RealGM

Knicks fan here,

Just wanted to say I felt like the referees ruined the series against OKC. The Spurs were CLEARLY playing some of the best basketball I've ever seen in the history of this great sport. When the tides turned, I gave props to OKC, but the real props go to the referees for taking the Spurs out of their game, giving OKC all the momentum, and ruining the best basketball team on the face of the planet. I don't know if this series was rigged for a potential OKC/Heat showdown or not, but the Spurs deserved to advance, and there definitely should've been a game 7 back in San Antonio. The Spurs DID NOT blow that lead by themselves, the zebras helped them do it. Too many missed calls and too many phantom calls every time OKC was on offense.

I really hope the Spurs retool once more in the offseason and make 1 last run at it. This team really caught the eyes of the basketball purists and its a damn shame the league has shunned them and relegated them to elimination.

No, I'm not gonna blame the refs. OKC played better than us. Like Memphis, I thought everyone on OKC stepped up. From the stars like Durant, Harden, Westbrook, all the way to the role players show up. Our didn't. Splitter fumbled a lot of passes, Gary Neal shot like ****. Bonner couldn't connect and was giving away offensive rebounds when he's on the floor. Danny went through a slump. OKC deserved the win.

Now for us, it's all about where we go from here. I am with the thinking that deep bench is good for the regular season, and obviously it looks fine when we're playing an inferior team. But in these kind of setting where our opponent is every bit as good as we are, we need the best players playing more minutes. In effect, that shortens the bench.

I think at this point, we're too deep. I'd like for us to make some trades that shorten the rotation a little bit.

Also, I have no reason to think we shouldn't be among the top teams again next year. Hopefully, whatever declines of Duncan and Manu will be offset by the improvements of our youngsters. And I'd really like for us to resign Diaw and Green. I don't mind losing Gary Neal. At this point, he's just not the best fit.

As much as i'd like to blame them for this, its not their fault. Where there some questionable calls? Of course but there always is and there's nothing we can do about.

We lost this series on our own, the Thunder's star's just outshined us.

Jazz fan here, and unbiased concerning the Thunder or Spurs ( although I do think Pops is the best coach in the NBA)
the refs had nothing to do with it. The thunder came out after the half and were in pure attack mode. They put the Spurs on their heels and dictated the every aspect of the game, especially the pace. The Spurs needed to slow it down and play controlled half court ball.
OKC is going to be great for years to come, you need to give them props instead of pointing fingers.

We still need more LENGTH and athleticism up front... we got it on the perimeter and improved there from the 2008 team, but need it more up front, still

Honestly, get rid of Bonner or maybe make him a third stringer... Neal I like, but isn't crucial... same with Blair... these guys all should be trade chips.

We still have too many small bigs lacking some athleticism or productive size in the front-court, since 2008 it's been this way, and we have to get back to length up front around Duncan, besides Splitter.

Diaw's great as a role-player and need to keep him, unless it's for a better player, but we can't have three small bigs on the team!

Duncan has had, honestly, no consistently solid help up front defending around the basket like he used to have. Since 07/08, other teams began to get bigger and more athletic and more talented in the front-court.

We never adjusted that well to this rapid change, until this year, but still don't have enough length at PF/C like other teams do. It's an issue that's gotta be addressed this off-season, because this team is still legit.

Who else agrees we have to get more size up front, STILL?

The refs impacted maybe 3 or 4 plays in that game, tops. That's 8 points. So no, we lost to the better team and they beat us legitimately.

I would try to be very careful not to make it seem that I'm blaming the refereeing but I will state the following:

There were several calls throughout the series that were clearly ticky-tack calls in favor of the Thunder. Their greatest strength being their best players being able to go the line almost at will, this was a big plus for them. On the other hand, our biggest plus against OKC was that we virtually don't foul. Those calls gave them a slight advantage. I want to re-iterate that those were a limited number of calls. But they were so blatantly obvious that they drove coach Pop to super aggressive reactions on the sidelines, and yet the referees deliberately ignored his reaction and didn't T him up. Not once.

The Thunder won the series because they had the best player (Durant) whereas our strength was in our depth. Unfortunately, when the superstar (Durant) is capable of playing 40+ minutes in a game, it is almost irrelevant whether you can throw fresh 2nd and 3rd string players against him who are almost as good as the starters. In the playoffs, being 12-deep is the most redundant thing to the point it almost becomes a weekness rather than a strength.

So when in game 3, after we were already blown away, we emptied the bench, and Blair got 10 points and 7-8 rebounds in like 8 minutes of action, he showed he was yet another player who has to get playing time and this was a problem. OKC didn't have that problem. They were basically playing 8 guys and they knew that even if Daequan Cook or Cole Aldrich or Lazar Hayward got some playing time, they wouldn't all of a sudden become worthy of more playing time. They were end-of-the-bench players, scrubs. The Spurs group of 13 guys basically had no scrubs. Everybody could have a huge game. This was the biggest strength in the regular season and a glaring weakness against a top-heavy championship-caliber team in the playoffs.

Green, Bonner and Splitter were invisible in the WCF. That was the difference. That "depth" got exposed big time once Brooks put Sefolosha on TP. That exposed us for what we were and Pop couldn't adjust. No excuses. The better team won and are now fighting for a ring as they deserve to be.

I agree. I'm glad that we proved to still be a championship contender. I'm alright in saying that we're the top 3-4 teams in the league and unless a major injury happens to our star players, we should continue to be the top teams in the league next season. All you want is a chance at a title. Nothing is written in stone. I expect OKC-Miami to be as good/better, but what other teams beside us is better than us? When it comes to predictions for next season, I think we're number 3. That IMO is good enough for another jab at the title. I can't wait for next season.

Yep. Totally over-achieved in terms of what I thought this team was capable of coming into the year. I love that us and Boston made deep playoff runs, especially after many "experts" predicted that we would struggle with the abbreviated condensed schedule.

We'll be back again next year and who knows what will happen. Outside of OKC I don't see any team better than us in the West.

Our lesser players need to improve in the postseason, regular season productivity isn't enough anymore.

Bonner needs to be fazed out, simple as that... his shooting is great, but he's not like an Horry big foward at all, let alone Ryan Anderson... he plays very small most of the time outside of his shooting, and seems to struggle later in the playoffs or something.

If Bonner's shot isn't falling he is literally a waste of space out there, cause he provides nothing else. He can't dribble, doesn't crash the boards and is a matador on D.