This Thunder - Spurs game is getting IN-tents.
- Thread starter lawdawg02
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Don't love playoff basketball. By the time the conference finals roll around, it's pretty entertaining.
James Harden just drilled a bad *** 3.
James Harden just drilled a bad *** 3.
I get how some folks don't care for the regular season but I don't see how any basketball fan could not enjoy watching this. I am a die hard Laker fan but I have enjoyed the hell out of these playoffs. The games have been close and the intensity has been through the roof.
here in Huntsville talking about how these have been the most boring and uninteresting playoffs in a decade. He's full of ****, they've been great. And TNT's coverage is pretty good.
Both these series have been high quality and entertaining. I'm a Heat fan. Wish Bosh would get back on the court.
Both these series have been high quality and entertaining. I'm a Heat fan. Wish Bosh would get back on the court.
Didn't watch any of the primetime matchups on Christmas Day. OnlyNBA basketball Isaw was on highlights on ESPN.But slowly I got sucked back in with about 20 games left in the season and now I haven't missed a single playoff game. I'm not a hardcore NBA fan, but to me the NBA playoffs is must watch tv.
that the Thunder do not make it this far without Westbrook taking those shots? I just don't get it...
I hope Durant comes in and, well, steals his <span style="font-style: italic;">thunder</span>, and his "NOT FIVE, NOT SIX, NOT SEVEN" titles. He's one of very few elite NBA players that doesn't act like a pompous *******.
i kind of liked him back when he played for Cleveland but i don't really care for him since he moved to Miami. I think the combo of Durant, Westbrook, and Hardin is the real big three. they had a combined 70 points tonight. I also like that Durant seems like a humble player at least while on camera.
is a little over the top. Harden is a guy who can play 3differentpositions and can guard 3 sometimes even 4differentpositions. Second youngest sixth man of the year ever.<div>
</div><div>Ibaka is GREAT big man, that is true, but they have to have Perkins because Ibaka isn't the total package. I think he will evolve into a complete player but being as streaky as he is now I don't think you can put him on the same level as Harden. Not yet at least.<div>
</div><div>Will they be able to keep Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka? Well Durant and Westbrook are locked down, Ibaka is a great young big man who as stated above may develop into a top 5 type player..... I think you let Harden move on to start somewhere. No fault of his at all. Hisversatilitycan be used in a starting line up somewhere also.</div></div>
</div><div>Ibaka is GREAT big man, that is true, but they have to have Perkins because Ibaka isn't the total package. I think he will evolve into a complete player but being as streaky as he is now I don't think you can put him on the same level as Harden. Not yet at least.<div>
</div><div>Will they be able to keep Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka? Well Durant and Westbrook are locked down, Ibaka is a great young big man who as stated above may develop into a top 5 type player..... I think you let Harden move on to start somewhere. No fault of his at all. Hisversatilitycan be used in a starting line up somewhere also.</div></div>
I don't think they will be able to keep Ibaka, Harden, Westbrook, and Durant all on the same team. Hardin seems like a guy that could go somewhere else and get a lot more playing time and a much bigger check than what he is getting at OKC. That being said, i wish OKC could keep them all. I really hope that they are this decade's team.
Durant is going to make about $16M and is locked up through 2015, Ibaka is only making roughly $2M with options through 2013, and Westbrook is making about $5M this year and is a free agent next year.<div>
</div><div>That being said, I don't think they can not Resign Westbrook and have the same firepower going forward. After 2013, or going into it since Harden and Ibaka have options that year, things willprobablyget shaken up. Perkins is making $7M this year and his number goes to $8.4M but 2013 and he is locked up until 2014 so Ibaka may be who they have to cut loose.</div><div>
</div><div>http://www.spotrac.com/nba/oklahoma-city-thunder/
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</div><div>That being said, I don't think they can not Resign Westbrook and have the same firepower going forward. After 2013, or going into it since Harden and Ibaka have options that year, things willprobablyget shaken up. Perkins is making $7M this year and his number goes to $8.4M but 2013 and he is locked up until 2014 so Ibaka may be who they have to cut loose.</div><div>
</div><div>http://www.spotrac.com/nba/oklahoma-city-thunder/
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Incognegro said:
It is not so much that Westbrook shouldn't be taking shots. Its just thattoo often Durant goes long stretches of games without ever getting theball. Westbrook is a great player but the Thunder are much better when he only takes 15-20 shots as opposed to 25-30 shots.
even though i think Ibaka is important to the team, i think he would be the right person to move. like i said though. got to keep everybody happy and that is hard to do in the NBA these days. some of these guys will start to think they deserve to be "the guy" and want bigger money if they win the title this year. good teams are tough to keep together. </p>
But to be honest... I was about to agree with you and just let it be, but I decided to look at the stats just to see how often he shot between 25 to 30 times and what the outcome was...<div id="LCS_336D0C35_8A85_403a_B9D2_65C292C39087_communicationDiv"></div><div>
</div><div>In the regular season, he shot between 25 to 30 in 11 games and the Thunder went 5 out of 11 in those games. However, in the postseason, he's only shot between 25 to 30 (26 and 25) twice and those were the 5th and 6th games against the Lakers, and regardless of what anybody says, he was pivotal in those wins.</div><div>
</div><div>So total... the Thunder are 7 out of 13 when he shoots between the numbers you dished out. The only thing I can think that is an issue in the losses is possibly assists. In losses, he averaged 4.3 assists and 4.7 turnovers, but in wins he averaged 6.4 assists and 2 turnovers.</div><div>
</div><div>Even though that's such a small sample size, the issue doesn't seem to be too much if he takes a copious amount of shots as it is if he's dishing the ball and taking care of the ball as well as taking those shots. The only anomalies in those games were a 7 assist, 3 turnover night against the Wizards and a 6 assist, 2 turnover night against San Antonio.</div><div>
</div><div>My only issue with Westbrook isn't that he takes a lot of shots, it's more of the shots being bad choices, and he's cut down on those tremendously, especially late in critical games. Last night was proof of that. Russell has learned when to step back and let Harden and/or Durant do what they have to do when his shot isn't falling and theirs are.</div>
</div><div>In the regular season, he shot between 25 to 30 in 11 games and the Thunder went 5 out of 11 in those games. However, in the postseason, he's only shot between 25 to 30 (26 and 25) twice and those were the 5th and 6th games against the Lakers, and regardless of what anybody says, he was pivotal in those wins.</div><div>
</div><div>So total... the Thunder are 7 out of 13 when he shoots between the numbers you dished out. The only thing I can think that is an issue in the losses is possibly assists. In losses, he averaged 4.3 assists and 4.7 turnovers, but in wins he averaged 6.4 assists and 2 turnovers.</div><div>
</div><div>Even though that's such a small sample size, the issue doesn't seem to be too much if he takes a copious amount of shots as it is if he's dishing the ball and taking care of the ball as well as taking those shots. The only anomalies in those games were a 7 assist, 3 turnover night against the Wizards and a 6 assist, 2 turnover night against San Antonio.</div><div>
</div><div>My only issue with Westbrook isn't that he takes a lot of shots, it's more of the shots being bad choices, and he's cut down on those tremendously, especially late in critical games. Last night was proof of that. Russell has learned when to step back and let Harden and/or Durant do what they have to do when his shot isn't falling and theirs are.</div>
The incredible thing about Harden, Durant, and Westbrook is their ages. They are so young by NBA standards to be as good as they are. Westbrook and Hardencan be damn near unstoppable at times just like Durant.However, all three can get so much better. Its scary for the rest of the NBA. I think they will roll the Spurs in game 6 in OKC.
Tough to be pivotal in a game that never took placeIncognegro said:
I know you meant games 4 and 5. Westbrook is a good scorer, but just like Carmelo Anthony, he's only as good as the superstars around him. He's been declining in assists per game (down from 8.2 APG last year to 5.5 this year) while his turnovers have seen a slight jump. He's a good player, but I think the Thunder would be as good if not better with a Rondo-like PG. A guy that looks to give the ball up to the scorers first, and then takes the lead if he/they aren't open. If you simply look at the performances in the losses, Westbrook's FG% drops from almost 45% in wins to 38.8% in losses, while his APG goes from almost 6 to 4.5. <div></div>
of shots he takes. He tries to make to much out of nothing sometimes and stalls out. Something else that kills me about him is how he tries to jam everyone of his putbacks, if he just went for the easy bucket.... he did it twice in game one in key second half situations.<div>
</div><div>I look at him as a more leathal Derrick Rose. To me Rose is just a driver with a mid range game. Westbrook has more of a all around game than Rose to me. Thats a whole other debate.</div>
</div><div>I look at him as a more leathal Derrick Rose. To me Rose is just a driver with a mid range game. Westbrook has more of a all around game than Rose to me. Thats a whole other debate.</div>
I will say this though... I'm not so much sure the Thunder would be legitimately better with a Rondo type point guard. At best, they'll probably be about the same. The main reason I say that is because the Thunder was the third leading scoring team in the league for a reason, and it wasn't because of their assists. Although Westbrook's assists have gone down, his field goal attempts, makes and percentages has gone up to increase his ppg about as much as his assists have gone down.<div>
</div><div>With the way the Thunder are, they need his scoring. There's only a handful of things that I see them needing to improve themselves thus far and that would be some type of postup game, less turnovers, more consistent scoring from Ibaka, and one more player that can make his own shot off the bench. Maynor, before he got injured, seemed like he may be that other player off the bench other than Harden that could make those shots, the better Ibaka gets, the better his shooting will be, they seem like they're getting a hold of their turnovers, but the only thing I'm really concerned about is their postup game.</div><div>
</div><div>They're not going to get any postup play from Perkins, and as long as he has the ball in his hands, he's an offensive liability. Maybe if they got a JaVale McGee type player (young, athletic with plenty of room for improvement) then that might help their lack of a post play in the future. This is all to say the possibility that all 4 of their central pieces stay together obviously.</div>
</div><div>With the way the Thunder are, they need his scoring. There's only a handful of things that I see them needing to improve themselves thus far and that would be some type of postup game, less turnovers, more consistent scoring from Ibaka, and one more player that can make his own shot off the bench. Maynor, before he got injured, seemed like he may be that other player off the bench other than Harden that could make those shots, the better Ibaka gets, the better his shooting will be, they seem like they're getting a hold of their turnovers, but the only thing I'm really concerned about is their postup game.</div><div>
</div><div>They're not going to get any postup play from Perkins, and as long as he has the ball in his hands, he's an offensive liability. Maybe if they got a JaVale McGee type player (young, athletic with plenty of room for improvement) then that might help their lack of a post play in the future. This is all to say the possibility that all 4 of their central pieces stay together obviously.</div>
Ibaka is a shot-blocking machine, he can guard 4s, 5s, and some 3s.. he's the reason they're so good on defense bc neither Durant or Westbrook are great defenders on the perimeter. His offense is a work in-progress but so is Perkins'. He's like another Tyson Chandler (the real reason Dallas won the title last year)