If we get sixth and that means we end up playing Denver, no thanks. LA would be better than that. If we end up playing Dallas, then yes.
The Thunder are so damn physical on the perimeter and they play really well on the road so I truly believe this game is going to be a toss-up ... it's all going to depend on the bench providing a little bit of lift and Martell and Nic being able to make Durant work hard for his offense.
I just want a bad ass, physical game like today's game. Make the refs decide it, but get ready for playoff contact, and let the soft OKC team see what life will be like in the playoffs. I assume Roy won't be playing, so drag out the game and put pressure on Westbrook without letting him run up and down the court.
No way. LA is not losing in the first round of the NBA playoffs, regardless of who is the better team at the time.
Soft? You haven't watched the Thunder this season much it take it? They're anything but soft (as evidenced by their 7th ranked defense in points per possession)
You've called the Blazers soft even when they were highly ranked in defense and rebounding (rebounding almost all the time the past two years, defense this season before Oden was injured). You need to make up your mind...either those things show toughness or they don't.
I like watching us play OKC. Seems to always be an entertaining game even though durant is gonna shoot more free throws then the entire blazers team.
If Roy is healthy, I think the Blazers win. But it'll likely be a tight one, so it wouldn't be at all surprising if OKC won. Without Oden, I think these two teams are very evenly-matched.
Maybe.... If the Thunder win their next 3 they'll end up with 52 wins. If Portland goes 1-1 in their next two games they'll end up with 50 wins. SA will probably go 1-1 in their next two games and end it with 50 as well, but Blazers own the tiebreaker. I think Dallas will still be fighting to keep that 2nd spot so they'll make sure they beat the Spurs. We would then end up playing the Mavs in the first round, better than being the 6th seed and probably playing either Utah or Denver, with an outside chance at Phoenix. I think Utah gets the 3rd seed though.
Their rebounding has indeed been pretty good, but tough on defense? Their field goal percentage allowed has been middle of the road for a very long time, their points per possession has also been very middling for a couple of years, and they allowed a lot of points in the paint. Perhaps most damning, they've shown that if you pop them in the mouth and play physical the Blazers will often collapse a little bit ... so yeah, the Blazers have been soft. But, there's been improvement with the addition of guys like Miller and Camby and I've been more impressed with their grit in the second half of this season than I have been in a long time.
As I said in my post, they were ranked highly on defense before Oden went down. You didn't consider them a tough team then, either. I think this is confirmation bias. You remember the times when its happened and forget/disregard the times it hasn't. The NBA is generally pretty physical. There are few games where the Blazers can play a game where no one touches or challenges them physically. They win the vast majority of the physical contests. There's just a lot made of the times when they do break down...but that happens to every team.
I thought Oden and Joel were tough ... the rest of the team? Eh ... a mixed bag. All I'm saying is that they seem to wilt under pressure at times particularly, when they are matched up against the teams in the league with a reputation for grabbing, bodying and making them uncomfortable (Utah, Denver, Cleveland, etc.) I think they are getting better, but I've yet to see them thrive when the game gets physical. That's just not the way they are built.
San Antonio could lose to Dallas and we could beat Golden State and still beat out the Spurs. Assuming that we lose to OKC and SA beats out Minny... if that's what people are worried about.
A) Why do you and Bill Simmons call the Thunder the Zombies? Please explain. B) Even if we lose, we're very possibly 7th if we beat the Warriors since we have the tiebreaker with the Spurs. The Spurs play the Wolves and Mavs and it's very possible they'll lose one of those. C) Why does everyone think the Lakers are invincible? They're playing crappy basketball right now, Kobe is clearly hurt, their bench sucks, and Artest has not been as effective as Trevor Ariza was last year. Yes, they're the #1 seed, but the #1 seed has lost three times in the playoffs. Most recently, the Warriors did it to the Mavs. The Warriors were the hotter team going into the playoffs, the Warriors won the season series, and then they beat the Mavs in 6 even though the Mavs had won 67 of their last 78 games. Now, we're talking about a Lakers team that has lost 6 of their last 9 and we won the season series against them despite never fielding a healthy squad against them. D) I would bet money on us beating the Thunder and the Warriors, which puts us at the 6th seed which will probably match us up against the Jazz and the Nuggets, the two teams that owned us this season. Sucks. And I won't be surprised in the slightest if the Thunder or the Spurs beat the Lakers in the first round.
The first round matchup is going to be tough regardless... I vote that we try to win out, take the sixth seed with momentum going into the playoffs, and see what happens. Ed O.
