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***2021-2022 NBA Season Thread***


RonArtest15

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I'm not sure the Thunder can score efficiently enough to beat the Warriors and the advantages they had against the Spurs aren't really there against the Warriors.

I don't know... OKC is a lot bigger and more athletic than Golden State too. Their length and athleticism and incredible playmaking ability would give anyone problems. I don't know if they have the shooting to hang with GS. But I also don't know that GS has the size to hang with OKC if they manage to muck the game up and have these 80 point affairs like they did with San Antonio. OKC was locked in on defense this series and they destroyed SAs beautiful offense. If they keep playing defense like that, GS is going to have a tough time scoring on them too since they don't have any go to inside scoring.

The OKC guys are a lot tougher than anyone else in the West that GS has or could have faced. And they're just as experienced, if not more experienced than GS. And they have the second and third best players in the NBA, which apparently matters a lot. Westbrook and Durant are relentless. They don't stop making plays.

I think GS is in for a much tougher series than anyone would have expected at the beginning of the postseason.

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I don't know... OKC is a lot bigger and more athletic than Golden State too. Their length and athleticism and incredible playmaking ability would give anyone problems. I don't know if they have the shooting to hang with GS. But I also don't know that GS has the size to hang with OKC if they manage to muck the game up and have these 80 point affairs like they did with San Antonio. OKC was locked in on defense this series and they destroyed SAs beautiful offense. If they keep playing defense like that, GS is going to have a tough time scoring on them too since they don't have any go to inside scoring.

The OKC guys are a lot tougher than anyone else in the West that GS has or could have faced. And they're just as experienced, if not more experienced than GS. And they have the second and third best players in the NBA, which apparently matters a lot. Westbrook and Durant are relentless. They don't stop making plays.

I think GS is in for a much tougher series than anyone would have expected at the beginning of the postseason.

 

OKC is bigger but does that really help them?  Teams have tried to go big on the Warriors before, and the end result is usually a mismatch in the Warriors favor.  The Spurs pass well, extremely so, but the Warriors force defenses to switch on the perimeter more often because Klay and Curry only need a foot of space to get a shot off.  Those OKC bigs are going to have to play in space and Kanter/Adams/Ibaka aren't terribly nimble.  If they don't switch the Warriors will rain down threes, there is no way around it.

 

I'm not sure OKC is much more athletic.  Who exactly is the athletic mismatch?  I'm not seeing Green on Durant type of mismatch like we just saw against the Spurs.  

 

Curry - Roberson

Thompson - Westbrook

Iguodala - Durant

Barnes - Ibaka

Green - Adams

 

I agree that this is going to be a tough series, but I think it favors the Warriors.  This series will come down to scoring efficiency and I think the Warriors will win that.  The Cavs are going to be well rested and waiting for the winner and hoping they get to play the Thunder (who I think they'd beat fairly easily).   

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Durant finally toppling Lebron would be a nice consolation if the Warriors can't seal the deal.

As long as Cleveland remains in misery

 

I'm convinced the Cavs would crush the Thunder.  Styles make fights as they say and I don't think the Thunder match up with the Cavs well at all.  Primarily because I think Lebron can guard Durant on key possession and Durant is far less capable of doing the same. 

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I want the Warriors to beat the brakes off the Thunder.  LOL.
 

I'm just hoping that we see a Durant/Westbrook implosion...which would hopefully push KD towards making my pipe dream of him signing in DC, a reality LOL. 

 

But seriously, with the way that both KD/Russ are playing and with the emergence of Kanter/Adams, this series could go either way.  It would be FANTASTIC for the league if this goes 7.  This is going to be an absolute treat to watch.  The "real" finals, if you ask me. 

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I think OKC is going to run the same strategy on Golden State that Cleveland used to push them to six last summer. Slow the game to a halfcourt grind to limit your own turnovers, run out when the Warriors commit theirs, have Durant and Westbrook go into hyper chucking mode like LeBron did, and kill them on the glass.

OKC has a similar construction and style to Cleveland's, except that they basically have two LeBrons to work with.

I think this series goes 7 and that it'll come down to Golden State taking care of business at home. But the Thunder are locked in and peaking right now. Durant and Westbrook are tough. They just out-playoff-basketballed the Spurs, of all teams. Crazy. This is going to be good.

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The Spurs are lucky they're in the same season as GSW. No one will remember that this 67 win team, that chased history in their own right, got bounced in the 2nd round and lost 2 of the last 3 by 14. In games that werent even that close. Already, the conversation shifted to who's retiring or not.

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I think OKC is going to run the same strategy on Golden State that Cleveland used to push them to six last summer. Slow the game to a halfcourt grind to limit your own turnovers, run out when the Warriors commit theirs, have Durant and Westbrook go into hyper chucking mode like LeBron did, and kill them on the glass.

 

I will believe that OKC will successfully stick to a grind it out game plan when I see it, and not a moment before.  Westbrook and Durant love jacking up contested shots early and often, if they had to grind out a game they'd look like two toddlers given a time out.   

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Whether or not the win the series, I think GS will get a serious wake-up call early. They have gone up against cans for the most part. OKC just took out probably the greatest Spurs team ever in 6 games.

This is gonna be interesting.

That was not the greatest Spurs team ever.

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I'm just going by the age of the big 3. Yeah, they won a ton of games, but in the end, their age appeared to be showing.

 

This season Duncan, Parker, and Manu averaged 23 points per game in the playoffs combined.  The last year they won the title they averaged 48, and did so with better a much better fg%.  The Spurs fought off father time longer than most but it all finally caught up to them.

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Widely overlooked is the fact that the Spurs actual stars at this point (Aldridge/Leonard) basically went into witness protection.

They also didn't get buckets from their role players

I thought Duncan played well last night. But all anyone will remember was that sad rejection by Ibaka

Edited by Mr. Sinister
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