NBA Playoffs 2014

buyer95

I have a funny feeling that the Spurs will close out the series tonight. I know the track record says that it has to be OKC, with the Spurs having lost the previous 9 home games in Oklahoma. The bookies have heavily favoured OKC unsurprisingly, but I think that the Spurs have this Thunder team figured out after game 5. The spacing issues which plagued San Antonio in game 2 and 3 have been allayed with the employment of Diaw as the stretch. Pop has made the move to not have Splitter and Duncan on the court at the same time, which has meant that there are shooters now all over the floor. This meant that Ibaka could not be as effective in the last game, as he was dragged away from the ring, being forced out to shooters. Another reason I see the Spurs finishing tonight is that after the heartbreak of last year they will be determined not to take the risk of going to game 7 and the possibility of elimination. I could be way off on this, but I really feel that the Spurs get it done tonight.

Nuri Sahin

Kawai so srs... Ibaka posterized and then some.

Nice pace to the game so far.

Reggie Miller doesn't think there's anything wrong with kicking out on 3 pointer. I am shocked. Not.

buyer95

Wow. Offense running through Borris Diaw in first half . Parker hurt the Spurs there, doing too much dribbling and not moving the ball, consequently the while offense became very bogged down. Pop will not be happy, a very unSpurs first half. Thunder looking good but I wouldn't count the Spurs out yet.

buyer95

Spurs offense looking far better without Parker right now. Not for one second suggesting that they are better off without TP, but he appeared to be hampered by hat injury in the first. Spurs have just gone back to playing spurs ball.

Nuri Sahin

4 mins, 2 point game.

PizzamanIRL

Fisher throttling everyone in the last game of his career.

Nuri Sahin

LMAO, this game. Genuinely laughing out loud here.

Nuri Sahin

San Antonio being mugged.

Wow Manu!

PizzamanIRL

NBA and their stupid rules not allowing them to change the call.

Watch tomorrow there will be an official statement saying 'Oh yeah that was a goaltend which may or may not have prevented Spurs advancing to the Finals'

PizzamanIRL

KD just broke his own ankles. Justice.

Nuri Sahin

101-101, 9 seconds left, Spurs ball..

OVERTIME!

Nuri Sahin

Shocking call on Ibaka now.

Insane block from Leonard.

Nuri Sahin

Game over. Well done Spurs, team basketball prevails, and now a repeat of last year's final to look forward too.

Fire Scott Brooks please, OKC FO.

padraig_f

Wow, what a ****ing game. Delighted for the Spurs. Parker not playing the second half, the missed goal tend, Tim Duncan doing the business in overtime.

buyer95

Unreal. That comeback win took every sinew. Have to credit Diaw and Leonard who both had fantastic games. But when the game was on the line it was Manu with that huge 3 and Timmy in OT who brought them home. I truly felt that the Spurs had to do it tonight, with T.P banged up and Manu and Timmy playing big minutes tonight, a game 7 Monday would likely have proved a bridge too far. Delighted for Timmy, Pop and all the Spurs. That age defying performance from Duncan in overtime, I mean what can you say. He carried the offense in that period with no Parker to get to the rim. Tim Duncan - Praise you.

Delighted for Pop, Timmy and the rest of the Spurs that they have a chance to avenge last years gut wrenching loss. A basketball lovers dream.

Dublin Red Devil

Heat v Spurs again. I hope San Antonio can get their revenge and stop the Heat 3peat

PizzamanIRL

Game 1 Thursday 5th @ 9pm ET
Game 2 Sunday 8th @ 8pm ET
Game 3 Thursday 12th @ 9pm ET
Game 4 Sunday 15th @ 8pm ET

4 games is all it should take for the Spurs

PizzamanIRL

I hope that goaltend isn't ignored and forgotten about just because Spurs got through. It's worrying that they can mess up so bad in such an important game.

buyer95

PizzamanIRL wrote: »

I hope that goaltend isn't ignored and forgotten about just because Spurs got through. It's worrying that they can mess up so bad in such an important game.

That was an inexcusable miss. However, as Kerr said on the broadcast,the refs gave Timmy the benefit of the doubt on that down screen on Fisher to free up Ginobli for the go ahead 3. Duncan did throw his hips into that screen. Regardless the better team won on the night, and thank God that unbelievable refereing error didn,t cost the Spurs the game. I bet Brooks feels pretty bad about that tech he picked up, this morning.

padraig_f

buyer95 wrote: »

That was an inexcusable miss. However, as Kerr said on the broadcast,the refs gave Timmy the benefit of the doubt on that down screen on Fisher to free up Ginobli for the go ahead 3. Duncan did throw his hips into that screen. Regardless the better team won on the night, and thank God that unbelievable refereing error didn,t cost the Spurs the game. I bet Brooks feels pretty bad about that tech he picked up, this morning.

Was a good call from Kerr in his last broadcast, said it straight after the play 'that's a goal-tend', but somehow the 3 refs missed it.

The review rules are so arbitrary, apparently had they called a goal-tend, it would've been reviewable, but because they called a block it wasn't.

It's something they should look at it alright in terms of the review, a missed goal-tend in the last minute has a huge bearing on the game. 2 points one way versus a fast-break going the other way.

Anyway, great character from the Spurs to put that behind them. After all that happened in the finals last year, plus Parker going out, playing on the road, it would've been so easy to drop their heads at that point.

Nuri Sahin

Good points being made on the Spurs vs Pacers mentality on ESPN Radio. San Antonio has burning desire to beat the Heat worse than the Pacers ever did. Difference is they didn’t make a public spectacle of their revenge lust which the Pacers most certainly did by constantly yapping on about Game 7's and Miami. Many people were guilty, from Paul George, David West to Lance Stephenson. Indiana forgot about their no nonsense approach to basketball. Getting rid of the heart of the team in Danny Granger was the tipping point in which saw many heated issues boil over.

You also look at how the Spurs started off the season for the first few months struggling against the bigger named teams, it wasn't all too great with them. But there was no public outbursts, there was on the court stupidity. They just got on with it. That is the difference between a great team (Spurs and Heat).. and a good team (Pacers).

padraig_f

Such a ballsy call from Pop, I think very few coaches would've done this.

Popovich said Parker's ankle was sprained in Game 4 of this series, aggravated in Game 5 and bothering him before Game 6 started, to the point that Popovich told Ginobili to be ready to play more point guard than usual.

"He couldn't cut," Popovich said of Parker. "He was limping on it. He couldn't cut sideways or forward, really.

"He showed a lot of guts to be out there and do what he did. But at halftime I talked to him. He stiffened up a little bit, and I just made the call. He wanted to go, and I said, 'You're not.'"

Just before the Spurs left the locker room at halftime, Popovich told Cory Joseph he would be starting the third quarter. What transpired next: the Spurs' best quarter of the series, in which they outscored the Thunder 37-20 to take control of the game.

Spurs Earn Shot At NBA Finals Redemption

Paully D

Any update on how Parker will be for the Finals? It would just be so typical for him to not be anywhere near 100% to play against the Heat. Then again, these sort of things do happen when you actually have to break sweat to win your conference.

NufcNavan

I've had a busy few days so I've only gotten to post my thoughts on the Pacer's elimination now.

I hate to say it, but I think that last year's series was more of a fluke than this year's series. The Heat's 27 game winning streak was the best thing that ever happened to the Pacers last year. By that I mean that they spent so much energy in the regular season winning all those games, and it led to Dwyane Wade being very fatigued by the time the playoffs rolled around. Wade was prety mediocre against us last year. Then you had Roy Hibbert playing some once in a lifetime basketball and looking like Hakeem Olajuwon against them. But this year things reverted back to the norm. Wade once again looked like Dwyane Wade, while Roy Hibbert reverted back to being inconsistent. Hence, we were never too much of a threat this series.

Agree that Paul George had the most empty 29 point game in the history of basketball the other night. I absolutely hated how he played in the first half. I guess he thought that hitting all of those threes in Game 5 meant that he should just jack a bunch of jumpers up in Game 6. He had absolutely no aggression at all in the first half, and aside from one fast break I don't think he made one aggressive move to the hoop in that half. I know that he's a great player for just a 24 year old, but I still hated how he played.

Roy Hibbert is just an overpaid albatross right now. He shows absolutely no leadership skills on the court for a guy who makes a ton of money and is the longest tenured player on the team. I hated how we force fed him the ball at the beginning of the game. It bogged our offense down significantly. The Heat figured out how to defend him. The guy just has no skill with the ball anymore, sometimes can barely hold it, gives a poor effort on the glass, and is not the imposing defensive presence that he was a year ago.

I like George Hill the aggressive scorer, but I'm no longer a huge fan of George Hill the point guard. The guy just cannot initiate an offense against elite teams. He wastes a lot of time dribbling because he just cannot make the necessary passes. Like I said, I like his game as a combo guard, but I wish we could make an upgrade and get a true point. His contract is an albatross though.

I know that Lance is polarising. Clearly it seems like he's worn on his teammates. But I wish that everyone else would have brought his effort in the first half. He at least looked like he wanted to compete and be there. I still want him back because he is an incredible talent and I think he'll continue to mature. Plus it's going to be very hard to upgrade the roster if he leaves given that we have no cap space.

David West is one of my favorite Pacers ever, but his defense is only going to continue to deteriorate as he gets older. His laziness on that end can get tiring. I can't believe I'm saying this, but we might want to at least see what we could get for him. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to trade him for a younger talent who can grow with PG. Unlikely, but worth looking in to.


Anyway, seemed like a great game last night. I don't think the Spurs will slip up this time.

NufcNavan

Paully D wrote: »

Any update on how Parker will be for the Finals? It would just be so typical for him to not be anywhere near 100% to play against the Heat. Then again, these sort of things do happen when you actually have to break sweat to win your conference.

4 day rest. I'd say he'll be fine.

D2D

Now that is how you finish out a series, a fantastic game. How that goaltend was never called is beyond me, it was clear it hit the backboard before Ibaka got to it.

Spurs/Heat in the Finals again and tbh, I really can't call it. Spurs have been playing the better basketball but Miami just have that gear they go to when it's needed

ButtersSuki

Didn't see the game,r, just the highlights as herself is still in the hosptail (over a week now ). Shocking miss on the goaltend, shocking. Throws the whole replay in the last 2 mins into severe doubt.

Nuri Sahin

So, err.. about that.

Nuri Sahin

Was looking for this for ages, but not the most obvious source for NBA GIFs! Anyway, pure basketball.

Nuri Sahin

Was ranting about this on Twitter during the game too, but the Thunder's shot clock management is appalling. Truly, truly appalling. Let alone all the other stupidity shown in the vid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pbZmmjk4lw