If I am Durant, I am looking hard at Portland in addition to San Antonio, Golden State and Boston.
General Playoff Thread: The Long 2nd Season
- Thread starter ElUno20
- Start date
Bravo to this Blazers team. Looking forward to see if they can snag a star this offseason. Not sure if Durant even thinks about coming over. Nike would love it, obvious Blazer fans would. The West is just a meat grinder.
Portland seems similar to the Celtics, maybe a little ahead at this point. Lillard/Thomas, Aminu/Crowder, Mccollum/Bradley all seem like reasonable comps. Like Sully Plumlee is a big who rebounds and is a good passer, although Plumlee can at least get up and down the court. Turner and Henderson/Crabbe fill similar roles. Lots of young players coming together and playing hard. I really like both teams, and hope they can grow.
Major difference being that Portland doesn't have nearly as many draft assets. Going to be much harder for them to make significant improvements to the team.
I think it's a bit of a worrying sign for the Warriors that Portland was so hard to kill off. SA/OKC will present different challenges, and having a healthier Curry will help a lot, but they will need to play better, especially on defense, in the next round.
I mean, Porland played their asses off and won one game.
Game One was never in doubt.
Game Two was ended on a huge run stating with 5 minutes left and didn't have Curry. It was a great comeback, Portland had them on their heels.
Game Three no Curry and Portland at home played a great game.
Game Four Portland blew it, but GS made them pay for not finishing them off. Curry with an otherworldly game, but that isn't exactly out of the ordinary this year, is it?
Game Five was a great game by 2 great teams and the better team won.
I wouldn't say that this series showed any sign to worry. They are still the prohibitive favorite and if they lose to anyone, it will be a huge upset.
I don't think the Lillard/Thomas or the Mccollum/Bradley comparisons are reasonable. Mccollum is a guy you can give the ball to and depend on to create his own shot, and that has tremendous value in this league.
No, he looks like fellow kiwi Jemaine Clement as Vladislav in What We Do In The Shadows:
If OKC is gonna beat the Spurs like this, they have to keep it up during the next round. That's the deal. If they revert to playing like shit against the Warriors I'm gonna be so mad at them.
I agree. We all agree. But we all know they'll have multiple 4th quarters squandered to poor execution and disorganization.
The spurs were the match for the warriors between the ears. The thunder are the match athletically. I hope they do show up but I have my doubts.
It'd be crazy if the Thunder actually won the title given all the talk about how their window was closed and Kevin Durant is all but gone and headed to GS or SA or w/e. Long way off from that, but any team with Westbrook and Durant can win on any given night.
It's a way to bond with his Turkish bro, Enes Kanter. They both grew mustaches this season and call themselves the Stache Brothers.
This will be remembered as the year (month? ) the Spurs finally got old. Father time is still undefeated.
If OKC gets through the Spurs and Warriors, it'll be pretty close, but I think home court advantage would still tilt it towards the Cavs.
I'm a Thunder fan, but CLE would be favored in such a series. Of course, San Antonio was favored in THIS series. (Only two of the ESPN experts picked OKC, and one of them was Royce Young, who is a homer and proprietor of the Daily Thunder.)
Congrats, AMS. Hell of a performance by your guys. Durant is really going to have to think twice about leaving.
Thanks, BigSoxFan. If it's any consolation to you, the Spurs might have a really *interesting* off-season, which may keep you entertained. The Spurs are a classy team, as are its fans.
Well, I'm a Celtics fan first so hopefully the Spurs stay low key. I think Conley makes sense for them. Parker looks old and slow and they really need some more playmakers on offense. Kawhi has improved a lot in that department but he still looks out of sorts a bit at times when forced to make plays off the dribble.
I had the same thought. No one seemed to question it but it happened literally on the other end of the court and Anderson didn't even pretend to be taking a shot.
Congrats AMS25. I think the Warriors will win in six but, then again, I thought that the Spurs would handle OKC fairly easily so what do I know. I think Adams' progression was a key part of this series and makes the Thunder a lot deeper. And if they can get 2016 playoff Waiters to continue to show up, they have a chance to make this a very interesting series.
Aside from KD going to Boston, the best possible outcome is for him to stay in OKC with Westbrook long-term. Its a great fan-base that deserves to see their team win at least one championship. Unfortunately the front-office hasn't, to date, made the sort of moves that would help the team get to that goal. Regardless of this series, they should be opening up their wallet with the cap going up this offseason.
Aside from KD going to Boston, the best possible outcome is for him to stay in OKC with Westbrook long-term. Its a great fan-base that deserves to see their team win at least one championship. Unfortunately the front-office hasn't, to date, made the sort of moves that would help the team get to that goal. Regardless of this series, they should be opening up their wallet with the cap going up this offseason.
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