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

[slick_watts]

Wish more people would realize roster construction is the #1 problem.

right. for all of billy's faults, he did lead a team to a playoff win w/o hca v. the spurs in 2016 and the team nearly pulled off another major upset against the warriors. so we know, for a fact, that a team coached by billy donovan can be successful.

All I took from that is a team with Kevin Durant can be successful. The fact we haven't even really come close to making it out of the first round since, once again just underscores how he essentially was the team and without him we really don't have one.

sure. but there's no coach in the universe you could give this team to who is going to make up for that, is the point. but it's possible to "re-create" the impact of kevin durant. maybe not feasible in our position though.

[Bergmaniac]

This was so predictable. Game 3 was fool's gold since Westbrook, Grant and Ferguson's shooting was unsustainable and you got almost all 50:50 calls. I should have bet more money on Portland for this game. Dreadful Westbrook who looked really subpar athletically, didn't attack the basket even when he had easy opportunities, barely ever got to the rim and didn't make a layup or a dunk all game. Not to mention all the dumb decisions, terrible shots early in the clock, bad turnovers, subpar D, etc. And when that happens, there really isn't much your team can do unless PG13 is at 100% and making everything from outside.

[Old Man Game]

Let’s quitting setting the bar so low that a team “can” be successful in spite of a bad coach or bad roster. Fix all of it.

It sounds like a PSA for MDA when you put it that way. 'They succeeded in spite of that severe handicap.'

[Bergmaniac]

I think Donovan is a mediocre coach, but it's tough to get far in the current NBA with such a flawed roster. Westbrook refusing to adapt his game to account for the decline of his athleticism is a major problem, and so does the lack of shooters and players who can pass well. It could have worked to some degree when PG13 being 100%, but he's clearly not. PG13's backup in the playoffs has been freaking Raymond Felton, that's how lacking in wings you are.

[Sinobas]

How can you guys stand to cheer for such a bunch of d-bags? I've never seen a worse group of them in all my time watching the NBA. Taunting Lillard, dunking at the end of the game when you're ahead? I've watched hundreds of NBA games and don't remember EVER seeing a player pull such a classless move as what George did in game 3.

And yet the Blazers had a chance to come out and throw that sh back in game 4, but they didn't, they won with class. The Thunder are the scum of the nba.

Why would you troll, you know it just gets you in trouble.

And your team literally used to be known as the Jailblazers.

Back when we were known as the Jailblazers, your team was known as the Seattle Supersonics. And even the jailblazers never acted like that on the court.

[Thundershock88]

How can you guys stand to cheer for such a bunch of d-bags? I've never seen a worse group of them in all my time watching the NBA. Taunting Lillard, dunking at the end of the game when you're ahead? I've watched hundreds of NBA games and don't remember EVER seeing a player pull such a classless move as what George did in game 3.

And yet the Blazers had a chance to come out and throw that sh back in game 4, but they didn't, they won with class. The Thunder are the scum of the nba.

Why would you troll, you know it just gets you in trouble.

And your team literally used to be known as the Jailblazers.

Back when we were known as the Jailblazers, your team was known as the Seattle Supersonics. And even the jailblazers never acted like that on the court.

They just acted like scumbags off of it. That's so much better, but hey, at least they kept their composure while they played a game of put the ball in the basket.

[Dadouv47]

How can you guys stand to cheer for such a bunch of d-bags? I've never seen a worse group of them in all my time watching the NBA. Taunting Lillard, dunking at the end of the game when you're ahead? I've watched hundreds of NBA games and don't remember EVER seeing a player pull such a classless move as what George did in game 3.

And yet the Blazers had a chance to come out and throw that sh back in game 4, but they didn't, they won with class. The Thunder are the scum of the nba.

Why would you troll, you know it just gets you in trouble.

And your team literally used to be known as the Jailblazers.

Back when we were known as the Jailblazers, your team was known as the Seattle Supersonics. And even the jailblazers never acted like that on the court.

PG13 dunk was dumb. Don't know what else we did wrong except playing terrible basketball.

Nurkic trying to hurt Russ in the regular season was 1000x worse than PG13 dunk though.

[Pillendreher]

Utah looked really good last year in the playoffs until they weren’t playing us. We make Portland look better than they are.

Drives per 100 possessions by Westbrook:

Vs Utah with Rudy Gobert protecting the rim: 20.36
Vs Portland with Enes Kanter protecting the rim: 20.36


FGA after drives per 100 possessions by Westbrook:

Vs Utah with Rudy Gobert protecting the rim: 7.68
Vs Portland with Enes Kanter protecting the rim: 5.82

Great gameplanning.

[bondom34]

How can you guys stand to cheer for such a bunch of d-bags? I've never seen a worse group of them in all my time watching the NBA. Taunting Lillard, dunking at the end of the game when you're ahead? I've watched hundreds of NBA games and don't remember EVER seeing a player pull such a classless move as what George did in game 3.

And yet the Blazers had a chance to come out and throw that sh back in game 4, but they didn't, they won with class. The Thunder are the scum of the nba.

Why would you troll, you know it just gets you in trouble.

And your team literally used to be known as the Jailblazers.

Back when we were known as the Jailblazers, your team was known as the Seattle Supersonics. And even the jailblazers never acted like that on the court.

1. I like both these teams.

2. Just don't like trolling.

3. Reported already, don't do this.

[NaturalThunder]

Utah looked really good last year in the playoffs until they weren’t playing us. We make Portland look better than they are.

Drives per 100 possessions by Westbrook:

Vs Utah with Rudy Gobert protecting the rim: 20.36
Vs Portland with Enes Kanter protecting the rim: 20.36


FGA after drives per 100 possessions by Westbrook:

Vs Utah with Rudy Gobert protecting the rim: 7.68
Vs Portland with Enes Kanter protecting the rim: 5.82

Great gameplanning.

Why is this happening? Russ, at least 2-3 times a game, has a shot at the rim; maybe not a really simple one, but one that is very makeable, yet he forces a pass back out to a bad shooter or forces a pass into traffic to a diving teammate.

[Pillendreher]

Utah looked really good last year in the playoffs until they weren’t playing us. We make Portland look better than they are.

Drives per 100 possessions by Westbrook:

Vs Utah with Rudy Gobert protecting the rim: 20.36
Vs Portland with Enes Kanter protecting the rim: 20.36


FGA after drives per 100 possessions by Westbrook:

Vs Utah with Rudy Gobert protecting the rim: 7.68
Vs Portland with Enes Kanter protecting the rim: 5.82

Great gameplanning.

Why is this happening? Russ, at least 2-3 times a game, has a shot at the rim; maybe not a really simple one, but one that is very makeable, yet he forces a pass back out to a bad shooter or forces a pass into traffic to a diving teammate.

I'm just spitballing here, but I could see them thinking "You don't think we can shoot? We'll show you". And even with all the sucking: Those shots were mostly good, even in the 3rd. I don't mind the wide open spot up 3s, but then again, maybe aquire somebody who can actually make them.

[slick_watts]

Drives per 100 possessions by Westbrook:

Vs Utah with Rudy Gobert protecting the rim: 20.36
Vs Portland with Enes Kanter protecting the rim: 20.36


FGA after drives per 100 possessions by Westbrook:

Vs Utah with Rudy Gobert protecting the rim: 7.68
Vs Portland with Enes Kanter protecting the rim: 5.82

Great gameplanning.

Why is this happening? Russ, at least 2-3 times a game, has a shot at the rim; maybe not a really simple one, but one that is very makeable, yet he forces a pass back out to a bad shooter or forces a pass into traffic to a diving teammate.

I'm just spitballing here, but I could see them thinking "You don't think we can shoot? We'll show you". And even with all the sucking: Those shots were mostly good, even in the 3rd. I don't mind the wide open spot up 3s, but then again, maybe aquire somebody who can actually make them.

lots of players have a problem turning down open shots even if they aren't ideal shots. this has been a thunder problem for years and years, and for westbrook specifically to varying degrees his entire career. daring westbrook to shoot has been a common tactic for opponents.

of course, the way westbrook is shooting this year, a pull-up three has just as much if not more value than a pull-up 18-footer. you want westbrook to get to the rim, ideally. aside from portland's own machinations to stop him, he does seem individually reticent.

[Bergmaniac]

Utah looked really good last year in the playoffs until they weren’t playing us. We make Portland look better than they are.

Drives per 100 possessions by Westbrook:

Vs Utah with Rudy Gobert protecting the rim: 20.36
Vs Portland with Enes Kanter protecting the rim: 20.36


FGA after drives per 100 possessions by Westbrook:

Vs Utah with Rudy Gobert protecting the rim: 7.68
Vs Portland with Enes Kanter protecting the rim: 5.82

Great gameplanning.

Why is this happening? Russ, at least 2-3 times a game, has a shot at the rim; maybe not a really simple one, but one that is very makeable, yet he forces a pass back out to a bad shooter or forces a pass into traffic to a diving teammate.

It really felt that he had no confidence in his finishing around the rim during this series after Game 1, and maybe rightly so since he shot 40% there in the last 3 games.

[Pillendreher]

Synergy tracking for the postseason:

Pick and Roll Ball Handler: 16.8 % of all offensive possessions, 0.75 PPP
Pick and Roll Roll Man: 6.2 % of all offensive possesions, 0.93 PPP

Last Playoffs vs Utah:

Pick and Roll Ball Handler: 26.3 % of all offensive possessions, 0.76 PPP
Pick and Roll Roll Man: 7.0 % of all offensive possesions, 0.94 PPP

We played against the best defensive Center in the league and finished 37 possessions each game in the Pick and Roll. Now we're playing the worst defensive Center in the league and finish 26 possessions each game in the Pick and Roll.

[slick_watts]

Synergy tracking for the postseason:

Pick and Roll Ball Handler: 16.8 % of all offensive possessions, 0.75 PPP
Pick and Roll Roll Man: 6.2 % of all offensive possesions, 0.93 PPP

Last Playoffs vs Utah:

Pick and Roll Ball Handler: 26.3 % of all offensive possessions, 0.76 PPP
Pick and Roll Roll Man: 7.0 % of all offensive possesions, 0.94 PPP

We played against the best defensive Center in the league and finished 37 possessions each game in the Pick and Roll. Now we're playing the worst defensive Center in the league and finish 26 possessions each game in the Pick and Roll.

so this seems like a westbrook / handler thing rather than an inability to find adams thing. relative to last season. does nba.com link to the clips of these possessions? last time i looked they don't do that for the synergy ones anymore. it'd be nice to rack all the pnr possessions into a single video.

[Pillendreher]

Synergy tracking for the postseason:

Pick and Roll Ball Handler: 16.8 % of all offensive possessions, 0.75 PPP
Pick and Roll Roll Man: 6.2 % of all offensive possesions, 0.93 PPP

Last Playoffs vs Utah:

Pick and Roll Ball Handler: 26.3 % of all offensive possessions, 0.76 PPP
Pick and Roll Roll Man: 7.0 % of all offensive possesions, 0.94 PPP

We played against the best defensive Center in the league and finished 37 possessions each game in the Pick and Roll. Now we're playing the worst defensive Center in the league and finish 26 possessions each game in the Pick and Roll.

so this seems like a westbrook / handler thing rather than an inability to find adams thing.

Russell Westbrook Pick and Roll Ball Handler: 85 possessions vs Utah, 40 Freq%, 21/68 from the floor, 0.6 PPP | 27 possessions vs Portland, 25 Freq%, 6/21 from the floor, 0.59 PPP

Adams Pick and Roll Roll Man: 19 possessions vs Utah, 33.3 Freq%, 12/18 from the floor, 1.26 PPP | 15 possessions vs Portland, 32.6 Freq%, 9/14 from the floor, 1.20 PPP

Kanter has finished more possessions as the PnR Roll Man than Adams in this series btw: 21 possessions for 16 points, 0.76 PPP.

relative to last season. does nba.com link to the clips of these possessions? last time i looked they don't do that for the synergy ones anymore. it'd be nice to rack all the pnr possessions into a single video.

Unfortunately, they don't.

[slick_watts]

Synergy tracking for the postseason:

Pick and Roll Ball Handler: 16.8 % of all offensive possessions, 0.75 PPP
Pick and Roll Roll Man: 6.2 % of all offensive possesions, 0.93 PPP

Last Playoffs vs Utah:

Pick and Roll Ball Handler: 26.3 % of all offensive possessions, 0.76 PPP
Pick and Roll Roll Man: 7.0 % of all offensive possesions, 0.94 PPP

We played against the best defensive Center in the league and finished 37 possessions each game in the Pick and Roll. Now we're playing the worst defensive Center in the league and finish 26 possessions each game in the Pick and Roll.

so this seems like a westbrook / handler thing rather than an inability to find adams thing.

Russell Westbrook Pick and Roll Ball Handler: 85 possessions vs Utah, 40 Freq%, 21/68 from the floor, 0.6 PPP | 27 possessions vs Portland, 25 Freq%, 6/21 from the floor, 0.59 PPP

Adams Pick and Roll Roll Man: 19 possessions vs Utah, 33.3 Freq%, 12/18 from the floor, 1.26 PPP | 15 possessions vs Portland, 32.6 Freq%, 9/14 from the floor, 1.20 PPP

Kanter has finished more possessions as the PnR Roll Man than Adams in this series btw: 21 possessions for 16 points, 0.76 PPP.

relative to last season. does nba.com link to the clips of these possessions? last time i looked they don't do that for the synergy ones anymore. it'd be nice to rack all the pnr possessions into a single video.

Unfortunately, they don't.

it's obvious i think to anyone and i'm sure to the thunder that getting adams the ball in pnr with kanter the big defender would be strong. i have not watched the series closely enough to know for sure but i suspect their defense is selling out on this and living with everything else we might do as a result. it seems like we are getting a lot of open three point attempts, for example, for better or worse. we're attempting 6+ more open / wide open threes per game this series v. last year against utah, for example.

[slick_watts]

we are losing offensive rebounding to portland and only have a slight advantage on turnovers. the ideal version of this thunder team is one which dominates both these factors because we're not going to out-shoot any teams in the playoffs without some favorable luck.

interestingly, in the regular season games we beat portland on shooting comfortable. also winning turnovers, but losing offensive rebounding. our efg% differential v. portland was higher than against any other western conference team during the season this year,

[Andre Roberstan]

Blow it up. **** this team.

You should want to blow your team up. Even if they come back and win the series, they're the biggest **** in the NBA (except for Steven Adams, he's cool)

Sorry it took me a minute to come back and get this. RealGM wouldn't work for me last night.

This is, as you should be well aware, perfectly unacceptable trolling.

EDIT: More troll posts? Warned for sure, and if you keep this up you get a full on board ban. Honestly probably ought to just do it anyway if the only reason you're here is to kick us while we're down.

[SecondTake]

FGA for Adams in this series: 14, 8, 5, 6

We won the game he took the least in. So what does that tell you?

Guy needs to defer to Grant and do something about Kanter who is manhandling him every game.