Golden State ain’t lookin so cocky now. Draymond Green’s got a hand in his face every time he goes inside with the ball, and the passing lanes are getting harassed by those long arms of the Thunder. And the warriors are beginning to realize they’re not the only team that knows how to move the ball around on offense.
I like GS, but I wouldn’t mind at all if OKC were to go on and win the title. In fact I kinda hope they face down Lebron in the Finals so Westbrook and Durant can get their revenge.
Steph picked a bad time to go cold. 6 for 20 last night he was missing open shots. I hope OKC pulls it off.
Meanwhile, Cleveland tries to right the ship tonight at home. This sounds weird, but I think the Cavs go as Kevin Love goes. He seems to drift out of games sometimes, like the 2 in Toronto. Even if he’s not shooting it well, they need him to grab some rebounds and generally not be a waste of space on the court.
Now, this isn’t the only, or even main, factor, but am I the only one who thought the NBA brought Tim Donaghy out of retirement for the last couple Thunder games?
For instance, Sunday-- first half while it was a close game – Durant heaves a desperation shot with the 24-second clock going off as the ball is in the air; nothing but backboard (clearly no rim) but even after a review Thunder get the ball with a fresh 24. Announcers bemusedly mentioned it didn’t look like it hit the rim from their replay angle… The ‘foul’ on Westbrook at the end of the first half (some contact after the shot, but that level of contact is never called on any other three pointer)… Tuesday’s ‘moving pick’ call to wipe out a Warriors three-pointer (followed by equally moving picks by the Thunder w/o calls)… Seems like any vague defensive presence near Durant is enough to be a shooting foul (even if he’s making a passing motion), while even when a Warrior gets a foul call, it’s always deemed before the shot.
Over last two games 54 free throws to 77. Again, that’s not enough to be the whole difference in score, but it’s half of it; add in the extra points from possession-changing calls that don’t result in free throws and the referees were at least as important as anything else.
Maybe it’s just crappy referees being swayed by the home crowd, plus an extra playoff dose of ‘stars get the calls’ , but, well, it is the NBA, and one always wonders…
Naw, like I said earlier, the Stern NBA would have done everything it could to make sure that the finals are GSW v. CLE. It could still happen, but if we see OKC v. TOR then there’s a strong case that the refs just don’t fear Adam Silver like they feared David Stern. 
No way Sterns NBA allows a Finals of the 26th biggest market vs. no US market at all. No way.
OTOH, if both CLE and GSW come roaring back with games where they collect 38 fouls to their opponents 9… then point conceded. 
Don’t hit or kick opposing players in the balls, Cleveland and Golden State haven’t won a game since breaking that commandment in their respective series.
JohnT, are you a Sacramento Kings fan?
Cleveland won at home again convincingly and again, I think it had a lot to do with Kevin Love. He shoots it well, they win. His head’s not in the game, he drags down the whole team.
But Stern never cared about media markets or teams per se. What he always wanted was The-Next-Jordan individual superstar to keep the league in the promised land of marketability and endorsements.
The league office never cared whether the Los Angeles team beat the Sacramento team or the Boston team lost to the Miami team (just for instances), but it’s clear that they really preferred that KOBE!'s team or LEBRON!'s team go to the finals, thereby selling lots of jerseys and having a marketable face of the league.
Yeah, but even better if a big superstar, say Patrick Ewing, does get drafted by a big market team, say NY Knicks.
Exciting game 6 in the West. Curry and Durant were a little off much of the night (Curry still isn’t 100% healthy), but Westbrook’s energy made up for it for the Thunder, while Thompson’s historic 3-point shooting night more than made up for it for the Warriors. Thunder’s Steven Adams came through in some important plays (blocks, e.g.), while Warriors’ Draymond Green failed to do the same much of the time (he was in foul trouble from early on)…until the last mnutes, when Green got it together.
Thunder was up 5-8 points throughout most of of the game, but Warriors managed to make their final push at just the right time, with around three minutes to go in the fourth quarter. And that’s just around when Russell Westbrook started making a bunch of mistakes (turnovers and missed shots). It would be a shame if the Thunder lose game 7 – Westbrook will likely feel terrible that he was responsible, if they fail to get to the finals (though of course it wouldn’t entirely be his fault).
I’d love to see the Thunder get their championship, but I’d also be content with Lebron getting his first (and likely last) Cleveland ring. A Warriors repeat would be okay, but a bit boring.
ETA: Curry did have an impressive rebound total.
I should mention that much of Curry’s slightly-off night was thanks to the defense of Westbrook, while much of Durant’s slightly-off night was due to the defense of Andre Iguodala.
Correction (to m y own post): Steven Adams didn’t have any blocks in Game 6 – I was somehow confounding Ibaka’s sweet block on Bogut with Adams’ dunk on Green.
Well, it would put them in the running for best team ever ™ and maybe the best season ever in US pro sports.
Normally a GS win might have been a bit boring but after being down 3-1 against okc it would be a pretty big deal. I think they pretty much have this in the bag now, you don’t collapse like the Thunder have done then recover in game 7.
Even Steve Kerr might not agree with that! 
Yeah, on a personal level I’m torn. I lived two BART stops away from Oakland Coliseum from '92 to '95 – the Don Nelson/Tim Hardaway/Chris Mullins/Chris Webber (!)/Latrell Sprewell era – so I’m thrilled they’ve won a championship, with a style not too different from twenty-plus years ago.
Then, I lived in Kansas from '04 to '15, where the Thunder became the closest thing to a home team (drove down once to see 'em play), plus I was in the crowd when U Texas star Kevin Durant had an amazing game against the Jayhawks (not amazing enough to stop the Jayhawks on their way to a national title a couple weeks later) – so I’ll feel disappointed if the Thunder end up never winning a championship, and the way free agency does these days, you can’t pin your hopes much on future years, especially with a small-market team like that which is unlikely to attract mid-career stars, but too good to get high draft picks, either.
New Orleans Pelicans shooting guard Bryce Dejean-Jones died yesterday in Dallas after breaking into someone’s apartment and kicking down the door of the man’s bedroom.
Apparently he was trying to break into the apartment of his ex-girlfriend on their daughter’s first birthday, but that apartment was one floor up.
OK… what the hell, guy?! What gives anyone the right to break into someone’s house?
As I understand it, he was in town for his daughter’s birthday, he ended up getting into an argument with his ex-gf, then he went out for a while. Upon returning, he thought his ex had locked him out of her apartment and refused to let him in, so he kicked the door down with horrifying results.
I’m not excusing his actions but it’s not like he just showed up unannounced and starting kicking in doors. Still, a sad resolution for everyone involved.
Well, if she didn’t want to let him in, that’s just tough shit for him. If he had kicked in her front door, and her bedroom door, she should have shot him too.
What you describe is in no way better than showing up unannounced and starting kicking doors, i do agree with your second sentence though.
That’s exactly what he did! It was some random apartment, not his ex’s.