2012 NBA Finals (2) OKC vs (2) Miami (x5) (1-1)

[Josephpaul]

Lebron post game has IMPROVED so much. /bravo. I would give it to him more in the post.

[Biz Gilwalker]

The starting lineups should be

Ibaka - Bosh
Durant - James
Sefolosha - Battier
Westbrook - Wade
Fisher - Chalmers


Miami's probably going to play small and if they do, OKC's got to go with it. This lineup matches the Heat much better.

[slick_watts]

If Brooks is going to go small and keep James Harden on the bench I'd much rather him start Daequan Cook than Derek Fisher. Starting Fisher with Westbrook makes it hard to construct lineups off the bench later in the game. Cook can defend Shane Battier or Mario Chalmers.

[ecnirp]

The starting lineups should be

Ibaka - Bosh
Durant - James
Sefolosha - Battier
Westbrook - Wade
Fisher - Chalmers


Miami's probably going to play small and if they do, OKC's got to go with it. This lineup matches the Heat much better.

I just think this lineup makes it easier for LeBron to dominate in the post.

[Biz Gilwalker]

If Brooks is going to go small and keep James Harden on the bench I'd much rather him start Daequan Cook than Derek Fisher. Starting Fisher with Westbrook makes it hard to construct lineups off the bench later in the game. Cook can defend Shane Battier or Mario Chalmers.

Fisher has been destroying Chalmers so far. He matches up a lot better than I thought he was going to.

[qm22]

If Brooks is going to go small and keep James Harden on the bench I'd much rather him start Daequan Cook than Derek Fisher. Starting Fisher with Westbrook makes it hard to construct lineups off the bench later in the game. Cook can defend Shane Battier or Mario Chalmers.

Fisher has been destroying Chalmers so far. He matches up a lot better than I thought he was going to.

Fisher was fouling the hell out of Chalmers in game 1 (the only time I saw him slow him down). Grabbing and pushing off the ball, hitting him in the throat when he went over a screen, and hitting him in the nuts.

It actually annoys me, not because I think it will have an impact on the game, but Fisher is just getting away with all kinds of bitch moves. Chalmers could handle himself but in the NBA it is usually the guy who retaliates who gets caught by the refs in these situations. I've seen Fisher do this many times to role players over his career. And the announcers like to call Fisher classy. -.-

[Diggity Dave]

http://www.cafepress.com/collegeshirts06/9037538

[Chri2Kng]

Confident we win game 3. We need to last thing we want is to give Miami more confidence

Thanks for your input Kevin! Glad to see an actual NBA player posts on this forum.

Pro-tip: You don't have any impact on the game, so stop using we.

I hate that stupid logic

All fans use we for their team. When you pay your hard earned cash to watch them they are your team

It not smart cause we refer to the majority and also because there are hardly any OKC fans on here because most OKC fan never watch basketball in their life until the past 4 years....

[ibraheim718]

OKC is going to play their starters again so they'll likely fall behind. With all the criticism of Westbrook, consider the following:

Westbrook w/starters on court: 9 points on 4-16 shooting
Westbrook w/all other lineups: 43 points on 16-34 shooting

Scott Brooks' stubbornness with lineups may finally get the best of the team's talent. Every OKC fan I know at this point is thinking "how much will we fall behind?" when the starters take the court, and it's been that way since the Spurs series. It was the same last season against Dallas in the WCF and to a lessor extent against Memphis.

Brooks and others on the team have stated that it's a question of "effort". Even if this was the case, it's undeniable that the Thunder have better pieces to throw at the small Heat lineup.

With all due respect it's a game too soon to make a line up change.

[StateOfThunder]

With all due respect it's a game too soon to make a line up change.

I agree, and it's not about who starts, it's about who finishes and who gets most of the playing time. I mean if Perkins starts but plays like 5 minutes all game then there isn't much to complain, is there? I guess people wouldn't make such a big deal out of this if OKC didn't start off so bad which is why people believe the starting lineup should be changed.

I think Brooks just needs to get ready to go to his bench early if the Heat do blow it up in the 1st quarter again for Game 3.

[slick_watts]

With all due respect it's a game too soon to make a line up change.

With all due respect, it's more than a game.

KP-SI-KD-TS-RW
2010-11 Playoffs: -8 points per 100 possessions
2011-12 Playoffs: -5 points per 100 possessions

The OKC starters, and their inability to score reliably, has catalyzed most of their struggles in the playoffs the past two seasons. It started against Memphis last season, and culminated in the loss to Dallas in the WCF. This season it started against San Antonio in the WCF, and has become a much larger problem against Miami since in addition to not being able to score, they cannot defend Miami's small ball lineup.

I haven't done it, but I'm sure if you applied the same splits to Russell Westbrook in the Spurs series and last year against the Mavericks, you'd come up with a similar difference as this series versus the Heat. Can the Thunder win in spite of its starter's ineffectiveness? Sure. But based on two post seasons of data, I don't think anyone can claim the current starting five is optimal for their success deep in the playoffs.

[slick_watts]

With all due respect it's a game too soon to make a line up change.

I agree, and it's not about who starts, it's about who finishes and who gets most of the playing time. I mean if Perkins starts but plays like 5 minutes all game then there isn't much to complain, is there?

If the Thunder are -14 in six minutes like they were against the Heat last game, there is a lot to complain about.

[StateOfThunder]

With all due respect it's a game too soon to make a line up change.

I agree, and it's not about who starts, it's about who finishes and who gets most of the playing time. I mean if Perkins starts but plays like 5 minutes all game then there isn't much to complain, is there?

If the Thunder are -14 in six minutes like they were against the Heat last game, there is a lot to complain about.

Brooks is not the type of coach that overreacts though. He usually is loyal and sticks by what has worked all season. It could hurt or it could help here. He just experiments and gives it a chance. He probably realizes that it is a small sample size so he isn't going to take it for face value, and he shouldn't.

I think if things go bad again in Game 3 especially in the 4th quarter, he may make a change, but as of right now I can't complain with his move. He believes that the ultimate reason why OKC is having bad first halves/quarters is because of effort so I think we should expect OKC to be fired up and ready to play in the first quarter. If OKC is still losing and still playing bad despite hard effort then Brooks would be a total idiot to not make a change.

[slick_watts]

He believes that the ultimate reason why OKC is having bad first halves/quarters is because of effort so I think we should expect OKC to be fired up and ready to play in the first quarter. If OKC is still losing and still playing bad despite hard effort then Brooks would be a total idiot to not make a change.

Maybe some of it is effort but the starters have been bad late in the playoffs the last two seasons. So if it's all about effort, then he's clearly not sending the right messages to his starters.

[inquisitive]

OKC wins game 3.