The third time's the charm - First Round Series vs Portland

[ThunderBolt]

I still have faith in this team in the next 3 years on winning a championship. Russ + Pg are a great duo. Have some faith guys come on. I know we look bad right now but nothing's over yet. Russ had an excellent game 1 and pg a very good game 2. Lillard is doing Lillard things but he can't beat us alone with cj. We need shrooder, ferguson and grant to step up. Especially Grant. This is his third year here he needs to realize he's important to this team and shouldn't be playing like that. It's easy to blame Russ but he's not the problem with this team that's only for the media to talk about. We've seen all these games this year and know damn well Russ is not the reason this team loses when they do. I don't get why we don't try the pick and roll with Adams on every possession against this team it's working every time. They are a worse version of the team we swept on regular season. Let's start some good momentum going back to Oklahoma and even the series.

This isn’t religion. This is basketball. Optimism doesn’t change reality. Championship teams aren’t built on faith. They are built on good rosters, good coaching and good management. We are lacking in all three.

[slick_watts]

russell westbrook vowing to play better after getting thrashed by his counterpart early in a first round playoff series? where have we heard that before?

[slick_watts]

Everyone knows what Russ' problems are. They haven't changed since kd ran off. While Russ isn't your ideal best player the flaws in his game are made worse by poor roster construction and terrible coaching. With Russ declining due to his age and knee issues this is just going to get worse and there will be a lot of blame put on Russ over the next few years about things he really has no control over. Presti is the one who refused to draft shooters. Presti is the one who chases athletes who are lacking in basketball skills over players that are fundamentally sound, but don't jump over the rim or win dunk contests.

i'm with you on the sam presti criticism but russ has control over some things i.e. his decision making, his free throw shooting, and whether or not he can improve his jump shooting in general.

[slick_watts]

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We are the first team in NBA history to take at least 30 3s in consecutive games and make 5 or less of them:

http://bkref.com/tiny/H8ceS

In general I think Russ gets too much heat for things that go wrong but this one in particular in entirely on him. Him saying this crap to Lillard basically woke him up

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russ trash talking rubio last year was similarly cringe-y. lillard letting his game do the talking while running his mouth in game 2 is a double whammy.

[slick_watts]

i still think there's somewhat of a chance the series turns around. we are a bad shooting team but our shooting is a lot worse than bad. it seems unsustainably bad especially given the quality of shots portland is living with us getting.

however, we did lose turnovers in game 2, which is a difficult thing for us to surmount even if we're shooting normally.

[jackrabbit00]

Everyone knows what Russ' problems are. They haven't changed since kd ran off. While Russ isn't your ideal best player the flaws in his game are made worse by poor roster construction and terrible coaching. With Russ declining due to his age and knee issues this is just going to get worse and there will be a lot of blame put on Russ over the next few years about things he really has no control over. Presti is the one who refused to draft shooters. Presti is the one who chases athletes who are lacking in basketball skills over players that are fundamentally sound, but don't jump over the rim or win dunk contests.

i'm with you on the sam presti criticism but russ has control over some things i.e. his decision making, his free throw shooting, and whether or not he can improve his jump shooting in general.

Suprisingly, he has been our best free throw shooter throughout these two games. 11/11 from the line.

[Dadouv47]

I stil think we will win our 2 games at home (not the series) but I’m done with this team. We are so ugly to watch. We are playing 3vs5 basketball on offense because our GM doesn’t understand that shooting the basketball (midrange, 3’s) also counts as points.

[petros93]

I still have faith in this team in the next 3 years on winning a championship. Russ + Pg are a great duo. Have some faith guys come on. I know we look bad right now but nothing's over yet. Russ had an excellent game 1 and pg a very good game 2. Lillard is doing Lillard things but he can't beat us alone with cj. We need shrooder, ferguson and grant to step up. Especially Grant. This is his third year here he needs to realize he's important to this team and shouldn't be playing like that. It's easy to blame Russ but he's not the problem with this team that's only for the media to talk about. We've seen all these games this year and know damn well Russ is not the reason this team loses when they do. I don't get why we don't try the pick and roll with Adams on every possession against this team it's working every time. They are a worse version of the team we swept on regular season. Let's start some good momentum going back to Oklahoma and even the series.

This isn’t religion. This is basketball. Optimism doesn’t change reality. Championship teams aren’t built on faith. They are built on good rosters, good coaching and good management. We are lacking in all three.

Man I get what you're saying and I kinda agree. But we haven't lost yet. We watch sports as something to make us entertained to make us anxious, happy, even sad when our teams lose. We're still in this. Right now we still have a chance. Instead on focusing our minds on what we can fix going in next year we can watch the rest of the series with a positive attitude for ourselves.We don't watch the thunder to feel miserable. I know I don't. I woke up today on 5am here in greece since the game started on 5:30am in here. You think I regretted it? Hell no. I love my thunder have been for years like all of you which I guess most of you have experienced going to the arena and see them play. Kd left us but Russ then made me love the team even more giving his everything every single game even more than before. I've seen this team this year playing basketball that could win everyone. As I've seen them playing the kind of way we can lose by anyone. That's something we need to fix that's for sure. But for now I'm suggesting you guys remember what got you in love with this team and if you're still feeling a fan have a positive attitude about the series. Win or lose thunder up. The fact that a small market team has accomplished so much in 10 years is so remarkable.
Sorry if you find everything as romantic crap been lurking here for years made an account recently and just decided to post since I feel we all are a little down but I think we need to be a little more positive. At the end of the day whatever we say or suggest here isn't gonna make Billy a better coach nether Sam make better choices. It's all conversations we have as fans!

[Old Man Game]

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We are the first team in NBA history to take at least 30 3s in consecutive games and make 5 or less of them:

http://bkref.com/tiny/H8ceS

We need more athletes who can't shoot!!

That'll fix our problems!!

We live and die by Presti's mantra (he said this before the season):

"Second thing would be guys can step up and make some shots. Like that's another way you can get better is we need some guys to make some shots. I think that all of our guys are capable and talented and I expect them to make some shots. That's another way you can become a better shooting team.

Remember several years back. Perkins was still on the team and had just had one of the worst playoff series in recent memory (like all time level ineptitude). In the exit interviews after the season Presti said something like, 'I expect Perk to improve and come back ready to play' or something else just totally delusional. Probably good Presti was never forced to make a living as a salesman.

[ThunderBolt]

Teams down 0-2 have come back and won 8% of all match ups.

[Dadouv47]

Teams down 0-2 have come back and won 8% of all match ups.

Don’t think at all that we will win the series but our odds are higher than 8% though. These stats take into account first and second seed against terrible 7th and 8th seed and we were only 2 games behind Portland in the regular season if I’m not wrong. The gap between 2nd and 7th seed in the West isn’t as big as it used to be.

Didn’t look Vegas odds but won’t Be surprised if they give us 25% chances. We are still overrated though so I would give us around 15%

[Thundershock88]

Teams down 0-2 have come back and won 8% of all match ups.

Don’t think at all that we will win the series but our odds are higher than 8% though. These stats take into account first and second seed against terrible 7th and 8th seed and we were only 2 games behind Portland in the regular season if I’m not wrong. The gap between 2nd and 7th seed in the West isn’t as big as it used to be.

Didn’t look Vegas odds but won’t Be surprised if they give us 25% chances. We are still overrated though so I would give us around 15%

We also have done it. I was convinced the WCF against the Spurs was over.

[Dadouv47]

Teams down 0-2 have come back and won 8% of all match ups.

Don’t think at all that we will win the series but our odds are higher than 8% though. These stats take into account first and second seed against terrible 7th and 8th seed and we were only 2 games behind Portland in the regular season if I’m not wrong. The gap between 2nd and 7th seed in the West isn’t as big as it used to be.

Didn’t look Vegas odds but won’t Be surprised if they give us 25% chances. We are still overrated though so I would give us around 15%

We also have done it. I was convinced the WCF against the Spurs was over.

My concern is that besides the fact that we are a bad team with many bad players, we also have mentally VERY weak players (we were way stronger at that time against the Spurs). Guys like Grant and Ferguson look scared as hell and are shooting worse than ever (shots weren’t even close to go in, sometimes it felt it was closer to be an airball than going IN).

I’m so sick of Ferguson that I wouldn’t mind giving some minutes to Burton. Grant is too important on the defensive end to get benched but I almost want to see 2pat on the floor.

[Thundershock88]

Don’t think at all that we will win the series but our odds are higher than 8% though. These stats take into account first and second seed against terrible 7th and 8th seed and we were only 2 games behind Portland in the regular season if I’m not wrong. The gap between 2nd and 7th seed in the West isn’t as big as it used to be.

Didn’t look Vegas odds but won’t Be surprised if they give us 25% chances. We are still overrated though so I would give us around 15%

We also have done it. I was convinced the WCF against the Spurs was over.

My concern is that besides the fact that we are a bad team with many bad players, we also have mentally VERY weak players (we were way stronger at that time against the Spurs). Guys like Grant and Ferguson look scared as hell and are shooting worse than ever (shots weren’t even close to go in, sometimes it felt it was closer to be an airball than going IN).

I’m so sick of Ferguson that I wouldn’t mind giving some minutes to Burton. Grant is too important on the defensive end to get benched but I almost want to see 2pat on the floor.

Watching this team is like watching the mentally gifted kid who doesn't study before a test, vs the dumber kid who commits hours to studying for a test. You can only coast for so long. This team has so many bad habits, and it's unfixable with a coach who is unwilling to call out those bad habits. Billy has no clue how to stop the high pick and roll.

[Kizz Fastfists]

i'm with you on the sam presti criticism but russ has control over some things i.e. his decision making, his free throw shooting, and whether or not he can improve his jump shooting in general.

Those issues have been there his entire career. He's not going to suddenly make changes at 30. He is who he is. Presti felt he could get where he wanted to with Russ as his best player since he didn't get rid of him. Presti needs to surround Russ with the type of players that maximize the way Russ plays. Presti seems incapable of both. No one is changing Russ at this point. We'll hear again this off-season about how he is working on his 3pt shooting and we might even hear that he threw up 100 late on a night in a gym after a loss. The shooting late into the night after a loss does nothing. The number of shots he would have to take to change his shot would mean day after day in the gym of basically doing nothing except shooting with a new motion that would be effective until he retrained his muscle memory. Russ doesn't understand the game or the human body like that. He'll just go to the gym and think shooting, without working on changing things, will somehow make him better. Then after a few days of shooting he'll go play in a pickup game using the same bad shooting motion that is becoming less effective as his knees get worse because all of his lift on his shot is from his knees instead of using his arms to create a trajectory that assists his aging legs.

[slick_watts]

i'm with you on the sam presti criticism but russ has control over some things i.e. his decision making, his free throw shooting, and whether or not he can improve his jump shooting in general.

Those issues have been there his entire career. He's not going to suddenly make changes at 30. He is who he is.

i think russ has shown considerable variance in terms of his decision making, and obviously the decline in ft shooting has not been an issue his entire career. numerous players have made 'sudden' changes when it comes to jump shooting accuracy later in their careers, especially spot-up jump shooting. i won't argue that westbrook's reticence to shore up these things is part of the overall character he's developed over the years. but to say he is who he is as an absolution of personal responsibility is going too far imo.

[RunOKC]

Still think this is going at least 6 games, but I don't know if we'll win in Portland. Game 1 was really there for the taking and we blew it.

Sucks right now

[Pillendreher]

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[Dadouv47]

The worst part about all this is that we all know during exit interviews they will mention 1. Roberson was out 2. Abrines had to leave 3. Paul George's injury 4. Ferguson is young and will improve. Basically meaning no significant change for next season (if PG13 doesn't ask for a trade)

[Dadouv47]

Teams down 0-2 have come back and won 8% of all match ups.

Don’t think at all that we will win the series but our odds are higher than 8% though. These stats take into account first and second seed against terrible 7th and 8th seed and we were only 2 games behind Portland in the regular season if I’m not wrong. The gap between 2nd and 7th seed in the West isn’t as big as it used to be.

Didn’t look Vegas odds but won’t Be surprised if they give us 25% chances. We are still overrated though so I would give us around 15%

Update : Vegas giving us 30% of winning this series. Would bet on Portland if I wasn't a Thunder fan...