WCQF: Oklahoma City Thunder vs Houston Rockets | P1

[ThunderBolt]

Team actually looked pretty good on defense when they went small.

The basketball gods benched Adams because billy couldn’t figure it out.

[Galloisdaman]

Nice that they got this win. Nobody looks totally hot but they worked and worked and worked!

[Galloisdaman]

Four 20 point scorers. Nice balance.

[Galloisdaman]

Hope Adams is okay. He threw his body after balls several times.

[Galloisdaman]

I like that Billy shortened the bench to his top 8 players.

[getrichordie]

Haha. We win and Donovan doesn't get any love. This is what I've been talking about: coach's dilemma.

A few notes:

- Paul yeeted that 3.
- Paul was more aggressive and less passive.
- This is what I meant by letting Schroder handle the ball and push the pace and find cracks in the defense.
- Gordon is starting to look tired.
- Dort did a fantastic job on defense as always but he showed some real nice off-hand dribbling tonight.
- Smart move by Donovan to put Gallinari at the 5. He had other options but made a good call there. Gallinari did a much better job defensively. Smart and timely substitutions by Donovan all around.
- Schroder played really smart down the stretch and didn't settle for 3s and waited for right opportunity to get into the paint.

[ThunderBolt]

Hope Adams is okay. He threw his body after balls several times.

Honestly it might be better if he’s not. I think we’re better off without him. He’s been a problem thus series. Injury may have saved billy from himself.

[ThunderBolt]

I like that Billy shortened the bench to his top 8 players.

Most coaches don’t wait two games to do that. But yes, if helped.

[Dadouv47]

We played better but still lot's of mistakes. Adams was terrible. Schroeder and SGA taking too many bad 3's.

The only good thing the FO made this season was to sign Dort to such a cheap/good contract.

[NaturalThunder]

Team actually looked pretty good on defense when they went small.

The basketball gods benched Adams because billy couldn’t figure it out.

I didn't watch. What happened? Did Adams get hurt? I saw he played 35 minutes but he had the lowest +/- of the starters. I thought maybe Noel was a better option at center in this series, but honestly a true center is useless in this series. If Adams or Noel had range beyond 3-feet, then we might could play them and exploit their size advantage in a good way. Based only on the boxscore, it helps that Schroder was 12 kinds of awful for once. He wasn't very efficient with his 54% TS, but that's a HUGE improvement over the 19 points and 38% TS he tallied in games one and two.

[ThunderBolt]

Saw this on the Gb...

OKC had more offensive rebounds (4) in OT without center than in 48 minutes with a center on court.

[ThunderBolt]

Team actually looked pretty good on defense when they went small.

The basketball gods benched Adams because billy couldn’t figure it out.

I didn't watch. What happened? Did Adams get hurt? I saw he played 35 minutes but he had the lowest +/- of the starters. I thought maybe Noel was a better option at center in this series, but honestly a true center is useless in this series. If Adams or Noel had range beyond 3-feet, then we might could play them and exploit their size advantage in a good way. Based only on the boxscore, it helps that Schroder was 12 kinds of awful for once. He wasn't very efficient with his 54% TS, but that's a HUGE improvement over the 19 points and 38% TS he tallied in games one and two.

He bruised his knee.

[Old Man Game]

Well, at least we aren't getting swept. That's cool. Still felt like a real uphill battle all game until Harden fouled out. Thank god for Lu Dort.

[Old Man Game]

I like that Billy shortened the bench to his top 8 players.

Most coaches don’t wait two games to do that. But yes, if helped.

The soft bigotry of low expectations on full display here.

[1bigfan13]

Less Adams is a good thing in this series. I don't care if his knee is fine, I wouldn't play him or Noel in Game 4 or 5 unless it were absolutely necessary.

I'd have Muscala and Gallinari split the 5 position duties. It's not like Adams is providing rim protect or offensive punch so I'd be perfectly fine trading out Muscala for Adams. At least then we'll be able to play 4 on 5 on offense whereas it was pretty much 3 on 5 anytime we had Dort and Adams on the floor at the same time.

[1bigfan13]

Hope Adams is okay. He threw his body after balls several times.

Honestly it might be better if he’s not. I think we’re better off without him. He’s been a problem thus series. Injury may have saved billy from himself.

Agree with this 100%. He needs to join Roberson and Ferguson at the end of the bench collecting DNP-CDs.

I shook my head in disgust when he had Eric Gordon guarding him in the post and he passed the ball back out to the perimeter rather than punish the much smaller defender. Schroder ended up making the shot but that was still a boneheaded basketball decision.

[ThunderBolt]

I like that Billy shortened the bench to his top 8 players.

Most coaches don’t wait two games to do that. But yes, if helped.

The soft bigotry of low expectations on full display here.

You know, in all honesty I try not to be overly negative but I it’s hard because I only see one realistic path to a championship. This year was a waste of time. That being said, Galloissaman is a good poster that I like having around so it’s not all bad.

[1bigfan13]

Haha. We win and Donovan doesn't get any love. This is what I've been talking about: coach's dilemma.

A few notes:

- Paul yeeted that 3.
- Paul was more aggressive and less passive.
- This is what I meant by letting Schroder handle the ball and push the pace and find cracks in the defense.
- Gordon is starting to look tired.
- Dort did a fantastic job on defense as always but he showed some real nice off-hand dribbling tonight.
- Smart move by Donovan to put Gallinari at the 5. He had other options but made a good call there. Gallinari did a much better job defensively. Smart and timely substitutions by Donovan all around.
- Schroder played really smart down the stretch and didn't settle for 3s and waited for right opportunity to get into the paint.

A caveat on Donovan's substitutions being smart and timely. For most of the game they were fine but I thought he did a bad job the final few minutes of regulation. First he takes out Dort with 3 minutes to play just so he could put in his normal closing lineup of Gallo, CP3, Adams, Shai, and Schroder.....the problem with that was Harden was on the floor and Dort had done masterful job guarding Harden all night. So why on earth pull him now during crunch time? Harden promptly scores 5 quick points.....timeout Thunder.

Second, everyone knows Noel is clumsy and prone to fouling, but that didn't stop Donovan for putting him out there on Houston's final possession of regulation. Luckily Covington missed one of the FTs.

Billy has got to be better than this. These weren't hard decisions to make yet he butchered them.

[ThunderBolt]

Hope Adams is okay. He threw his body after balls several times.

Honestly it might be better if he’s not. I think we’re better off without him. He’s been a problem thus series. Injury may have saved billy from himself.

Agree with this 100%. He needs to join Roberson and Ferguson at the end of the bench collecting DNP-CDs.

I shook my head in disgust when he had Eric Gordon guarding him in the post and he passed the ball back out to the perimeter rather than punish the much smaller defender. Schroder ended up making the shot but that was still a boneheaded basketball decision.

When he’s actually healthy, he’s fun to watch but it’s just doesn’t last long enough. He’s too willing to sacrifice his body.

[Galloisdaman]

Most coaches don’t wait two games to do that. But yes, if helped.

The soft bigotry of low expectations on full display here.

You know, in all honesty I try not to be overly negative but I it’s hard because I only see one realistic path to a championship. This year was a waste of time. That being said, Galloissaman is a good poster that I like having around so it’s not all bad.

LOL $20 on its way to your paypal