Oklahoma City Thunder Regular Season Thread: Part IV

[Cuban_Linx]

Lol what. Payne is clearly better than any of those guys. Teams will murder us in the 2nd and 4th quarter without Payne. Stop it with the unwarranted Payne bashing. That kid can play!

Also, we probably aren't winning the title this year anyway. So why not get Payne more minutes? Could be valuable long term. Guys like Dion and Foye sure as heck aren't going to put this team over the top and aren't long term solutions.

That's not realistic. Of course we are going to give it our all to win the 'ship even if that means benching Payne because he is not favorable due to match-ups. You guys say that Payne is better than Singler, Dion, and Foye, and while he is more sensational and more offensively skilled, defensively there is no comparison to be made. He's small. Real small. GSW will take advantage of that all day.

The playoffs and Finals are all about match-ups. You guys really underrate Singler because he isn't flashy. Same with Foye and you haven't even given time to adjust. And we only lost by a 32-footer 3. You just have to give credit where it's due. Steph made a great shot. If Billy Donovan is so bad, and the rest of our roster is so bad, how come we lost by just 3? We are right there with GSW. We just have to make a few adjustments.

You guys are butthurt over losing to a HISTORICALLY GREAT team. Seriously? Your expectations are unreal.

Furthermore, name the last time a rookie made a huge impact in the playoffs. Heck, even the Finals.

Losing by just 3 is on the account of us having 2 all time greats playing for us. The biggest difference between them and Curry is that Curry doesn't get dragged down by cancers like Dion Waiters playing 30 minutes and all other types of completely terrible players making it harder for him to win.

We, for some reason, love making it harder than necessary on our stars. I mean KD was killing them from the post that game and all of a sudden we're subbing in the likes of Foye and Waiters and ask KD to run point. Just so unnecessary.

[bondom34]

But why have a backup point when you can put more work on KD and cause more turnovers?

[kdthunderup]

The sad fact is there is absolutely nothing we can do to match-up well with GSW's small ball lineup without a 3 and D guy. You put Roberson in down the stretch and teams know RW and KD will start holding the ball more, ball movement will halt and Roberson won't ever have the confidence to shoot a 3 in the clutch since he has too much self doubt in his shot, that's why you will see GSW put their worse defensive player (Curry) on Roberson and leave him completely open whilst standing in the driving lanes and doubling RW or KD at any sensible chance. Our spacing is virtually ruined and we are more prone to turnovers.

Then you have Morrow who is the most sensible option on the offensive end. Thompson wouldn't be anywhere near as effective guarding Westbrook if he can't get Curry clogging the paint and doubling him since he would have to stick to Morrow like glue. GSW would have absolutely no chance of guarding this lineup. The problem comes on the defensive end though on where you try to hide Morrow, most sensible would probably be Iggy, you would absolutely have to stop switching because having Morrow on Curry is an absolute death wish, the only thing you could try to do is use a hard hedge and trap on Curry to make sure he doesn't split it and force him to give it up to Iggy. It would probably give Iggy an open lane to drive, shoot or pass a lot of the time but imo just having the ball out of Curry's hands is all you can ask for.

I honestly can't blame Donovan for trying to play Waiters and Singler a fair share this season because they are the closest we have to 3 & D players, I think he is hoping they can find form and become competent players by the time the playoffs roll around but it's pretty obvious it isn't going to happen.

When GSW go big their is no doubt we have the better match up, the challenge is just finding a way to somewhat compete with their small ball lineup. I think the only way we could beat them with our current personnel is by playing an all offense lineup when they go small with Morrow included and coming up with some smart, unorthodox defensive schemes to try and throw them off and get the ball out of Curry's hands (easier said then done).

[bondom34]

Payne and Robes are both more 3 and D than Singler or Waiters.

[spearsy23]

The sad fact is there is absolutely nothing we can do to match-up well with GSW's small ball lineup without a 3 and D guy.

We could play our starters and punish them on the glass, which is exactly what we did to build a double digit lead with 4 minutes to go in the game. At that point Billy decided to match their lineup which is when they went on their run (and even that would have been fine if we didn't run the exact same lack of play for 4 minutes in a row). Losing had nothing to do with matchups.

You put Roberson in down the stretch and teams know RW and KD will start holding the ball more, ball movement will halt and Roberson won't ever have the confidence to shoot a 3 in the clutch since he has too much self doubt in his shot, that's why you will see GSW put their worse defensive player (Curry) on Roberson and leave him completely open whilst standing in the driving lanes and doubling RW or KD at any sensible chance. Our spacing is virtually ruined and we are more prone to turnovers.

We ran an effective offense with Roberson in and no KD in overtime. Beyond that, the name of the game is scoring more points than the other team, Robes helps the team do that. We don't have any trouble scoring with him in the game, I don't know why people think that suddenly changes in the last two minutes.

Then you have Morrow who is the most sensible option on the offensive end. Thompson wouldn't be anywhere near as effective guarding Westbrook if he can't get Curry clogging the paint and doubling him since he would have to stick to Morrow like glue. GSW would have absolutely no chance of guarding this lineup. The problem comes on the defensive end though on where you try to hide Morrow, most sensible would probably be Iggy, you would absolutely have to stop switching because having Morrow on Curry is an absolute death wish, the only thing you could try to do is use a hard hedge and trap on Curry to make sure he doesn't split it and force him to give it up to Iggy. It would probably give Iggy an open lane to drive, shoot or pass a lot of the time but imo just having the ball out of Curry's hands is all you can ask for.

We switched Singler on Curry and watched him immediately give up 3's both times. How much less effective than that is Morrow?

I honestly can't blame Donovan for trying to play Waiters and Singler a fair share this season because they are the closest we have to 3 & D players, I think he is hoping they can find form and become competent players by the time the playoffs roll around but it's pretty obvious it isn't going to happen.

Dion is the closest we have to a no3/noD player.

When GSW go big their is no doubt we have the better match up, the challenge is just finding a way to somewhat compete with their small ball lineup. I think the only way we could beat them with our current personnel is by playing an all offense lineup when they go small with Morrow included and coming up with some smart, unorthodox defensive schemes to try and throw them off and get the ball out of Curry's hands (easier said then done).

Or we could just play our game and not worry about matching up with them. We're the best offensive rebounding team in the NBA, that's the weakness of smallball, why are we giving up that advantage to play worse players? If we had wings that didn't suck (or were playing wings that didn't suck) then it makes some sense to match up with them, but with our current personnel there is no point. It's even more ineffective when the only play we run isolates Durant with no passing lanes or outlet, at that point it's completely ineffective to try and outgun the Warriors because you're playing 2 on 4 anyway (seriously, we had Durant on the wing against a double team, Russ as the only possible outlet at the top of the key with a guy guarding him, and a defensive man in help position. The rest of our guys were set up out of the play).

[KD35Brah]

Adams fouls way too **** muc.

[KD35Brah]

They aren't even playing Gay...

Westbrook and Ibaka switching needlessly and getting abused

Kings w/o Gay are about to drop 30 in the 1st quarter....

[NaturalThunder]

I don't think Presti ever did anything that irked me more than Donovan benching Payne, and not Waiters, for Foye. That includes playing Perkins as many minutes as he did and being too stubborn to bench him against specific teams. This just blows my mind and is beyond infuriating.

[NaturalThunder]

Like last matchup, Cousins is destroying Kanter. Kanter can't play many minutes against the Kings.

[KD35Brah]

Kanter can't guard Cousins at all.

Adams really need to fix his fouling problem man.

[KD35Brah]

Russ just gives Collison an open 3.

[spearsy23]

This looks like the first game of the day at a streetball court where everybody is just screwing around and warming up. Even the fans don't look like they want to be there.

[KD35Brah]

Adams with his 3rd.

This team is **** pathetic...

[bondom34]

I don't think Presti ever did anything that irked me more than Donovan benching Payne, and not Waiters, for Foye. That includes playing Perkins as many minutes as he did and being too stubborn to bench him against specific teams. This just blows my mind and is beyond infuriating.

This or the whole sequence of getting Waiters, trading Lamb, then keeping Waiters while Lamb outplays him in Charlotte. But right now Cam's getting me mad.

[KD35Brah]

50 in a half for the **** Kings (WITHOUT RUDY GAY)......

[bondom34]

That was weird.

[spearsy23]

That was weird.

Rondo is a nutshell.

[bondom34]

That was weird.

Rondo is a nutshell.

When Cousins is the voice of reason...

Also OT, but Houston lost, and Giannis went nuts. 2 good things.

[NaturalThunder]

I don't think Presti ever did anything that irked me more than Donovan benching Payne, and not Waiters, for Foye. That includes playing Perkins as many minutes as he did and being too stubborn to bench him against specific teams. This just blows my mind and is beyond infuriating.

This or the whole sequence of getting Waiters, trading Lamb, then keeping Waiters while Lamb outplays him in Charlotte. But right now Cam's getting me mad.

Whoops, I said Presti but meant Brooks. But yeah, Presti has made more than a fair share of hair-pulling, maddening moves over the last 3 or 4 years. But yeah, I meant Brooks never made a coaching decision that annoyed me more than Donovan's decision to bench Payne, instead of Waiters, for Foye. The only thing Brooks ever did that made me want to punch puppies was his undying loyalty to Perkins. Perkins was an extremely valuable asset against some teams, but Brooks' unwillingness to totally bench him or only play him 5-10 minutes against certain teams was infuriating. That didn't bother me as much as this whole Waiters/Payne/Foye situation.

[bondom34]

I don't think Presti ever did anything that irked me more than Donovan benching Payne, and not Waiters, for Foye. That includes playing Perkins as many minutes as he did and being too stubborn to bench him against specific teams. This just blows my mind and is beyond infuriating.

This or the whole sequence of getting Waiters, trading Lamb, then keeping Waiters while Lamb outplays him in Charlotte. But right now Cam's getting me mad.

Whoops, I said Presti but meant Brooks. But yeah, Presti has made more than a fair share of hair-pulling, maddening moves over the last 3 or 4 years. But yeah, I meant Brooks never made a coaching decision that annoyed me more than Donovan's decision to bench Payne, instead of Waiters, for Foye. The only thing Brooks ever did that made me want to punch puppies was his undying loyalty to Perkins. Perkins was an extremely valuable asset against some teams, but Brooks' unwillingness to totally bench him or only play him 5-10 minutes against certain teams was infuriating. That didn't bother me as much as this whole Waiters/Payne/Foye situation.

Sadly, I think Perk had more on court value.