2016 NBA Playoffs WESTERN Conference Discussion

Blazers have had an amazing year. Depleted Clippers or not to lose four starters and be a playoff team and win a round just remarkable. Lillard to me is definitely is an elite level player right now. McCollum come out of nowhere and has emerged as a premier two guard. Terry Stotts is a great coach who got them to play above their heads. A lot to be proud of in Portland. One more piece and they're a contender imo.

 

Spurs up by 20 in the first quarter.

 

Wow, 43 first quarter points for San Antonio. This is a well oiled machine.

 

Hopefully they can oil Durant out of OKC and into the Lakers. The Spurs looking like they will sweep the series in 3 games, that is how good they look. Durant looks shook.

 

As usual I expect Westbrook to be blamed for this debacle.

 

excellent

 

I was so wrong..... so so wrong.

 

Sucks for Okc man. They have 2 of the top 5 players, but no one else to help them out. SA and GSW are juggernaut superteams. I hope whoever comes out the west utterly destroys Cleveland. I wanna see a 4-0 sweep

 

It is just one game, but I think Donovan should consider going small. I like Adams, but he's a liability in pick and roll coverage and San Antonio really took advantage. I would start Ibaka at center and move KD to power forward.

 

eh, SA and GS are better, but lots can happen. at some point, tim Duncan has to stop playing, and this will impact SA, perhaps in more ways than people might expect. plus, injuries and things happen.

it's still one game. I don't think many were picking okc to win the series, but the first game was kind of the perfect storm/worst case scenario, imo. they'll play them tighter in others.

as for okc's problem...they let all their useful wings go over the years. you can't rely on singler, Roberson, waiters, and foye if you have title aspirations. even if you have Durant and westbrook.

but even so, they don't play together offensively and never have. often in the playoffs, this can (sort of) work to your favor, as better defenses can disrupt offenses predicated on ball/player movement (and can do less against supreme iso players, particularly if there are two). obviously, this is not happening here. the thing that I have never understood is why okc isn't better on d. on paper, they should be.

 

San Antonio with juggler's knot performance.

 

LaMarcus Aldridge with 38 points in 30 minutes. Not sure there's a better big man in the game right now.

 

All 10 players in the game for GSW and POR are guards and small forwards

 

The Warriors are a complete team. It's not that they're better without Curry or that Curry is the difference maker, it's that we don't give Steve Kerr and Luke Walton credit, they brought back team ball and small ball.

They're killing people with simple back door plays and passing the ball like a team. The same thing with San Antonio they're playing the exact same way.

That's Spurs/Warriors series might be one of the best series we'll ever see in a long time. If both teams make it to WCF.

 

It will be the best series since the Lakers/Queens in 2002.

 

... and the winner will get beat by the Cavs .