2016 WCF: Warriors vs. Spu- sorry, Thunder

[Lamrock]

What the hell just happened? No seriously, I didn't catch games 5 or 6...

Sketchy calls aside, OKC has proven themselves to be contenders. However, I don't see them stopping a healthy Warriors team. GS in 5 very competitive games

[Andrew]

I'll also say Warriors in five, though I have a feeling their four wins won't be that competitive by the end. Curry's knee will hold up just fine, and the Thunder won't have any answer to his onslaught.

[NovU]

Wow. The Thudner made it to the finals a few years ago. This team is minus Harden but upgraded elsewhere. Possibly they will be a serious challenger to 73 wins warriors team. Nice!!!

That said GSW in 4.

[JaoSming]

Warriors in 6

[Phil89]

This could be epic. I've always thought that a healthy OKC matches up well against the Warriors. Steven Adams vs Draymond Green should be a good little battle within a battle.

I'll go OKC in 7 again. It seemed to work for the Spurs series

[[Q]]

Thank God, I can now root for Curry and the Warriors guilt-free

[shadowgrin]

I want the Sonics to win this so they can reach the Finals and have their dreams crushed by LeBron again.

Westbrook one 40-point game and one triple-double game incoming.

[air gordon]

wonder what Donovan has up his sleeve for this series? Kanter/Adams duo and the switching defense were instrumental in the previous series win

how many minutes does roberson get and effectively let curry rest on defense??

i hope this series doesn't go 7. hate to see the West winner limping to the finals while the cavs steamroll whatever fodder they face

[Kevin]

OKC in 6

[NovU]

Perhaps this is for the better. Durant is second best player in the league. Not LBJ, not Kawhi, it's Durant at this point. We get to see battle between best and second best players going at each other. Both got pretty damn good teammates too. Pretty good match ups everyehere. This is just interesting series.

i hope this series doesn't go 7. hate to see the West winner limping to the finals while the cavs steamroll whatever fodder they face

Same here. Cavs last year has excuse as Love and Irving could not play. I hope both finalists will be at their full strength throughout the finals.

[PeacemanNOT]

Warriors in 5.

Spurs were the only team that could beat the Warriors in a 7 game series IMO.

[stereoxide]

Warriors in 5 also. It is hard to believe to win against the 73-9 Warriors 4 times in a series especially that Curry is regaining his form.

[I Hate Mondays]

Thunder in 6 with a little bit of hero-ball from Durant

[CT4]

Thunder in 7 because I want KD and Russ get NBA trophy.

[Andrew]

Warriors are clicking, Thunder are turning it over and playing woefully soft interior defense. If this sets the tone for the series, can't see them picking up a single win. Warriors are answering every run with a harder punch of their own.

[NovU]

True gap between these two teams might be smaller than what I initially thought. When KD and RW are on the floor together, this team might be as good as anybody. This isn't regular season so more minutes for them so this top heavy Thunder team were actually as good as Spurs even in statistical sense.

Let's see how the Warriors can put them to sleep. Fourth quarter and tied in game 1, I am expecting some dramatic end. Shit, let's go.

EDIT: Durant choking? missed 7or8 shots in a row

EDIT: Spoke too soon. He nails a dagger. LoL @ GSW. Why can't they just let Curry run the play ffs.

[zz21]

OKC IN 4 IDC IDC IDC

[NovU]

Warriors are clicking, Thunder are turning it over and playing woefully soft interior defense. If this sets the tone for the series, can't see them picking up a single win. Warriors are answering every run with a harder punch of their own.

Well done again. Well done. Jinxdrew is back in business.

[Andrew]

Westbrook got away with a travel at the end, but bad calls both ways here and there throughout. As my old coach used to say all those years ago, if you want to win, you can't rely on the referees getting all the calls right. You can point to the bad calls, but to do so is ignoring turnovers, missed shots, and defensive breakdowns. Great effort by the Thunder.

If every game is like that, this is going to be a great series. As far as the end result though, I'm reminded of the Bulls and the Heat in 2011, when the Bulls took Game 1, and then lost four straight. Granted, the Thunder have a couple of better offensive weapons than that Bulls team, but I can still see it happening. The Warriors are that good, and that resilient. I picked them in 5, and I'll stand by that. At least the Thunder would go down swinging in that scenario, if the rest of the series is like Game 1.

[Phil89]

Massive win. Hopefully Reggie Miller is eating some humble pie right now after basically saying that OKC would choke away another lead with 5 minutes left.

Credit to Durant. Even though he was stinking up the building with his misses in the fourth quarter, he still made a crucial shot late on.

@okcthunder
That's 3 straight road wins for Thunder (2 SA, 1 GSW) Rest of NBA had 3 combined wins v those teams on their home floors all season.

[Andrew]

He also claimed that Ibaka is the best shooter on the Thunder. It's not fair, really; with Webber missing the game, Reggie had no competition in the Terrible Commentator Contest.

[air gordon]

True gap between these two teams might be smaller than what I initially thought. When KD and RW are on the floor together, this team might be as good as anybody. This isn't regular season so more minutes for them so this top heavy Thunder team were actually as good as Spurs even in statistical sense.

Let's see how the Warriors can put them to sleep. Fourth quarter and tied in game 1, I am expecting some dramatic end. Shit, let's go.

EDIT: Durant choking? missed 7or8 shots in a row

EDIT: Spoke too soon. He nails a dagger. LoL @ GSW. Why can't they just let Curry run the play ffs.

KD and Westy went 17-51 and they still won. that may be the biggest surprise stat from game 1. Adams was the hero and hats off to Roberson+Waiters picking up the slack while KD was lost

i was having doubts the switch on everything defense which worked against the spurs could be executed successfully against GSW. Kerr's turn to make the adjustment.

ignoring turnovers, missed shots, and defensive breakdowns

the TO"s were huge. i thought there was less ball movement for GSW in the 4th. Not sure if that was on purpose though haha. which defensive breakdowns are you referring to?

when the Bulls took Game 1, and then lost four straight. Granted, the Thunder have a couple of better offensive weapons than that Bulls team, but I can still see it happening. The Warriors are that good, and that resilient.

interesting choice of comparison. thanks for rehashing bad memories lol. why not reference OKC vs Spurs in the previous series? let's see what happens the next game. it's unlikely GSW plays poorly down the stretch and KD shoots like he's Derozan.

[Andrew]

the TO"s were huge. i thought there was less ball movement for GSW in the 4th. Not sure if that was on purpose though haha. which defensive breakdowns are you referring to?

Exactly, they were a huge factor, just as they were for the Thunder in the first half. That's what I was getting at: fans love to blame the officials and declare that bad calls decided the game. Doing so ignores all of the mistakes the team that lost made. Blown calls don't make winning any easier, but they're a scapegoat that allows disappointed fans to gloss over a team's shortcomings. The Warriors could've blown that game wide open in the second half - and credit to the Thunder's resiliency and defensive efforts here - but instead, they kind of blew it.

I mentioned defensive breakdowns as another example of what fans overlook when they pin losses on the quality of the officiating. I'd say the Thunder had more breakdowns than the Warriors did, rotating late and letting Golden State get a lot of easy looks inside, which were rarely challenged with any kind of physicality.

[air gordon]

i'd say the Thunder had more breakdowns than the Warriors did, rotating late and letting Golden State get a lot of easy looks inside, which were rarely challenged with any kind of physicality.

i thought Adams was excellent protecting the paint, specifically in the 4th, contesting thompson's drive to the basket late in the game.

aside from the plays where GSW exploited Kanter defending the PnR and him rotating weakside to the perimeter, what other plays are you referring to? maybe barbosa driving past foye? the double back door screen set for thompson (only remembered that after i saw a replay of the highlights)?

give a little credit to GSW. Kerr runs a good system. thompson hit some tough drives/post ups and those quick release 3pt bombs by he and Curry was indefensible.

[Andrew]

In the first half, they seemed to be playing pretty soft interior defense. Like I said, they weren't putting a body on players who were getting to the rim, barely seeming to even challenge some of the attempts. I thought they tightened it up in the second half.