Watching the Thunder it's crazy to me that
a) it's so easy to take one of the best scorers in the league completely out of the game by using ball denial
b) that both Mike Woodson and Scotty Brooks, who are getting paid millions and no doubt have forgotten more about the game than I know can't conceive of a way to get their franchise players the damn ball
so frustrating watching Westbrook stand for lik 8 seconds plus just staring at KD and not being able to get him the ball
Totally reminds me of what the Celts did to the Knicks/Melo
Is it just me?
Don't discount how great Miami is at team D.
MSG3 wrote:Don't discount how great Miami is at team D.
They got the whole town on lockdown like Sampson.
MSG3 wrote:Don't discount how great Miami is at team D.
I agree. I thought it was the Spurs year and OKC dominated that series. OKC is young. I think there is a good chance these teams meet again next year.
CrushAlot wrote:MSG3 wrote:Don't discount how great Miami is at team D.
I agree. I thought it was the Spurs year and OKC dominated that series. OKC is young. I think there is a good chance these teams meet again next year.
OKC beat 3 very good teams to get to this point. Say what you want about the close games and bad officiating, but Miami got stops and took kep players out of their game when they needed to.
OKC will win a title there is no doubt. I'd say miami may have another 2-3 years since wade is still great but he is starting to break down a little. Unfortunetly the knicks dont have a long timt table to win so its gnna be very difficult
MSG3 wrote:Don't discount how great Miami is at team D.
They are only great when playing Durant they were so so against Melo. On the real. The series is similar no one else making outside shots. Harden=Smith, Fisher=Bibby, on top of that Lin was out and Shump went bye bye. Whatever no excuses.
Up until they ran into Miami, OKC was doing a great job of moving the ball around and finding the open man. They were doing a better job of it than even the Spurs. That all seemed to go out the window against the Heat.
GustavBahler wrote:Up until they ran into Miami, OKC was doing a great job of moving the ball around and finding the open man. They were doing a better job of it than even the Spurs. That all seemed to go out the window against the Heat.
Battier is just a pest that knows how to play D. I know Lebron gets props about his D but to me he is not a great on the ball defender like Battier is.
You're talking about a guy who averaged 31 PPG on 55% shooting?
MSG3 wrote:Don't discount how great Miami is at team D.
True. They are great on D.
It's still so crazy to me that Scott Brooks, a former PG couldn't find ways to get Durant the ball or take advantage of Battier/Lebron focusing on denying Durant the ball.
I know they had some effectiveness having Westbrook or another small set a screen for him to come off of but I guess they can't just run that every time down? I'm sure Brooks will watch film and figure it out.
I don't want to be one of those of the coach is just an idiot types but it still bugged the hell out of me cuz I was rooting for Miami to go dowwwwn
Hats off though..best team with the best player who executed down the stretch won.
Durant has to hit the weights Lebron and Battier kept pushing him out of the box
I've dissed Spoelstra in the past, but after watching the finals and playoffs, I have to say that the Heat offense does some really smart things and much of it is just player movement and timely passing. The Heat have been killing teams with the spread offense, PnR but with a twist. They use that as a diversion as they flash Lebron or Wade or Bosh under the basket and whip a pass to them in prime scoring position. They used that over and over again. They also use post ups by Lebron and off ball motion to setup their wide open 3's off curls. These are TEAM BB plays that we saw the Knicks run for a while too, but then we went away from it. It just proved to me that this is an effective way of playing when you don't have a C/PF with a post game and you want to get easy scores. Most teams at the elite level will not let you run basic plays like ISO or PnR, so you have to use some misdirection plays like mentioned above. This can work with Lin, Melo and STAT along with the other players.
One other thing has become clear to me and that is that you must have experience when you get to the Finals. You need some players that have matured and understand how to play winning ball. This is why I now fully endorse efforts to bring in Nash. This team needs a leader that is ready to win NOW!!! I love Lin, but he's still got so much to learn and he will likely still be learning if we get to the ECF's. For right now this team needs a Steve Nash to lead the team and run the show. I think this team could really be a force with a player like Nash that has the experience and still has enough game to play at a high level. That would also be a great mentor for Lin.
Mray20 wrote:Durant has to hit the weights Lebron and Battier kept pushing him out of the box
To bad we cant take Melos fat on put it on Durant
