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It's not often you'd call a road game against the Clippers a must win. But, let's just say that a loss here would probably make the division race a little too interesting than we'd like.

Perk and Ibaka dominate.

looking forward to a good game since were playing in LA
Perkins and Ibaka needs to be active on defense if we want a chance!!!

I'm still pissed about the officials putting Perk is undeserved foul trouble last game. He was +15 when he was on the court. If he wasn't in foul trouble we win.

Not a big deal though, we're 4 games up with 7 to go

fallacy wrote:I'm still pissed about the officials putting Perk is undeserved foul trouble last game. He was +15 when he was on the court. If he wasn't in foul trouble we win.

Not a big deal though, we're 4 games up with 7 to go

agreed soon as he steps on the court they give him a foul then they go on a 15-0 run!!!

Starting five is still kind of blah offensively. Nine turnovers in the first half already?

Defense has been OK (Clippers...) but the offense has mostly been sloppy.

good 1st half.

9 turnovers is bad. Defense has been great, offense not so much. Pretty mediocre.

pretty decent 1st half but Russell looks beat up if and when we clinch our division Russell should get couple of games off and maybe KD too!!!

Is perkins leading the team in Ts already?

Hey, look. The horribly balanced starting five can't score to start a third quarter again.

slick_watts wrote:Hey, look. The horribly balanced starting five can't score to start a third quarter again.

But why does it seem to be so much more of a problem in the third than the first?

Krodis wrote:

slick_watts wrote:Hey, look. The horribly balanced starting five can't score to start a third quarter again.

But why does it seem to be so much more of a problem in the third than the first?

Um, it's not. The starting five scored 8 points in six minutes in the first quarter. It sucked then too.

It has some moments when all the jumpers are falling (1st quarter against Portland) but on the whole it just sucks offensively because it's inherently flawed.

But, our coach won't change that. I'm not even convinced he'll make the change next season. It's inexplicable.

slick_watts wrote:

Krodis wrote:

slick_watts wrote:Hey, look. The horribly balanced starting five can't score to start a third quarter again.

But why does it seem to be so much more of a problem in the third than the first?

Um, it's not. The starting five scored 8 points in six minutes in the first quarter. It sucked then too.

It has some moments when all the jumpers are falling (1st quarter against Portland) but on the whole it just sucks offensively because it's inherently flawed.

But, our coach won't change that. I'm not even convinced he'll make the change next season. It's inexplicable.

Ibaka is going to develop and become that 3rd scorer with our starters,

Wasn't watching the first quarter because of the Final Four, so I missed the first quarter today. It just seemed to be trending worse in the third quarter than the first.

I'm not at all debating the fact that it has to do with the lineup itself, as there is simply no court spacing with Thabo out there.

slick_watts wrote:

Krodis wrote:

slick_watts wrote:Hey, look. The horribly balanced starting five can't score to start a third quarter again.

But why does it seem to be so much more of a problem in the third than the first?

Um, it's not. The starting five scored 8 points in six minutes in the first quarter. It sucked then too.

I recall the score being 18-8 OKC after the first eight minutes, which is when the first substitution was made.

dream_catcher_9 wrote:Ibaka is going to develop and become that 3rd scorer with our starters,

Even if he did, it won't change what's going on. The team has zero floor spacing in the starting five. Ibaka is not going to space the floor from 3PT range.

You need floor spacing to run our offense. We have a drive and kick offense, as described by our Coach of the Year. The first problem is that you can't drive when you get trapped every possession. The second problem is that when you are able to, there's no one there to kick the ball out to.

We've seen this consistently since this starting five has been adopted. It performs well occasionally when all the mid range jumpers are falling. But that's no way to run an offense.

The only way to fix it is to start James Harden, or find a C or PF who can stretch the floor. Obviously, the preference is to start Harden, and get him well integrated with the starting unit so they can trust him and use him properly. But, it probably is not going to happen.

I think Angry Durant may make a cameo tonight.

kerfuffle wrote:I recall the score being 18-8 OKC after the first eight minutes, which is when the first substitution was made.

Sorry I was looking at the wrong data. But the starting five is still awful on the whole in this game and others.

Harden seems to be the only who understands the concept of driving to the basket and getting to the foul line. Or perhaps everyone else just has forgot.

Edit: Perhaps that's unfair of me to say. Russ makes his attempts, but he starts settling for the jumpers. Harden continues to push it.