I love Kevin Durant. I grew up in San Antonio and still bleed spurs silver and black. And I'm still happy if they continue to rack up some championship banners. But KD is my favorite player and because of that the OKC Thunder are my favorite team. It's like they're number one and the spurs are 1A.
But over the last few seasons I've noticed that the thunder can not close out games and this is especially noticeable against the elite teams like last Saturday. Yes KD had a great game offensively and had his best game of the year from the three point line. With 18 seconds to go he hit a three pointer to put OKC up by 4. But Golden State hit a basket and with 11 seconds to go it was down to 2. But the thunder did not call a to. And KD panicked under pressure he threw a down court pass that was intercepted and with less than one second to go he fouled Andre Igoudada. AI is a career 60% free throw shooter but naturally he made both to send it into ot. KD's attempt at a game winning basket was short. And then one minute into ot he fouled out and OKC had to play the rest of the game with KD on the bench. He's done this before in playoff games most recently two years ago in game 6 of the western conference finals against SA. It was so frustrating to watch. The thunder led pretty much the whole game. But down the stretch they shot 2 for 11 from the field and GS shot 6 for 10. I hate to say but even with a three with 18 seconds to go KD once again wilted under pressure.
Also KD and Russell Westbrook are the thunder. But OKC is one of the worst teams when it comes to to's. And for all their talent KD and RW average anywhere from 12 to 15 to's a game between them. OKC had 22 to's against the warriors and it came back to haunt them. Since the all star break they've lost 4 out of 5 and in three of them they didn't close it out not even at home against a mediocre Indiana Pacers team. I predict they'll make it out of round 1 and then they will lose to the spurs.
OR
are the Golden State Warriors just that good? I mean I can't believe it. They started the season 25-0. The best single season record was when one of Michael Jordan's teams went 72-10. But the warriors are currently 53-5, That's a winning percentage of over 90%. They have 24 games left, 17 of them home where they are undefeated so far. If nobody gets hurt they will obliterate that 72-10 record. I can't believe it the thunder led for all but 10 seconds. They out rebounded GS 62-32. And for once the thunder supporting cast raised their game especially Serge Ibaka and SA native Andre Roberson. But once again to's killed them like it does in every game they lose. They're normally a good free throw shooting team but they were 50% from the charity stripe and this was on a night when GS was'nt hitting free throws either. It's like you have to play a near perfect game to beat the warriors. It's like they can't do anything wrong. They didn't lead the whole game. Nobody but SC was hitting three pointers and then they start hitting them in the last minute and ot.
How did the Warriors get that good. They were a playoff team but they never went past the second round in fact before last year they hadn't made the conference finals in 39 years. But they fired their coach and brought in Steve Kerr and they signed AI as a free agent. SK had never coached in his life I think he spent a couple of years as general manager of the Phoenix suns. Since he retired as a player he's spent most of his career as an analyst on TNT. But now he's Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, and John Wooden rolled into one. I mean everybody on that team can score. They can all play defense and pass the ball. Draymond Green went on a profanity laced tirade at halftime, he ended up scoring one point and yet he had a double double with rebounds and assists.
But mostly its Steph Curry. Has anyone watched him this year? He can't miss especially from the three point line. Reggie Miller was the best three point shooter Ive ever seen. Not anymore. A good three point shoother is usually 40 %. He's over 50!!!!! He's already broke his record for three pointers from last year and he still has 24 more games to play. His last two games he's had 23 three pointers including 13 for 16 against the thunder the last one the game winner from 30 feet. I mean the man is making it from everywhere. He's a good passer too and a decent defensive player. I knew he was an all star and a good player but now he's playing like Michael who? I mean Magic, Kareem, Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Michael Jordan's team have never played like this. I can't believe this dramatic transformation form SC and his team. There are four outstanding teams in the NBA. Besides GS, and OKC, there's SA, and Lebron's team. They beat the spurs by 32 in the only game they've played so far. They destroyed Lebron's team by 34 in Cleveland. The cavs fired their coach the next day.
They might as well stop the season and just give it to the warriors now.
But over the last few seasons I've noticed that the thunder can not close out games and this is especially noticeable against the elite teams like last Saturday. Yes KD had a great game offensively and had his best game of the year from the three point line. With 18 seconds to go he hit a three pointer to put OKC up by 4. But Golden State hit a basket and with 11 seconds to go it was down to 2. But the thunder did not call a to. And KD panicked under pressure he threw a down court pass that was intercepted and with less than one second to go he fouled Andre Igoudada. AI is a career 60% free throw shooter but naturally he made both to send it into ot. KD's attempt at a game winning basket was short. And then one minute into ot he fouled out and OKC had to play the rest of the game with KD on the bench. He's done this before in playoff games most recently two years ago in game 6 of the western conference finals against SA. It was so frustrating to watch. The thunder led pretty much the whole game. But down the stretch they shot 2 for 11 from the field and GS shot 6 for 10. I hate to say but even with a three with 18 seconds to go KD once again wilted under pressure.
Also KD and Russell Westbrook are the thunder. But OKC is one of the worst teams when it comes to to's. And for all their talent KD and RW average anywhere from 12 to 15 to's a game between them. OKC had 22 to's against the warriors and it came back to haunt them. Since the all star break they've lost 4 out of 5 and in three of them they didn't close it out not even at home against a mediocre Indiana Pacers team. I predict they'll make it out of round 1 and then they will lose to the spurs.
OR
are the Golden State Warriors just that good? I mean I can't believe it. They started the season 25-0. The best single season record was when one of Michael Jordan's teams went 72-10. But the warriors are currently 53-5, That's a winning percentage of over 90%. They have 24 games left, 17 of them home where they are undefeated so far. If nobody gets hurt they will obliterate that 72-10 record. I can't believe it the thunder led for all but 10 seconds. They out rebounded GS 62-32. And for once the thunder supporting cast raised their game especially Serge Ibaka and SA native Andre Roberson. But once again to's killed them like it does in every game they lose. They're normally a good free throw shooting team but they were 50% from the charity stripe and this was on a night when GS was'nt hitting free throws either. It's like you have to play a near perfect game to beat the warriors. It's like they can't do anything wrong. They didn't lead the whole game. Nobody but SC was hitting three pointers and then they start hitting them in the last minute and ot.
How did the Warriors get that good. They were a playoff team but they never went past the second round in fact before last year they hadn't made the conference finals in 39 years. But they fired their coach and brought in Steve Kerr and they signed AI as a free agent. SK had never coached in his life I think he spent a couple of years as general manager of the Phoenix suns. Since he retired as a player he's spent most of his career as an analyst on TNT. But now he's Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, and John Wooden rolled into one. I mean everybody on that team can score. They can all play defense and pass the ball. Draymond Green went on a profanity laced tirade at halftime, he ended up scoring one point and yet he had a double double with rebounds and assists.
But mostly its Steph Curry. Has anyone watched him this year? He can't miss especially from the three point line. Reggie Miller was the best three point shooter Ive ever seen. Not anymore. A good three point shoother is usually 40 %. He's over 50!!!!! He's already broke his record for three pointers from last year and he still has 24 more games to play. His last two games he's had 23 three pointers including 13 for 16 against the thunder the last one the game winner from 30 feet. I mean the man is making it from everywhere. He's a good passer too and a decent defensive player. I knew he was an all star and a good player but now he's playing like Michael who? I mean Magic, Kareem, Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Michael Jordan's team have never played like this. I can't believe this dramatic transformation form SC and his team. There are four outstanding teams in the NBA. Besides GS, and OKC, there's SA, and Lebron's team. They beat the spurs by 32 in the only game they've played so far. They destroyed Lebron's team by 34 in Cleveland. The cavs fired their coach the next day.
They might as well stop the season and just give it to the warriors now.
