NBA Playoffs Round Two Game Thread

Kliq

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Killer third quarter by Indiana, great ball movement, tons of easy shots and layups. Great to see them (hopefully) getting it all back together.
 

Kliq

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All hands on deck for OKC tonight. Ibaka/Westbrook/Durant all playing their best tonight.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Westbrook holds up the Clippers body with the spot-up three and then Durant drives the blade in with a fucking sick turn-around.   Game, blouses.
 

ElUno20

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All the thunder do is shoot jumpers. And its mainly from 2 guys. The grizzlies seem to be the only team in the league to know this
 

AMS25

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ElUno20 said:
All the thunder do is shoot jumpers. And its mainly from 2 guys. The grizzlies seem to be the only team in the league to know this
 
Is that you, Sir Charles? (Barkley makes this same point ad nauseum -- didn't know he was a member of SOSH!)
 

jon abbey

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ElUno20 said:
All the thunder do is shoot jumpers. And its mainly from 2 guys. The grizzlies seem to be the only team in the league to know this
 
Most teams don't have Tony Allen on the perimeter and Marc Gasol in the middle. 
 
OKC and IND have both won 4 out of 5 after going down 3-2 in the first round, it's looking like the top four seeds in the Conference Finals after all. 
 

NWsoxophile

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At the Blazer game, and seeing what the Spurs are doing in person is really impressive. The speed at which they close out defensively is amazing. No Blazer is open for more than a fraction of a second, and they have no answer.
 

NWsoxophile

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BigSoxFan said:
I know the Spurs are good but Portland is garbage. Really wish Houston had won that series.
I don't think that's fair. They're a young, inexperienced team. They finished tied for the 5th best record in the league playing in the western conference and won their first round series without home court advantage. That's not garbage. Obviously they are not equipped to deal with the type of championship level basketball the Spurs are playing. If they keep this up no one will be. The Spurs are scary right now.
 

NWsoxophile

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BigSoxFan said:
Portland's defense has been terrible. They've gotten their asses kicked 3 straight games. Spurs are playing very well but this Portland team looks shitty right now.
2 straight games. This one's not over.
 

jon abbey

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It's just matchups, obviously Portland matches up terribly with San Antonio. OKC swept SA during the regular season this year and won four straight the last time they played in the playoffs, that doesn't make SA 'garbage'. 
 

ElUno20

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The spurs ability to kick a team's ass the entire game with little let up is impressive
 

Nick Kaufman

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I don't think the bench is the Blazers' problem. If anything, the bench should matter more during the regular season and not during the playoffs when rotations tighten up.
 
I don't think that the Blazers are garbage either. I just think that the Spurs are that good when they get rolling.

The Blazers do have a weakness in defense though and may be the Spurs with their fined tuned sets are taking particularly good advantage of them.
 

Kliq

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Anyone else love how Blake Griffin looks EXACTLY what you would think a child from his two parents would look like?
 

ElUno20

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Ive always felt these noon games are complete BS for west coast teams. Most teams out here play their games at the earliest at 7pm. The lakers are the only team that has a steady flow of noon games and 6pm games on Sundays
 

ElUno20

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My clippers are so damn soft. durant is like 180 maybe and him and Westbrook are just having their way. Put somebody on their ass
 

radsoxfan

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Griffin could be called for 20 fouls a game. Overly aggressive, often at the wrong times. 
 

ElUno20

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No one celebrates more for doing what they are paid to do than Russell Westbrook.

There are whistles almost every 10 seconds in this game.
 

NWsoxophile

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BigSoxFan said:
The Blazers' bench has gotten dominated. That's a big problem. Yes, you don't need 10 man rotations come playoff time but you absolutely need consistent scoring from the bench in the playoffs. And the Blazers aren't getting it. From anyone. The Spurs deserve a lot of credit for how they're playing but that doesn't change how poorly the Blazers are playing and you certainly aren't going to beat the Spurs with a non-existent bench. As you mentioned, their defense has been a major issue. I didn't expect Portland to win this series but I did expect them to look competitive. But it's been JV vs. Varsity for 3 straight games.
You've basically identified Portland's weaknesses. Mo Williams is their best player off the bench, and the drop off after him is significant. Last night he was out, leaving them even thinner. The bench has been a major advantage for the Spurs in this series, and the numbers you cite bear that out.
 
Defense is the bigger problem. They've been quite bad throughout the playoffs, and it's not very surprising considering they were one of the worst defensive teams in the league all year, finishing 16th in def.efficiency and 25th in opponent ppg. They really have no defensive identity. They never full court press, rarely trap, don't cause many turnovers, and are pretty much lost against the pick and roll. Coaching is more at issue here than personnel. Matthews and Batum have the potential to be plus defenders, Aldridge is league average, and Lopez is an excellent rim protector. Lillard is a weak defender at this point, but has the athleticism and attitude to be much better. The Blazers have the MLE, but not much cap space and no 1st round pick this summer, so whatever roster changes are made will probably just be tinkering. What they can do is bring in an assistant with defensive expertise to revamp their schemes and simply teach defense better. I disagree that  experience is inconsequential to this team going forward-they've seen a team just hand their asses to them defensively and now know first hand the kind of team wide commitment to defense that's required to go from being a team that can win a round in the playoffs to a team that can contend for a title.
 
The Blazers aren't a finished product, but the Spurs are, and they're a buzz saw clicking on all cylinders at both ends of the floor. If the Blazers were playing to their own ceiling I'm not sure how different these outcomes would be. The Spurs are simply a better team with better coaching, and starting with game 7 round 1 have been flat out exploiting every weakness of their opponents. They have that other gear that truly elite teams have and are  fully in rhythm right now. The Blazers are a young team that totally exceeded expectations and are ahead of schedule. Most people had them at 45-48 wins and competing for an 8th seed. They have a very good young core and a smart gm. Blazer fans should be nothing but stoked for how this season played out and how the future looks for the organization.
 

teezy

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I think JVG's head may have just exploded with the comedy of errors at the end of that Clippers Thunder game. 
 

scottyno

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scott brooks needs to be fired for not fouling on the last possession, that's an insanely inexcusable mistake on a super easy decision and blake bailed them out by shooting way too early
 

radsoxfan

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teezy said:
I think JVG's head may have just exploded with the comedy of errors at the end of that Clippers Thunder game. 
 
Incredible on both sides.  OKC not fouling there, with no timeouts and a 3 second differential, is insane.  
 
The Clippers could have run the shot clock out and shot with 4 seconds on the game clock. If the ball hits the rim, its basically game over.  Of course, they shot too early and almost lost.  
 

soxhop411

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ElUno20 said:
And in LA no one got to see the last 20 seconds. Thanks abc
did your cable box lock up also? I got it on the regular cable but not the box
 

soxhop411

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Yup… Quick Twitter search seems to show that ABC's HD feed froze on those with TWC
 

Brickowski

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In Q2 of the nightcap, the Wizards' old men (Gooden, Harrington, Miller) are definitely outplaying the Pacers' old man (Scola).
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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NWsoxophile said:
You've basically identified Portland's weaknesses. Mo Williams is their best player off the bench, and the drop off after him is significant. Last night he was out, leaving them even thinner. The bench has been a major advantage for the Spurs in this series, and the numbers you cite bear that out.
 
Defense is the bigger problem. They've been quite bad throughout the playoffs, and it's not very surprising considering they were one of the worst defensive teams in the league all year, finishing 16th in def.efficiency and 25th in opponent ppg. They really have no defensive identity. They never full court press, rarely trap, don't cause many turnovers, and are pretty much lost against the pick and roll. Coaching is more at issue here than personnel. Matthews and Batum have the potential to be plus defenders, Aldridge is league average, and Lopez is an excellent rim protector. Lillard is a weak defender at this point, but has the athleticism and attitude to be much better. The Blazers have the MLE, but not much cap space and no 1st round pick this summer, so whatever roster changes are made will probably just be tinkering. What they can do is bring in an assistant with defensive expertise to revamp their schemes and simply teach defense better. I disagree that  experience is inconsequential to this team going forward-they've seen a team just hand their asses to them defensively and now know first hand the kind of team wide commitment to defense that's required to go from being a team that can win a round in the playoffs to a team that can contend for a title.
 
The Blazers aren't a finished product, but the Spurs are, and they're a buzz saw clicking on all cylinders at both ends of the floor. If the Blazers were playing to their own ceiling I'm not sure how different these outcomes would be. The Spurs are simply a better team with better coaching, and starting with game 7 round 1 have been flat out exploiting every weakness of their opponents. They have that other gear that truly elite teams have and are  fully in rhythm right now. The Blazers are a young team that totally exceeded expectations and are ahead of schedule. Most people had them at 45-48 wins and competing for an 8th seed. They have a very good young core and a smart gm. Blazer fans should be nothing but stoked for how this season played out and how the future looks for the organization.
 
I am partial to the Warriors, of course, but I agree with this post wholeheartedly - the Blazers are yet another force in the Western Conference and should be for years to come.  These two rounds will do them good in terms of experience.  I also think Stotts will address their defense and I think you will get improvement from Lillard going forward.   If they can improve at the margins and the Spurs somehow finally age (and they will, as much as it feels like they won't), you may well see the reverse outcome of this series in a few seasons.  
 

HomeRunBaker

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BigSoxFan said:
I know the Spurs are good but Portland is garbage. Really wish Houston had won that series.
What does it speak of the Rockets to lose with home court to a "garbage" team like Portland then? The Blazers problems in this series are the same as Houston would have.......the Spurs are hitting in all f'in cylinders and taking no prisoners.
 

NWsoxophile

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BigSoxFan said:
Not true at all. With Howard and Asik, the Rockets can defend the rim. The Blazers can't. That's a big difference. The Rockets would still lose the series but they would have provided a far better viewing experience. And, for the last time, the "garbage" line was a throwaway line.
C'mon. First of all, rim protection hasn't been the problem for the Blazers in this series. The Blazers have been getting killed on pick and rolls with Parker hitting mid range jumpers all game, every game, and excellent three point shooting by the Spurs. As for the Blazers not being able to protect the rim...they're only leading all teams in blocked shots in the playoffs.
 

radsoxfan

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ISO Joe against Lebron (multiple times in a row), even if Lebron has 5 fouls, is so dumb. 
 

Kliq

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The Nets decision to attack Lebron multiple times down the stretch, even though Ray Allen was guarding Pierce at the same time, was a real bone-headed decision. Also, Garnett is playing with zero confidence in his offensive game right now, hesitant on every jump shot attempt, no matter how open he is.