Spurs 101, Thunder 98: Gregg Popovich Made Adjustments, Scott Brooks Didn’t, and San Antonio Rallied to Victory

All, NBA, Video Jason McIntyre May 28th. 2012, 8:37am

Spurs 101, Thunder 98 was a tremendous and bizarre first game of the Western Conference Finals. After the Spurs grabbed a first quarter lead, the Thunder owned the next two quarters. With their vastly superior athletic ability, Oklahoma City outscored San Antonio 53-38 in the 2nd and 3rd quarters and led by nine headed into the 4th.

At this point, Gregg Popovich, the Spurs’ Hall of Fame coach, decided he’d take the game over. With starters Danny Green (0-6), Kawhi Leonard (3-9) and Boris Diaw mostly non-factors, San Antonio went small – four guards with Duncan – and ran circles around the clueless Thunder. An 18-3 run was the difference, and all the while, OKC coach Scott Brooks made no adjustments. He left the NBA’s best shot-blocker, Serge Ibaka, on the bench (just 21 minutes played) while the Spurs essentially ran a layup line in the halfcourt offense. Yes, Brooks has left Ibaka on the bench late in games this season, but how many uncontested layups do you need to see before deciding to defend the basket? It would have made sense to insert Ibaka (zero fouls) for Perkins (five fouls), but I would have also gone Westbrook/Thabo/Durant/Ibaka/Perkins and forced the Spurs to adjust.

Offensively, the Thunder let Russell Westbrook (7-of-17, five assists, four turnovers) and James Harden (7-of-17, four turnovers) do what they wanted in this dreadful 4th quarter (San Antonio scored 39 points), and that was a horrible decision. The two repeatedly turned the ball over brazenly attacking the basket, or missed a wild shot in traffic. Their shooting numbers are somewhat skewed due to a few made 3-pointers in the final 90 seconds after the game was decided. Worse yet for Harden was that his 6th man counterpart, Manu Ginobili, led the Spurs with 26 points. With Parker and Duncan (12-of-30) struggling against exceptionally athletic defenders, Ginobili carried the Spurs.

Yes, Kevin Durant (27 points, 10 rebounds) struggled in the 4th quarter against … wait for it … “nasty” Stephen Jackson, but the help defense San Antonio employed was outstanding. When Durant got by him – that is, when he finally got the ball from Westbrook and Harden – he was met by another defender or two. Where was the iso on the block? Pick and roll? It’s as if Brooks didn’t call a play the entire 4th quarter.

The Spurs have won 19 games in a row.

aroundtheweb

28 Responses to “Spurs 101, Thunder 98: Gregg Popovich Made Adjustments, Scott Brooks Didn’t, and San Antonio Rallied to Victory”

1
Hollywoodtease Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 8:45 AM
Brooks with his best VDN impression last night.
2
coop247 Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 8:51 AM
Start of the 4th Westbrook and Harden combined for a string of bad shots/turnovers and the Spurs caught fire. That Pop speech before the 4th was fantastic.
Tip of the hat to Joey Crawford for turning the final minutes into a FT parade, causing me to fall asleep and miss the end. Well done sir.
3
Jason McIntyre Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 9:01 AM
Start of the 4th Westbrook and Harden combined for a string of bad shots/turnovers
What’s frustrating is watching it unfold. They come over halfcourt, dribble for 10 seconds, then a bad decision. No play is called, little movement on offense. Just a disaster.
4
St. Bear Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 9:04 AM
What’s frustrating is watching it unfold. They come over halfcourt, dribble for 10 seconds, then a bad decision. No play is called, little movement on offense. Just a disaster.
It’s a cliche, but there’s a lot of that in the NBA now. The Celtics ran that offense more often than not in Game 6.
5
QueeferSutherland Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 9:05 AM
No one wants to admit it, but the Spurs are the better team and have been all year. OKC is more fun and probably more talented, but the Spurs play better basketball.
6
golfercraig Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 9:07 AM
Where was the iso on the block? Pick and roll? It’s as if Brooks didn’t call a play the entire 4th quarter.
Re-watch. They tried pick and roll all game. It is exactly what everyone thought would happen. Ibaka and Perkins are useless in pick and roll against a good team, and anyone can go under if the PnR is for Westbrook. It’s why your suggestion of Perk, Ibaka, Durant, Thabo and Russ is worse than laughable. The Spurs will MURDER that lineup. And blocked shots, in reality, mean nothing in this. Ibaka would have been on Duncan, right? How exactly would he block the shot while it would have been his job to hedge the ball on the screen roll? It’s why he was on bench. In case you missed it (and you obviously did) the guys being abused on attacks to the rim were the 2 skip weak defenders. And they didn’t come down because SA has shooters floating UP from the corner to the wing. Ibaka absolutely has zero use if you are asking him to hedge, or help uphill. He’s useless trying to actually defend in a team D situation. An athletic Mark Eaton, basically. Can’t defend shooters or anyone that can handle it, can’t (or won’t) hedge with any fundamentals (hips get closed, and the roller gets free space–all the space he needs.)
7
Some Random Old Dude Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 9:31 AM
No one wants to admit it, but the Spurs are the better team and have been all year.
This. Always, this.
8
fattymcgee Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 9:48 AM
What Craig said. Ibaka is mainly an athletic help side defender. He’ll get killed if he’s drawn out of the paint or has to play low on the block against Duncan. Perkins has gotta stay outta foul trouble.
I also don’t think the Spurs get enough credit for wearing teams down. When each of your guards and forwards have to defend a pick and roll and run around two back screens every defensive possession, it adds up by the fourth quarter. Even more so when their players have ten minutes more rest b/c they’re so deep.
9
coop247 Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 9:54 AM
the Spurs are the better team and have been all year.
I dont know, the Thunder dominated a huge portion of the game. The Spurs just went off in the 4th, they couldn’t miss. Thunder are young, playing on the road, shit happens.
10
jayhawk88 Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 9:55 AM
This game is the beginning of the end for Scotty Brooks, right? There’s no way OKC management can watch him get out-coached that badly, and bring him back to waste another year of Durant and Westbrook, can they?
Really, really bad feeling about this series now, and not just for the obvious reasons. Pop is going to be a step ahead of Brooks the rest of this series…probably dust the mothballs off of Blair for Game 3 and have him go for 25.
11
Jason McIntyre Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 10:00 AM
i’d take my chances with Ibaka on the floor. put him on Captain jack, with one eye on the paint. if my choices are giving up 5-6 layups in the 4th or having StepheN Jackson taking those 3-pointers because Ibaka helped, forcing a kickout … good luck, Stephen Jackson.
not to mention at the other end Ibaka would have a mismatch. if Jackson stays on Durant, who guards Ibaka? I know he’s not polished offensively, but if he’s going against a guard, he can get deep in the paint and should be able to score easily.
then you push Pop to make a move.
12
Lorenzo Von Matterhorn Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 10:08 AM
not to mention at the other end Ibaka would have a mismatch. if Jackson stays on Durant, who guards Ibaka? I know he’s not polished offensively, but if he’s going against a guard, he can get deep in the paint and should be able to score easily.
Ibaka cannot score easily on anyone. And if you put him on the block you take away your pick and roll option and there goes any chance for open jump shots because nobody will be helping on Ibaka. The Spurs would love to let Ibaka take as many shots as he wants just like they did with Blake Griffin.
13
SenyorMadre Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 10:18 AM
is this yardwork?
/that guy
//have a fun and safe holiday fellow commenters
14
CARCAR Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 10:37 AM
Completely agree with coop. They really controlled the majority of this game and that was with Westbrook playing like dogshit and Harden taking a day off.
15
Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez has the highest WAR evah! Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 10:38 AM
This game is the beginning of the end for Scotty Brooks, right? There’s no way OKC management can watch him get out-coached that badly, and bring him back to waste another year of Durant and Westbrook, can they?
Really, really bad feeling about this series now, and not just for the obvious reasons. Pop is going to be a step ahead of Brooks the rest of this series…probably dust the mothballs off of Blair for Game 3 and have him go for 25.
losing isn’t always about being outcoached. 99% of the time its about matchups, and San Antonio matches up well against the Thunder. Also, complaining about Westbrook’s shot attempts only when they lose is becoming cliche. No one was complaining about his attempts when he was the main reason the Thunder beat the Lakers. OKC won’t win a thing if Westbrook doesn’t score.
16
CARCAR Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 10:43 AM
Also, complaining about Westbrook’s shot attempts only when they lose is becoming cliche.
He pressed during long stretches last night, I can handle the missed shots but when he’s trying to rampage through 3 guys and gets hit with a charge and Thabo is wide open, it gets frustrating
17
karma Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 10:47 AM
This is going to be a fantastic series. Quite confident that whoever comes out of it (likely the Spurs) is going to wipe the floor with the 2 man Heat team that is going to represent the Eastern conference.
18
Eric T0upal aka BrawnyTom Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 11:04 AM
I would have also gone Westbrook/Thabo/Durant/Ibaka/Perkins and forced the Spurs to adjust.
They had this lineup in the 1st quarter and couldn’t score. Also, no love for Fisher? He couldn’t miss in the 2nd and 3rd.
ut if he’s going against a guard, he can get deep in the paint and should be able to score easily.
I doubt Pop is going to change a thing if you are taking the ball out of Westbrook/Durant’s hands (and benching Hardin) in the 4th to run offense through Ibaka.
19
A.P. Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 11:07 AM
Spurs took two out of three from OKC during the regular season and didn’t have Manu for any of those games. Add him in – it’s even more difficult for OKC to do anything efficiently against San Antonio
20
Eric T0upal aka BrawnyTom Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 11:07 AM
They really controlled the majority of this game and that was with Westbrook playing like dogshit and Harden taking a day off.
They got outscored in the 1st and and 4th, not sure how thats “controlled majority of this game”. and that was with ~~Westbrook~~ Non-Manu Spurs playing like dogshit.
21
Sportmentary Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 12:17 PM
Fir me the question is which team has the best chance at beating the Heat? That’s the team I want coming out of the Western conference.
22
golfercraig Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 12:29 PM
So TBL thinks it’s a good idea to let Capt Jack shoot 3′s (which isn’t what would happen, but i don’t have all day to diagram what the Spurs run for a guy who clearly saw them for the first time last night), and also thinks it’s a good idea to post up Ibaka AND TOTALLY TAKE THE BALL AWAY FROM DURANT? That’s what Pop wants you to do. You’d be doing them a favor. Of course, you also thought Blake Griffin could score down there, too.
23
Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez has the highest WAR evah! Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 12:35 PM
This is going to be a fantastic series. Quite confident that whoever comes out of it (likely the Spurs) is going to wipe the floor with the 2 man Heat team that is going to represent the Eastern conference.
There isn’t a team in the League thats going to wipe the floor with the Heat.
24
Scalia Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 12:47 PM
Holy hell….I wish TBL coached in my conference. His “schematic” ideas are awesome.
25
Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez has the highest WAR evah! Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 1:03 PM
i’d take my chances with Ibaka on the floor. put him on Captain jack, with one eye on the paint. if my choices are giving up 5-6 layups in the 4th or having StepheN Jackson taking those 3-pointers because Ibaka helped, forcing a kickout … good luck, Stephen Jackson.
In this scenario, what is Ibaka doing once Jackson gets the kickout? I hope he’s closing out, because Jackson is capable of hitting that flat footed wide open 3. Maybe Jackson penetrates while Ibaka is closing out. Now you’ve opened up a scoring/dish option for Jackson while OKC’s best shot blocker is out of the paint. Ibaka is a better help defender than man to man. Jackson would eat him up on the perimeter.
26
A.P. Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 1:49 PM
There isn’t a team in the League thats going to wipe the floor with the Heat.
true, but the Heat definitely aren’t beating the Spurs 4 out of 7 games
27
holydonut Says:
May 28th, 2012 at 3:35 PM
IMO Serge did a pretty good job Defending Dirk 2 series ago… and he’s done well as a Center in small-ball situations. One of his double-digit block performances included a game-saving swat against Denver where Serge was the only big on the floor.
28
Jay V Of Considerable Influence Says:
May 29th, 2012 at 1:45 PM
I’m a day late and a dollar short on this…but, seriously??? If Brooks followed the advice suggested herein, the Spurs would have won by 13, not 3.