1/18/2024 0 Comments 2016 western conference finals![]() ![]() When the game is on the line, Steve Kerr is going to go small and play Draymond Green at the 5. Billy Donovan flirted with four-out lineups in Game 1, but he stuck to his guns in the second half, staying with a three-big-man rotation of Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams, and Enes Kanter and living to tell the tale. Jonathan Tjarks : Coming into the series, the big strategic question was whether the Thunder would use the big lineups that were so successful against the Spurs or whether they would have to downsize to match up with the Warriors’ Lineup of Death. And over the next few games, we’re going to find out how much that matters to the Warriors. ![]() Weaving dribbles and walk-off 3s can suspend disbelief: As long as he’s out there, you think Curry can fly. He lacked that little bit of horsepower to take over the game, and toward the end of the night - getting blocked by Durant and then missing a pair of 27-footers - he stalled out almost completely. And he played like it - there were the usual flashes of brilliance (I mean, what the shit?), but there was something just off with his timing. In the first quarter, David Aldridge reported that Curry had said his knee wasn’t feeling much better, or much worse, since the end of the Blazers series. But his waning late-game production (just three points in the fourth quarter) probably had more to do his not-quite-right right knee than anything Andre Roberson, Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook did. But in a reckless, fast-paced game that was draining for everyone involved, that injury re-emerged as something to watch.Ĭurry’s seven turnovers (accounting for half of the Warriors’ 14) were certainly a product of the blitzing, hands-on defense applied by the Thunder. He was back the Express for Men cape was billowing bring on the Thunder. The Man Within the CapeĬhris Ryan : Sixty-nine points and 19 assists in the final two games of Golden State’s second-round series against Portland was enough to make most people forget about the MCL sprain that had kept Steph Curry out of most of this postseason. But the Thunder have spent the past six games trying to reclaim their season’s narrative. Golden State had taken hold of that air of inevitability, and that colored the way we saw the game unfold. Up to the very end, even with their 3-point attempts growing wilder and wilder, it still felt like the Warriors’ game to lose. Even as the Thunder mounted their comeback, we waited for the Warriors to initiate their customary morale-deadening 3-point barrage. The Warriors had multiple leads of 14 points in the game, only one point away from the lethal 15-point margin that spelled victory for 114 straight games from 2014 to 2016. That feeling of inevitability that Oklahoma City possessed in the past - the feeling that no opponent’s lead was safe - had devolved into the sinking feeling that the Thunder would find a way to spoil their efforts. If he was going to have a terrible time shooting, so would everyone else on the court. Westbrook played manic, physical defense on Steph Curry for possessions at a time. ![]() For all the turnovers the Thunder committed in the first half, the Warriors finished the game with more. He had seven steals and five deflections in the game. In the second half, Westbrook managed to drag the Warriors down into the chaos he’d stirred up. It was the kind of messy, flailing effort that had defined the Thunder’s regular season at its lowest points. But it works only if the passes connect seven of their 10 turnovers in the first half came on bad passes. The Thunder were slinging more long passes than usual, which was actually an interesting move against the roving Warriors defense. Dion Waiters was out here catching balls like Antonio Brown and Russell Westbrook was getting brutalized by the Warriors secondary. The Warriors and Thunder played a game within the game in the first half of Game 1, and, uh, it looked a lot like football. Bringing Back the Feelingĭanny Chau : These playoffs have been a testament to the Thunder’s resilience. Four Ringer staffers share their thoughts on last night’s shocking Game 1. We may not have a website yet, but there was no chance we’d let a Western Conference finals of this magnitude slip away without comment. ![]()
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