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It’s a tie game now. Which isn’t the worst thing in the world, but it’s sure not fun. You know what’s weird though? If the series had started on the road, everyone would be completely stoked about a 1-1 split. Obviously home court matters, and the Thunder gave away that advantage in Game 2, but it’s in the eye of the beholder. Win one of three in Miami, and the Thunder have it back. Win two of three, and you’re right on schedule once again.
And here’s a minor brightside: If you wanted to see a trophy hoisted in Oklahoma City, there’s a much bigger chance of that happening now. (Me personally? I don’t care if they hoisted it in Siberia, I’d rather have a sweep.)
Clearly, the slow starts are a problem. There’s valid frustrations lingering from Game 2. What happened out there and who’s to blame?
1. What’s the deal with the slow starts?
Royce Young, Daily Thunder: I think they’re trying too hard, if that’s believable. I think they want to get off to such a fast start, to try and bury the Heat, that they’re overdoing it. They’re pressing, playing tight and trying to go on 8-0 runs each individual possession. The Thunder are best when the game comes naturally, in flow and rhythm. When they force the issue, whether that’s Westbrook, Durant or anyone else, it doesn’t work as well. I would add this too though: It has something to do with the starting five. Not everything, but something.
Patrick James, Daily Thunder: I really think that extra four-minute media timeout period between the starting lineup introductions and the tipoff countdown has a lot to do with it. It seems like it should be a small thing, but I think it leads to pregame jitters. That four minutes is a long time, and it’s a really long time if you’re a young guy who can’t wait to get on the court, and you just sort of marinate in the magnitude of the situation. And the Thunder are well-documented creatures of habit when it comes to the pregame routine — even KD said it threw him off a little bit before Game 1.
James Herbert, HoopSpeak: I’m afraid I don’t have the answer to this question. I wish I did because it’s incredibly frustrating. It looked to me like the Thunder were a bit nervous/too excited at the beginning of Game 1, which is sort of understandable. They might be putting too much pressure on themselves in front of these insane OKC crowds and thinking too much. I asked Dwane Casey and various Raptors about their slow starts earlier in the season and the answers were usually something like “I have no idea but there’s no excuse for it.” If there were no excuses for the Raptors, it has to be [some word stronger than inexcusable] for Oklahoma City in the Finals.
2. It won’t happen, but should Scott Brooks consider a change to his starting five?
Young: There’s something wrong about feeling you just have to survive the first six minutes of a game with your starting five. The Thunder’s first five simply doesn’t match up. Should Brooks change it? Yep, I’d say so. I’ll defer to Zach Lowe of SI.com to make the case better than I could. (Consider this though: Per NBA stats, OKC’s starting five is being outscored by 4.4 points per 100 possessions in the playoffs.) But it’s also about message control, and Brooks firmly believes in consistency and stability with his young team and a massive change like that might send a panic message to his team.
James: The last time we were pondering this, the Spurs were up on the Thunder 2-0. So, no. Again, it goes back to the routine and being creatures of habit. The Heat have been rotating starting lineups out of necessity, and it has been working for them. Brooks has been plenty flexible in his second half lineups especially, and that is what has gotten the Thunder to this point. The starting unit’s poor plus-minus — or at least the severity of the minus — has more to do with bad luck and random acts of nerves than it does poor matchups.
Herbert: Yes, yes he should. I appreciate what Perkins brings to the table but, sadly, he’s not of much use in this series and should not be starting. I’d love if it Brooks replaced him with Harden, but going with Collison in the first five would be fine with me. At this point, though, I’d be shocked by a change to the starting lineup. Let’s hope for a change in minute distribution.
3. Who deserves the most blame for Game 2?
A. Scott Brooks
B. Russell Westbrook
C. The officials
D. Something else
Young: D. The first six minutes. I feel like blaming Brooks because the rotation decisions with the small lineups confused me to death, but the fact is, the Thunder were in the game and despite some iffy coaching calls, if a shot from Durant goes down (or a foul is called), OKC would’ve been in overtime most likely. But it’s the craptastic start that even brought these choices into play. For example, did you know Perk was a +1 when he was the lone big in the small lineup? Which is completely fine, unless you’re trying to make up a 15-point deficit. Digging an early hole equaled digging an early grave for OKC in Game 2.
James: D. Nerves and free-throw shooting. By nerves, I don’t mean to imply that the Thunder are scared, or even nervous in a bad way. In a way I think they’re too anxious, too ready, too wound up. Maybe starting the series at home was actually a bad thing — when you’re home, you’ve got all the people you live with and your local friends around you. Everyone’s excited all the time, and the home arena is aflame. Now that they’re on the road, it will be more like a cocoon, with the team battening down the hatches. It could backfire, with the Thunder crumbling under the pressure as they live life in more of a vacuum over the next three games. But we’ve seen what has happened in this postseason when OKC’s mental toughness has been doubted before. Besides, if the Thunder nail four of those seven missed free-throws, we might have a much different 3-on-3 to be debating today.
Herbert: D: The slow start. There’s no single individual to blame for this, but Oklahoma City obviously can’t afford to keep digging holes for itself. I’m not comfortable with ripping anyone for last night’s game because, after the awful start, the Thunder played well enough to win. They just came up a bit short. As for the officials: let’s all be grown ups here about that no-call on James. Durant probably got fouled, but it was still a makeable shot and there are a dozen more egregious missed calls in every game.
The big problem is the Thunder are playing how they were before the playoffs. They relax throughout the entire game and turn on the defense for the final quarter. The only way they beat the spurs is they turned the defense on for entire games(minus the first half of game six). ESPN's goon crew is pathetic to throw this on Westbrook, yeah the guy is a scorer, yeah this team works differently on offense than other traditional teams but they have made it to the finals with this system. The main problem once again that these supposed experts are missing is the lack of defense. The Thunder would have broken a hundred easily if they clamped down defensively as that leads to the fastbreak points. So Stephen Smith and Skip Bayless please learn a little about the sport you are talking about. Please learn that if you are the Thunder and your opponent scores a hundred points then your problem is defense, this should be obvious.
Can we please bury the kobe days of "they have to score, score, score, score" The only thing that mattered in those times was how many points that idiot put up. Ignore his poor shooting but count the points.....good job. However when Westbrook shoots poorly(still better than bryant was) then he is the worst point guard ever in the finals(according to magic "can't keep it in his pants" johnson) which is a ridiculous statement. The Thunder simply need to put Durant on Wade and Thabo on Lebron. Just because the heat switch Lebron to Durant doesn't mean the Thunder need to do the same switch. So hopefully in game 3 the refs will put in their contact lenses and the Thunder will start the game with at least their offense or defense going. These games starting with 2 points in the first eight minutes or so are getting crazy and their defense doesn't start till the fourth when they shut the heat down. So just pick one for three quarters and then throw the other in for the fourth....at least, of course I'd prefer that they play hard on both ends of the floor for all four but hey that might be asking too much.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/45850/dont-blame-westbrook-for-game-2-loss
May have been posted already, but interesting perspective.
I personally don't think that Perkins should be benched, but he does need to stop being lazy on defense. The Thunder just need to get off to a better start. You can't keep playing catch up every game and expect to win a championship. But I know they'll get it together.
I guess I can't figure out why no one is talking about the 26 threes we took. That is just too many. I love KD and he hit 4 out of 10 but I want to see much more attacking the rim, they don't have any shot blocking and they can't stay in front of us. We need to attack. Thabo needs to take his open corner three, but russ should take no threes and KD should stay in the 6 range. Everything else should be at the hoop.
The more I read different articles across the web and watch the games on LP, the more frustrating Brooks' being stubborn gets. Yeah, this team made the finals. Well...it has a lot of talent. If they loose these finals, which I still cannot and will not believe, it will be his fault. Every other coach adjusts to matchups, he doesn't. If the guys are all "team players", nobody should care about a reduced role in favor of team success.
Nice to see that people don't give Russ all the blame here. He did take a few rushed shots, but so did KD in the beginning and then in the 4th, as great as he is. Russ is stuck with many short shot clocks and nothing going on, as the team (including KD) is too passive trying to get open sometimes.
Bottom line: Less Perk, more small ball, more Collison, more Harden (and actually giving him the ball sometimes). Then OKC will be good.
GO THUNDER! Can't wait for tomorrow night!
I don' really understand why it's so hard for people to accept that our starting lineup is the reason for our slow starts, not just effort or being nervous. Maybe it's because some people don't play basketball or feel that they don't have a good enough resume to critique a professional basketball coach, but if this was olympic track and field, and Team USA entered their throwers in the mile and 2 mile or their marathoners in the shotput and we lost, the entire nation would explode.
It doesn't matter what sport, or even what level of sport for that matter. The main goal of a coach is to put his athletes in the best position to succeed, whether that be by personnel choices, running good practices, designing a system that utilizes their talents the best, or by motivating them at the right time. Complain about armchair coaches all you want, but at the end of the day it's insanely obvious that Brooks has failed miserably at one of those areas and if he doesn't figure it out, could lose us this series despite us being the markedly better team.
The first five minutes, the Heat's strategy was to PnR with whomever Perkins was guarding, which was Bosh. Perkins' rotations were TERRIBLE. Perkins either needs to STEP UP or SIT DOWN.
@FF_pickups I recall one play in particular where Perk didn't even raise his hand toward the shooter. Pretty much just stood there as the guy canned the jumper. That's laziness. No other way to see it. Where's the TNT broadcast crew when you need them?
@Old Man Game
Absolutely. I watched the game (with tears in my eyes :P) and that happened more than once with Perkins.
@FF_pickups @Old Man Game Not so much lazy, as lacking the physical conditioning to play at this level. This is not the same Perkins that played for Boston
@Old Man Game
Perkins is lazy. During the regular season, you could see a HUGE increase in his level of intensity for the national broadcast games.
@FF_pickups What got me is how that sort of effort kills the crowd's enthusiasm. You can only stay "up" and encouraging for so long watching stuff like that. I boo'ed after I saw it but no one else in section seemed to get it.
I just rewatched the game and at the beginning, KD has got to be trying to get the ball. People blaming Westbrook for shooting need to watch this because KD for the first 9 minutes, ran to the corner and stood there.
@FF_pickups The offense was a mess that first quarter. I know Miami is a good defensive team, but they aren't that good. It shouldn't be humanly possible to hold the Thunder to only 2 points that long. Brooks has got to figure this out. And for god's sake, use your timeouts Brooks.
@Old Man Game Based off of what Durant and Westbrook were doing in the first quarter, I've got to think that was the coaching gameplan. Let Westbrook and co. get going early, to get engaged in the game and Durant will takeover later. To me, that's backwards, we need Durant to dominate the first 6 minutes then let the D try to compromise itself to guard Durant, Westbrook will feast on a compromised D.
Hey I just saw that Lebron read "Tipping Point" by Gladwell as part of his pregame ritual. No wonder his game is better.
We want a heavy dose of Russ/Harden/Thabo/KD/Coliison in game 3, with Ibaka and Fisher playing good minutes, too. Just try it once, Scotty!!! If it doesn't work, we'll shut up. If it does, you stick to it. And as a bonus, tell Russ to attack the rim - 10 jumpers and he goes to the bench. :)
@wannabeGM
The problem with this series is a lot of times Russ attacks the basket and gets seriously clobbered but the refs seem to miss the call. I'm thinking psychologically this is keeping Russ from driving as much, I just wish they'd call it equally on both sides. If you want to call a foul for every little thing then do it equally and if you want them to actually play the game then call that equally as well.
@wannabeGM I am convinced that is the lineup that can win OKC a championship. Unfortunately I am also convinced that Brooks will play Perk rain or shine.
@RoyceYoung Can U give this message to @KendrickPerkins Can u give OKC a triple double Sunday? U and Ibaka have been absent. How many opportunities do u think u will hv to win a NBA championship? PLS google Allen Iverson's press conferences. I am totally female, only play college BB and not very successful. I'D bet 1/2 my salary that I could make some better decisions in a #NBACHAMPIONSHIPGAME ARE YALL SERIOUS! SPOTTING THEM 24MIN W/LEBRON AND DWADE....U all swept the CHAMPS, took Lakers 4-1 w/Kobe and Bynum, knocked out Spurs 20-0 team virtually swpet them..... won 4 strght Now we're failing against a shoody team that's being coached by a video-ographer! <-- basically slapping Scotty in the face! SMH
@Dicharden @RoyceYoung @KendrickPerkins That about sums it up.
@Dicharden @RoyceYoung @KendrickPerkins classic post.
There was a graphic on ESPN earlier. I think it was in the history of the 2-3-2 format of the NBA finals, out of all away teams who split the first two games away from home, only 4 teams went on to win the NBA finals.
I found that comforting. ^_^
will there be press conferences tomorrow?
@OBoymuzik I wondered that too. For that matter, why did they have to leave already?
@Old Man Game prob to get there, get settled, wake up early and practice their asses off tomorrow
@Old Man Game @OBoymuzik Thabo can't finish. I hate seeing him on fast breaks.
@OBoymuzik It looked like Thabo should have been going to the line to me.
@ThunderChick2010 @Legendary_dork @Old Man Game that and thabo's "dunk"
@OBoymuzik @Legendary_dork @Old Man Game
Last night's freethrows looked like part of the trailer for Thunderstruck.
@ThunderChick2010 @Legendary_dork @Old Man Game ironically nba tv is playing last nights game...i started watching a few minutes and turned it off cause i didn't want to see the missed free throws again
@Legendary_dork @Old Man Game
. . . maybe a little freethrow practice too
OK way off topic.. This wallenda guy walking over Niagara is amazing live on ABC
@CDSpark Speaking of off topic, there's a Shameless marathon going on on Showtime & the Fiona girl might be the hottest chick on the planet. I would give up several fingers to provide comfort for her.
@Tequila or Failure yeah she had some great scenes this past season. but the one in the car is just funny.
I'd give anything to see the Thunder put together a full 48 minutes in this game 3.
@Old Man Game I know they can do it.
@Old Man Game Oh, I'd give for Just the first 2, and 1/2 the last one!
epic tweet from roy hibbert
"Walked past chris mullin at espn headquarters today. His phone rang. His ringtone was N****s in Paris. That was boss."
I'm looking for a father's day gift. Has anyone seen any OKC Thunder themed golf club head covers?
@Old Man Game If you're in OKC, there's a couple of sports shops in Penn Square Mall/Quail Springs Mall that have a whole bunch of Thunder stuff. You might check there. I don't know if they have golf club covers. Of course, there's always golf shops around. You may pull up a list and try calling around the golf shops before you head out to make sure they have some.
@ou_sas I went to that "Golf Galaxy" place off memorial and asked. The guy I talked to gave me some total b.s. line about "why would a golf company have the license to make that?" and then tried to steer me to the OU head covers. That makes perfect sense in his mind I guess.
@Old Man Game Yeah.... Like I said, you might give the sports place at Penn Square Mall a try. There's one on the 2nd floor towards the... Macy's end, I want to say.
So what's the story with Westbrook's hand or finger? Is he injured? I thought he was taking good shots last night, and normally he makes most of those shots. You know it's bad when he's missing his layups.
@IlovetheWestbrookShow o_O, if all his fingers were broke and hanging off, he'd still be shooting! Luv Russ but no Isaiah! Harden needs to play point when he comes in!
@IlovetheWestbrookShow yea, its either jammed or sprained either or that's why we are seeing so many left handers as well.
@Lost Ones Reminds me of the Honey badger getting bitten by the snake. Honey Badger don't care.
@IlovetheWestbrookShow I heard he has a sprained thumb. Might explain some of this.
Has anyone heard anything about who we are/have brought in for predraft workouts? This info has been reported for most other teams so are we trying to hide it or are we just not bringing anyone in?
@Tequila or Failure The Thunder are typically very secretive about stuff. The draft is the 26th so there'll be a flurry of draft talk after the finals are over.
@areayewhy @Tequila or Failure Lol it better be the 28th lol I got tix