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The front office, Duncan and the rest of the team made Pop. I am being some what facetious, but I really did used to yell at Pop -- telling him Bob Hill was a hell of a lot better than his dumb ass. Who knows, Bob might have 8 or 9 rings with the same setup.

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Carlisle or Donovan on our bench and we beat the Clips last year, and this series is already over with us headed to Oakland.

How about to get a fn rebound David West? How stupid was it when he allowed okc to shoot 4 free throws because he couldn't get a rebound?

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Pop has been awful this series. Has no idea what he wants to do. Getting out-coached by a rookie head coach.

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He's not out coached. He's out reffed.

Effort has been uneven on the defensive glass. Haven't checked the stats, but taking away half their second chance points might have swung this game. Aside from the damage done to defensive efficiency, they are such huge momentum builders for okc.

Not trying to get anybody mad at me. How does Duncan go 5 and 3 in 28 minutes. I didn't watch the game.

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Not trying to get anybody mad at me. How does Duncan go 5 and 3 in 28 minutes. I didn't watch the game.

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He's really effing old and it finally shows and it makes me sad. Even last year he could get 20-10 when he chose to, but his legs are GONE now. He still plays real minutes because he's the best defensive quarterback in the game by miles, and maybe the best ever. You can't always point to why, but the defense is so much better when he's in. Always talking, guiding, directing, and cutting off plays before they start.

It takes him so long to gather for a jump now, he can't keep Adams and Kantor from rebounding over him and he has a hard time getting a clean look at the basket.

It really is sad.. I'm hoping for a game 7, so he doesn't go out like that m. Especially at home.

He might be a top 3 or 4 player all time in terms of BBall IQ. I wonder what his post NBA career will entail. I can see him being a great coach OR going off the grid.

These playoff games every other day at this level of competition is too exhausting for him. It isn't like these games are against the bucks or Suns.

Pretty much what I figured. I always loved Duncan except for his silent *****ing at every non call and I freaking love kawhi: I hope Duncan goes out on top even if it's game 6. I hope he does something that makes people remember his final year if it is his final year.

I really hope this series goes to 7. Don't care who wins but I want Duncan to go out with some sort of a bang if possible.

So he is human after all. Father time always wins.

Spurs are still much better with Duncan on the floor in my opinion. I'd be interested in what his +/- was last night bc it seemed like he helped a ton on defense. He gets out rebounded but David west doesn't seem to do any better. When Duncan is in he seems to do much better at stopping westbrooks finishes at the rim, which doesn't show up on the stat sheet. In my opinion west' numbers should reduce.

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Refs were fine for majority of game. The last no-call on Westbrook in the corner when Leonard is Clearly intentionally fouling him was laughable though. Who knows if it would have mattered but that was a foul that was committed on purpose right in front of the ref at a time in the game when the ref knows the team will be fouling on purpose..... ****ing insane no call there.

The 2 minute report tomorrow will confirm this..

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This has been the problem the whole series, and my problem with the NBA in general. The total inconsistency. You cannot miss obvious calls, and they have missed a boatload (relatively speaking) in crunch time in this series alone. You can't excuse the complete crap second half officiating jobs just because they did okay in the first. It's 4 quarters for them too.

And I know you're not excusing them. This is more of a rant, and not directed at you.

Vegas has Spurs at -2.5 tomorrow

Aldridge went 1-11 from outside the paint. Seeing as how poor the rebounding is, the Spurs really make things tough on themselves when the jump shots don't go in.

Should have seen the writing on the wall after Game 2, when Aldridge couldn't miss and the Spurs still lost.

Will be an interesting off season, assuming OKC closes out the series. Do you blow up a 67-15 team?

The worst thing about this is that Spurs are the better team, they just continue to fold in crunch time. That's two games in a row where we crumbled in the 4th quarter in games we should've won.

I know it's not over yet but I just don't see any way we pull out another win in OKC unless we go into the fourth up by 20+.

Well, when OKC gets an extra 10-15 FTs before the 4th starts, it helps to keep the Spurs lead manageable for them to pass us...

This is the second game of the series where we took our first FTs 18 min into the game. Is OKC really THAT disciplined?

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Refs were fine for majority of game. The last no-call on Westbrook in the corner when Leonard is Clearly intentionally fouling him was laughable though. Who knows if it would have mattered but that was a foul that was committed on purpose right in front of the ref at a time in the game when the ref knows the team will be fouling on purpose..... ****ing insane no call there.

The 2 minute report tomorrow will confirm this..

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This has been the problem the whole series, and my problem with the NBA in general. The total inconsistency. You cannot miss obvious calls, and they have missed a boatload (relatively speaking) in crunch time in this series alone. You can't excuse the complete crap second half officiating jobs just because they did okay in the first. It's 4 quarters for them too.

And I know you're not excusing them. This is more of a rant, and not directed at you.

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I would add to that the fact that we have all grown to expect the home team to get more calls. It happened in OKC and I could accept it because we have HCA and are supposed to get more calls at home, so it should even out and actually be to our advantage in a 7 game series. And it just didn't happen.

We didn't make enough shots to be sure, but if we get the calls you would expect us to get, we are more in rhythm and are playing from ahead instead of trying to catch up at the end.

Weren't y'all winning most of the second half until the last couple minutes? I think you were up 13.

Pop has coached an awful series. Never seen him so indecisive regarding the lineups he's throwing out there. Clearly doesn't know what he wants to do. He's one of many major reasons that the Spurs are down 2-3 in this series.

He's still a great coach.

The Spurs second most used lineup last night only behind the starters was:

Mills-Ginobili-Anderson-West-Diaw.

The SECOND most used lineup in the game. Fn travesty. This lineup should never even see the floor vs this team.

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Vegas has Spurs at -2.5 tomorrow

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Crazy

Wonder if Pop will keep rolling out his great bench lineup tomorrow night. Maybe he will play Kawhi/LMA 44+ minutes considering the next game probably isn't until October.

Can't get over that Leonard did not get a shot off in the last 4 minutes of Game 5. Numerous times where Pop had a chance to run a play for him or call time-out in crucial moments to MAKE SURE he gets the ball in a good spot. Nope. Tony jumpers for the win.

Just a couple thoughts on the game (not that anyone cares)

- No one on the floor at anytime, with maybe the exception or Leonard or Durant, wants it more than Westbrook, period. It's like the Spurs ignored Pop in the huddle when he pleaded with his guys to fight like Leonard was. I would say there is no shame in big men losing rebounds to Russell because it happens all the time, but last night was crazy how many he was skying up for over guys like West, Diaw, Aldridge and Duncan.

- How they didn't call the foul on Leonard wrapping up Westbrook I don't know, but at that point Aldridge shoulda just let him score

- F Danny Green, even contested he was draining them. A lot of times over Durant too, props to him

- Steven Adams was tired last night, and Kanter stepped up huge

- WTH is up with Waiters Island? What is this semi-smart basketball from him? I'm confused.

- After game 1 I thought "Donovan is way over his head," but he's made the right adjustments and even more impressive (and this was Scott Brooks biggest problem) is he's getting lineups right. He's correctly planted Payne on the bench and he's picked the right guys in the 4th for 4 games now (and correctly leaving Ibaka on the bench in crunch time).

This series is far from over, I know the Spurs won't roll over Thursday.

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- After game 1 I thought "Donovan is way over his head," but he's made the right adjustments and even more impressive (and this was Scott Brooks biggest problem) is he's getting lineups right. He's correctly planted Payne on the bench and he's picked the right guys in the 4th for 4 games now (and correctly leaving Ibaka on the bench in crunch time).

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Yep. He's done a good job. Much better than his counterpart this series tbqh. He's gotten a bit lucky that his Kanter/Adams lineup has been working so well considering the Thunder barely played that lineup during the regular season, but kudos to Donovan nonetheless.

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Just a couple thoughts on the game (not that anyone cares)

- No one on the floor at anytime, with maybe the exception or Leonard or Durant, wants it more than Westbrook, period. It's like the Spurs ignored Pop in the huddle when he pleaded with his guys to fight like Leonard was. I would say there is no shame in big men losing rebounds to Russell because it happens all the time, but last night was crazy how many he was skying up for over guys like West, Diaw, Aldridge and Duncan.

- How they didn't call the foul on Leonard wrapping up Westbrook I don't know, but at that point Aldridge shoulda just let him score

- F Danny Green, even contested he was draining them. A lot of times over Durant too, props to him

- Steven Adams was tired last night, and Kanter stepped up huge

- WTH is up with Waiters Island? What is this semi-smart basketball from him? I'm confused.

- After game 1 I thought "Donovan is way over his head," but he's made the right adjustments and even more impressive (and this was Scott Brooks biggest problem) is he's getting lineups right. He's correctly planted Payne on the bench and he's picked the right guys in the 4th for 4 games now (and correctly leaving Ibaka on the bench in crunch time).

This series is far from over, I know the Spurs won't roll over Thursday.

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Yes, Westbrook is constantly flying around the court. Every rebound he's going for. That CERTAINLY doesn't mean he wants it more than anyone else. That may be OKCs game plan to send Westbrook crashing the boards while SA doesn't want their guards crashing the glass. Its really tough to get a rebound when you dont know someone is about to be flying over your head. Its like having someone poke the ball loose from your blindside.

IMO, Aldridge thought the play had ended as well and basically half zzz coverered the drive. Even to that point, with 5 seconds left in the game (or any point in the game for that matter) the call on Aldridge was even an extremely weak call and a testament to the calls Westbrook and Durant get.

Steven Adams emergence is the difference maker to me in this series. He's a menace down low, he does the dirty work of clawing holding pushing, but he does it extremely well. He's a brute and is wearing us out. It takes a couple people to keep him back off the glass and opens it up for others to get in and tip the ball out or sneak in and get a board. Spurs defenders are having to arm wrestler and rip loose of Adams holds and in turn OKC is tipping out a lot of rebounds.

Waiters has been really good and I think he got a ton of confidence in the last regular season game against SA. He was lights out in that game and was wanting the ball in the clutch.

Im not sure how much I can contribute this series to Donovan. I didn't pay much attention to OKC during the regular season. Did he change the lineup much? Seems like the same its been but again maybe I didn't pay close enough attention.

Donovan is huge. There were a lot of big moments in the 2011 play-offs, but none bigger than the almost unrecognized decision by Scotty Brooks to leave James Harden in the game against Dallas with a large lead, 6 minutes remaining and 5 fouls. Harden fouled out, Dallas came back and won, and we know what happened after that.

Pure and simple - Donovan is a pro, and Brooks wasn't.

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Donovan is huge. There were a lot of big moments in the 2011 play-offs, but none bigger than the almost unrecognized decision by Scotty Brooks to leave James Harden in the game against Dallas with a large lead, 6 minutes remaining and 5 fouls. Harden fouled out, Dallas came back and won, and we know what happened after that.

Pure and simple - Donovan is a pro, and Brooks wasn't.

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I wont argue about Brooks being crappy... but id say THATS a strange argument for why he is haha.

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Yes, Westbrook is constantly flying around the court. Every rebound he's going for. That CERTAINLY doesn't mean he wants it more than anyone else. That may be OKCs game plan to send Westbrook crashing the boards while SA doesn't want their guards crashing the glass. Its really tough to get a rebound when you dont know someone is about to be flying over your head. Its like having someone poke the ball loose from your blindside.

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There is no game plan for Westbrook, he just does whatever he wants (isn't that the narrative for him according to everyone else?). Sure it's a little hyperbole, but Westbrook goes that speed and effort from preseason to playoffs. Yes the effort on the offensive end leaves him susceptible to poor transition defense, I'm aware.

In response to your comment on Donovan, I've watched the team all year and couldn't tell you ALL the lineups he's tried, but I can tell you that his personnel decisions, especially late in games, in the playoffs, is 1000000x better than anything Brooks ever did, so it's fine with me.

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- After game 1 I thought "Donovan is way over his head," but he's made the right adjustments and even more impressive (and this was Scott Brooks biggest problem) is he's getting lineups right. He's correctly planted Payne on the bench and he's picked the right guys in the 4th for 4 games now (and correctly leaving Ibaka on the bench in crunch time).

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Yep. He's done a good job. Much better than his counterpart this series tbqh. He's gotten a bit lucky that his Kanter/Adams lineup has been working so well considering the Thunder barely played that lineup during the regular season, but kudos to Donovan nonetheless.

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kanter/adams dumped on the mavs too. I'm still convinced Adams fouls on every loose ball/rebound opportunity, but is smart about it.

I have no horse in this series but my observations:

Spurs played a pretty intense season. Their home inning streak kept them focused hard at home and with the Warriors streaking, I believe the Spurs tried (and did) to keep up. Ironically, with the Trio getting long in tooth, the pace might have takin its toll at this point. Their slow down has affected the rest of the team as OKC can put more energy into their offensive game. SA seems worn down while OKC gets stronger each game.

I wonder if Barkley and Duncan were ever friends? Charles was a bit harsh on Tim last night in the post game analysis saying that even tho Duncan was arguably the best power forward of all time that Pop needed to sit him for the next game. I thought Duncan did fine in his limited minutes.