whole series. Another player who needs to step up in order to win a game for the Thunder is Ibaka. I know he's just a rookie but he has immense talent. You let Gasol & Bynum have their ways with you like this there will be no chance. We shall see some adjustments on the Thunder side next game.
Gah, it was so frustrating to watch this game knowing that the Rockets could have put up a better fight. I like the Thunder, but it's definitely a team full of 'nice guys'. They don't seem tough enough to beat the Lakers.
Some of you just need to let it go. The Thunder struggled early on because they are a young team and were nervous. They settled down but couldn't overcome the sluggish start. This series can still be competitive. Some of you act like the Thunder got beat by 20 points.
For sure. I just hope Brooks and Westbrook realize how even despite KD being their best player (duh), their best matchup BY FAR is Westbrook vs. the Lakers' PG's. For that reason, their offensive gameplan should very much involve Westbrook getting nearly as many looks as KD gets. Those possessions where KD just dribbled out the shot clock before forcing up a bad shot or getting tied up by Artest simply shouldn't happen with Westbrook out there ready to blow right by Fisher. If nothing else, Westbrook needs to dominate his matchup due to the sheer fact that the Lakers' trees are going to continue their dominance throughout this series.
The Lakers defense looked fantastic. It was extended beyond the 3, active and helping. If the Lakers continued to hit 3s and Gasol got deeper in the post it would have been a blow out. That and if anyone of the Lakers had the heart of a Rocket to take a charge, Westbrook would have been almost useless.
The Thunder made the Lakers defense look better than it is. It's no secret that OKC is not a good offensive team. PJ is great at drawing up defensive schemes that focus on taking away the other team's best option and completely ignoring their weakest option. Today, OKC only had two players worth guarding because the others were totally worthless. That will make a defense look very good. If Green, Sefalosha, Harden, Maynor, etc, all continue to play tight and lay eggs on offense, the Thunder can't win. I posted in the Heat/Celts thread yesterday that I expected the Lakers to shut the Thunder down on offense using a similar process to what the Celts did to Wade. 3rd/4th/5th options on offense have to show a pulse or you cannot be successful in the playoffs against good teams. This is why I don't give the Thunder a chance to win the series.
At the end of the day they put the clamps on a 50 win team. However you want to slice it, they played great defense. The fact that Durant doesnt handle the ball and cause roatations holds the Thunder back, that and the lack of 3pt shooting.
In what way would our team have been a tougher fight for the Lakers considering the way we ended our season and the Thunder ended theirs? Anyways, I know people wanted a upset but I think the Thunder will win just a game.
If that's how you see it, fine. On offense (except for Artest guarding KD), the Thunder were their own worst enemy and the Lakers have excellent coaching to capitalize on it. If several Thunder players didn't have the yips, I don't think you would be saying the Lakers played "great" defense. The Thunder have a lot more problems on offense than just lack of 3-point shooting.
The Thunder didn't play great defense either. The Lakers beat themselves on offense but still managed to win because of their talent. If the Lakers were on their game on the offensive end, this would have been a blowout regardless if OKC was on their A game on the offensive end.
The keys for game 2: 1. Westbrook needs to keep doing what he is doing; either drive it in for a layup, or draw Artest away from Durant, and pass it to Durant when he is semi-open. 2. More importantly, Durant needs to wake up, and find some other method against Artest. Maybe force a pick-and-roll at the top of the key with Artest and Bynum / Gasol, and have Durant go one-on-one against them.
