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*NBA THREAD* Abe will be missed (6 Viewers)
- Thread starter Cliff Clavin
- Start date
simmonjm
Footballguy
He wasnt driving he was in a store got recognized and had bench warrant for no license. As much as we like to assume racism Im leaning towards being an easily recognizable NBA player is the reason for his arrest. Knicks need about one more bonehead incident to ensure that other suitors are scared off and he comes back for 2.5 player option.
tommyGunZ
Footballguy
Yep. So glad we had those back-to-backs last weekend. What complete horse####. Stern failed this year.
Ghost Rider
Footballguy
This was already covered a while back. They can't start the WCF too early while the 2nd round East series are still going, since if the WCF finishes early and the ECF goes long, the West champion could conceivably have 10-14 days off before the finals.
Ministry of Pain
Footballguy
Don't the ECF start on Monday?
Gr00vus
Footballguy
Why the #### are there 2 days between games 6 and 7 in the Philly/Bos series?It's because they laid out an idiotic schedule in advance. Through the 1st 3 rounds there should be at least 1 game per night as long as there are enough series to support it.
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Ghost Rider
Footballguy
Okay, I agree that having tonight off is dumb, but in the case of OKC and San Antonio, they finished their series off quickly, so they earned the right to have a few days rest before the next series. I do think it is dumb how the NBA drags out the first round for example, but you can't start the WCF days before the 2nd round East series are finished. Boston/Philly tonight and OKC/SA starting tomorrow woulda made more sense, but they probably want Mia/Bos or Philly for Memorial Day.
TobiasFunke
Footballguy
If you play Game 7 tonight, what's scheduled for tomorrow? Game 1 of the WCF? No way they risk a potential conflict with a Game 7, which means they couldn't have scheduled it until yesterday when it was determined that MIA/IND wouldn't go 7. That, or they schedule either the Game 7 or Game 1 for an afternoon start, which is cool by me but I think a lot of West Coasters would not enjoy a 12:30 start for one of those huge games.
Cliff Clavin
Footballguy
Gr00vus
Footballguy
They do that all the time. Laker games go off at 12:30 on Sundays very frequently so they can be on national T.V. Oh the horror, I get to see 2 games in one day.
No. 16
Footballguy
Short Corner
Footballguy
the alternative would have been the spurs waiting for two weeks after making short work of the thunder.
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
Man, this game is :X !!!
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
One of these teams has to start taking it strong to the peach basket.
BigSteelThrill
Footballguy
Holy 31% shooting, damn 76ers, c'mon!
southeastjerome
Footballguy
Officiating in the NBA is a joke. Seriously.
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
Probably won't matter, but that will be changed to a 2. His foot was clearly on the stripe.
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
Celts are gonna get f'n TRUCKED! Miami in 2 games.
southeastjerome
Footballguy
Grit and balls.
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
If there is a God, Jeff and Stan will be working the same games on TV next year.
BigSteelThrill
Footballguy
Good luck the rest of the way Celtic fans.
So fortuitous to have 2 days off, twice.
So fortuitous to have 2 days off, twice.
PlasmaDogPlasma
Footballguy
Sad but true.'Raider Nation said:
Kenny Powers
Footballguy
Well, they actually play D so I think itll go 5, but with how the Heat looked the last 2 games I wouldnt expect much more.Nice step up time from Rondo...real quiet triple double'Raider Nation said:
Ministry of Pain
Footballguy
How bout now? Why wait? Stan ain't busy.'Raider Nation said:
Sudoku_in_the_Bathtub
Footballguy
Enjoy the Celts. Last time you're going to see them together.
LHUCKS
Footballguy
they had a good run...nothing to be ashamed of.
Sudoku_in_the_Bathtub
Footballguy
Yep. I just hope their success this year doesn't prompt them to give multi-year deals to their aging population. Injuries played a huge part of them getting this far in the East.With Pierce/Allen hobbled, I don't see this series going long with James/Wade dominating again.Having to go 7 vs. a team of athletes in Philly wasn't that impressive.
the moops
Footballguy
I think they had as many injures to overcome as Atlanta as Philly
Sudoku_in_the_Bathtub
Footballguy
Philly doesn't get past Chicago with Rose.Neither does Boston.Good story of the oldies making a final run. But they're getting handled by Miami.
Kenny Powers
Footballguy
Really hoping we get Durant v Lebron Part I this year 
simmonjm
Footballguy
Also would like to add that pacers dont get past the magic with a healthy D Howard
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
In this scenario, you're assuming he's healthy and motivated?
timschochet
Footballguy
I'd like to see that too, but I just don't think it's going to happen. I read John Hollinger's analysis of the Spurs-Thunder series- he doesn't think it's going to be close.Really hoping we get Durant v Lebron Part I this year
Kenny Powers
Footballguy
So its going to be Spurs in 5 or something??I dont think itll be a short series, despite the Spurs win streak. OKC is much more athletic than SAS. I dont think that means OKC wins, but I think it means SAS doesnt win easy. It might come down to Harden producing vs SAS defense stifling.I'd like to see that too, but I just don't think it's going to happen. I read John Hollinger's analysis of the Spurs-Thunder series- he doesn't think it's going to be close.Really hoping we get Durant v Lebron Part I this year
timschochet
Footballguy
Hollinger: http://insider.espn....4/advantage-sasReady for some offense?So its going to be Spurs in 5 or something??I dont think itll be a short series, despite the Spurs win streak. OKC is much more athletic than SAS. I dont think that means OKC wins, but I think it means SAS doesnt win easy. It might come down to Harden producing vs SAS defense stifling.I'd like to see that too, but I just don't think it's going to happen. I read John Hollinger's analysis of the Spurs-Thunder series- he doesn't think it's going to be close.Really hoping we get Durant v Lebron Part I this year
I'd hope so, after seeing a historically low-scoring playoffs ground further into the mud by six games of Sixers-Celtics. Well, good news is on the way. The Western Conference finals start Sunday, and you will definitely be seeing scoring. Lots and lots and lots of it.
San Antonio led the NBA in offensive efficiency this season, and Oklahoma City was second. It's been a similar story in the playoffs, as the two teams are miles ahead of everybody else on the efficiency leaderboard.
There's a certain irony to this, of course. San Antonio won four championships with a defense-first mantra, and the Oklahoma City franchise is as faithful a reproduction of the Spurs as you'll see -- it's owner (Clay Bennett), general manager (Sam Presti) and assistant GM (Rob Hennigan) all were with the Spurs at one time in the Gregg Popovich era, and San Antonio was very clearly their model for building the Thunder into a small-market tiger that always values long-term interests over short-term gains. And despite its three stars, Oklahoma City's first whiffs of success came at least as much at the defensive end; it wasn't until this season that the Thunder shifted to being such an offense-heavy team.
The similarities don't end there. Both teams have three stars that are the focal points of the attack, including a pair of slashing, foul-drawing, left-handed sixth men (James Harden and Manu Ginobili) who now are almost routinely compared to one another. And both teams breezed through the first two rounds, sporting a combined record of 16-1 while laying waste to the basketball season in Los Angeles. (Side note: Those who argue that the Thunder's romp past the Mavs and Lakers was far more impressive need to look at the standings instead of the jerseys. Dallas and Utah had the same record; the Lakers edged the Clippers by a game.)
But despite all those similarities, it's the differences that will define this series. And in this battle of teacher vs. student, the students are about to get schooled.
San Antonio has a few major advantages over Oklahoma City that should prove telling. The biggest one can be found by looking past the stars to the back-end rotation players. The Thunder give major minutes to Derek Fisher (PER: 8.0), Daequan Cook (9.3), Kendrick Perkins (8.7) and Thabo Sefolosha (9.8); while Perkins and Sefolosha have defensive value, Nick Collison was the only player outside OKC's top four to post a halfway respectable PER.
Contrast that with what San Antonio brings to the table: Tiago Splitter (20.5), Danny Green (15.5), Matt Bonner (13.2), Gary Neal (14.3), Stephen Jackson (13.2) and Boris Diaw (11.2). Their bench is so good that DeJuan Blair (17.6) can't even get on the court.
So big picture, spots 5-9 in the rotation shape up as major mismatches in favor of the Spurs. The Thunder's only advantages are at No. 1 and No. 4, if you're stacking teams up that way: Kevin Durant is obviously the best player on the court, and the Thunder's fourth-best player, Serge Ibaka, is clearly better than Spurs rookie Kawhi Leonard.
Dig deeper, however, and advantages start tilting more in the Spurs' favor -- especially at the defensive end. This is where the teacher-student thing comes up again, in vivid color. The Thunder are athletic, play very hard and have a great shot-blocker behind them in Ibaka. Nonetheless, they're not a great defensive team, ranking ninth in efficiency overall.
And in particular, they tend to have trouble with the thing that San Antonio will force them to do over and over and over again -- making smart, coordinated rotations in team defense. The Thunder are relentless but, befitting their youth, a lot of that energy is wasted. Russell Westbrook runs all over on defense but is rarely in the right spot, and the same can be said if you watch the likes of Ibaka and Harden off the ball.
It's what will get them beat in this series. Looking to the regular season, the Spurs won two of the three games even though Ginobili missed all three. They won by pick-and-rolling the Thunder to death, leading to botched rotations and wide-open 3s; in the three games, the Spurs shot a ridiculous 28-of-54 from long range. That was with Blair starting at power forward all three games, mind you; now that the Spurs play floor spacers Bonner and Diaw at the 4, they'll get the Thunder even more spread out on D.
So the Thunder are at a disadvantage. But they do have a few weapons at their disposal to turn this series in their favor.
One they should seriously consider is starting either Harden or Cook and bringing Sefolosha off the bench to match up against Ginobili. Right now, the Thunder's best individual defender will be wasted guarding Green before he comes off the floor; he's likely to have virtually no overlap with the Spurs' best wing scorer, Ginobili, especially since he rarely plays fourth quarters. Unfortunately, Newton's fourth law of playoff basketball coaching says that the Thunder won't try this until they're down 2-0 or 3-1 and in desperate straits.
A lineup they're likely to use more regularly, however, is with Durant at the 4. This forces a major adjustment for San Antonio, which must either attempt to hide Diaw or Bonner on a perimeter player or go to a smaller lineup of its own. Oklahoma City's lineups with Durant at the 4 this season were extremely productive -- of the six small-ball lineups that played more than 20 minutes, five outscored opponents by more than 12.0 points per 48 minutes.
The average for those lineups was plus-13.0 in 479 minutes, accounting for nearly a third of the Thunder's point differential edge on the season; the rest of the time the Thunder were plus-4.8.
Oklahoma City couldn't get away with this look against the Lakers because of matchups, but the Spurs are unlikely to line up two 7-footers against them all game the way L.A. did. (Though one supposes it's possible with a Tim Duncan-Splitter combo.)
That's the good news. The bad news is that they used these lineups against the Spurs in the regular season and still got beat. The Thunder used four smalls for 18, 16 and 28 minutes, respectively, in the three regular-season meetings. These games were before they acquired Fisher; if they were willing to line up this way even if it means putting erratic rookie Reggie Jackson or little-used Royal Ivey and Lazar Hayward on the floor, they're likely to ride it even longer with Fisher.
Nonetheless, this grouping did seem to have an effect. The small-ball lineup guys had the best plus-minus numbers over the three games; Hayward was plus-11 and Jackson was plus-12, for instance, and those were the two whose use was most exclusive to the small grouping; Collison, who is usually the center with that arrangement, was plus-15.
Unfortunately, OKC is about to run into a buzzsaw. San Antonio's numbers of late are video-game crazy: The Spurs not only have 18 straight wins, but they are 32-3 in their past 35 games. The most amazing stat is that they're 24-3 in their past 27 road games, with two of three defeats coming when they decided to rest their starters.
That's the scarier part; when you take out games the Spurs tanked, they're record really starts looking good. In the last 47 games Tony Parker played, for instance, they're 43-4.
Did you hear me? FORTY-THREE AND FOUR!
If it took them 47 games to lose four times with Parker, I'm guessing it will take more than seven for them to lose four more.
That's why I keep saying nobody is beating this San Antonio team; it's a tribute to the Thunder's talent that they'll be able to make this series somewhat competitive. But it will also show the young Thunder how much further they have to go to match the franchise they've worked so hard to emulate. San Antonio will finally lose a game, but I doubt it will lose more than once.
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timschochet
Footballguy
The Spurs not only have 18 straight wins, but they are 32-3 in their past 35 games. The most amazing stat is that they're 24-3 in their past 27 road games, with two of three defeats coming when they decided to rest their starters.
That's the scarier part; when you take out games the Spurs tanked, they're record really starts looking good. In the last 47 games Tony Parker played, for instance, they're 43-4.
This is just amazing.
That's the scarier part; when you take out games the Spurs tanked, they're record really starts looking good. In the last 47 games Tony Parker played, for instance, they're 43-4.
This is just amazing.
Britney Spears
guest speaker
Spurs in 6.
Heat in 7.
Heat in 7.
pollardsvision
Footballguy
That's what I wanted to see in February, but I'm ready to hold off on that until 2013.But I don't know how anyone couldn't be rooting for Duncan to get another ring this year (you know, aside from OKC, MIA, and BOS fans). SAS vs. MIA would also be wildly entertaining. Wouldn't hate a geezer series with BOS either.Really hoping we get Durant v Lebron Part I this year
Balco
Footballguy
I can't see anyone beating the Spurs. Thunder have the best shot, but the Celtics and Heat would offer little competition (I am assuming Miami will be without Bosh the rest of the playoffs. Still think they would get destroyed with him playing, though).
mr. furley
Footballguy
weren't fans ready to run Tony Parker off last year?
matuski
Footballguy
people have been trying to write off tony, tim, and manu for about 5 years.
Raider Nation
Devil's Advocate
Can't believe the number of people (here and on TV) who think Heat/Celtics will go 7 games.
I think a sweep is much more likely, if you had to choose one or the other.
I think a sweep is much more likely, if you had to choose one or the other.
Cliff Clavin
Footballguy
5 tops. Boston takes game 3. The rest are blowouts. Mark it down.
Cecil_Pooples
Footballguy
And Parker just turned 30.
ivnabru
Footballguy
It's about the same thing that happened to them against Atlanta their first year together. That being said I don't know how they can beat Miami this year. KG could go off and steal a game and Rondo almost certainly will steal 1. A flukey game could happen too for another win (I think Pierce is too beat up + gonna be too tired guarding LeBron to win one on his own this year and Allen might be a liability with his ankles ruined), but even all that happening and they only win 3 of the 4 they need.
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