If the Spurs win the Xmas game...

Corso said:
You know the Spurs are firmly in OKC's head.
Because you know they are going to come out spitting fire, ready for vengeance.

The Spurs win, they're going to be shook, whether they admit it, or not.
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I would have said the same thing coming into tonight, and the Spurs just waxed them.

The home crowd will be lit for the Thunder, but the Spurs are playing with house money now.
 
Anything short of a commanding win by OKC and their aura is punctured and other teams will smell blood as we head to the trade deadline
 
OKC has to be scared shitless after this game - getting blown out with Wemby on a minutes restriction scoring 12 points.

This Spurs team was basically built to beat OKC -
Wemby is a hard counter to Chet that neutralizes all of his advantages over regular players
OKC's small fast defense and Chet's build is awesome against most teams because they can swarm, but vulnerable to power drivers and Spurs have 3 in Castle, Harper, and Keldon
Chet's not going to be able to put on much more bulk, but Castle and Harper are just going to continue getting stronger
Too many people watching Wemby games, potentially mitigating OKC's typical bs whistle
Spurs lead assistant is the same one who coached the last team to beat OKC in the playoffs

Long term in order to counter the Castle/Harper backcourt, they need a hyper-athletic rim protector next to Chet who can swallow up drives while still being mobile enough to switch on the perimeter, since Chet works best as a weak-side shot blocker. This is why I think Presti does everything he can to make sure he takes Jayden Quaintance in the draft this year, he's one of the few guys out there who fits the bill.
 
SpursBills said:
OKC has to be scared shitless after this game - getting blown out with Wemby on a minutes restriction scoring 12 points.

This Spurs team was basically built to beat OKC -
Wemby is a hard counter to Chet that neutralizes all of his advantages over regular players
OKC's small fast defense and Chet's build is awesome against most teams because they can swarm, but vulnerable to power drivers and Spurs have 3 in Castle, Harper, and Keldon
Chet's not going to be able to put on much more bulk, but Castle and Harper are just going to continue getting stronger
Too many people watching Wemby games, potentially mitigating OKC's typical bs whistle
Spurs lead assistant is the same one who coached the last team to beat OKC in the playoffs

Long term in order to counter the Castle/Harper backcourt, they need a hyper-athletic rim protector next to Chet who can swallow up drives while still being mobile enough to switch on the perimeter, since Chet works best as a weak-side shot blocker. This is why I think Presti does everything he can to make sure he takes Jayden Quaintance in the draft this year, he's one of the few guys out there who fits the bill.
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Spot on, but I'd say that's too much adjusting for someone who's massive extension is about to kick-in and is supposed to be an elite defender.
Been saying it for years, I think SGA is as good as advertised and their supporting cast (4th-10th man) is legit, but Williams and Chet aren't good enough to be co-stars on a championship team.
If those extensions were active, it would've been a no-brainer to trade Chet+filler for Giannis, it's just that they can't do it this season without making it Chet+Hartenstein+filler.

The thing I'm scared the most about OKC is Presti, they can get anyone who's available.
They have 3 more games against us before the deadline and if their current roster still looks overmatched in those, he'll surely make a move because losing out on a championship while sitting on so many assets would be dumb.
 
LeBowen said:
Spot on, but I'd say that's too much adjusting for someone who's massive extension is about to kick-in and is supposed to be an elite defender.
Been saying it for years, I think SGA is as good as advertised and their supporting cast (4th-10th man) is legit, but Williams and Chet aren't good enough to be co-stars on a championship team.
If those extensions were active, it would've been a no-brainer to trade Chet+filler for Giannis, it's just that they can't do it this season without making it Chet+Hartenstein+filler.

The thing I'm scared the most about OKC is Presti, they can get anyone who's available.
They have 3 more games against us before the deadline and if their current roster still looks overmatched in those, he'll surely make a move because losing out on a championship while sitting on so many assets would be dumb.
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They already were tbh. People are looking too much into Chet's issues against the Spurs and JDub is still coming back from major surgery. The Clippers pick will also end up netting them another core piece unfortunately, just need to pray it isn't one of Dybantsa/Petterson/Boozer.
 
Robz4000 said:
They already were tbh.
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Were they?
What was the competition like?
Denver in 7, MPJ played the entire series with one shoulder and Gordon went down at the end of G6.
Pacers also took them to 7, Haliburton was on a heater before he went down.

Chet averaged 15/9 on 46/30/78 with 2 blocks in the playoffs, is that a max contract worthy player?
If you're the supposed best human defender in the league (Wemby is obviously in a category of his own), then there can be absolutely no matchup where your team has to adjust for your defensive weaknesses, especially if you're a PF/C and bigs are your issue.

The more the time goes on, the more it looks like their championship was a SGA carry job with a bunch of great role players.
 
OKC‘s halfcourt offense sucks. It‘s all Shai isos which end into midrange shots. That‘s not a winning recipe. As I mentioned before they basically get All-Star Production out of turnovers (24 per game), if you don’t turn it over their offense stagnates and their shooters are too streaky. Wemby shutting down the paint is a huge advantage in that regard.

Their defense leaves shooters consistently open, especially from the corners. Barnes, Keldon and Champagnie are money from those spots. And then we have a Gang of players who can just bully them inside and draw fouls. If you look at the game stats we beat them at the FT line while not fouling. That was the game.
 
LeBowen said:
Were they?
What was the competition like?
Denver in 7, MPJ played the entire series with one shoulder and Gordon went down at the end of G6.
Pacers also took them to 7, Haliburton was on a heater before he went down.

Chet averaged 15/9 on 46/30/78 with 2 blocks in the playoffs, is that a max contract worthy player?
If you're the supposed best human defender in the league (Wemby is obviously in a category of his own), then there can be absolutely no matchup where your team has to adjust for your defensive weaknesses, especially if you're a PF/C and bigs are your issue.

The more the time goes on, the more it looks like their championship was a SGA carry job with a bunch of great role players.
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JDub had a 40-piece in game 5 and 26 and 27 on the road in games 3 and 4 tbh; thats a co-star showing imo. I've been as critical of them as anyone both this year and last (called both the Nuggets and Pacers taking them to 7, think they fail to repeat this year) but the fact remains they won last year with JDub and Chet playing integral roles.
 
spurs are in their head ... if OKC wins the home game they will still think everything is fine ... if not, then the Spurs are paying no rent anymore for that headspace

problem for the Spurs is matchups ... we seem to have issues with certain teams
 
LeBowen said:
Spot on, but I'd say that's too much adjusting for someone who's massive extension is about to kick-in and is supposed to be an elite defender.
Been saying it for years, I think SGA is as good as advertised and their supporting cast (4th-10th man) is legit, but Williams and Chet aren't good enough to be co-stars on a championship team.
If those extensions were active, it would've been a no-brainer to trade Chet+filler for Giannis, it's just that they can't do it this season without making it Chet+Hartenstein+filler.

The thing I'm scared the most about OKC is Presti, they can get anyone who's available.
They have 3 more games against us before the deadline and if their current roster still looks overmatched in those, he'll surely make a move because losing out on a championship while sitting on so many assets would be dumb.
Click to expand...
Who would you rather have at this juncture - Chet or Evan Mobley on a max contract
 
LeBowen said:
Spot on, but I'd say that's too much adjusting for someone who's massive extension is about to kick-in and is supposed to be an elite defender.
Been saying it for years, I think SGA is as good as advertised and their supporting cast (4th-10th man) is legit, but Williams and Chet aren't good enough to be co-stars on a championship team.
If those extensions were active, it would've been a no-brainer to trade Chet+filler for Giannis, it's just that they can't do it this season without making it Chet+Hartenstein+filler.

The thing I'm scared the most about OKC is Presti, they can get anyone who's available.
They have 3 more games against us before the deadline and if their current roster still looks overmatched in those, he'll surely make a move because losing out on a championship while sitting on so many assets would be dumb.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Even if they hit the wall (i.e not win multiple titles) with this iteration of the core (mainly Chet & J-Dub), they have too many prized assets and Presti at the helm that they will be able to do a seamless reboot/shakeup and still remain a Top 3 contender for the next 5-7 years.
 
If, then OKC should sell the farm for Giannis, haha.

Won't happen but you know Bucks fans are rooting for Spurs on Christmas.
 
I think people are getting a little ahead of themselves. OKC won 68 games last year with an all-time great point differential en route to an NBA title. No, it wasn't the most impressive or dominant postseason run we've ever seen but it's a title nonetheless. They then brought back pretty much every player on that team, and all of those players are at the stage in their career where they figure to at least maintain their play from last year if not get better. They're now 26-4 (even after losing 3 games in the past couple of weeks) with the best record and point differential in the league.

It's great that we won two straight against them. I do think our personnel matches up pretty well against them relative to other teams. I'm just not so sure OKC is sitting there "scared" of SA, and a lot of people here almost seem to be framing it like we're clearly a better team or would be favored in a playoff series...and it's that sort of thing that I just have a hard time getting behind at this point.

Back in the day when we were the proven commodity, we would laugh at fanbases that acted like winning regular season games meant they could beat us in a playoff series...just saying.
 
If the Spurs win, expect OKC to beef up before the trade deadline. I'd almost rather the Spurs lose the game and the Thunder think they can stand pat.
 
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