How to match up with the Warriors

[bondom34]

He was better today and actually took advantage of guys leaving him open by using that space, that what he needs to do so the offense doesn't bog down, if he justs sits in the corner it isnt going to work. I also wouldn't mind if he tried taking more open shots when they come his way in the 4th, he always passes up those shots and only takes them at the start of games, definitely a confidence problem for him.

He seems more confident this season,he just needs a chance.

A lot of it he needs to find in himself, half the battle with shooting is shooting without hesitation and with confidence which he lacks.

On a different note I think the Spurs are the only team equipped to stay big against Golden State and actually punish them. You have both Aldridge and Duncan who can who can post up and do some damage down low. With two bigs who can post that means Barnes will be forced to guard one of them and that is a disaster, have Kawhi, Green and Mills out on the perimeter spacing the floor and thats the recipe to really hurt them.

I think of the top 4 in the west, I like OKC best vs. LAC and SAS, but the Spurs match up well w/ GSW as do the Clips. It won't happen but I want someone to take them out so much.

[Zagor]

On a different note I think the Spurs are the only team equipped to stay big against Golden State and actually punish them. You have both Aldridge and Duncan who can who can post up and do some damage down low. With two bigs who can post that means Barnes will be forced to guard one of them and that is a disaster, have Kawhi, Green and Mills out on the perimeter spacing the floor and thats the recipe to really hurt them.

I don't agree. Warriors will destroy Spurs almost every time. Just to stay close with Warriors, you need to have strong offensive players....who can create for themselves.
Spurs offense depends too much on system. When Leonard is out, their defense is bad. And again they need him to work hard in defense, close Klay or Curry and then score 25+ points every night with playing 40+ minutes. He can't do that.

When Bogut is on the bench, Warriors can go with Green and Speights. They can guard Aldridge and Duncan. But how will those two defend Green and Speights? Post up of Duncan? That is 10 points. He is old, only big player who can destroy Warriors small ball is Cousins and he is in wrong team.
How will they guard Curry? If they put Kawhi on him, they lose his help defense, and if they use Leonard somewhere else, Curry will destroy them. Literally.

OKC is better suited for Warriors because KD and Russ, so are Clippers because of Paul.
I believe, healthy OKC and Clippers can beat Spurs. They are very good in regular season, but in playoffs rotation will tight up.

[Andre Roberstan]

On a different note I think the Spurs are the only team equipped to stay big against Golden State and actually punish them. You have both Aldridge and Duncan who can who can post up and do some damage down low. With two bigs who can post that means Barnes will be forced to guard one of them and that is a disaster, have Kawhi, Green and Mills out on the perimeter spacing the floor and thats the recipe to really hurt them.

I don't agree. Warriors will destroy Spurs almost every time. Just to stay close with Warriors, you need to have strong offensive players....who can create for themselves.
Spurs offense depends too much on system. When Leonard is out, their defense is bad. And again they need him to work hard in defense, close Klay or Curry and then score 25+ points every night with playing 40+ minutes. He can't do that.

When Bogut is on the bench, Warriors can go with Green and Speights. They can guard Aldridge and Duncan. But how will those two defend Green and Speights? Post up of Duncan? That is 10 points. He is old, only big player who can destroy Warriors small ball is Cousins and he is in wrong team.
How will they guard Curry? If they put Kawhi on him, they lose his help defense, and if they use Leonard somewhere else, Curry will destroy them. Literally.

OKC is better suited for Warriors because KD and Russ, so are Clippers because of Paul.
I believe, healthy OKC and Clippers can beat Spurs. They are very good in regular season, but in playoffs rotation will tight up.

I'm not sure what team you're watching, but the Spurs are doing a whole lot more ISO this year than they have in years past. And they'll probably use Leonard on Thompson, Green on Curry, and hide Parker.

[spearsy23]

I just don't understand what advantage people think we gain by going small. Dion and Morrow are literally worse defenders, even on the perimeter, than Ibaka and Adams.

Russ/Dion/Robes/Durant/Ibaka
Curry/Thompson/Iggy/Barnes/Draymond

What's our advantage there? They're better at 4 out of the 5 spots and we're trying to play the exact same way they do. If they have better players and are doing the same things with those players how do we beat them?

I actually like Kanter vs their small-ball, they can't switch the P&R at all and he will maul them on the offensive glass. The problem is that we have to actually run the pick and roll for that to matter, and we generally just stop doing it down the stretch. He can't help guard Curry, but Curry is too good for Adams to guard either so it's not a substantial net loss there.

Billy did something great in OT last game by running P&R with Robes to force Curry on to Russ. I hope we see that again in the future.

[bondom34]

^^^

That's the real issue. The personnel aren't there to go small, so why screw up what works? Singler maybe, that's the only real option.

[Bravenewworld]

On a different note I think the Spurs are the only team equipped to stay big against Golden State and actually punish them. You have both Aldridge and Duncan who can who can post up and do some damage down low. With two bigs who can post that means Barnes will be forced to guard one of them and that is a disaster, have Kawhi, Green and Mills out on the perimeter spacing the floor and thats the recipe to really hurt them.

I don't agree. Warriors will destroy Spurs almost every time. Just to stay close with Warriors, you need to have strong offensive players....who can create for themselves.
Spurs offense depends too much on system. When Leonard is out, their defense is bad. And again they need him to work hard in defense, close Klay or Curry and then score 25+ points every night with playing 40+ minutes. He can't do that.

When Bogut is on the bench, Warriors can go with Green and Speights. They can guard Aldridge and Duncan. But how will those two defend Green and Speights? Post up of Duncan? That is 10 points. He is old, only big player who can destroy Warriors small ball is Cousins and he is in wrong team.
How will they guard Curry? If they put Kawhi on him, they lose his help defense, and if they use Leonard somewhere else, Curry will destroy them. Literally.

OKC is better suited for Warriors because KD and Russ, so are Clippers because of Paul.
I believe, healthy OKC and Clippers can beat Spurs. They are very good in regular season, but in playoffs rotation will tight up.

I gotta say.
I learned that dismissing the spurs in such ways was silly.
I tired to do it year after year and eventually gave up around 2010/2011 or so.
The only teams coming out of the West this year are going to be the Warriors or Spurs. OKC, as i suggested and suspected, took a step back and had to restructure with Donovan and some misc. players here and there. I figure a year or so before everyone is fully acclimated.
The Clippers i still do not trust. They look better without Blake, but don't have the firepower to get past the three other teams. But whatever, the clippers situation is far more interesting then what they will do in the POs IMO.

[old rem]

On a different note I think the Spurs are the only team equipped to stay big against Golden State and actually punish them. You have both Aldridge and Duncan who can who can post up and do some damage down low. With two bigs who can post that means Barnes will be forced to guard one of them and that is a disaster, have Kawhi, Green and Mills out on the perimeter spacing the floor and thats the recipe to really hurt them.

I don't agree. Warriors will destroy Spurs almost every time. Just to stay close with Warriors, you need to have strong offensive players....who can create for themselves.
Spurs offense depends too much on system. When Leonard is out, their defense is bad. And again they need him to work hard in defense, close Klay or Curry and then score 25+ points every night with playing 40+ minutes. He can't do that.

When Bogut is on the bench, Warriors can go with Green and Speights. They can guard Aldridge and Duncan. But how will those two defend Green and Speights? Post up of Duncan? That is 10 points. He is old, only big player who can destroy Warriors small ball is Cousins and he is in wrong team.
How will they guard Curry? If they put Kawhi on him, they lose his help defense, and if they use Leonard somewhere else, Curry will destroy them. Literally.

OKC is better suited for Warriors because KD and Russ, so are Clippers because of Paul.
I believe, healthy OKC and Clippers can beat Spurs. They are very good in regular season, but in playoffs rotation will tight up.

OKC can rack up points. Can they D good enough? I have doubts. Ibaka is the OKC guy I see as Top end D. However...He's got to cover Dray Green who is...to say the least.. unorthodox. Who contains Curry? Well....if Contain means Curry hits 5 3's and 25 pt...Westbrook can do it. Then....who do you put on Klay? What happens when Speights is in vs Kanter? Kanter won't D Mo Buckets.. Mo probably can't well D Kanter. A BIG deal....GSW is deeper. They do a deep rotation.
The Bench guys are MUCH different from the starters. I know how SUPER Durant and Westbrook can be. However....GSW is BIG on "team game" and this year...they are setting records. No margin for error. GSW gets UP for the top teams. They lost a few to AVERAGE teams when not focused. GSW will be in focus for OKC. GSW will own Home Court. They may be the first NBA team EVER to "run the table" at home.

So? Beat GSW? One word..... LUCK. There's always a chance that GSW has injury woes. There's a chance the top 3 shooting team....misses shots. Only the Spurs really have the depth and Defense to match well. The Cavs. have LeBron, who's great, but there's weak links on D. OKC.. can have 75 pt from Durant and Westbrook. Curry and Klay can match that though.

AS Yogi said... It ain't over till it's over.

[old rem]

I just don't understand what advantage people think we gain by going small. Dion and Morrow are literally worse defenders, even on the perimeter, than Ibaka and Adams.

Russ/Dion/Robes/Durant/Ibaka
Curry/Thompson/Iggy/Barnes/Draymond

What's our advantage there? They're better at 4 out of the 5 spots and we're trying to play the exact same way they do. If they have better players and are doing the same things with those players how do we beat them?

I actually like Kanter vs their small-ball, they can't switch the P&R at all and he will maul them on the offensive glass. The problem is that we have to actually run the pick and roll for that to matter, and we generally just stop doing it down the stretch. He can't help guard Curry, but Curry is too good for Adams to guard either so it's not a substantial net loss there.

Billy did something great in OT last game by running P&R with Robes to force Curry on to Russ. I hope we see that again in the future.

Yeah....that GSW 5 is ....difficult. You got 5 guys who can shoot 3's, will MOVE.. pass. Everyone does team D.
Green is a rugged PF who gets triple doubles. Curry is THE MVP PG.. but Green has more assists. Iggy....gets a lot of assists as well.
It's like they got 3 point guards. Usually.. GSW also can go full size. Bogut and Ezeli both D and Rebound. Speights.. is a stretch 5.
Mo can score a point minute. Barbosa is a scorer. Livingston is 6-7 point with much midrange game. OKC has the studs to win a home game. They don't got the full package to win a 7 game series.

[Andre Roberstan]

Then....who do you put on Klay?

Roberson and Ibaka are the best OKC defenders. Robes goes on Klay.

[spearsy23]

I just don't understand what advantage people think we gain by going small. Dion and Morrow are literally worse defenders, even on the perimeter, than Ibaka and Adams.

Russ/Dion/Robes/Durant/Ibaka
Curry/Thompson/Iggy/Barnes/Draymond

What's our advantage there? They're better at 4 out of the 5 spots and we're trying to play the exact same way they do. If they have better players and are doing the same things with those players how do we beat them?

I actually like Kanter vs their small-ball, they can't switch the P&R at all and he will maul them on the offensive glass. The problem is that we have to actually run the pick and roll for that to matter, and we generally just stop doing it down the stretch. He can't help guard Curry, but Curry is too good for Adams to guard either so it's not a substantial net loss there.

Billy did something great in OT last game by running P&R with Robes to force Curry on to Russ. I hope we see that again in the future.

Yeah....that GSW 5 is ....difficult. You got 5 guys who can shoot 3's, will MOVE.. pass. Everyone does team D.
Green is a rugged PF who gets triple doubles. Curry is THE MVP PG.. but Green has more assists. Iggy....gets a lot of assists as well.
It's like they got 3 point guards. Usually.. GSW also can go full size. Bogut and Ezeli both D and Rebound. Speights.. is a stretch 5.
Mo can score a point minute. Barbosa is a scorer. Livingston is 6-7 point with much midrange game. OKC has the studs to win a home game. They don't got the full package to win a 7 game series.

It's going to be so fun to throw the gloating back in these fans faces if the Warriors don't win.