Hahaha, my thinking exactly. Besides Oladipo has to elevate his game to allstar status if they want to have a chance.
Guard the entire team, go under picks, and force Westbrook into taking ugly shots. It's not like you'd be twisting his arm anyways.
Future ESPN Headline: "Westbrook Dominates Series Against Houston with 4 straight Triple Doubles" Article begins... "The Houston Rockets have eliminated Russell Westbrook and the Thunder in 4 games, but not before Westbrook delivered an exhilarating 41/15/13 performance in Oklahoma City's final game, further solidifying his place as the 2017 NBA MVP."
Fact: 2016-17- Westbrook 40+ pts, Thunder wins 6 out of 14 games Fiction: Rockets fans want Westbrook MVP
First option. Westbrook doesn't like to pass, so make it harder for him. He is gonna shoot regardless, might as well make them bad shots.
I say they should let Westbrook shoot all day, and guard the rest of the team. The Thunder are better than what they are, they have better bigs than the Rockets, and they have a pretty, good team, they just don't know it. The reason the Thunder are not in a higher seed is because Westbrook doesn't involve his teamates very often. Is a one man show in OKC. But I prefer the Clippers in 6th seed.
I really don't think okc is going to be a harder matchup at all. We're 3-1 and even this 3 of the games we're close losing 1. We still Held double digit leads in every game. We know how to get beat these guys and get big leads and good shots. I'm honestly not worried about okc they might get a game but there not going to beat houston.
pretty much my same thoughts. inevitably westbrook will get his numbers and he'll have perhaps a monster triple double game. that's the only reason why I give them a game at most. other than that nothing on that team worries me.
I'd just let Beverley do his thing on an island. No help. Focus on limiting 2nd chances by all means necessary (limit Adams and Kanter) and let OKC's bad shooters shoot. Take the 3 away from Oladipo who seems to be hitting at a decent clip and McDermott (if he even gets PT) - and that's about all you need to do to beat a mediocre OKC team. D'antoni should play it cool and just prep with GSW game tape now because this series as already over.
Box out Westbrook at all times. We end up with all the rebounds because his teammates will refuse to grab the ball. I wonder if the game plan will call for triple doubles in the postseason. I'm guessing yes. I can't see anyone deferring to his ego this season, even in the playoffs.
Lol i hope our cockiness is justified. I also think we are better and should win but I respect the competition. If i had to bet $ id bet it all on the rockets but id be lying if i said i wasnt nervous
Beverley will have to be smart with his fouls in this series. He picks up a lot of dumb fouls when he starts getting too aggressive defensively.
Only worried about Kanter and Adams actually, these guys have made our bigs look like high schoolers in the past.
Make turnovers a stat incorporated in the quadruple double, then dare him to get a quadruple double every game.
Double him early, build up his anxiety level. Then switch to single coverage and watch him go full chucker mode and ignore his team.
Switch on screens probably. Harden sag off Roberson and play major weak side defense after Russ breaks down defense Nene over Capela to counteract Adams/Kanter who will demolish Capela with ease. Beverley/EJ both on Westbrook. He's going to beat them so make sure Nene and is able to help at the rim As soon as Russ dumps to Kanter/Adams after Nene helps on Russ then Harden needs to be there to help against Taj/Kanter/Adams Kanter/Adams/Taj pass to open Roberson, but Ariza needs to stick on Oladipo and not switch. Roberson shoots like 24% from corner threes. (Who knows, maybe he gets hot from three this series so this strategy backfires.) We lose this series if we let Taj/Adams/Kanter eat. If we can limit them then we will win. Their bigs > our bigs. Ariza and EJ need to still do a good job on making it tough for Oladipo because he can go for an efficient 24 PPG Oladipo is capable of getting hot and dropping 30 if Westbrook lets him. Remember: Westbrook WILL get his. No one is stopping him on this team. He will average close to 37/12/13 But if we contain their bigs and do a good job at limiting Oladipo from going off then we should do well. Our guys need to step up and toughen up. This means Capela and Ryan need to be able to hang with their bigs (I doubt they can.) The real question is how we adjust to them defending us? They know they can't outgun us so they need to make the perfect defensive strategy to limit us. They can beat us if we go cold, but at the same time if we don't go cold then they still need a plan. That's what I'm mostly worried about other than our shooters sucking. I have a feeling Harden will shoot close to 30% this series from 3, but take 11 threes a game. I'm mostly worried about how our offense will look. I'm sure our defense will look fine against the Thunder.
