SERIES THREAD: LA CLIPPERS VS OKC THUNDER

[occupant]

It will be 6-7 games.

Role/bench play will determine the winner.

In the two wins against the Thunder they had multiple people with double digit scoring...with Griffin/Paul scoring no more than 38 pts collectively.

In the the first loss against the Thunder they only had 3 players with double digits, with Griffin/Paul scoring 44. In the the second loss against the Thunder they had 4 players with double digits, with Griffin/Paul scoring 55.

Thunder in 7. Homecourt.

 

[Superdonk]

Clippers in 6

 

[piss-tons]

Clippers in 6

 

[BUD]

OKC 7, But I will be cheering for the Clippers.

 

[Wishbone]

OKC 7, But I will be cheering for the Clippers.

Racist!

 

[Clayton]

Imo, the Grizzlies were exactly the kind of team that Scott Brooks wanted to play and the Warriors are the exact kind of team that makes him look like a dumb coach. The Clippers are somewhere in between which probably means we are in store for 2 'what the heck is Scott Brooks doing and/or what the heck is Russell Westbrook doing' games.

OKC in 6 sounds about right

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

The Clippers will have to score, score, score, and score some more....
They can say to hell to with defense.
They are not going to beat OKC in a defensive game.

That is why I like them. The Clippers get to play their style...in fact NEED TO....
The only way they beat OKC is by getting the scores up above 110.

This LAC team HATES playing defense. They don't have to play defense.
In fact, the Clippers should be doing everything humanly possible to SPEED up the game.

Golden State is a defensive team that excels in halfcourt scrambling and jumpshots.
They were a difficult matchup because they were never going to take the bait.
GSW loved all those games with a zillion foul and stop/start tempo.

I think OKC (more specifically Westbrook) will fall right into the trap.
Westbrook will try to run with the Clippers and lose games 115-110.

 

[Clayton]

Whats to keep OKC from bottling up CP3 like they bottled up Tony Parker a few years back? Whats to keep them from sending waves of bigs at Griffin? Whats stopping the Ibaka jumpshot? Who is shutting down Durant?

OKC still has a lot of advantages, imo

 

[GeauxBaby]

OKC in 6.

 

[Hambombs]

The clips just don't have the wings to contain Westbrook and durant

 

[bksballer89]

The clips just don't have the wings to contain Westbrook and durant

Barnes is a pretty good defender and is capable of getting in Durant's head and I never knew Chris Paul was a bad defender

 

[thunderc]

Clippers in 6


I like the Matchup.
It is literally a dream matchup in terms of style for the Clippers.


I hate Chris Paul, but I figured the mental pressure, shot making, and smothering defense of the Warriors would give them more trouble than any 2nd round with OKC.


The Clippers don't have to play an awkward unfamiliar style (like they did vs GSW).
They can go and play Clippers ball. In fact they have to play Clippers ball to win.

Won't matter if the Thunder play Thunder ball though. Thunder in 5.

 

[Hambombs]

Barnes is a pretty good defender and is capable of getting in Durant's head and I never knew Chris Paul was a bad defender

I meant a guy that is a 2 or 3 that can defend at an elite level. Obviously Chris is a good point guard defender.

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

They don't have to contain Westbrook and Durant
In fact they should be encouraging those guys to go crazy and get into an offensive shootout


Make OKC completely forget about defense and tempo as well.
I would bait Westbrook especially to "run and gun". See if he can contain himself.


The Thunder will have to slow it down and use guys like Ibaka and Perkins to muck up the tempo.


OKC wins if the games are 98-95 games.
LAC wins if the games are 112-110 games.


The Clippers want crazy offensive fireworks. They want the Thunder stars to try and score 50.
They don't want anyone playing halfcourt and defense.

 

[Clayton]

Won't matter if the Thunder play Thunder ball though. Thunder in 5.

Thunder should beat everyone under ideal circumstances. They just aren't as good as the sum of their parts in most games for some reason

This should be a really fun series to watch, btw. Lots of stars have their legacy on the line, imo.

 

[bksballer89]

Won't matter if the Thunder play Thunder ball though. Thunder in 5.

You do realize there are at least about 5 teams out of the 8 who can say that but reality is the chances of any team playing their type of ball every game in a series is highly unlikely.

 

[bksballer89]

Miami and spurs are the biggest.favorites based on espn.com predictions. Only 1 person out of 18 picked either the spurs.or heat to lose this round while 11 of the 18 actually predicted the clippers to defeat okc

 

[gordontrue]

How many top-10 players are in this series?

I've heard as high as 4, but I'm thinking 2.

 

[gordontrue]

After watching this series I've decided that Thompson's description of Blake Griffin's offense as a bull in a China shop is dead on.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

How many top-10 players are in this series?

I've heard as high as 4, but I'm thinking 2.

I would go with 4. What is your top 10?

I can see the argument for kicking Westbrook out of top 10 based solely on his Bball IQ.