This is shaping up to be an epic series. Can't wait.




[This message has been edited by Its A Sher Thing (edited 5/23/2012 9:58p).]

Winner of this series wins the 'ship IMO.

Assuming OKC kills of the mf-ing lakers, Spurs/OKC will be the NBA Finals. Should be a highly competitive series. Don't see either team winning in less than 6. Each team will win a road game IMO. I will go Spurs in 7, sweating it out until the very end.

The easy series are over.

Agree with Adam. I see them splitting the first two in SA and the next two in OKC. Series probably boils down to who wins game 5, but I can see either of these teams winning consecutive games.

These are the two best teams in the league, and two of the best three when you look at teams full strength. (Chi would have been the third in that group IMO)

Should be one of the best series played in the last 10 years.

And that Splitter block is glorious! Wow!

SAN ANTONIO (AP) Eighteen wins in a row, and eight more victories to go.

That practically sums it up for the San Antonio Spurs, who returned home Monday after sweeping another playoff series and pushed their winning streak into a tie for the fifth-longest in NBA history.

The Spurs now get their second extended break of the playoffs before opening the Western Conference finals this weekend at the earliest. They'll play either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Oklahoma City, which can advance with a win Monday night.

If the Thunder wins, Game 1 will be Sunday. The Spurs also enjoyed a week to recover between the first and second rounds.

San Antonio is back in the West finals for the first time since 2008.

And could go 8-6 the rest of the way and still win it all.

Does anyone know what the schedule for this series is looking like?

My wife is a HUGE Spurs fan and I am hoping to get to take her to one of these games.

Schedule isn't out yet becuase it's still contingent. However, tix went on sale today.

If the Thunder end the series tonight or in game 6 than game 1 of the WCF will be Sunday. That's all we know for now. It will most likely be Sunday night seeing that TNT has the games on Sunday.

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Does anyone know what the schedule for this series is looking like?

My wife is a HUGE Spurs fan and I am hoping to get to take her to one of these games.

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Are we forgetting something here?

The spurs are really balling right now. There's no really good game plan I can think of defensively if you're OKC. If you're OKC the only thing you can try to do is disrupt the rhythm and timing of their offense as much as possible. I would run some 3/4 and 1/2 court trap defense, not to get a steal, but to try to make them setup later in the shot clock. I would get as physical as the refs allow and take some fouls to get through and around their screens. Also I would go against conventional wisdom and actually minimize my doubling of Duncan and try instead to keep their supporting cast bottled up and let Duncan go one-on-one against Perkins/Nazr/Collison. I would use their 18 fouls to put Duncan on the FT line everytime he's about to dunk. Duncan is going to get his regardless, so I would actually make him go for 40+ every night over a 7-game series and see if he can still carry the load every night on those 36-year old legs.

Offensively, I would push the tempo and try to get easy fast-break points. I would go small for about 10-15 minutes each game and put Durant at the 4 along with Thabo/Harden/Westbrook, and get one of the San antonio bigs (splitter, diaw, bonner) off the floor. Finally on offense, I would be preaching attack-attack-attack. They need to try to get into the lane on every possession. OKC is a great FT-shooting team. They cannot settle for jumpers (I'm talking especially to you westbrook) in this series even if they're open, as the spurs will give them room and bait them into taking them. They need to get in the lane, draw fouls as much as possible (maybe even get duncan in foul trouble), and get to the foul line.

With OKC having no reliable option inside to throw the ball into the Spurs are the ones who have the advantage of controlling the tempo they want to play at. If the Spurs want to slow the game down they just work off of Tim in the post. OKC doesn't have this luxury. Westbrook and Durant are going to throw up jump shots all game because that is their offense. The Spurs have good options on the perimeter to stick on KD and RW with Green,Leonard,Jack,Manu,Tony. A lot of variety there and the Spurs will be able to throw a lot of different looks at those guys.

Harden is actually the player I'm worried about the most.

As he's been all playoffs, Harden is the wildcard here. If this guy gets going and stays aggressive OKC will be tough to defend.

Perk will definitely be important for OKC this series. His defense on Duncan will be huge for OKC this series. Ibaka is a great defender but mainly with his fantastic weak side help and etc. Nazr can't guard Tim.

[This message has been edited by Its A Sher Thing (edited 5/21/2012 9:12p).]

I think tony struggled against the clippers and I could see him having a lot of trouble against OKC.

I'm guessing they will have Westbrook and Hardin on him an those are two very physical players for guards. Not to mention ones he get passed them he's got Perkins and ibaka to worry about.

The size and athleticism of the thunder are going to pose a huge problem for the spurs.

I love the spurs but I don't know that they can get past the thunder.

FWIW Tony had a 42 point game against the Thunder earlier this season.

While you make good points about Harden and Westbrook being guys who could bother him, Tony and the Spurs will be getting a lot of buckets in transition with the Thunder being a jump-shooting team. OKC can't defend Tony any better than the rest of them.

I'd also expect Green to be able to defense Westbrook with Kawhi on Durant. This allows Tony to shade off of Sefolosha and conserve tons of energy for the offensive side of the ball.

Spurs are 8-2 in the last 10 games vs OKC.

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The size and athleticism of the thunder are going to pose a huge problem for the spurs.

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They seemed to handle the size and "lob city" athleticism of the clippers alright.

The Spurs lack size and athleticism against virtually every team in the NBA lol.

We will out execute everyone though.

Think the spurs will try to slow it down at all?

OKC is winning this year by relentlessly going at the basket in combination with knocking down jumpshots

Spurs in 6

Manu vs Harden is going to be fun to watch. Excited for this series.

Spurs fans... haven't watched los spurs too much this year. Who will guard Durant? Is Leonard quick enough?

I hope the spurs absolutely crush OKC, but if OKC pulls off the win, I have no problem rooting for them.

Leonard is more than quick enough. He's strong and he's got great hands. Durant will get his, but he won't be able to take over the way he has against others.

Leonard will guard Durant. I'm sure we'll start Parker out on Westbrook and eventually switch green to him when Parker proves to be inadequate. We need to focus on Westbrook. If we can limit him, the Spurs have a good shot. This series has me nervous. Sunday seems so far away.

Nightmare series for Stern by the way.

Game 1 is Sunday at 7 PM CT

So far in the playoffs it looks like Diaw was the best late season pick up. This is a series where Jackson can really shine though, on both sides.

Really hope Patty/Blair get some PT in this series
Patty is super quick, I know he lacks experience but I think he deserves a shot

Blair has had some huge games in OKC, but their bigs right now just don't bode well for him.