Warriors get Thunderstruck in Game 1

AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Warriors and Thunder kicked off the Western Conference Finals yesterday and the game was exciting as many predicted. The game was a tail of two halves. In the first half the Thunder turned over the ball 10 times and were out rebounded. The Thunder's only advantage in this series is size so to lose the rebounding battle would give the Thunder no shot in this series. Steph Curry did what he does best and the Warriors "death" line up ballooned the lead to 13 at half time after only being up four. Westbrook was shooting poorly and really had trouble getting himself going. Overall the first half left many with the impression that the Thunder need to figure this thing out in Game 2.

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In the third quarter the tides started to turn. Westbrook hit one three pointer and from there he was on fire. He poured in 19 points in the third quarter and the Thunder cut the Warriors lead down to three before the fourth quarter. The Thunders defense really improved and they started to kill the Warriors on the boards.

Later in the fourth the Thunder improved their lead to eight before they went cold on the offensive end. Durant and Westbrook missed a combined seven shots in a row. Durant especially had trouble finding the rim. Durant took some hard shots, but he also missed some open looks as well. On the Warriors side they slowly chipped away at the lead and even got it down to one with two minutes left. From there both sides really struggled to score the ball in the final minutes and both sides played great defense. What really stood out was Westbrook's defense on Curry. He smothered Curry at the end of the game and really made him work to even get a shot off. The Warriors only went 1-10 from three down the final stretch of the game.

AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

What should stand out in this game is the Thunder's defense as well as the play of Steven Adams. Adams is very important to this Thunder team because he brings toughness, height, defense and he hustles on offense to create extra possessions. This is going to be a problem for the Warriors because when Adams comes out Kanter comes in and even though Kanter's defense is not the same as Adams he provides the same rebounding as Adams and has a much better offensive game. Sometimes the Thunder play Kanter and Adams at the same time. Having to seven footers on the floor is going to be a problem for any team.

Game 2 is on Wednesday and I expect it to be another close game. I don't think the Warriors will drop two at home let alone two in a row. For the Thunder they really need to play like they did in the second half of Game 1 if they want a chance to steal Game 2. This should be exciting.

Hopefully Game 7 is Exciting

The Miami Heat took care of business at home last night winning 103-91. They were able to force a game 7 back in Toronto where they will look to finish off the Raptors. The Heat will be without Hassan Whiteside and the Raptors will be without Jonas Valanciunas. This has made this series even less exciting to watch. The reason being is the Miami Heat's starting line up looked like my high school basketball team in that every player on the floor 1-5 was about the same height. That's right the Heat had Justice Winslow start at center for them. Rebounding was not as big of an issue as I expected because everyone boxed out and rebounded on defense. Luol Deng had 8 rebounds, Dwayne Wade had 6 rebounds, and Dragic had 7. In all the Raptors only won the rebound battle by 2 (43-41). That shows that Miami can actually get away with this smaller line up and be successful. In fact this small line up creates a few problems for the Raptors.

One of the problems that this line up created for the Raptors is Miami could switch on just about every screen. The only times that Miami would not switch the screen was when Dragic was going to be switched to cover the center or power forward. During the game this made it difficult for Toronto to get the pick and roll going. Not only that, but even though Toronto had the size advantage they did not have an offensively skilled big in who could take advantage of such great post position.

The second problem this small line up created for Toronto was defensive mismatches. Every player on the Heat could take either of the big men on Toronto of the dribble to get to the hoop. This ended up causing Toronto to over help or caused Biyombo to keep one foot in the paint. The Raptors defensive strategy was to dare Justice Winslow to shoot, leaving him wide open. Winslow hit his first three of the game and the Raptors quickly adjusted. The Heat even took out Winslow at times and added in someone who could shoot the ball. The Heat's biggest man in last nights line up was Josh McRoberts. Stoudemire and Haslem did not step on the floor at all. It was just a weird game to watch and the Heat won with their extremely small ball.

I still hope Miami advances because I think they would be the tougher opponent for the Cavaliers. There are also a few more exciting story lines with Miami moving on. It would be the first time the team has made it back to the Eastern Conference Finals since LeBron left. LeBron would face the Heat for the first time in the post season since he left. Wade and LeBron are still best friends and that would be exciting to see those two go at it. Either way we would be lucky to see the Eastern Conference Finals reach six games. No matter what teams makes it to the next round I have the Cavaliers in five. For now lets hope that game 7 is better than the series has been so far.

OKC does the Impossible

All season long the Spurs had been dominant at home. In fact their home record on the season was 40-1. Having just one loss at home all season. That's not even mentioning that they had a 49 game home winning streak dating back to last season. Going into this series against the Thunder the Spurs were 42-1 at home including playoffs. The Thunder won game 2 in San Antonio and won again last night in a crucial game 5. That's right, the Thunder won twice in San Antonio in a year where the Spurs were thought to be unbeatable on their home court.

This gives the Thunder a 3-2 edge going into Thursday nights game 6 against the Spurs. The Thunder really thrive off the energy of their home crowd and will look to close out this series at home. The Thunder look really focused going into game 6. Last night they did not celebrate much after the winning knowing that they have to focus on taking care of business in the next game.

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The key to the Thunder winning was their size and defense. The Thunder have been closing out on all of San Antonio's three point attempts and accepting that it may lead to an open two. So far this strategy has worked. Even though Danny Green came to life last night making 6-8 threes it did not matter make a difference. And Aldridge has really cooled off since the first two games of the series. Last night Aldridge shot 6-21 from the field. The strategy that the Thunder have deployed against Aldridge is to have Ibaka or Adams allow Aldridge to go baseline and have the weak side defender come over and help when he makes his move to go by Ibaka or Adams. This has forced Aldridge to shoot over the top of them or make a pass out of the post. The second area where the Thunder have been killing the Spurs is on the boards. The size of Adams, Kanter, and Ibaka is too much for a smaller Spurs team to get rebounds on. It is especially hard when Adams and Kanter are relentless on the glass and crash on both the offensive and defensive end. Sometimes they might not even come up with the rebound, but they are long enough to tap it out to one of the guards. The Spurs got out rebounded 54 to 36 in game 5. Another problem is that Westbrook is a very good rebounder for a guard. He had 11 rebounds last night and is a walking triple double.

The only spot where the Thunder need to improve or the Spurs need to take advantage of are the turnovers. The Thunder had 20 turnovers last night as opposed to the Spurs 8. If the Thunder can cut back on the turnovers, especially Westbrook who had 8 of them, then it is hard to see the Thunder losing game 6. Game 6 can be seen on TNT at 8:30 Thursday night. Should be one of the best games of the season.

Cavs Clicking at Right Time

The Cavaliers swept their series with the Atlanta Hawks last night after winning 100-99. The Cavs now advance to Eastern Conference Finals where they await the winner of the Raptors-Heat series. The theme for the Cavs in this past series and part of the Pistons series was how well they are shooting the three ball. They set an NBA record 25 threes in game two vs the Hawks and followed up with 21 in game three. In the last game against the Hawks they had 16 threes. It is a change of pace for the Cavs from what we saw last year. In the finals last year the Cavs really slowed down the pace of the game and kept it low scoring in doing so. The Cavs still have the ability to go big and do that, but this new dynamic of running and gunning will make them deadly. No other team in the league seems to have the ability to do both and be very efficient at both styles of play.

If this is the beginning of what LeBron felt the Cavs could be then the next opponent and the most likely the one after that will have many struggles stopping this team fully healthy. The real question starts to become will the Cavs continue this nuclear affair of threes, or will they get back to their old ways? Everyone that is hitting right now with the exception of LeBron James are great three point shooters so I think it will continue, but teams might start finding ways to stop the three ball. If this is done any team facing the Cavs will have to settle with James and Kyrie creating shots for themselves and others off the dribble.

Tonight the Raptors and Heat face off in game 4. The Raptors are up 2-1 in the series. I would expect the Cavs to be watching the game and just looking at the most obvious things these two teams could bring to the table when they meet in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Seattle Took a Big Blow Yesterday

Yesterday the Seattle city council was on the clock to vote on whether or not a new sports arena will be built in SoDo. Many Supersonic fans every where were awaiting the decision hoping that they might be able to see there Sonics back within a few seasons. The city council voted against the the building plans 4-5. This is a setback in what has been a long process. The new arena proposal was supposed to be able to support both an NBA and NHL team. News has emerged of the possibility of renovating KeyArena to be able to support an NHL team and be brought up to NBA standards.But as of now no moves have been made.

For now the Sonics have 18 months left on the MOU. What this means is Chris Hansen has 18 months to find a home for the NBA and NHL and will have city funds at his disposal. Once 18 months are up he will either need to reach a new agreement or find private investors to build or renovate an arena.

Let me give those who do not follow basketball a little background. The Seattle Supersonics were an NBA team founded in 1967 and played their last season in Seattle in 2008. During that time they won one championship in 1979. The Sonics had many great players and coaches come threw Seattle. From Lenny Wilkins and Gus Williams; to George Karl, Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp; to Ray Allen; and all the way up to Kevin Durant putting on the green and gold for one season. Seattle is considered one of the best basketball cities in American and in the summer of 2008 the team was relocated to Oklahoma City and renamed the Thunder. Seattle basketball fans were devastated and 8 years later they are still looking to bring back their Supersonics. I'll leave you with this video of Seattle's final home game.

What is going on with Chris Bosh?

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Chris Bosh had his season end short in February when he was sidelined for what is rumored to be blood clots in his leg. No official report was ever released to the public leaving them only knowing that Bosh had something wrong with his calf. The Heat and Bosh were hopeful that he might be able to make a late season return, but with the Heat in the second round of the playoffs still have Bosh listed as "out indefinitely". This has slowly turned into a battle between Bosh and the Heat organization, as Bosh's camp feels he is fully healthy and ready to return. On the Heat's side of things the medical staff believes Bosh is not ready to make his return yet. Bosh and his wife have been pushing on social media that he is more than ready to go. It is a very strange situation.
What makes the situation so strange is Bosh never had an official press release on what has kept him out and the Heat have not broken the silence either. Bosh has reached out players association to help him get back out on the floor. A meeting will be held between both Bosh's party and the Heat's party to come to a conclusion on whether it is in Bosh's best interest to play. NBPA said the their main concern is Bosh's health.

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With all that said adding Bosh back into the Heat's rotation now might be the best thing for the team. They are playing a Toronto team that has struggled in the playoffs and has a history of playoff struggles. Toronto limped out of the first round and lost game one of the second round. Adding Bosh in with limited minutes will give the staff an ability to keep an eye on his health as well as allow him to adjust to Miami's new small ball system. It might throw off Miami's chemistry, but if it allows Bosh enough time to adjust the Heat might be able to threaten the Cleveland Cavaliers in a possible Eastern Conference Finals. With the way Toronto has played recently and how much better Goran Dragic has played it seems like the Heat will be back in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since LeBron left. It would make an amazing headline for LeBron play against the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals with both teams being at full strength.

OKC Bounces Back in Game Two

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Oklahoma City was blown out in game one losing to San Antonio 124-92. The Thunder came to play last night and would jump out to a 19-6 lead. The Spurs would make multiple runs during the game to give themselves a chance to steal a game that they had no business winning. Late in the fourth LaMarcus Aldridge did everything he could to keep his team in the game. After hitting three free throws the Thunder had the ball with 13.5 seconds left up 1. They set up a sideline in bounds play, but had trouble getting the ball in. Waiters would end up turning the ball over, giving the Spurs an opportunity to win the game. Thanks to Steven Adams effort to get back and hustle the Spurs were not able to get off an open look and the Thunder would hold on to win 98-97.

Eric Gay, Associated Press

Aldridge would score the teams last 13 points giving him 41 points for the game. Kevin Durant helped the Thunder by scoring 28 points on 11-19 shooting and he added 7 rebounds. Russell Westbrook scored 29 points on 11-15 shooting and he contributed 7 rebounds, 10 assists and 2 steals. The X-factor for the Thunder would be Steven Adams who finished the game with 12 points and a tremendous 17 rebounds.

Game three will be Friday night in Oklahoma City. The Thunder will try to ride this wave of energy home and try to take advantage of having home court. The Spurs will hope to see a bigger contribution from their other all-star Kawhi Leonard. He really needs to become a threat if the Spurs want to avoid being knocked out in the West Semi-Finals. On the Thunder side, Westbrook and/or Durant are due for a big game. Westbrook and Durant failed to score more than 20 points in game one and both shot poorly. In game two they both stepped up, but they can do so much more damage and it will happen in one of these two home games. It now turns into a best of 5 series with the Thunder now owning home court advantage. It should be fun seeing how the rest of this series unfolds.