OKC/Lakers?

[co_laper]

Originally, I want no part of LA. But after further thinking, I'd rather have LA.

First off, my issue with OKC.

I was thinking about how we lost last year againts Memphis. They shut down our offense. How? They had a strong perimeter defender in Tony Allen. Basically they're athletic and extremely sound defensively on the perimeter. Then, in the paint, with Zbo and Marc, they have size and while not much shotblocking, that combination simply doesn't allow us to get to the paint.

Now, I refuse to use regular season as anything. What I'm saying is that I see potential in this OKC lineup to give us that same exact problem. With Thabo as Tony Allen. Westbrook and then Durant giving them length and defense in the perimeter. And then with Perkins and Ibaka, they give you size and shotblocking.

OKC atleast has the necessary tools to defend us. Unlike the Lakers ofcourse who has the size in the paint but is extremely slow and unathletic in the perimeter.

I won't get into the offensive side of their teams because I personally believe we lost Memphis because our offense got shutdown. That's the biggest reason. Not because of our inability to contain Gasol/Zbo. That's number two. Our offense was elite, our defense was average. So come playoff time, it's fair to expect our offense to be fine, and our defense to struggle. I definitely wouldn't blame our average defense for not being able to contain Gasol/Zbo. I blame our elite offense to produce paltry results.

So the same thing with OKC. I don't expect us to shutdown Durant/Westbrook/Harden or Gasol/Bynum/Kobe, but as long as our offense is fine, we should make this a 7 game series. We'll end the series much quicker if our defense actually manage to shut them down. So again, my worry is which team has the best potential at shutting our offense down. I'm hoping Lakers win because of this. I want to meet LA instead after watching their series.

Thoughts?

[Nolan]

I'd prefer LA too right now. But the reality is we're going to be facing the Thunder, baring some miracle turnaround by the Lakers.

[DEEP3CL]

If we were close to winning that series I could answer this thread a different way.. Truth is im always confident we could win against anyone, but the cold hard facts are we would've needed too much to go right for us to win against a team like the Spurs. That said you guys will handle the Thunder with ease, I hope you guys don't mind me coming here and chipping in a few quotes here and there.

I have more of a respect for the Spurs than for most NBA teams, so it's easy for me to see you guys as the next champions. Go get it!!!

[batmana]

Probably my biggest concern is that OKC could be getting the close calls. Their leaders Durant, Westbrook and Harden are getting to the line at will but we are a team that almost doesn't foul. Still, a foul is what the refs call so it could get frustrating pretty quickly. Seeing that ridiculous flagrant that Artest was given last night just proved my concerns. Granted we don't have a player with Artest's reputation but still it's something I worry about.

On the other hand, if we manage to defend their stars without fouling, I could easily see them getting frustrated quickly. Leonard has bothered Durant in the regular season and Parker gave Westbrook fits on the offensive end...

[co_laper]

Yeah how the FT thing played out is gonna be crucial. OKC gets to the line a lot. That could be the deciding factor in the series. If we're able to defend without putting them at the line, we should win. If not, we'll lose.