In the end, Z Bo's suspension was the difference maker, and Durant moves on to the next round just like it was drawn up in Adam Silver's office in New York.
In the end, Z Bo's suspension was the difference maker, and Durant moves on to the next round just like it was drawn up in Adam Silver's office in New York.
I think Clippers match up really well with OKC.
In general though in the NBA I don't feel comfortable picking against the best player in the series.
Why I'm going OKC in 7 but the clippers can beat OKC.
Let's hope that the rest of the playoffs are as good as the first round this year ... this is reminding me of late 80s and early 90s in terms of quality of play. Everybody seems to have good players on their roster.
Spurs in 7 Clippers in 6
Heat in 7 Pacers in 7
The only reason the thunder got pushed to 7 was Tony Allen could guard durant. But in the end talent won out. The Clippers perimeter defense isn't anything close to the thunder. The grizzlies could also slow it down and ugly the game, which is the way you win in OKC. That is not the clippers. The thunder are not losing a home game to the clippers, same with the clippers. HCA will be the difference in this series
I highly doubt nobody wins a road game in that series.
I think each get at least one win on the other teams court.
It will be tremendously interesting series that's for sure.
There's no reason for Durant to not go off against the Clippers because outside of Matt Barnes, I'm not sure that the Clippers have anybody that can even slow down Durant. Is this the series that you see some contribution out of Danny Granger.
Ibaka is one of the few guys that is athletic and strong enough to stay with Blake. That's a matchup that normally has been highly volatile in the past.
CP3 vs Westbrook will obviously be interesting to watch. I would expect that there are going to be some major minutes given to Collison to help take some stress off of CP3 - but doing so will cut into Redick's minutes. This is a series where Westbrook shouldn't be shooting anywhere close to as much as Durant. If he is, advantage Clippers.
In my opinion, the wildcard in this series is DeAndre Jordan. Jordan's ability to protect the paint will be huge against the rim runs that Westbrook and Jackson make. Additionally, it will keep Kendrick Perkins on the floor ... which I don't think is a good thing for OKC in the long run if he is playing 30+ minutes per night.
OKC has the better high end players while the Clippers have by far the most depth and a fairly sizable coaching advantage.
OKC is a bad matchup for a Clippers. They have no one who can guard Durant and with Paul being injured they have no one who can guard Westbrook, who may have turned a corner in the last two games as it shots were down significantly. OKC also has the goons to annoy Griffin and Jordan.
OKC probably in 6 but Clippers could push it to 7.
It will be tremendously interesting series that's for sure.
There's no reason for Durant to not go off against the Clippers because outside of Matt Barnes, I'm not sure that the Clippers have anybody that can even slow down Durant. Is this the series that you see some contribution out of Danny Granger.
Ibaka is one of the few guys that is athletic and strong enough to stay with Blake. That's a matchup that normally has been highly volatile in the past.
CP3 vs Westbrook will obviously be interesting to watch. I would expect that there are going to be some major minutes given to Collison to help take some stress off of CP3 - but doing so will cut into Redick's minutes. This is a series where Westbrook shouldn't be shooting anywhere close to as much as Durant. If he is, advantage Clippers.
In my opinion, the wildcard in this series is DeAndre Jordan. Jordan's ability to protect the paint will be huge against the rim runs that Westbrook and Jackson make. Additionally, it will keep Kendrick Perkins on the floor ... which I don't think is a good thing for OKC in the long run if he is playing 30+ minutes per night.
OKC has the better high end players while the Clippers have by far the most depth and a fairly sizable coaching advantage.
Will be a beauty to watch.
Agree with most of your analysis. I think it will simply come down to Durant and Westbrook playing better than last round. The Clippers are still the Clippers. I don't trust them.
I disagree that OKC is a bad match up for the Clippers. I say this because OKC is a really good team so obviously they match up well against everyone else. I think the Clippers would go against OKC than the Spurs myself.
I also think Griffin/Jordan are going to cause problems for OKC. I think Chris Paul also had a poor series against Golden State minus this past game 7 so he is due for a bigger series.
For what it's worth Durant averaged 32.0 PPG during the season, shot 50.3/39.1/87.3 for the year.
Against the Clippers he averaged 32.5 PPG, shooting 44.1/29.2/83.7(averaging 3 more attempts per game though) so it's not like he performs exceptionally well against the Clippers.
Westbrook during the year averaged 21.5 PPG, 5.7 RPG and 6.9 APG shooting 43.7/31.8/82.6
Against the Clippers he averaged 18.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 6.8 APG shooting 39.7/23.5/72.7(a full free throw attempt less than everyone else).
So I'd say looking at this the Clippers do well against the two stars.
I trust that somehow Doc will come up with something to slow down the Thunder.
There's two ways to go about this.
The first is to let Durant and Westbrook get theirs but to take away the open looks for everybody else. The second is to going to be making Durant work to get his while trying to keep him off the line, dropping off Westbrook and seeing if he can hit the jumpers that are given instead of trying to run into the lane with 2-3 guys waiting for him, and letting the role players try to make shots (and just as importantly have Westbrook believe enough in his teammates to pass the ball around).
The one thing that you know with the Clippers is that they are going to have 5-6 guys a night scoring in double figures. It's going to be a battle of whether the better individual talent beats the better team.
If the Clippers didn't have Doc, I wouldn't trust them either. But outside of Popovich, he's the best coach left in the playoffs and it isn't even close.
I trust that somehow Doc will come up with something to slow down the Thunder.
There's two ways to go about this.
The first is to let Durant and Westbrook get theirs but to take away the open looks for everybody else. The second is to going to be making Durant work to get his while trying to keep him off the line, dropping off Westbrook and seeing if he can hit the jumpers that are given instead of trying to run into the lane with 2-3 guys waiting for him, and letting the role players try to make shots (and just as importantly have Westbrook believe enough in his teammates to pass the ball around).
The one thing that you know with the Clippers is that they are going to have 5-6 guys a night scoring in double figures. It's going to be a battle of whether the better individual talent beats the better team.
If the Clippers didn't have Doc, I wouldn't trust them either. But outside of Popovich, he's the best coach left in the playoffs and it isn't even close.
You had me until this line. I would take Erik Spoelstra over Rivers and at the very least it's a close enough debate.
I trust that somehow Doc will come up with something to slow down the Thunder.
There's two ways to go about this.
The first is to let Durant and Westbrook get theirs but to take away the open looks for everybody else. The second is to going to be making Durant work to get his while trying to keep him off the line, dropping off Westbrook and seeing if he can hit the jumpers that are given instead of trying to run into the lane with 2-3 guys waiting for him, and letting the role players try to make shots (and just as importantly have Westbrook believe enough in his teammates to pass the ball around).
The one thing that you know with the Clippers is that they are going to have 5-6 guys a night scoring in double figures. It's going to be a battle of whether the better individual talent beats the better team.
If the Clippers didn't have Doc, I wouldn't trust them either. But outside of Popovich, he's the best coach left in the playoffs and it isn't even close.
I like to call Rivers who is 0-2 in playoff series against spoelstra miles better than him. I do that. Rivers is a good coach but geez
I trust that somehow Doc will come up with something to slow down the Thunder.
There's two ways to go about this.
The first is to let Durant and Westbrook get theirs but to take away the open looks for everybody else. The second is to going to be making Durant work to get his while trying to keep him off the line, dropping off Westbrook and seeing if he can hit the jumpers that are given instead of trying to run into the lane with 2-3 guys waiting for him, and letting the role players try to make shots (and just as importantly have Westbrook believe enough in his teammates to pass the ball around).
The one thing that you know with the Clippers is that they are going to have 5-6 guys a night scoring in double figures. It's going to be a battle of whether the better individual talent beats the better team.
If the Clippers didn't have Doc, I wouldn't trust them either. But outside of Popovich, he's the best coach left in the playoffs and it isn't even close.
I like to call Rivers who is 0-2 in playoff series against spoelstra miles better than him. I do that. Rivers is a good coach but geez
I know people just started paying attention to Spoelstra and the Heat in 2011 but Rivers did defeat Spoelstra in 2010.
So we're now giving Spoelstra Rivers credit for being a great coach because of his ability to roll the ball out for LBJ, Wade, and Bosh KG, Pierce and Allen ?
You realized how fucktarded you sound making this argument against Spoelstra while arguing for Rivers?
Because when the Celtics won the title in 2008, none of KG, Pierce, and Allen was under 30 (respective ages of 32, 31, and 32).
In contrast, LBJ, Wade, and Bosh RIGHT NOW are 29, 32, and 30.
So while I'll be more than happy to agree with you that coaching KG, Pierce, and Allen is worth putting up there as saying that you had talent to work with, being able to win with your core players over 30 in what is a young man's league is saying something.
2008: Path to the final included 7 game series with Atlanta (with young Al Horford and Joe Johnson on the squad) and Cleveland (with LBJ), beating a Detroit team at the end of a 6 year run in the East Finals, and then beating the Lakers in the Finals.
2009: Fended off a young Bulls team in 7 before losing to Orlando in 7 (who went on to the Finals) - KG was hurt
2010: Lost to the Lakers in 7 in the Finals (Kendrick Perkins blew out his knee in Game 6 of the Finals); beat Wade, LBJ, and Orlando (Howard) to win the East.
2011: Lost to Miami in 5 games after Rondo's elbow was dislocated by Wade in what could have been argued to have been a dirty play
2012: In what was really the last stand for the team, they lost in the East Finals in 7 games to Miami in a series that could have gone either way.
When LBJ, Wade, and Bosh are in their mid-30s and still right in the midst of winning the East, then we'll talk about how great Spoelstra is as a coach. Right now, it looks to me as if they have been running on fumes and in desperate need of reinforcements. They are about to enter a series against a number of players that have caused them problems in the past and has more depth than them. They are about to be in a massive dogfight. And for what it is worth, I'll be shocked if Wade is still playing in a starting role (if at all) in an Eastern Conference Finals at the age of 35.
Because when the Celtics won the title in 2008, none of KG, Pierce, and Allen was under 30 (respective ages of 32, 31, and 32).
In contrast, LBJ, Wade, and Bosh RIGHT NOW are 29, 32, and 30.
So while I'll be more than happy to agree with you that coaching KG, Pierce, and Allen is worth putting up there as saying that you had talent to work with, being able to win with your core players over 30 in what is a young man's league is saying something.
2008: Path to the final included 7 game series with Atlanta (with young Al Horford and Joe Johnson on the squad) and Cleveland (with LBJ), beating a Detroit team at the end of a 6 year run in the East Finals, and then beating the Lakers in the Finals.
2009: Fended off a young Bulls team in 7 before losing to Orlando in 7 (who went on to the Finals) - KG was hurt
2010: Lost to the Lakers in 7 in the Finals (Kendrick Perkins blew out his knee in Game 6 of the Finals); beat Wade, LBJ, and Orlando (Howard) to win the East.
2011: Lost to Miami in 5 games after Rondo's elbow was dislocated by Wade in what could have been argued to have been a dirty play
2012: In what was really the last stand for the team, they lost in the East Finals in 7 games to Miami in a series that could have gone either way.
When LBJ, Wade, and Bosh are in their mid-30s and still right in the midst of winning the East, then we'll talk about how great Spoelstra is as a coach. Right now, it looks to me as if they have been running on fumes and in desperate need of reinforcements. They are about to enter a series against a number of players that have caused them problems in the past and has more depth than them. They are about to be in a massive dogfight. And for what it is worth, I'll be shocked if Wade is still playing in a starting role (if at all) in an Eastern Conference Finals at the age of 35.
You simply can't brag up Rivers then bash on Spoelstra while bringing up the reason you brought up.
If you can't see that then I can't help you.
Also Spoelstra proved he was a good coach during the 2012 playoffs. Chris Bosh went down and he had to adjust on the fly as his team found themselves down 2-1 to Pacers(were 0-2 without Bosh to that point). That is when Spoelstra decided to go small ball and play Lebron at the 4. As you would say the rest is history.
Where Spoelstra is at his best is making adjustments in the middle of the series something that Vogel and Brooks are hesitant to do. Battier was in a slump so he took him out the rotation in game 7, NBA Finals 1-3. After game 3 of NBA finals he started Miller, took out Birdman. After game 5, took out Haslem and Cole.
In three NBA Finals Spoelstra has never started the same lineup in every game of a Finals series. Constantly adjusting on the fly. That is his strength and that is why he's a good coach.
Comments
In general though in the NBA I don't feel comfortable picking against the best player in the series.
Why I'm going OKC in 7 but the clippers can beat OKC.
I think each get at least one win on the other teams court.
There's no reason for Durant to not go off against the Clippers because outside of Matt Barnes, I'm not sure that the Clippers have anybody that can even slow down Durant. Is this the series that you see some contribution out of Danny Granger.
Ibaka is one of the few guys that is athletic and strong enough to stay with Blake. That's a matchup that normally has been highly volatile in the past.
CP3 vs Westbrook will obviously be interesting to watch. I would expect that there are going to be some major minutes given to Collison to help take some stress off of CP3 - but doing so will cut into Redick's minutes. This is a series where Westbrook shouldn't be shooting anywhere close to as much as Durant. If he is, advantage Clippers.
In my opinion, the wildcard in this series is DeAndre Jordan. Jordan's ability to protect the paint will be huge against the rim runs that Westbrook and Jackson make. Additionally, it will keep Kendrick Perkins on the floor ... which I don't think is a good thing for OKC in the long run if he is playing 30+ minutes per night.
OKC has the better high end players while the Clippers have by far the most depth and a fairly sizable coaching advantage.
Will be a beauty to watch.
OKC probably in 6 but Clippers could push it to 7.
Heats 5
Blunder 6
Spurs 5
I also think Griffin/Jordan are going to cause problems for OKC. I think Chris Paul also had a poor series against Golden State minus this past game 7 so he is due for a bigger series.
For what it's worth Durant averaged 32.0 PPG during the season, shot 50.3/39.1/87.3 for the year.
Against the Clippers he averaged 32.5 PPG, shooting 44.1/29.2/83.7(averaging 3 more attempts per game though) so it's not like he performs exceptionally well against the Clippers.
Westbrook during the year averaged 21.5 PPG, 5.7 RPG and 6.9 APG shooting 43.7/31.8/82.6
Against the Clippers he averaged 18.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 6.8 APG shooting 39.7/23.5/72.7(a full free throw attempt less than everyone else).
So I'd say looking at this the Clippers do well against the two stars.
There's two ways to go about this.
The first is to let Durant and Westbrook get theirs but to take away the open looks for everybody else. The second is to going to be making Durant work to get his while trying to keep him off the line, dropping off Westbrook and seeing if he can hit the jumpers that are given instead of trying to run into the lane with 2-3 guys waiting for him, and letting the role players try to make shots (and just as importantly have Westbrook believe enough in his teammates to pass the ball around).
The one thing that you know with the Clippers is that they are going to have 5-6 guys a night scoring in double figures. It's going to be a battle of whether the better individual talent beats the better team.
If the Clippers didn't have Doc, I wouldn't trust them either. But outside of Popovich, he's the best coach left in the playoffs and it isn't even close.
HTH
http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2010_EC1.html#BOS-MIA
Holy fuck was Miami's starting lineup minus Wade a fucking dreckfest
Because when the Celtics won the title in 2008, none of KG, Pierce, and Allen was under 30 (respective ages of 32, 31, and 32).
In contrast, LBJ, Wade, and Bosh RIGHT NOW are 29, 32, and 30.
So while I'll be more than happy to agree with you that coaching KG, Pierce, and Allen is worth putting up there as saying that you had talent to work with, being able to win with your core players over 30 in what is a young man's league is saying something.
2008: Path to the final included 7 game series with Atlanta (with young Al Horford and Joe Johnson on the squad) and Cleveland (with LBJ), beating a Detroit team at the end of a 6 year run in the East Finals, and then beating the Lakers in the Finals.
2009: Fended off a young Bulls team in 7 before losing to Orlando in 7 (who went on to the Finals) - KG was hurt
2010: Lost to the Lakers in 7 in the Finals (Kendrick Perkins blew out his knee in Game 6 of the Finals); beat Wade, LBJ, and Orlando (Howard) to win the East.
2011: Lost to Miami in 5 games after Rondo's elbow was dislocated by Wade in what could have been argued to have been a dirty play
2012: In what was really the last stand for the team, they lost in the East Finals in 7 games to Miami in a series that could have gone either way.
When LBJ, Wade, and Bosh are in their mid-30s and still right in the midst of winning the East, then we'll talk about how great Spoelstra is as a coach. Right now, it looks to me as if they have been running on fumes and in desperate need of reinforcements. They are about to enter a series against a number of players that have caused them problems in the past and has more depth than them. They are about to be in a massive dogfight. And for what it is worth, I'll be shocked if Wade is still playing in a starting role (if at all) in an Eastern Conference Finals at the age of 35.
If you can't see that then I can't help you.
Also Spoelstra proved he was a good coach during the 2012 playoffs. Chris Bosh went down and he had to adjust on the fly as his team found themselves down 2-1 to Pacers(were 0-2 without Bosh to that point). That is when Spoelstra decided to go small ball and play Lebron at the 4. As you would say the rest is history.
Where Spoelstra is at his best is making adjustments in the middle of the series something that Vogel and Brooks are hesitant to do. Battier was in a slump so he took him out the rotation in game 7, NBA Finals 1-3. After game 3 of NBA finals he started Miller, took out Birdman. After game 5, took out Haslem and Cole.
In three NBA Finals Spoelstra has never started the same lineup in every game of a Finals series. Constantly adjusting on the fly. That is his strength and that is why he's a good coach.