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simonwayne
Joined: 11 Sep 2011
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Location: United States
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 Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 6:05 pm Post subject: OKC Thunder Thread (18-4) vs SAC |
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Head Coach: Scott Brooks
Starting Lineup:
PG: Russell Westbrook
SG: Thabo Sefolosha
SF: Kevin Durant
PF: Serge Ibaka
C: Kendrick Perkins
Bench:
Kevin Martin, SG
Nick Collison, PF
Eric Maynor, PG
Hasheem Thabeet, C
Perry Jones, SF
Jeremy Lamb, SG
Reggie Jackson, PG
Deandre Liggins, SG
Daniel Orton, C
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| dolphan9954 wrote: | | Enjoy your second round exit. |
Last edited by simonwayne on Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:13 am; edited 11 times in total |
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simonwayne
Joined: 11 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 10:31 pm Post subject: |
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Is anyone else getting less scared of the Lakers as time passes by? Kobe didn't look too good last year, is he going to get better with having the ball less? MWP shouldn't get any better. Gasol looked terrible in the postseason, but he may look better alongside Howard. Nash is still good, but likely will decline some. Howard's health isn't guaranteed. And Mike Brown is just not a good coach.
All while the Thunder should be putting up better numbers. Westbrook has added some upper body strength, Durant has gotten stronger, and says he will routinely lift weights throughout the season. I'm ready for us to dominate the rest of the western conference.
Also, all of the players seem to be really impressed with Perry Jones so far. We may be able to run him at the 4 and Ibaka at the 5 now, which is much better than our lineup last year with Westy,Fisher,Harden,Durant,Ibaka
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| dolphan9954 wrote: | | Enjoy your second round exit. |
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JCamGOPACKGO
Joined: 14 Jan 2012
Posts: 719
Location: New Jersey
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| Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 2:10 am Post subject: |
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I still see OKC as the team to beat out West. That was a great post, pretty much exactly my thoughts. There will be chemistry issues in LA I think. After the bitter taste left in the mouth of this team from the Finals, I expect bigger things than ever from this young group. Man, are they fun to watch...
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2012-13 ADOPT-A-PACKER: John Kuhn #30
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simonwayne
Joined: 11 Sep 2011
Posts: 7379
Location: United States
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:55 am Post subject: |
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| JCamGOPACKGO wrote: | | I still see OKC as the team to beat out West. That was a great post, pretty much exactly my thoughts. There will be chemistry issues in LA I think. After the bitter taste left in the mouth of this team from the Finals, I expect bigger things than ever from this young group. Man, are they fun to watch... |
I just brought it up because the whole media is already trying to act like the Heat and Lakers are the best teams when the Thunder should be considered the best team in the West right now and it shouldn't even be a question. I'm tired of seeing Heat vs Lakers debates/polls and stuff like that.
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| dolphan9954 wrote: | | Enjoy your second round exit. |
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Eagles_808
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 24775
Location: Torrance, CA
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:59 am Post subject: |
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| simonwayne wrote: | | Is anyone else getting less scared of the Lakers as time passes by? Kobe didn't look too good last year, is he going to get better with having the ball less? MWP shouldn't get any better. Gasol looked terrible in the postseason, but he may look better alongside Howard. Nash is still good, but likely will decline some. Howard's health isn't guaranteed. And Mike Brown is just not a good coach. |
I really hope people under estimate the Lakers. However, I'm going to hazard a guess that they won't be sneaking up on anyone this year.
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simonwayne
Joined: 11 Sep 2011
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Location: United States
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Eagles_808 wrote: | | simonwayne wrote: | | Is anyone else getting less scared of the Lakers as time passes by? Kobe didn't look too good last year, is he going to get better with having the ball less? MWP shouldn't get any better. Gasol looked terrible in the postseason, but he may look better alongside Howard. Nash is still good, but likely will decline some. Howard's health isn't guaranteed. And Mike Brown is just not a good coach. |
I really hope people under estimate the Lakers. However, I'm going to hazard a guess that they won't be sneaking up on anyone this year. |
Yeah, but I don't think that they will meet the expectations that have now been placed on them.
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| dolphan9954 wrote: | | Enjoy your second round exit. |
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ya boy hollywud
Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Posts: 715
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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If the Lakers are healthy, I really don't see any way OKC can beat them. The Lakers won't have the chemistry issues people think they will have. Nash will make Gasol, Howard and the role players so much better.
If everybody in the league can stay healthy, we're going to be seeing a Lakers vs Heat matchup in the Finals. |
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simonwayne
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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| ya boy hollywud wrote: | If the Lakers are healthy, I really don't see any way OKC can beat them. The Lakers won't have the chemistry issues people think they will have. Nash will make Gasol, Howard and the role players so much better.
If everybody in the league can stay healthy, we're going to be seeing a Lakers vs Heat matchup in the Finals. |
Really? Kevin Durant is going to drop his points on MWP regardless. Westbrook will abuse Nash, and yeah, he will have Howard behind him, but as soon as Howard constantly worries about having to cover for Nash is when we have wide open guys under the basket. Gasol won't be able to leave Ibaka who is money when left open in the mid range. We'll have Thabo on Kobe which is much better than having MWP on Durant.
You don't see any way how OKC can beat LA if they are healthy? Really? Is there a way to know that Kobe is going to get better after his least efficient season last year? Who can even run with OKC in the transition game?
There's no denying just how big of an impact Howard has, but you can't deny the obvious advantages OKC has in the matchup either. Your final statement was proof of just how overrated the Lakers are. OKC should be the clear, undeniable favorites in the West. Getting Maynor back is bigger than people think. There is no reason to think that the core players won't improve and play more efficiently. Meanwhile, in LA, you have a bottom tier coach asked to make things work with little time, and a ball dominant superstar, and we are already seeing the Lakers getting overrated before even playing a real game together. OKC = Better coaching, healthier players, players on the rise (still improving in all aspects of the game), and players who have played together for multiple years now and know their roles.
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| dolphan9954 wrote: | | Enjoy your second round exit. |
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J-ALL-DAY
Joined: 17 Oct 2007
Posts: 15536
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| Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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OKC definitely has a shot but MWP is going to be much better this season. He's in better shape and was actually starting to turn it around a bit late last year. OKC won't be able to double down in the post as much but still have the advantage in transition. The Clippers to me have a great shot at knocking OKC out though.
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ya boy hollywud
Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Posts: 715
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:11 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, the Thunder don't really have a chance against a healthy Laker team. The only way OKC can beat them four times in a seven game series is if the Lakers are injured. Howard and Gasol down low is unguardable, Nash will make everybody on the team better and Howard is far and away the best defender in the league. His impact on that side of the floor alone will be astronomical.
As far as the Clippers knocking off OKC, not going to happen. The Clippers go to the second round at best, IMO. Lakers, OKC, Spurs and the Nuggets are all teams that will knock the Clippers off. |
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Bo_Spice
Joined: 17 May 2009
Posts: 7076
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:51 pm Post subject: |
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| simonwayne wrote: | | Is anyone else getting less scared of the Lakers as time passes by? Kobe didn't look too good last year, is he going to get better with having the ball less? MWP shouldn't get any better. Gasol looked terrible in the postseason, but he may look better alongside Howard. Nash is still good, but likely will decline some. Howard's health isn't guaranteed. And Mike Brown is just not a good coach. |
Kobe is still one of the best players and best scorers in the league and playing with a guard like Nash, who will take a lot of pressure off of Kobe, should really help him become a better player at this point in his career.
Metta World Peace lost a lot of weight and by all accounts has looked a lot better in training camp.
Playing with Steve Nash should really help Gasol's game as should playing along side Dwight Howard.
And while Dwight Howard's health is not guaranteed the Lakers have one of the best training staffs in the entire league so I don't think it should be too big of a deal for him.
While Mike Brown may not be the greatest coach, neither is Eric Spoelstra and he just got a ring. Brown won't have to be a great coach this year, he'll just have to be solid and the Lakers talent will be too much for most of the teams in the league.
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simonwayne
Joined: 11 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 2:35 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, the Lakers are being overrated. The West is OKC's to lose until proven otherwise. We dominated LA last year in the post season, and would have swept them if it wasn't for the Joey Crawford 72 FT game. LA is getting about as overrated as the Heat were going into their first season.
And I was just thinking about it today, there are a few teams whose starting lineups are worse than OKC's 2nd unit.
Maynor
Harden
Jones III
Collision
Aldrich
I also hope that we are working on adding the zone defense to our arsenal this year. Haven't heard anything on it yet though.
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| dolphan9954 wrote: | | Enjoy your second round exit. |
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Eagles_808
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 24775
Location: Torrance, CA
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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| simonwayne wrote: | | Yeah, the Lakers are being overrated. The West is OKC's to lose until proven otherwise. We dominated LA last year in the post season, and would have swept them if it wasn't for the Joey Crawford 72 FT game. LA is getting about as overrated as the Heat were going into their first season. |
I don't see how last year's playoffs have anything to do with this year's match-up between LAL and OKC. But that could just be me.
As for the second bold portion, MIA made the Finals in that first year you speak of, so I think they did pretty well for themselves.
At any rate, I'm fine with you feeling the way you do. And just to set the record straight, Vegas has the OKC win total at 61, whereas LAL is at 59. So this idea that "LA is being overrated" might just be a rival fans stirring up the pot a bit (although I can see why they think so, as adding two potential HOFers in 1 offseason can seem to spice your hype up a bit).
I'll just revert back to my initial post yesterday:
| Quote: | | I really hope people under estimate the Lakers. |
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ya boy hollywud
Joined: 19 Aug 2012
Posts: 715
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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| simonwayne wrote: | | The West is OKC's to lose until proven otherwise. |
Sorry, but it really isn't. The West belongs to the Lakers until proven otherwise. They're the best team. |
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J-ALL-DAY
Joined: 17 Oct 2007
Posts: 15536
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| Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Eagles_808 wrote: | | simonwayne wrote: | | Yeah, the Lakers are being overrated. The West is OKC's to lose until proven otherwise. We dominated LA last year in the post season, and would have swept them if it wasn't for the Joey Crawford 72 FT game. LA is getting about as overrated as the Heat were going into their first season. |
I don't see how last year's playoffs have anything to do with this year's match-up between LAL and OKC. But that could just be me.
As for the second bold portion, MIA made the Finals in that first year you speak of, so I think they did pretty well for themselves.
At any rate, I'm fine with you feeling the way you do. And just to set the record straight, Vegas has the OKC win total at 61, whereas LAL is at 59. So this idea that "LA is being overrated" might just be a rival fans stirring up the pot a bit (although I can see why they think so, as adding two potential HOFers in 1 offseason can seem to spice your hype up a bit).
I'll just revert back to my initial post yesterday:
| Quote: | | I really hope people under estimate the Lakers. |
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My man, PLEASE don't even try to play the underdog role with that squad LOL.
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