Traditional defensive 5 is a dying bread, as skilled as Steven Adams he was unplayable in the 4th

[fishonjazz]

Green didn't do much. Neither did barnes or bogut.

Neither did many of the role players for the thunder.

This series, like most series, came down to which stars played better. Thompson and curry were better than durant and westbrook.


Curry and Thompson were ball hogging and taking lots and lots of hero ball bad shots. They just went in more.

 

[Stoked]

Adams played incredibly this series. Biggest area of improvement for Rudy is those FTs tho. He was canning em pretty well & we need that from Rudy.

While that is certainly an area that is high on the list I'd place it second to working on his hands offensively.

 

[da ThRONe]

I would say that durant and westbrook were a much bigger reason why they made it to a game 7 of the western conference finals against the world champs than Adams was.
Agree to disagree maybe.

I would say this time around it was more Durant than even Westbrook. Russ had his moments, but Kevin really took a lot of unnecessarily poor shots that cost the Thunder.

 

[pointgawh]

I'd take it a step further and say selfish play by Durant is why they lost. Game 6 should have been a Thunder win, but when GS made it's push KD shot OKC out of the game with terrible shots. Adams nor Ibaka, was to blame.

I wouldn't put the blame on KD. If it wans't for his monster DEFENSE playing at the 4 in Game 3 and 4, they wouldn't have gone up 3-1. If KD can play at 4 with that kind of defense, he would be the best 2-way player in the game. Obviously it's a lot to ask him to do that for the whole season.

 

[magic]

This.

Besides, Adams was not why the thunder lost.

Epic historical record breaking three point shooting at the guard positions is why the warriors won. Curry and Thompson were making shots against great defense all series. When they shoot like that there is literally no lineup or defense that can stop them.

Eh, I feel like OKC would probably still beat GSW if Durant and Westbrook played the way they did in game 3 of the series.

But they didn't and it was always going to come down to how consistently good KD and Westbrook could play.

 

[fishonjazz]

Eh, I feel like OKC would probably still beat GSW if Durant and Westbrook played the way they did in game 3 of the series.

But they didn't and it was always going to come down to how consistently good KD and Westbrook could play.

I agree.
These series almost always come down to which stars play better.

It's nice to have role players play good but if they play poorly and the stars play great then you can still win.

If the role players play great and the stars play poorly then you will usually lose.

This is how I see things anyway. (I don't claim my opinion to be fact though so I could be wrong)

 

[Getting Traded]

One of the mistakes, I believe, OKC's coaches made in the last two games was that the Warriors kept isolating Curry mostly on the pick n roll with Adams, time and again. Instead of playing off Curry, Adams should've got up on him and forced him off the 3-pt line and take a shot inside a 3. Curry I think is more accurate from 3 than just inside the 3. In any case, better to give up a 2 than a 3.

 

[fishonjazz]

One of the mistakes, I believe, OKC's coaches made in the last two games was that the Warriors kept isolating Curry mostly on the pick n roll with Adams, time and again. Instead of playing off Curry, Adams should've got up on him and forced him off the 3-pt line and take a shot inside a 3. Curry I think is more accurate from 3 than just inside the 3. In any case, better to give up a 2 than a 3.

I agree 100%
Great post.
Though curry is so good that when the big that got switched smothered him off the three point line he still often times got to the rim for a layup.

I still think that what you are saying is correct though. Give him a path inside the three point line but never give him a chance at a three.

Easier said than done though. He has a great crossover and good quickness and ball handling. Especially against a defender like adams or kanter or something.

Will be interesting to see if tristan Thompson and love can do any better guarding curry on the perimeter than adams and kanter.

Maybe the cavs even roll with some super small lineups with lebron at the 5 and shumpert at the 4 so they never have a slow big getting switched onto curry.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

We consider 8 ppg and less than an assist per game for a center to be "skilled" nowadays?

 

[Kyoto]

We consider 8 ppg and less than an assist per game for a center to be "skilled" nowadays?

You look at ppg and assists when considering a good center?

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I agree.
These series almost always come down to which stars play better.

It's nice to have role players play good but if they play poorly and the stars play great then you can still win.

If the role players play great and the stars play poorly then you will usually lose.

This is how I see things anyway. (I don't claim my opinion to be fact though so I could be wrong)

Well of course, every game is going to come down to whose star players played better, especially when those stars shoot a large % of their teams shots.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

You look at ppg and assists when considering a good center?

When we are talking about how "skilled" they are.