2016 Playoffs Round 1: OKC Thunder vs. Dallas Mavericks

[KD35Brah]

The Clipper dude that said he wanted his team to stomp OKC in the DAL-OKC thread?

Yep....

Whew that one!

This isn't relevant to the convo but does the 1st round for all teams have to end before the 2nd rd starts?

Like let's say clippers and Portland are gonna go to seven games but thunder end it Monday and Spurs end it on Sunday.
Would they start playing their second round games as the clippers and Portland are playing a 7 game series?

Yes.

[bondom34]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Chris_Broussard/status/724090620722057216[/tweet]

[RunOKC]

Didn't think KD did it on purpose. Unfortunate it happened.

Hopefully we close it in 5, will be at the Peake for the game hopefully

[Marcus50]

Slater reported Russ didn't want Adams on court to close which is an interesting development to keep an eye on. Donovan want to make his regular change and Russ waved him away.

[bondom34]

Wouldn't read into it much, Enes is playing really well and was the hot hand.

I'll gladly admit Kanter has me eating some crow though, he has been amazing.

[Marcus50]

Kanters been really great and Russ clearly likes playing with him but it could be interesting if it happens through the playoffs especially for the team dynamic, firstly that Donovan was not confident in his own decision making and the fact that Adams had been playing great as well up to that point. Certainly I would have opted for the defender when your 12 points up with 6 minutes on the clock. If we were 4 points down I would have opted for Kanter and taken the risk on defense.

[Pillendreher]

Don't get carried away now. Kanter's offensive qualities were never in question and he's been doing that against this joke of a frontcourt, no less.
And Dion's always had these kind of stretches and every time he's followed them up with at least 5 completely terrible games.

KD has legitimately been the 2nd worst player this series, only slightly ahead of Foye. Career lows for the Playoffs all across the board and he's been the 2nd worst player for the Thunder in almost every category out there. We've been more than 30 points better with him on the bench than with him on the floor.

[QPR]

Slater reported Russ didn't want Adams on court to close which is an interesting development to keep an eye on. Donovan want to make his regular change and Russ waved him away.

Presumably because Kanter was 49/50 from the field at the time.

[NaturalThunder]

Don't get carried away now. Kanter's offensive qualities were never in question and he's been doing that against this joke of a frontcourt, no less.
And Dion's always had these kind of stretches and every time he's followed them up with at least 5 completely terrible games.

KD has legitimately been the 2nd worst player this series, only slightly ahead of Foye. Career lows for the Playoffs all across the board and he's been the 2nd worst player for the Thunder in almost every category out there. We've been more than 30 points better with him on the bench than with him on the floor.

Durant's series has been beyond curious and frustrating. I mean it's not like we're even playing a good or great defensive team and they don't have anyone that's anything more than a solid perimeter defender. We've seen Durant have rough stretches in playoff series, but nothing quite like this and especially not against a defense of this caliber. I don't know if it's all mental or what. I mean did he just all of a sudden lose his jumpshot? Because he's missing a ton of good looks he normally makes at a high clip; and I can't imagine his jumper has just all of a sudden become terrible.

He's obviously playing for fouls/contact too much. To be fair, he has been fouled quite a few times this series with no call, but he's also trying to bait the defender too often and it ends in him flailing up a terrible shot. If this is a mental thing he can't shake by next round, I shudder to think how awful he's going to be with the DPOY/all-time great perimeter defender backed by an all-time great defensive team guarding him.

[itzmrgigglez]

Yep....

Whew that one!

This isn't relevant to the convo but does the 1st round for all teams have to end before the 2nd rd starts?

Like let's say clippers and Portland are gonna go to seven games but thunder end it Monday and Spurs end it on Sunday.
Would they start playing their second round games as the clippers and Portland are playing a 7 game series?

Yes.

Gonna start praying for every other matchup to go to seven games
@toronto
@blazers

[Cuban_Linx]

KD has made a complete ass out of himself in the playoffs thusfar. I used to think he was coasting and he'd flick a switch in the playoffs, but that's very doubtful right now. He should be feasting against these Mavs but he hasn't even managed to shoot 50% from the field or make more than a 3rd of his triples in any game this series. I don't know what's wrong with him but he's been relying on Russ bailing him out for way too long. I kinda understood it during the 2014 playoffs because he clearly burned out a couple games before the RS even ended, but this time he's been coasting all year. He should be playing his best ball right now like Serge and Russ are doing.

Great to see Kanter stepping it up btw. He can definitely be useful against the Spurs. Waiters, I wouldn't be too sure about. He's killed it the past two games, but that's Dion. He's gonna kill us more often than he kills them.

[Pillendreher]

At this point it has to be something mental, right? I mean if he were really injured, there's no way he'd play.

[Bergmaniac]

To be fair to KD, Donovan has done a terrible job getting him easier looks. There are no plays run for him except "Post him up and get out of the way" Or "Give him the ball on top and get of the way". Yes, he should do much better against a guy way shorter than him, but when a scorer is struggling, the coach has to do something to get him easier looks. Run him off some screens or something. Look how easy it has been for Russ to create shots for everyone else. Obviously the Mavs pay more attention to Durant than to Ibaka and Kanter, but surely he can get better looks than the one he's been getting.

[Cuban_Linx]

To be fair to KD, Donovan has done a terrible job getting him easier looks. There are no plays run for him except "Post him up and get out of the way" Or "Give him the ball on top and get of the way". Yes, he should do much better against a guy way shorter than him, but when a scorer is struggling, the coach has to do something to get him easier looks. Run him off some screens or something. Look how easy it has been for Russ to create shots for everyone else. Obviously the Mavs pay more attention to Durant than to Ibaka and Kanter, but surely he can get better looks than the one he's been getting.

I agree with this, but that's just as much on KD if you ask me. There's nothing about his lacklustre off ball movement right now that makes me think he wouldn't **** up coming off a screen. He can barely even be bothered to set a proper screen and he constantly lets himself get pushed off his spots.

Russ can create for anybody. KD shouldn't be having that much trouble finding good shots next to him.

[Pillendreher]

Out of Durant's 93 FGA, only 11 have been open or wide open (.500 eFG%) - that's 11.8 %.
He has to stop settling for bad shots.

[tleikheen]

Got to give props to Westbrook...It's like the light went on in Westbrook's head.When he's going 1 on 5 there's guys wide open (kanter &Ibaka are killing it too).He's passing the ball and piling up assists and getting major recognition for it .
So earth to Durant ,you're shooting 32fgm/103fga for 31%.....Dallas knows he doesn't pass the ball in the 4th quarter and he's easier to defend.You watch and know that Lebron would have passed the ball for easy baskets then try forcing shots up. If Durant wants to beat San Antonio next and Kawhi then being a little more of a team player is what Durant needs to be or the mantle will pass on to Kawhi as the better player ,cuz I think Kawhi will outplay Durant .He plays team ball ,he passes the ball and it comes back to him for better opportunities as opposed to trying to beat 3 guys at once.

[bondom34]

Just realized it but Kanter had a negative net in the 4th. Kinda unreal the D goes off the rails that much w/ him. Collison really helps him so much.

[actively]

Just realized it but Kanter had a negative net in the 4th. Kinda unreal the D goes off the rails that much w/ him. Collison really helps him so much.

Unreal, that means your advanced statistics are nothing but garbage. If you watched the game, at one point, 16 out of 24 points came from Kanter, and your statistics says he had net zero. It shows you that your statiscs are garbage. You mean if he didnt play, OKC would be better off.

In statistics, there is a saying, garbage in garbage out, any statsitics based on plus and minuses is garbage by me, hence, the result is garbage.

[bondom34]

Just realized it but Kanter had a negative net in the 4th. Kinda unreal the D goes off the rails that much w/ him. Collison really helps him so much.

Unreal, that means your advanced statistics are nothing but garbage. If you watched the game, at one point, 16 out of 24 points came from Kanter, and your statistics says he had net zero. It shows you that your statiscs are garbage. You mean if he didnt play, OKC would be better off.

In statistics, there is a saying, garbage in garbage out, any statsitics based on plus and minuses is garbage by me, hence, the result is garbage.

It means that actually he's bad enough defensively that his points were entirely negated by his awful defense.

He wasn't a net zero, he was a negative in the fourth. If he didn't play, the defense would have been better. Great he scored 16 points, not great if he gave up 20.

Not too tough a concept that scoring isn't as good if you give up more than you score.

[actively]

Just realized it but Kanter had a negative net in the 4th. Kinda unreal the D goes off the rails that much w/ him. Collison really helps him so much.

Unreal, that means your advanced statistics are nothing but garbage. If you watched the game, at one point, 16 out of 24 points came from Kanter, and your statistics says he had net zero. It shows you that your statiscs are garbage. You mean if he didnt play, OKC would be better off.

In statistics, there is a saying, garbage in garbage out, any statsitics based on plus and minuses is garbage by me, hence, the result is garbage.

It means that actually he's bad enough defensively that his points were entirely negated by his awful defense.

He wasn't a net zero, he was a negative in the fourth. If he didn't play, the defense would have been better. Great he scored 16 points, not great if he gave up 20.

Not too tough a concept that scoring isn't as good if you give up more than you score.

I dont know how old you are, I am 53, and I studied 5 years statistics in graduate level, players are not randomly chosen to make a team, then your statiscs are worthless. your statistics says he was net negative in the fourth, I am sure anyone who watched the 4th quarter, maybe 100 hundert percent would say his net effect was positive, and at least by a margin of ten points... This shows you any statistics based on plus and minuses are garbage.