quote:
First adjustment Pop needs to make is start Boris Diaw. He can draw Ibaka away from the basket and create more spacing and we can run the offense through him. It hurts our defense, but our normally stout starters have been getting torched the last two games anyways, and Boris is respectable on D. Moving Tiago to the secon unit allows him to run pick and roll with Manu, where they're both very good and it gives the second unit a better rebounding presence and rim protector.
Agree, but get ready... I was thinking that maybe Bonner should get a few minutes when Ibaka is in. He is a good enough defender that none of the Thunder post players will abuse him too badly for 3-6 minutes at a time and you have to respect him more than Diaw at the three point line. Diaw has been passing up a lot of threes lately.
quote:
I also think Corey Joseph has earned some minutes. I'm not ready to give up on Mills, because Patty is capable of going off from the 3 point line at any time, but if he's not hitting then Cojo needs to get the backup PG minutes. Patty is tenacious and gives a ton of effort, but the big guards of OKC are abusing him on D. Cojo is a pretty good on ball defender and is bigger and more able to handle Westbrook and Jackson. On the offensive end, he's not amazing, but every time he's been in the game, whether it be in garbage time against scrubs or last night against OKC's starters, he's been aggressive and attacked the paint fearlessly.
I've been something of a CoJo hater, but he has played fairly well this playoffs in garbage time. Westbrook abused him, but he has shown some versatility on offense. I think that is at least partly because the Thunder don't respect him at all (although maybe Ibaka does a little now!), but Mills hasn't sniffed the paint this series. At least Joseph will drive.
quote:
The biggest thing San Antonio needs to do is take care of the ball. OKC overplayed passing lanes all over the place last night, and we played right into it. Back cuts are supposed to be a staple of motion offenses, but there wasn't any last night. These turnovers also led directly to OKC getting out in transition and getting easy buckets. If we stop committing so many dumb turnovers, we can get back and force the thunder to play in the half court.
Yes. The Spurs got sloppy with the ball, and it was mostly TP and Manu. Protect it a little better and those reach around steal attempts turn into open shots for the Spurs instead of fast break dunks for OKC. I think the Spurs a) forgot how fast Westbrook is, and b) didn't fix it because they assumed he wouldn't keep trying it.
