I don’t make excuses, GS won, plain and simple, I’m simply stating WHY GS won tonight.
You’re basically downplaying GSW’s accomplishments because you hate their style of play. A “gimmick,” really? They’re back in the Finals and just had the best regular season record ever. When you have two of the greatest shooters in the history of the league, you don’t really have to worry about shooting being inconsistent, like you mentioned. In a 7 game series they will always be fine.
Not downplaying accomplishments at all, they’re headed to the NBA Finals, which is undeniable. Additionally, I openly stated that it was a phenomenal accomplishment to come back from a 3-1 deficit. Don’t understand how that is downplaying. I simply stated that OKC is the superior team IMO, and outplayed GS for the majority of the series.
I understand that some people here will gravitate toward GS because of the perceived parallels between GS & UM, and that is fine. GS is a great team, and just accomplished something historic. That being said, I still believe OKC is the superior team. When playing their A game, they can literally beat GS by 40, whereas GS can play their A game and only win by 8-10 points. Perhaps this is flawed, but its part of the criteria for me.
One step closer to Westbrook in LA.
Well, GS did win game 2 by 27, which essentially matched OKC’s biggest margin of victory (28). GS also won all three regular season matchups. I guess they were pretty fortunate to win so much against a superior team this year.
And honestly nothing about Michigan’s team or style of play has anything to do with this discussion for me. I’m not a GS fan at all, just felt like I had to comment on their system being called a gimmick.
GSW shot worse from 3 in this series than they did the entire regular season (40% in season, 35.9 in this series). They shot 47% and 46% from deep in games 6 & 7, but that’s not an abnormal thing for them to do.
I guess if you’re doing it on a regular basis, I don’t consider it getting hot. That is pretty close to their normal level of shooting.
And I don’t think we saw GSW play their A game at all this series. Part of that is credit due to OKC for getting in their heads and making them play poorly, but Barnes, Green and Co did not have a good series. It was the Klay and Curry show and it won out, whereas the first half of this series was a Russell Westbrook clinic.
I think it’s illogical to deny GSW being the best team. They have proven it over the regular season and proven it over OKC in a seven game series.
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Obviously GS has to be considered the better team based on results, I certainly cannot deny that. I think 6-7% above their average 3% is uncommon, if not abnormal, that’s s pretty big jump IMO. Doesn’t matter though, GS won and hence they have to be considered the better team based on tangible results. Just my opinion that OKC outplayed GS for the majority of the series and probably deserved to win the series on that basis
The 40% in the season comes off of thousands of attempts. The 6-7% jump or decline in a single game can be attributed to 1-3 makes or misses because there are far fewer attempts in individual games. I’d be interested in seeing how many games that GS shot 45% or above from 3 in the regular season. I’d venture to guess that it’s a significant amount. The fact is that they still shot less than their season average for the duration of the series and still won four games out of seven.
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This was a great 7 game series. OKC went toe to toe with GS but the difference to me was in games that were tight down the stretch GS looked to make plays while Westbrook and Durant were looking for bailout fouls that the refs were not going to give. For how great they are I see Durant and Westbrook as very soft in those situations. I was hoping for OKC to disrupt this GS party.
Now we have GS and the Cavaliers and no matter who wins one those teams are going to be insufferable for the next off season as they go into full gloat mode and the talking heads will be blathering all over the winner.
To put this in perspective, OKC won 15/28 quarters vs. GS in the series. To go into further detail, OKC won 6/8 quarters during games 6 and 7, where the series was essentially decided. I still maintain that OKC outplayed GS for the majority of the series, GS just got hot from deep for a few stretches, and that was the difference.
I thought Russ took some wild shots last night, but soft and Russell Westbrook are 3 words I would never associate together. KD on the other hand, settled for jumpshots the entire series, and they simply didn’t go in. At least with Russ, you have a chance to generate FTs.
Amazing to me how a guy with that smallish/slight frame can be the most lethal weapon in the league.
To think that Steph missed 2-3 weeks right in the middle of the playoffs because of injuries ( ankle - knee ) then a damaged shooting elbow that required pain killing injection, and play like that in games 6-7 is unbelievable.
Others may have more athletic ability and a penchant for awe, but no one is more productive in the clutch.
Some of those finishes at the rim last night were body contorting brilliant. Kid is a helluva player and a sincere pleasure to watch.
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As a basketball fan in general, it was really fun watching Steph last night. His ability to create space via the dribble and the quick release is a thing of beauty. It was a great series, and most likely the functional version of the NBA Finals.
You can’t play crunch time lineups consisting of some combination of Dellevadova, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye against GSW. GSW will win this series in 5 games.
Andre Roberson is one of my new favorite players. Defense, rebounding, slashing, no complaining. I just love that play.
Any predictions on the finals? Get it on the record.
Know it’s late but I’m thinking GSW in 6 again. Just can’t see the Cavs hanging with them for four wins
I might be one of the few but I like the cavs. As long as lue stays big they can try and follow/ finish what thunder were trying to do. I think that’s the best way to attack it. Also love has gotten brutalized over the last few years. I still really like him and think he’s good. Ten boards already. Glad to see him step up in the face of criticism.
Yeah late with me too, but I’m going GSW in 5-6. OKC vs GS was the functional equivalent of the NBA Finals. Lebron will go 2-5 in the NBA Finals, and will strengthen my opinion of him being the most overrated player in NBA history lol
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