Look back at post #1, the preseason over/under for Blazers wins this year was 26.5! I’d say they had a pretty damn good season and frankly, they played GS about as well as you could ask for that series. They never really got their doors completely blown off, which is something most teams (Houston) can’t say.
And really a lot more than just those four quarters. They beat GS in most of the quarters played in the series, I’m pretty sure. I think you have a good team on your hands ( need maybe another starting piece or two ), with a good coach and they are only going to get better. No reason for them to hang their heads for sure.
Certainly there is no comparison at all with Houston…
Well the Raptors put together a great stretch in the first half and then held on for dear life the rest of the way. Watching this series and Cleveland, it seems realistic to think that the Cavs might enter the finals at 12-0.
Yes, and that whomever the Cavs play in the Finals will be a million times better than any Eastern Conference team they played in the playoffs. The Heat have lost Whiteside and the Raptors are without Valanciunas.
Agreed. And you’re right about having more good quarters than GS. But their bad quarters were really major suckage, and lost them a couple of those games. From what I’m hearing from local observers, players like Roberts and Connaughton are putting in serious practice time and spent some time in the D league. Connaughton may be a real sleeper for them next year, and Roberts has some good moves. Now if someone could just teach Plumlee how to make the round orange thing go through that slightly larger hoopy thing. . .
If this is his last game, I will truly miss Tim Duncan.
Is he finally retiring?
So much for “the Spurs are actually the best team this year” contrarianism
Wow. I honestly thought all year, particularly going into the playoffs, that it would be Warriors/Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. Way to play spoiler, Thunder!
The Spurs had the 7th best regular season record of all time, and they did it while having to face the best team ever 4 times. It is very disappointing that we won’t get a playoff series between those two teams.
And again we get to hear how the Warriors won’t have to face the best competition in the playoffs. OKC is very dangerous, but SA is the better matchup against GS.
You know what Westbrook will give you, but I just hope KD can keep it together in the upcoming series.
I don’t know, I think the Spurs match up horribly against GS and GS would have beaten them quite handily. OKC overwhelmed the Spurs with their athleticism and outside shooting, and suddenly guys like David West, Ginobili, or Andre Miller couldn’t guard any of them. GS would be the same, except even better.
OKC and GS are both fast-paced teams that shoot a lot, I think this series will be terrific with points in the 120’s. Westbrook can be lured into a shootout which favors GS, and with Steph back, we’ll have a duo to match up with Durant and Westbrook. Steven Adams has really come into his own and will be a handful for Draymond to handle, so I don’t think the series will look like the regular season’s 3-0 sweep.
In the East its sad once again. The overall teams this year are comparable in records with the West, its not a one-sided affair anymore, but there is no competition for Cleveland at all. This would make the 6th straight year Lebron’s been to the finals? Even at full strength, I can’t see the Raptors or Heat taking more than 1 game from the Cavs. I know the storyline is going to be Lebron playing the team he left, but I think the Raptors will pull it out. Wade doesn’t have much more he can give, and he’ll try to give a lot, but I don’t think he’ll be able to will his team back into the conference finals. He was amazing in game 4 but fairly pedestrian in game 5. I just don’t think he has another great game in him this time. But who knows, maybe Joe Johnson will step up or Stoudamire will have more than 0 points
I’m really not sure that’s true. Anecdotally it seemed to me that SA seemed to have had more defensive issues vs. the warriors ( especially with Tony Parker on the floor ). I think SA are ( were ) a better team than OKC most days. That said I’m not sure that OKC might not be the more dangerous matchup for the Warriors, even if only by inches.
Regardless, I’m expecting it to be an entertaining series.
Oh its on now
Wow. I turned the game on at halftime and thought ‘another GS blowout’, and turned it off. Then turned it back on with about four minutes left. Day-um! Game 1? At home?
Same here. I listened to the last few minutes of the 2nd quarter on the radio and OKC went from down 4 to down 13. And it did not sound like OKC had a prayer. GS was running down the floor hitting shots while the Thunder couldn’t get anything going. So when I checked the score with a few minutes left in the game I was quite surprised. Pleasantly so.
This morning I heard OKC got some favorable calls (didn’t see any replay) and the free throw disparity was pretty big in their favor. Can’t imagine that will continue through the series.
Go Thunder! Go Raptors! I want to see something different!
Well, there was the pivot foot drag at half-court near the end that wasn’t called on OKC. Should have been a turnover, and may have changed the ending, but we’ll never know.
From what I hear, that’s balanced out by OKC calling for a timeout long before that happened.
The Sixers, Lakers, and Celtics will have the first three picks of the 2016 NBA draft.
The Celtics, who made the playoffs this year, look like geniuses for trading away Garnett and Pierce to the Nets when they did. It gave them Brooklyn’s unprotected 2014, '16, and '18 first-rounders.