Series Thread: Western Conference Finals: OKC Thunder VS Golden State Warriors

[gordontrue]

My on the whole "title or bust" vs "its been a great season" debate...

A) Ultimately each fan gets what they get out of what is an entertainment product. As with most things, what anyone else says doesn't really matter (especially, imo, fans of other teams who won't have the same perspective).

B) Just because a team's season ultimately ends in failure doesn't mean you can't appreciate the accomplishments that did come and the effort and sacrifices made in trying to succeed. For some teams those feelings will be far outweighed by the disappointment of not winning it all... but that doesn't take away from it either, imo.

C) I don't understand singling out certain teams as "championship or bust". Hello? You play to win the Game! All 30 teams start the season championship or bust. Only a handful generally have a realistic shot at it by the time the playoffs roll around... so, yes, failing is going to be much more painful and a tougher pill to swallow for those teams. It is always harder to fail when you can't use the "well we just don't have the talent... we're not a good team... other teams are way better than us" excuses. But ultimately, 29 teams in the NBA fail every year. Not 3 or 4.

In the case of the Warriors... failure to win the title will of course dramatically alter what "73 wins" means going forward. Doesn't take away from the regular season accomplishment, just changes the context in which it will be forever viewed.

 

[bksballer89]

On the one hand.... its very hard to imagine the Thunder not winning 1 of the remaining 3 games with the way both teams have been playing.

On the other hand... All the Warriors have to do is win a home game tonight and all of the pressure shifts to OKC who will really not want to let a 3-1 lead get to a game 7 in Oracle.

Yep that's the crazy thing.

Tonight there is zero pressure on OKC. All the pressure on the Dubs but if the Warriors win then there is a huge amount of pressure on OKC to finish it on Saturday night

 

[bksballer89]

Last night on FB someone shared a stunning statistic (at least to me).

Since 2000, every team in the West been the Conference Finals except the Hornets/Pelicans and Clippers

 

[gordontrue]

If the Thunder win it all... this will go down as the greatest playoff run of all time.

12 teams in the history of the NBA have won 65+ games with a point differential of +9 or better.

10 of those 12 teams won the title.

The other 2 teams are the 2016 Spurs and the 2016 Warriors.

 

[WiggyRuss]

If the Thunder win it all... this will go down as the greatest playoff run of all time.

12 teams in the history of the NBA have won 65+ games with a point differential of +9 or better.

10 of those 12 teams won the title.

The other 2 teams are the 2016 Spurs and the 2016 Warriors.

at least if the Cavs lose in the Finals they will only be the 3rd biggest choke job of the NBA season, lol.

 

[WiggyRuss]

I cant wait to see what Steph Curry does tonight and how he shows up.

HUUUUUUUGE game for him in his career. Probably really the first time they have faced REAL REAL adversity.

I think one of LeBron's best games- if not his best game- was Game 6 IN Boston against the Celtics down 3-2. HE went insane.

I cant wait to see what Curry is going to do tonight. Lets just see if he is ready to take that pressure andturn it into dominance.

 

[trojanfan12]

B) Just because a team's season ultimately ends in failure doesn't mean you can't appreciate the accomplishments that did come and the effort and sacrifices made in trying to succeed. For some teams those feelings will be far outweighed by the disappointment of not winning it all... but that doesn't take away from it either, imo.

How can the feelings be far outweighed by the disappointment and not have it take away from the season? It doesn't make sense.

C) I don't understand singling out certain teams as "championship or bust".

It's about the expectations going into the season. The Warriors, Cavs, Spurs and maybe Thunder, all went into the season expecting/being expected to win the title. They all talked about and embraced those expectations. That makes them championship or bust.

 

[gordontrue]

How can the feelings be far outweighed by the disappointment and not have it take away from the season? It doesn't make sense.

I meant that it doesn't take away from those accomplishments and other positive aspects of the season. Yes, of course it takes away from the overall season. With certain teams... depending on the type of fan you are... that's very little consolation, though.

 

[Shanemansj13]

I cant wait to see what Steph Curry does tonight and how he shows up.

HUUUUUUUGE game for him in his career. Probably really the first time they have faced REAL REAL adversity.

I think one of LeBron's best games- if not his best game- was Game 6 IN Boston against the Celtics down 3-2. HE went insane.

I cant wait to see what Curry is going to do tonight. Lets just see if he is ready to take that pressure andturn it into dominance.

I think this will be a defining moment if he really can take it to the next level, yes he is great but when you face adversity with your back against the wall the greatest we have seen have come through clutch, this is his first real moment in his career IMO. I would say Game 4 of last years Finals but with the Cavs being depleted and very very tired giving it their all to win 2 games I don't think it was one of those moments.

 

[Tai Chi≈Surfing]

Steve Kerr kindly asks Warriors fans to find a way to beat Bay Area traffic to get to Oracle well before the 6 p.m. Game 5 tip.

 

[trojanfan12]

I meant that it doesn't take away from those accomplishments and other positive aspects of the season. Yes, of course it takes away from the overall season. With certain teams... depending on the type of fan you are... that's very little consolation, though.

I think it does though. The more a team accomplishes in the regular season, the higher the playoff expectations and need to finish the job. I was watching ESPN this morning and they are already bringing up how the 69-13 Lakers and 72-10 Bulls finished their season with championships and how the 73-9 Warriors might not.

Fair or not, that's going to be the narrative and every time that record comes up, "That's nice, but..." will be added to the conversation.

 

[gordontrue]

I think it does though. The more a team accomplishes in the regular season, the higher the playoff expectations and need to finish the job. I was watching ESPN this morning and they are already bringing up how the 69-13 Lakers and 72-10 Bulls finished their season with championships and how the 73-9 Warriors might not.

Fair or not, that's going to be the narrative and every time that record comes up, "That's nice, but..." will be added to the conversation.

It definitely changes the context of regular season achievements. If the Warriors lose to the Thunder, those 73 wins will always be looked at differently than if they'd won the title. No question about it.

This is probably all just semantics... but I look at it more as winning the title ADDING to the regular season achievement, than not winning the title taking away from the achievement.

End result is the same, so probably doesn't matter how you look at it.

If you make a good pile and a bad pile for the season and the bad pile ends up being much bigger... the overall season is a disappointment and a failure. But nothing really changed about those things in the good pile.

 

[trojanfan12]

I think this will be a defining moment if he really can take it to the next level, yes he is great but when you face adversity with your back against the wall the greatest we have seen have come through clutch, this is his first real moment in his career IMO. I would say Game 4 of last years Finals but with the Cavs being depleted and very very tired giving it their all to win 2 games I don't think it was one of those moments.

Agree and that was part of the criticism that the Warriors were supposed to be trying to put an end to this season. Even when the Cavs were up 2-1 last season, I don't think anyone truly thought they were going to hang on and win the series.

 

[bksballer89]

How can the feelings be far outweighed by the disappointment and not have it take away from the season? It doesn't make sense.



It's about the expectations going into the season. The Warriors, Cavs, Spurs and maybe Thunder, all went into the season expecting/being expected to win the title. They all talked about and embraced those expectations. That makes them championship or bust.

I'll add the Clippers as well

 

[trojanfan12]

It definitely changes the context of regular season achievements. If the Warriors lose to the Thunder, those 73 wins will always be looked at differently than if they'd won the title. No question about it.

This is probably all just semantics... but I look at it more as winning the title ADDING to the regular season achievement, than not winning the title taking away from the achievement.

End result is the same, so probably doesn't matter how you look at it.

If you make a good pile and a bad pile for the season and the bad pile ends up being much bigger... the overall season is a disappointment and a failure. But nothing really changed about those things in the good pile.

Probably the best, most fair explanation of the difference that I have seen.

 

[thunderc]

No analysis of what is different for the Warriors now compared to the regular season that does not include the Thunder being a MUCH better team than they were is just psychobabble.

 

[bksballer89]

Still remember when certain Warriors fans laughed when I said the Thunder has the best chance of beating the Warriors in a series.....even over the Spurs

 

[trojanfan12]

Still remember when certain Warriors fans laughed when I said the Thunder has the best chance of beating the Warriors in a series.....even over the Spurs

I don't think it was just Warriors fans. While I didn't rule it out, I didn't see OKC getting past the Spurs and I damn sure didn't see them doing what they are doing to the Warriors so far.

 

[gordontrue]

I don't think it was just Warriors fans. While I didn't rule it out, I didn't see OKC getting past the Spurs and I damn sure didn't see them doing what they are doing to the Warriors so far.

Yeah, not many gave the Thunder as much of a chance in either series as bk did. Bk seems to be a on roll in these playoffs.

Which reminds me.... @bksballer89 you are on record as saying that the Cavs would beat the Thunder right? No take-backs.

 

[bksballer89]

Yeah, not many gave the Thunder as much of a chance in either series as bk did. Bk seems to be a on roll in these playoffs.

Which reminds me.... @bksballer89 you are on record as saying that the Cavs would beat the Thunder right? No take-backs.

Yes. At first I was leaning towards 5 but based on how OKC looked in these series, I would change it to 7