****Western Conference Finals - Spurs vs. Thunder****

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Brian Earl Spilner
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3:25p, 5/30/14
AG
Also, this quote about last year's finals.

quote:
"From the second Game 6 was over and he was out of the locker room, [Popovich] was focused on, 'We gotta play well in Game 7.' We feel like we actually played better in Game 7 than we did in Game 6 ... and that's because of the meal we had afterward with all the players and their families. Everybody cried, everybody *****ed, everything you do after something like that. But Pop was at every table, touching every player, relating to all their loved ones, sharing the emotions of that moment and moving on to what was going to happen in Game 7.
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Knife_Party
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3:39p, 5/30/14
I was watching some old highlights from the late 90's of some Spurs playoff games. Pop was one angry dude back then who constantly yelled at the refs and his players. He still looks like an angry dude, but man has his coaching style changed.
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Chipotlemonger
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3:55p, 5/30/14
AG
Anyone else just not being that productive today at work? Game got me amped up last night and I have spent a **** ton of time just talking basketball with the fellas. Spurs fan in Dallas.

Hoping we put the OKC Clowns DOWN tomorrow night.
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DTP02
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4:04p, 5/30/14
AG
Does Brooks even feel compelled to make adjustments in game 6, or does he trust that his team is going to play much better (and the Spurs play worse) in OKC, as per the pattern of this series so far?

It's not like playing a stretch 4 is that unprecedented tactically, the Spurs had played quite a few minutes with Diaw as a stretch 4 already in this series. If I'm Brooks, while I want to be prepared to adjust to a pure stretch 4 diet from the Spurs, I'm not sure I want to change anything from what has been a dominating recipe at home for OKC in this series.
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Sher Thing
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4:07p, 5/30/14
AG
I will be at Game 6 in OKC! Wish me luck.

Me and my bro will be dressed in black 6 rows behind the spurs bench in the corner!

No blowout this time please!
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Knife_Party
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4:21p, 5/30/14
Brooks probably feels like the reason they lost in Game 5 is the same as Games 1 and 2: not enough free throws. He makes no adjustments to start the game figuring they'll get a ton of free throws. If we start to get a little lead going he might trying something at that point, but I don't think he does beforehand.
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Chipotlemonger
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4:23p, 5/30/14
AG
Maybe he doesn't, DTP, but if it then comes to Game 7 they will get whooped in San Antonio with that non-adjustment.
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tmaggie50
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4:33p, 5/30/14
AG
that picture of Tiago Splitter is magnificent!
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Guitarsoup
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4:49p, 5/30/14
AG
quote:
Does Brooks even feel compelled to make adjustments in game 6, or does he trust that his team is going to play much better (and the Spurs play worse) in OKC, as per the pattern of this series so far?


Brooks is calling his team a "FT Shooting Team" his adjustment will be to hope that Westbrook gets bailed out more at home than in SA.
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Guitarsoup
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4:49p, 5/30/14
AG
quote:
And seeing this quote still makes me sad inside: "We should have three-peated," Robert Horry claims, "if Manu doesn't foul Dirk."


Or if Manu fouled him like a man and he didn't get the shot up.
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5:19p, 5/30/14
HBtriplesticks
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5:42p, 5/30/14
AG
quote:
quote:
Does Brooks even feel compelled to make adjustments in game 6, or does he trust that his team is going to play much better (and the Spurs play worse) in OKC, as per the pattern of this series so far?


Brooks is calling his team a "FT Shooting Team" his adjustment will be to hope that Westbrook gets bailed out more at home than in SA.


Think how ridiculous the idea of a FT shooting team (or its analogue) would be in any other sport.

"we're a real penalty yards team, it's important to our game plan."

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West Texan
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5:51p, 5/30/14
AG
Brooks only lineup adjustment he has left is to go small almost exclusively. He's already inserted Reggie Jackson into the starting lineup and got Ibaka back from being injured. Ibaka having to roam the 3 point line rather than the paint was a brilliant move by Pop, but does Brooks really want Perkins, Adams, or Collison chasing around Bonner and Diaw out there? It basically makes those players even more worthless than they already are. He could go to Caron Butler and hope that the extra shooters for both teams offset each other, but then that leaves OKC already shallow bench even worse off.
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jr15aggie
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6:06p, 5/30/14
AG
They were better with Jackson coming off the bench. He's wasted in the starting lineup once the big 2 start taking all the shots (which happens frequently). I still feel like the Spurs are a better team by a decent margin. Brooks has to hope his team plays out of its mind good. Our problem... OKC is capable of doing just that.

[This message has been edited by jr15aggie (edited 5/30/2014 5:06p).]
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Guitarsoup
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6:11p, 5/30/14
AG
Like I said, at this point, Pop is dictating the moves.

You force them to go small and it takes Perkins and Adams out of their rotation.

You are kind of taking away Reggie Jackson because he needs the ball to be effective but you are playing him with Westbrook instead of in place of Westbrook.

So their lineup is:
Ibaka
Durant
Butler (shooting .324/.356 in the playoffs)
Jackson
Westbrook

Then their useful bench is:
Lamb (shooting .436/.182 in the playoffs)
Fisher (shooting .304/.282 in the playoffs)
Perry Jones (shooting .389/.300 in the playoffs)
Thabo (shooting .418/.261 in the playoffs and pretty much benched)
Then Perkins and Adams, who are both fairly worthless against small ball.

So doing this decimates their bench and Lamb is the only useful player coming off their bench.

This is when the Spurs depth really kills. Because when you need to rest Westbrook and/or Durant the Spurs can still take out Parker and Duncan, but run at you with BoBo and Manu and still have Tiago and shooters Belinelli and Green or Patty on the court. That's a pretty tough small ball lineup for their backups to defend.
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Guitarsoup
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6:16p, 5/30/14
AG
The beautiful thing is they can't force you to go big. Perkins/Adams are averaging a combined 7.4 points per game. I have no problem manning them up with Bonner or Kawhi or Avery Johnson.
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Guitarsoup
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6:50p, 5/30/14
AG
http://stats.nba.com/leaguePlayerGeneral.html?pageNo=1&rowsPerPage=25&PerMode=Totals&sortField=PLUS_MINUS&sortOrder=DES&SeasonType=Playoffs

Spurs have the top 4 players in +/- in the NBA in the playoffs this year.

Kawhi +117
Duncan +96
Manu +95
Gr33n +88

#5 is David West at +83.

Durant is about 10 spots behind Corey Joseph's +26 at +15
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jr15aggie
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7:08p, 5/30/14
AG
I agree with all of the above. I feel like the Spurs can take control in several ways. It's a real testament to OKC that they were dominant in games 2 and 3. If the Spurs are "on" there isn't a team that can match them this year. I'm hoping the Spurs have their mojo tomorrow night.

[This message has been edited by jr15aggie (edited 5/30/2014 6:09p).]
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UnderoosAg
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7:48p, 5/30/14
AG
quote:
It's crazy how close Timmy came to leaving SA for Orlando in the early days. Or how close Pop came to getting fired


The Jason Kidd experiment is on line 1.

Every time I get pissed about Manu's foul on Dirk, I remember Manu's 3 right before. Manu be Manu. I also remember the presser where he was first introduced and thinking who TF is this goofy looking idiot?

Who else sees Derek Fisher and screams "0.4 this MF!!!!"
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Guitarsoup
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8:03p, 5/30/14
AG
quote:
It's crazy how close Timmy came to leaving SA for Orlando in the early days. Or how close Pop came to getting fired


I saw something recent with Simmons where he said he was at peace with Duncan not going to Boston in 97 because Pitino would have wasted Duncan's first few years, they didn't have good talent around Duncan (Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer, Walter McCarty, Kenny Anderson, Dana Barros and Bruce Bowen of all people.) Then Duncan would have just left to play in Orlando with Grant Hill and then would have wallowed on another bad team there. They likely wouldn't have gotten Paul Pierce the next year because Duncan would have at least had them in the playoffs, just not good enough to win it all (Jordan still playing.)
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Pahdz
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8:48p, 5/30/14
Not dodging this thread, swamped at work today, but great game to SA last night, hitting shots, defending the paint better forcing OKC into jumpers they weren't hitting, and of course coaching decisions that paid off (I know it wasn't Diaw that started but damn he played well).

Looking forward to game 6, does it play like the rest of the series, home team blowout win? We'll see.
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Pahdz
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8:50p, 5/30/14
quote:
Durant is about 10 spots behind Corey Joseph's +26 at +15


Even you know the relevance of that is nill
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Guitarsoup
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9:10p, 5/30/14
AG
Here's Corey Joseph's relevance all over Ibaka's eye.



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Pahdz
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9:19p, 5/30/14
sick burn bro...but seriously, comparing plus/minus of a 40 minute per game player and bench scrub is pointless (but you knew that, you're just trolling)
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Guitarsoup
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9:27p, 5/30/14
AG
+26 is pretty nice considering he has only played 65 minutes in the playoffs and a lot of that was against starters.

+15 is pretty unremarkable for 700+ minutes of play.
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Pahdz
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9:31p, 5/30/14
Do you put a lot of stock in that stat? Just asking, I hear varying opinions on it. People always use it to praise nick collison but I have always felt it's a stat with too many other variables involved to truly use it to define one players worth.
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Guitarsoup
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10:12p, 5/30/14
AG
I think it can be useful. It is hard to quantify the contribution of a lot of players, especially guys like Shane Battier and Bruce Bowen. It can be really useful to know the +/- of 5-man lineups.

Durant's +15 is obviously very influenced by the fact that the Spurs have handed his ass to him in 3 games. He is -22, -26 and -17 in the Spurs' three wins.

Spurs best lineup is unsurprisingly Parker-Green-Leonard-Diaw-Duncan with a oRating of 117 and a dRating of 88.
OKC's best lineup was Westbrook-Jackson-Thabo-Durant-Ibaka with a oRating of 127 and a dRating of 82. In true Scott Brooks fashion, that lineup only played 50 minutes together all year.

OKC's lineup of Westbrook-Thabo-Durant-Ibaka-Perkins was their second most used lineup, but had an oRating of just 101 and a dRating of 105.

Orating/drating is how many points your team/your opponent scores in 100 possessions.
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Pahdz
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10:40p, 5/30/14
Yeah I agree the plus/minus of lineups would be more effective.

And sadly I am fully aware of the patheticness of our starting five
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Ganondorf
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12:14a, 5/31/14
AG
+/- is bad. Bonner was the best Spur for like 5 years based on that stat.
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Chipotlemonger
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12:36a, 5/31/14
AG
Red emoji for Red Rocket
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Brian Earl Spilner
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11:05a, 5/31/14
AG
Let's get back in the Finals tonight Spurs! We've got unfinished business.
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aggie_2001_2005
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11:44a, 5/31/14
Tonight needs to be the best 48 minutes the Spurs have put together all season. The culmination of everything they've gone through since game 6 last season needs to be poured into one kickass splash into the Finals.

They need to put some fear into the Miami Heat players watching at home.
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West Texan
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12:09p, 5/31/14
AG
I would just like San Antonio to carry over from game 5 and actually play well in OKC.

I'm not going to make a prediction on the outcome of the game, but I'll be on record for the Red Rocket knocking down three 3 pointers.
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Knife_Party
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12:48p, 5/31/14
If Westbrook is going to overcommit on passing lanes, freaking run a back cut damnit. No more stupid turnovers.
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discobrob
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1:30p, 5/31/14
AG
Westbrook and Perkins telling sportscenter ibaka isn't going to guard bonner/diaw out at the three point line. Say he's staying near the paint. If that's the case, we gotta hit wide open looks.
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