For the record, I think Green is a very special player. He is a true winner, a souped up Dennis Rodman in a lot of ways.
But there is nobody else in the world who is 6'10 that has the ball handling, shooting, and passing skills of Durant.
There is nobody else in the world who can athletically overwhelm and punish you like Westbrook (Derek Rose was the closest thing to him and now that's gone).
My man crush for Curry is well documented, but if those two guys are on, it's night night for pretty much everybody.
There is a guy that you didn't even mention that is averaging 27 per game this post season for GS.
The Warriors have more talent from players 3-12. It's not that close either.
Warriors don't have a single roster flaw. OKC starts Andre Robertson at the 2 and relies on Dion Waiters.
In a game where 1 player can be the difference from making the finals and missing the playoffs, isn't having 2 superstars a little more meaningful?
I agree the Warriors are the best team in the game and are pretty much perfectly stocked, but OKC has 2 generational guys in their prime on the same squad.
For all the Curry haters out there, this scalp is going to be well earned.
Golden State has the best player in the game paired with 2 other all stars. And they have a great bench.
The Warriors have more talent from players 3-12. It's not that close either.
Warriors don't have a single roster flaw. OKC starts Andre Robertson at the 2 and relies on Dion Waiters.
In a game where 1 player can be the difference from making the finals and missing the playoffs, isn't having 2 superstars a little more meaningful?
I agree the Warriors are the best team in the game and are pretty much perfectly stocked, but OKC has 2 generational guys in their prime on the same squad.
For all the Curry haters out there, this scalp is going to be well earned.
Golden State has the best player in the game paired with 2 other all stars. And they have a great bench.
Steph Curry- best player in the league former top 10 pick Draymond Green- top 10 player Klay Thompson- top 10 3 point shooter all time, 11th overall pick Andrew Bogut- former number 1 overall pick Harrison Barnes- 1 player coming out of high school former top 10 pick Andre Igoudala- former top 10 pick Shaun Livingston- former top 5 pick
The idea that anyone is more talented than Golden State is fucktarded. They work because of all the talent not in spite of it because of teamwork and elbow grease.
They are incredibly talented and better coached. But top end talent I give it to the Thunder.
The draft position game is easy to play in the NBA.
Steph Curry- best player in the league former top 10 pick Draymond Green- top 10 player Klay Thompson- top 10 3 point shooter all time, 11th overall pick Andrew Bogut- former number 1 overall pick Harrison Barnes- 1 player coming out of high school former top 10 pick Andre Igoudala- former top 10 pick Shaun Livingston- former top 5 pick
The idea that anyone is more talented than Golden State is fucktarded. They work because of all the talent not in spite of it because of teamwork and elbow grease.
They are incredibly talented and better coached. But top end talent I give it to the Thunder.
The draft position game is easy to play in the NBA.
Steph Curry- best player in the league former top 10 pick Draymond Green- top 10 player Klay Thompson- top 10 3 point shooter all time, 11th overall pick Andrew Bogut- former number 1 overall pick Harrison Barnes- 1 player coming out of high school former top 10 pick Andre Igoudala- former top 10 pick Shaun Livingston- former top 5 pick
The idea that anyone is more talented than Golden State is fucktarded. They work because of all the talent not in spite of it because of teamwork and elbow grease.
They are incredibly talented and better coached. But top end talent I give it to the Thunder.
The draft position game is easy to play in the NBA.
Steph Curry- best player in the league former top 10 pick Draymond Green- top 10 player Klay Thompson- top 10 3 point shooter all time, 11th overall pick Andrew Bogut- former number 1 overall pick Harrison Barnes- 1 player coming out of high school former top 10 pick Andre Igoudala- former top 10 pick Shaun Livingston- former top 5 pick
The idea that anyone is more talented than Golden State is fucktarded. They work because of all the talent not in spite of it because of teamwork and elbow grease.
They are incredibly talented and better coached. But top end talent I give it to the Thunder.
The draft position game is easy to play in the NBA.
I think both sides are right on this. The Warriors have assembled a damn near perfect roster that compliments one another very well around the best player in the game, and the Thunder have two transcendent superstars.
Pure talent I think OKC has more, at least where it counts (players 9-12 don't matter in the playoffs baring injury). Actual skill GS has more, probably a lot more. Basically everyone on GS has overachieved their natural gifts whereas you wouldn't call anybody on OKC an overachiever except maybe Westbrook and Adams.
I think both sides are right on this. The Warriors have assembled a damn near perfect roster that compliments one another very well around the best player in the game, and the Thunder have two transcendent superstars.
Pure talent I think OKC has more, at least where it counts (players 9-12 don't matter in the playoffs baring injury). Actual skill GS has more, probably a lot more. Basically everyone on GS has overachieved their natural gifts whereas you wouldn't call anybody on OKC an overachiever except maybe Westbrook and Adams.
I think both sides are right on this. The Warriors have assembled a damn near perfect roster that compliments one another very well around the best player in the game, and the Thunder have two transcendent superstars.
Pure talent I think OKC has more, at least where it counts (players 9-12 don't matter in the playoffs baring injury). Actual skill GS has more, probably a lot more. Basically everyone on GS has overachieved their natural gifts whereas you wouldn't call anybody on OKC an overachiever except maybe Westbrook and Adams.
Steph Curry- best player in the league former top 10 pick Draymond Green- top 10 player Klay Thompson- top 10 3 point shooter all time, 11th overall pick Andrew Bogut- former number 1 overall pick Harrison Barnes- 1 player coming out of high school former top 10 pick Andre Igoudala- former top 10 pick Shaun Livingston- former top 5 pick
The idea that anyone is more talented than Golden State is fucktarded. They work because of all the talent not in spite of it because of teamwork and elbow grease.
They are incredibly talented and better coached. But top end talent I give it to the Thunder.
The draft position game is easy to play in the NBA.
The Westbrook/Durant combo on Paper is the most ruthless in the NBA. Both guys get the job done in ways nobody else can replicate.
Who exactly is replicating what Curry and Green do?
You would pick Green over Westbrook and Durant?
I don't think you know what replicate means.
An undersized stretch 4 is much easier to replicate than a 6'10 sharp shooter with handles.
Westbrook makes NBA athletes look like junior high kids. Nobody in the world like him except for pre injury MVP Rose.
What makes the Draymond Green great isn't that he can play the 4, it's that he can play the 5. An undersized stretch 5 that can guard anyone on the court and is a great passer. Replicate that.
Westbrook and Durant fuel game 1 upset on the road with raw talent advantage.
Durant 10-30. Westbrook 7-21. 17-51 combined. 1-8 in crunch time. Westbrook was great in the third quarter, but that's really it. They had bad games otherwise.
The Warriors lost because they went ice cold and because the Thunder's bigs dominated GS's.
Steph Curry- best player in the league former top 10 pick Draymond Green- top 10 player Klay Thompson- top 10 3 point shooter all time, 11th overall pick Andrew Bogut- former number 1 overall pick Harrison Barnes- 1 player coming out of high school former top 10 pick Andre Igoudala- former top 10 pick Shaun Livingston- former top 5 pick
The idea that anyone is more talented than Golden State is fucktarded. They work because of all the talent not in spite of it because of teamwork and elbow grease.
They are incredibly talented and better coached. But top end talent I give it to the Thunder.
The draft position game is easy to play in the NBA.
Westbrook and Durant fuel game 1 upset on the road with raw talent advantage.
Durant 10-30. Westbrook 7-21. 17-51 combined. 1-8 in crunch time. Westbrook was great in the third quarter, but that's really it. They had bad games otherwise.
The Warriors lost because they went ice cold and because the Thunder's bigs dominated GS's.
Imagine if they played to their ceiling. Would have been a fucking blowout. You can't have it both ways.
If Westbrook and Durant play to their ceiling, nobody in the world can beat them. They never do consistently, thus no rings, but top end talent second to none.
Golden State scored 14 points in the 4th and still had plenty of opportunities to win the game ... Roady is right that they went ice cold ... the question is why/how?
What stood out to me watching the game was that OKC was baiting Draymond Green to beat them with his scoring. They were defending him with smalls like Randy Foye at times trying to get him to post up and kill the GS ball movement or getting bigs on him with the idea that he'd try to drive to the hoop. In either event, that's a shot not coming from Curry/Thompson. If you look at the numbers, Green had 20+ shots and basically the same as Curry/Thompson. That's not GS basketball.
The other HUGE difference in the game was that GS really didn't get anything from their bench in Game 1 compared to OKC getting some fairly substantial contributions. Generally speaking, I'd expect the GS bench to outplay OKC's bench probably 5 out of 7 times in a series.
Comments
There is a guy that you didn't even mention that is averaging 27 per game this post season for GS.
Westbrook makes NBA athletes look like junior high kids. Nobody in the world like him except for pre injury MVP Rose.
Great take otherwise.
But you're right, Warriors in 5.
Pure talent I think OKC has more, at least where it counts (players 9-12 don't matter in the playoffs baring injury). Actual skill GS has more, probably a lot more. Basically everyone on GS has overachieved their natural gifts whereas you wouldn't call anybody on OKC an overachiever except maybe Westbrook and Adams.
The Warriors lost because they went ice cold and because the Thunder's bigs dominated GS's.
Some would call it the beginning of the end or the return to the mid 90's.
du jour.
If Westbrook and Durant play to their ceiling, nobody in the world can beat them. They never do consistently, thus no rings, but top end talent second to none.
What stood out to me watching the game was that OKC was baiting Draymond Green to beat them with his scoring. They were defending him with smalls like Randy Foye at times trying to get him to post up and kill the GS ball movement or getting bigs on him with the idea that he'd try to drive to the hoop. In either event, that's a shot not coming from Curry/Thompson. If you look at the numbers, Green had 20+ shots and basically the same as Curry/Thompson. That's not GS basketball.
The other HUGE difference in the game was that GS really didn't get anything from their bench in Game 1 compared to OKC getting some fairly substantial contributions. Generally speaking, I'd expect the GS bench to outplay OKC's bench probably 5 out of 7 times in a series.