Well...I'm hopeful Warriors finish them off, but I'm not ready to call them chokers yet.

going4roses;842696281 said:

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Choklahoma city

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Is your profession providing bulletin board material for the other team?

mikecohen;842696296 said:

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Is your profession providing bulletin board material for the other team?

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Good point. However, I REALLY hope that instead of game planning, OKC is digging so deep for bulletin board material that they end up finding this.

Eastern Oregon Bear;842696300 said:

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Good point. However, I REALLY hope that instead of game planning, OKC is digging so deep for bulletin board material that they end up finding this.

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In the nature of ideas is their quality of being free-floating, such that (a) one never knows when and where they will turn up, and (b) no amount of suppression and/or oppression can kill them (and vice-versa - considering how long it can sometimes take for the truth to finally emerge)

SRBear;842696287 said:

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Well...I'm hopeful Warriors finish them off, but I'm not ready to call them chokers yet.

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Especially in light of the fact we had to shoot lights out to just to slip by them in the last couple of minutes. We need OKC to beat themselves just a little for us to squeak by.

mikecohen;842696296 said:

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Is your profession providing bulletin board material for the other team?

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Mmm maybe I could be
Lol

Signed not a warriors fan/follower

bearister;842696245 said:

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OKC trying to close out game 6 was like a golfer who has been leading the Masters for 3 days trying to close it out on Sunday when someone behind him is piling up birdies. All of a sudden hitting fairways and making putts becomes harder. Klay's shooting really puckered up Westbrook and Durant in the last two minutes.

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Yup, that's a good call. Mental pressure and OKC went back to isolation ball against good D players/team. That's not going to work.

Congrats Warriors! You had me scared in the first half and in closing minutes.

What a series - hats off to OKC for giving the Warriors almost more than they could handle.

GSW-Cavs should be fun.

OKC...still chokers. I wonder if Durant stays, or where he ends up.

I don't think Cleveland can pull off the series. The East is weak.

going4roses;842696281 said:

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Choklahoma city

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+1

Warriors just wanted it more in the second half of the last 2 games....incredible shooting....man, I hope you believe the Cavs will win the finals CT...so far, you've been the kiss of death for the opposition...I think you're a Warrior fan so it must be hard to pull off these psychological feats....

The raining down of 3 pointers is unavoidably demoralizing.

The rain is falling through the mist of sorrow that surrounded me.
The sun could never thaw away the the bliss that lays around me.

Let it rain, let it rain,
Let your threes rain down on me.
Let it rain, let it rain,
Let it rain, rain, rain.
[Derek And The Dominos]

[video][/video]

Ezeli was the mvp, no doubt about it.

Adams was simply dominating the game inside. Bogut was playing awful. Awful. He was getting worked by Adams and he also couldn't defend the PnR. So Kerr had to take bogut out and he went small with Barnes. That didn't work either.

So they went to ezeli and he didn't do anything spectacular, but he did two key things. He kept Adams off the offensive boards and he played PnR defense a ton better than bogut.

Once Adams is neutralized on the boards, he actually becomes a liability because Donovan decided to switch everything on defense and curry started lighting Adams up.

Donovan panics and takes Adams out and goes small the rest of the game. Game over.

Thank you festus ezeli!

ducky23;842696521 said:

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Ezeli was the mvp, no doubt about it.

Adams was simply dominating the game inside. Bogut was playing awful. Awful. He was getting worked by Adams and he also couldn't defend the PnR. So Kerr had to take bogut out and he went small with Barnes. That didn't work either.

So they went to ezeli and he didn't do anything spectacular, but he did two key things. He kept Adams off the offensive boards and he played PnR defense a ton better than bogut.

Once Adams is neutralized on the boards, he actually becomes a liability because Donovan decided to switch everything on defense and curry started lighting Adams up.

Donovan panics and takes Adams out and goes small the rest of the game. Game over.

Thank you festus ezeli!

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Good point. Man, what an incredible series. A couple funky games, but two great teams battling hard.

bearmanpg;842696519 said:

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Warriors just wanted it more in the second half of the last 2 games....incredible shooting....man, I hope you believe the Cavs will win the finals CT...so far, you've been the kiss of death for the opposition...I think you're a Warrior fan so it must be hard to pull off these psychological feats....

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I hate that cliche. Both teams played incredibly hard. That last run by the Thunder took a lot of guts - I think they were down 11 with about 2:40 to go. Durant hit a 3. Klay, as well as he has played, then had a boneheaded play where he forced up a tough turn around fade with tons of time on the clock, and the Thunder then hit a couple more buckets to cut it to 4. The Warriors almost lost the ball, and Russell and Durant almost come away with it, but Draymond did a great job to recover and call timeout. If they get a jump ball there, who knows what happens. That is all to say, neither team wanted it more. The Warriors just played better.

bearister;842696520 said:

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The raining down of 3 pointers is unavoidably demoralizing.

The rain is falling through the mist of sorrow that surrounded me.
The sun could never thaw away the the bliss that lays around me.

Let it rain, let it rain,
Let your threes rain down on me.
Let it rain, let it rain,
Let it rain, rain, rain.
[Derek And The Dominos]

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I was thinking Phil Collins.

bearmanpg;842696519 said:

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Warriors just wanted it more in the second half of the last 2 games....incredible shooting....man, I hope you believe the Cavs will win the finals CT...so far, you've been the kiss of death for the opposition...I think you're a Warrior fan so it must be hard to pull off these psychological feats....

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Yes I am a W fan.
Yes I think Cavs will win.
Yes I will be happy if I'm wrong.
Just like I am now.

And now, to make it, truly, a happy ending.
Good night!

duck
that's a very good observation
Adams was killing the Warriors, and we could never get a clean board
That accounted for OKC's ton of second chance points

Durant is basically unstoppable, and can get his shot off on almost any possession, but playing 'hero ball' is just not going to get it done
Not sure if Durant is always like tonight, but he was yelling at his teammates on the court and yelling at his teammates from the bench
Not sure if that makes his teammates better or not, but Roberson passed up a WIDE open 3 in crunch time

ducky23;842696521 said:

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Ezeli was the mvp, no doubt about it.

Adams was simply dominating the game inside. Bogut was playing awful. Awful. He was getting worked by Adams and he also couldn't defend the PnR. So Kerr had to take bogut out and he went small with Barnes. That didn't work either.

So they went to ezeli and he didn't do anything spectacular, but he did two key things. He kept Adams off the offensive boards and he played PnR defense a ton better than bogut.

Once Adams is neutralized on the boards, he actually becomes a liability because Donovan decided to switch everything on defense and curry started lighting Adams up.

Donovan panics and takes Adams out and goes small the rest of the game. Game over.

Thank you festus ezeli!

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concordtom;842696534 said:

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Yes I am a W fan.
Yes I think Cavs will win.
Yes I will be happy if I'm wrong.
Just like I am now.

And now, to make it, truly, a happy ending.
Good night!

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I am picking the Warriors over Cavs:

1. Kyrie is a liability on D;

2. Cavs can't contain both Splash Brothers;

3. Green will neutralize Love;

4. LeBron will put up unreal numbers like last year and everyone will be scratching their heads as to why Cavs aren't winning. LeBron will be p*ssed at his teammates and not hide it very well.*

[SIZE=1]*But when Delly plays he will give Steph somewhat of a hard time, at least harder than Thunder did[/SIZE].

bearister;842696546 said:

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I am picking the Warriors over Cavs:

1. Kyrie is a liability on D;

2. Cavs can't contain both Splash Brothers;

3. Green will neutralize Love;

4. LeBron will put up unreal numbers like last year and everyone will be scratching their heads as to why Cavs aren't winning. LeBron will be p*ssed at his teammates and not hide it very well.*

[SIZE=1]*But when Delly plays he will give Steph somewhat of a hard time, at least harder than Thunder did[/SIZE].

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Yep. That's what's going to decide the series.

If the dubs can take advantage of the cavs defensive liabilities, they win.

If they can't make the cavs pay for playing kyrie, love, frye then they'll lose.

It's that simple.

The cavs are better offensive team than the thunder. Maybe even better than the dubs. But the thunder don't have any huge defensive liabilities. And also have a plus plus perimeter defender in Roberson. Cavs don't have that.

Let's see if the cavs can hide love on the defensive end. That's going to be the key to the series.

HoopDreams;842696536 said:

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Durant is basically unstoppable, and can get his shot off on almost any possession, but playing 'hero ball' is just not going to get it done
Not sure if Durant is always like tonight, but he was yelling at his teammates on the court and yelling at his teammates from the bench
Not sure if that makes his teammates better or not, but Roberson passed up a WIDE open 3 in crunch time

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This is how he is, and Westbrook has the same mentality. When the going gets tough, both of them want to go it alone. They both think they can take anyone and make any shot. The truth is that this is what the Warriors want them to do; they know that this kind of isolation "hero ball" is not going to outscore their ball movement system.

Ducky talked about Ezeli above, but I think what really turned this series was the Warriors' decision in Game 5 to junk some of the gimmicky strategies they had been rolling with and just play vanilla defense. They won Game 2 by doing something slightly exotic: they left whoever was the Thunder's worst shooter (usually Roberson or Waiters) all alone and had an extra defender (Draymond or Bogut) "roving" in the lane to contain drives by Russ or KD. Credit to the Thunder, they figured this out in Games 3 and 4 -- they had Roberson or Waiters cut to the basket for an easy layup or to the short corner for a wide-open three they can actually make. The Warriors thought they were cleverly containing the OKC stars, but what they actually did was make it REALLY OBVIOUS where they should pass the ball. They turned the Thunder into a giant-sized version of themselves.

When Kerr changed it up and went back to standard man-to-man defense with a big-man rim protector on the floor, that put the onus back on Russ and KD to make the smart plays and distribute well. But that's not their mentality. When those guys see just one man guarding them with no obvious double-team, they don't think to hit a cutter or swing the ball to the other side of the floor, they think "I can take this guy." But this means they are wearing themselves out by constantly going one-on-one and also freezing their teammates out, so the other guys are ice-cold when they are asked to make a shot. Against teams with worse defenders this approach might work (Westbrook and Durant can dominate a lot of players), but the Warriors can put Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala on them and hold their own, if they know for sure they don't have to help on any other players. This is why OKC folded in each of the last three games, despite starting reasonably well. They can't keep up that pace with only two guys taking shots.

What a great series that was. I think Game 6 was an ESPN-classic level game.

Man I have a co-worker who hails from Oklahoma and is absolutely blowing up my phone via text right now (unsolicited, I have never talked trash to him about the Warriors) about how:
- Warriors are ruining basketball and turning it into a game of HORSE. He wants to eliminate the 3-point line.
- Green is the dirtiest player in the NBA should be banned from playing in the finals, and of course, should have been banned from this series.
- OKC should have gotten way more calls - not sure if he noticed that Thunder were only called for 11 fouls to 16 for GSW, and the Warriors only took 8 FTs to OKC's 17. Sure W's took more 3s but I think the game was called relatively fairly and there were tough calls both ways (e.g. Durant could have been called for a charge there against Green at the end).
- Lebron and the Cavs will sweep the Warriors, with the obligatory "LOL" thrown in by him, though I somehow doubt he was laughing while he wrote it.

This must be what it sounds like when I, as a Cal Football fan, whine about losing to Furd, USC, UCLA, Oregon etc... not going to argue with him, just let him run with it.

As for the Cavs, I think they are a problem for the Warriors. While I agree with Bearister to some extent, my opinion, as someone else has stated is that Lebron James is the difference. I think he's the best player in basketball, Curry's unanimous MVP notwithstanding. If he (LeBron) just gets significant help, more than he did last year against the Warriors, the Cavs have a chance to outscore GSW despite some defensive holes of their own. Unlike Durant and Westbrook, I see Lebron making his team better down the stretch of games and making good decisions to complement his ungodly physical talent.

Plus, in a role reversal from last year, I think the Warriors are just a bit tired. The ledger shows they have played 17 playoff games, but it's really more like they've played 17 + 82 = 99 playoff games with the target they've had on their backs all year. Everyone wanted to be the team to, not only beat the champs, but also break up the record season, and it's taken a lot out of the Warriors to go for the regular season record against that onslaught.

Heart says Golden State in 7, Head says Cleveland in 6.

This was the finals. No way the Cavs win the next series.

Cleveland's defense is not as strong nor as long as OKC
Cleveland's center won't cause the warriors as much a problem as Adams ... watch for Green to have big games
I do however worry about Cleveland's shooting. I doubt we see Lebron taking as many 3s as he did last year

series goes to 6 or 7 games ... they say the regular season doesn't matter, but it's given the Warriors home court advantage, and that's big

FWIW: FiveThirtyEight.com rates GS 69% likely to win the NBA Finals over the Cavs.

http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-nba-picks/

I think they're using season-long ELO ratings (weighted toward recent results) for their simulations. I.e., doesn't take into account matchup specifics, nor fatigue and injury issues. I am definitely concerned about the latter wrt the Warriors.

grandmastapoop;842696524 said:

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.... the Thunder then hit a couple more buckets to cut it to 4. The Warriors almost lost the ball, and Russell and Durant almost come away with it, but Draymond did a great job to recover and call timeout. If they get a jump ball there, who knows what happens. .....

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Yes, that sequence had me sweating big time. Big call to give Green the TO, rather than a jump ball.

At that point, the Warriors had 5 seconds left on the 24-second clock. Then came one of the key plays of the series: Ibaka gets his arms too close to Curry dribbling the ball on the perimeter, Steph jumps up into them, and draw three FT's. Suddenly the lead is back to seven. A miss by OKC at the other end (rebounded by GS), and that was all she wrote. Whew!

ducky23;842696521 said:

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...ezeli ... kept Adams off the offensive boards and he played PnR defense a ton better than bogut.

Once Adams is neutralized on the boards, he actually becomes a liability because Donovan decided to switch everything on defense and curry started lighting Adams up.

Donovan panics and takes Adams out and goes small the rest of the game. Game over. ....

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Nice catch. Didn't realize when Donovan pulled Adams from the game. Although I did notice that around the middle of the 3rd quarter, the Warriors suddenly started cleaning the glass on the defensive end (pretty much for the rest of the game). All those offensive rebounds they were allowing were beyond frustrating, and then suddenly the problem went away. Thank you Billy Donovan!

Thundershowers in Oklahoma City today.

joe yaks;842696583 said:

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Thundershowers in Oklahoma City today.

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Lol

BGGB2;842696570 said:

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Nice catch. Didn't realize when Donovan pulled Adams from the game. Although I did notice that around the middle of the 3rd quarter, the Warriors suddenly started cleaning the glass on the defensive end (pretty much for the rest of the game). All those offensive rebounds they were allowing were beyond frustrating, and then suddenly the problem went away. Thank you Billy Donovan!

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Also, re: Adams, I just watched a short video on ESPN of the key shots for the W's. Really surprised by the number of 3s by Curry over Adams after the PnR with Green or other big guy. Adams had no chance in that match-up.

Curry and Thompson 8 of 8, 6 of 6 from three when guarded by Adams.

Got what everyone wanted... GSW/Cavs rematch with Irving/Love healthy.. Cavs with great mo, 12 and 2 entering finals.... shooting lights out as well from behind 3... 2015 finals, with Irving out, Lebron dominated ball, so expect less so for 2016 finals... Iggy inserted into SL for OKC/game 7 to guard KD.. will see if Kerr rotate both HB/Iggy into SL for finals..

goGSW
goBears

SRBear;842696597 said:

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Curry and Thompson 8 of 8, 6 of 6 from three when guarded by Adams.

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Yup, this is why he got pulled. Once the Splash Brothers started making threes, he was a liability on defense.