He was one of my favorite coaches to watch when Florida visited CS. His energy particularly when UF was on Defense at his end was just awesome.

Amazing to think that he might lead a team to a Western Conference championship over the record setting Warriors in just his first year. Such an unusual outcome for a first year college coach.

He's a great coach, no doubt, but he walked in to a pretty amazing situation in okc. That roster includes 2 top of the NBA top 10 players, and most of the roster is full of lottery picks. Only a handful of guys were drafted late 1st/2nd.

true but others have often made situations like this worse, so credit due to him

There were media and Thunder fans expressing 'the clock is ticking' opinions on Donovan during the season when they kept choking 4th quarter leads. tick tock tick tock!

Golden State has yet to lose 2 games in a row this entire season, which is insane. I think the Game 4 winner will be the winner of the series.

only one other coach has won both an NCAA and an NBA title. To win the NBA in his first yr would be quite the accomplishment.

I didn't expect Donovan to go in and compete the first year, but for his sake I'm glad things are turning out this way. A ring for Durant likely keeps him in OKC. Less clear if he stays without winning a ring. And a coach that can pull it off is another way to help him stay.

I actually hope OKC wins this series and goes to the championship finals. But I admit that I have been so busy lately I'm only watching the final scores on ESPN at best. And that isn't hoping GS loses. It just specifically has to do with KD staying at OKC.

If, as appears likely, the three most successful coaches of the year turn out to be Donovan, Luke Walton and Tyronn Lue, as appears likely, should we conclude they are all geniuses? Or should we consider other possibilities?

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only one other coach has won both an NCAA and an NBA title. To win the NBA in his first yr would be quite the accomplishment.

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Steve Kerr won the title as a first year head coach last season. The loss last night going down 1-2 to OKC may be the most adversity Kerr has yet faced in his two years coaching GSW. The Warriors were down 1-2 both to the Grizzlies and Cavs last season in the playoffs on their run to the title, but they never got blown out like they were last night. And if Draymond Green is suspended for Game 4 the Warriors are probably screwed, regardless of whether Donovan or Mickey Mouse is coaching over on the other bench.

It was impressive how cold Golden State went in the 2 qtr last night, and I wouldn't necessarily attribute it to great defense or anything.

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Golden State has yet to lose 2 games in a row this entire season, which is insane.

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For a team that shoots so many 3's, that is insane!

mikesyracuse1

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There were media and Thunder fans expressing 'the clock is ticking' opinions on Donovan during the season when they kept choking 4th quarter leads. tick tock tick tock!

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Yeah it was an up-and-down regular season, but Donovan has shown his value in the SAS and GSW series. Still a lot of ball left to played, though.

Larry Brown won both NCAA NBA?

I think his coaching staff had/has to be the reason for his quick up to nba speed success. Mo Cheeks and co. He does a good job of calling timeouts. I doubt he has taught Durant much.

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He's a great coach, no doubt, but he walked in to a pretty amazing situation in okc. That roster includes 2 top of the NBA top 10 players, and most of the roster is full of lottery picks. Only a handful of guys were drafted late 1st/2nd.

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Those 2 top players looked completely uncoached prior to Donovan taking over.

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Larry Brown won both NCAA NBA?

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Yea. Kansas back in the late 80s or early 90s and then Detroit in 2004.

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He's a great coach, no doubt, but he walked in to a pretty amazing situation in okc. That roster includes 2 top of the NBA top 10 players, and most of the roster is full of lottery picks. Only a handful of guys were drafted late 1st/2nd.

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Those 2 top players looked completely uncoached prior to Donovan taking over.

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Let's remember that Oklahoma City has made it to the Western Conference Finals in 3 of the 4 previous years BEFORE this season. Durant and Westbrook are generally considered 2 of the top-5 players in the NBA, and history seems to say that Durant & Westbrook in their prime get you to the Western Conference Finals pretty much every season. Thus, I'm not convinced that the coaching change to Donovan has been a major factor in Oklahoma State getting to this point.

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He's a great coach, no doubt, but he walked in to a pretty amazing situation in okc. That roster includes 2 top of the NBA top 10 players, and most of the roster is full of lottery picks. Only a handful of guys were drafted late 1st/2nd.

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Those 2 top players looked completely uncoached prior to Donovan taking over.

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Let's remember that Oklahoma City has made it to the Western Conference Finals in 3 of the 4 previous years BEFORE this season. Durant and Westbrook are generally considered 2 of the top-5 players in the NBA. So saying they looked 'uncoached' the last 5 years...well..okay....but regardless of who the coach is...history seems to say that Durant & Westbrook in their prime get you to the Western Conference Finals pretty much every season.

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I don't disagree with what you posted but they did look uncoached. The fact is that team had the worst half court offense in league - without question.

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The fact is that team had the worst half court offense in league - without question.

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Are there stats to back this up? That with a healthy Russ+KD, they had the worst half court offense in the league? Because they've always been an elite offensive team, from an efficiency standpoint, and transition offense can only do so much to swing that overall number.

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The fact is that team had the worst half court offense in league - without question.

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Are there stats to back this up? That with a healthy Russ+KD, they had the worst half court offense in the league? Because they've always been an elite offensive team, from an efficiency standpoint, and transition offense can only do so much to swing that overall number.

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They have had the worst half court offense in the NBA the four previous years (pre-Donovan) when they made the Western Conference Finals 3 out of those 4 seasons?

they have taken 3 of 4 from a Golden State team who only lost 9 all season

gotta give credit where credit is due

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He's a great coach, no doubt, but he walked in to a pretty amazing situation in okc. That roster includes 2 top of the NBA top 10 players, and most of the roster is full of lottery picks. Only a handful of guys were drafted late 1st/2nd.

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Those 2 top players looked completely uncoached prior to Donovan taking over.

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Let's remember that Oklahoma City has made it to the Western Conference Finals in 3 of the 4 previous years BEFORE this season. Durant and Westbrook are generally considered 2 of the top-5 players in the NBA, and history seems to say that Durant & Westbrook in their prime get you to the Western Conference Finals pretty much every season. Thus, I'm not convinced that the coaching change to Donovan has been a major factor in Oklahoma State getting to this point.

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Agreed. Especially considering the San Antonio team they got through was surprisingly one-dimensional, which is not their usual identity. Credit to OKC, and I'll give Billy some credit, but Westbrook has really rounded out his game well on his own throughout this year, and the personnel they have matches up perfectly with San Antonio, and now GS who cannot handle their bigs.

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Thus, I'm not convinced that the coaching change to Donovan has been a major factor in Oklahoma State getting to this point.

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Has Donovan been a major factor in OKC getting to the playoffs or even the WC semis? No.

But he has most certainly been a major factor in OKC getting to the point where they are 1 win away from becoming the 1st team in NBA history to defeat 2 67-win teams in the same playoffs. His rotations have been on point, his gameplan has been on point. He used different players in different series. He has Westbrook and Durant playing elite defense, something they haven't done in the past.

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Agreed. Especially considering the San Antonio team they got through was surprisingly one-dimensional, which is not their usual identity.

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SAS was #4 in offensive efficiency and #1 in defensive efficiency. They weren't one-dimensional until OKC blew their doors off in game 3.

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Thus, I'm not convinced that the coaching change to Donovan has been a major factor in Oklahoma State getting to this point.

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Has Donovan been a major factor in OKC getting to the playoffs or even the WC semis? No.

But he has most certainly been a major factor in OKC getting to the point where they are 1 win away from becoming the 1st team in NBA history to defeat 2 67-win teams in the same playoffs. His rotations have been on point, his gameplan has been on point. He used different players in different series. He has Westbrook and Durant playing elite defense, something they haven't done in the past.

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I most agree with this. Now that they are up 3-1, and should win the series, I am more impressed with the coaching job.

My point was that Durante/Westbrook make the WCF almost every year it seems, so I wasn't necessarily that impressed yet with Donovan other than he wasn't doing worse than the previous OKC coach.

But beating GSW like they are now doing to make the Finals is definitely deserving some credit.

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Agreed. Especially considering the San Antonio team they got through was surprisingly one-dimensional, which is not their usual identity.

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SAS was #4 in offensive efficiency and #1 in defensive efficiency. They weren't one-dimensional until OKC blew their doors off in game 3.

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What I meant to say was that SA was one dimensional this year in the fact that their offense revolved around just dumping it to Lamarcus and Kawhi most of the time and let them win their 1 on 1. They did that very well until OKC could throw their talented big personnel at them in Adams, Ibaka, and Kanter. I've watched a lot of Spurs basketball, and this year was not typical Spurs basketball. Again credit to OKC, but that was a great match up for them personnel wise.

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I most agree with this. Now that they are up 3-1, and should win the series, I am more impressed with the coaching job.

My point was that Durante/Westbrook make the WCF almost every year it seems, so I wasn't necessarily that impressed yet with Donovan other than he wasn't doing worse than the previous OKC coach.

But beating GSW like they are now doing to make the Finals is definitely deserving some credit.

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Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I think you might be selling them a bit short on what they accomplished just by beating SA. That Spurs team, by the numbers, was the best in franchise history and #6 all-time in NBA history. They tied an NBA record, going 40-1 at home, and OKC beat them twice in 3 games in San Antonio.

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What I meant to say was that SA was one dimensional this year in the fact that their offense revolved around just dumping it to Lamarcus and Kawhi most of the time and let them win their 1 on 1.

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Spurs were #3 in the league in assists this year. I probably didn't watch as many Spurs games as you did, but I felt like their offense was much more than dump it to Kawhi/Lamarcus.

What you're describing sounds much more like OKC's offense with KD/Russ

Wow! What a Game #6!

I expected the Warriors to win Game #5 at Oracle out of pride, but figured the Thunder would likely take Game #6 and advance to the Finals tonight at home based on how things had played out thus far.

But Klay Thompson went frigging nuclear from three-point range. That was an incredible display of shooting by even Warrior's standards. 11 3-pointers breaking an NBA playoff record. And Curry added 6 more threes for good measure. Warriors were just clutch the last 5 minutes coming back.

Now you gotta really like the Warrior's chances at home in a Game #7. Will be interesting to see how well Oklahoma City will be able to try to bounce back after having the Warriors almost killed off just a few days ago, but now are faced with having to win a game #7 on the road against a team who has lost at home like 3 times the entire season.

The history also says that the home team in Game 7's usually wins.

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-- The NBA has had 121 Game 7's in playoff history

-- The home team is 97-24 (80%) in those games

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Looking forward to this Game #7 tonight!

Statistic from the last game (#6), apparently 12 of the last 13 possessions of the Thunder involved one pass or less. Thus heavy criticism since Saturday that the Thunder resorted back to their bad habits of heavily depending on ISO 'hero ball' in the 4th quarter which they had a habit of doing most of the regular season. Basically the offense was just Westbrook and Durant taking turnsand that combined with Klay and Curry going off was the deal killer for OKC.

Also some mention of Donovan's coaching decision to play both Westbrook and Durant the entire second half without any rest, while Kerr did pull out his stars for some breaks. And thus whether at the very end, a bit of fatigue did finally become a factor along with Durant and Westbrook's trying to do so much by themselves, thus resulting in missed shots or turnovers.

Here was the shot chart for the 4th quarter of Game 6 posted by Bill Simmons. Just look at that 3-point barrage that Thompson & Curry dropped on the Thunder's heads in the last 12 minutes of that game.

Will be interesting to see how this one plays out tonight. Saw it mentioned that on the open market, a ticket (or might have been two tickets) for this game sold for 29K. That is a lot of coin to spend on a basketball game!

Depending on how free agency goes, this could be Donovan's best (potentially 1-and-only) shot at a title. Quite a way to start a career.

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Also some mention of Donovan's coaching decision to play both Westbrook and Durant the entire second half without any rest, while Kerr did pull out his stars for some breaks. And thus whether at the very end, a bit of fatigue did finally become a factor along with Durant and Westbrook's trying to do so much by themselves, thus resulting in missed shots or turnovers.

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Someone from espn made a good point that the minutes in G6 were fine, it was playing KD so much in G5 that could be considered a mistake. Hindsight is 20/20, but OKC treated both games like must-win, when in reality it was G6 that could have used a little extra.

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Depending on how free agency goes, this could be Donovan's best (potentially 1-and-only) shot at a title. Quite a way to start a career.

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Most of the talking heads seem to feel that Durant will sign a 1-year extension with the Thunder, because Westbrook will be able to also jump as a free agent at the end of next season. So they think Durant will most likely stick it out one more season at least in OKC and then will be a big question not only Durant but also Westbrook.

We'll see what happens tonight. They are awesome players and as mentioned in this thread in their prime have been good enough on their own to usually get OKC to the Western Conference Finals most years. But whether or not they end up ever winning a title or end up just being a really cool 'Stockton and Malone' duo who were great players but could never close the final deal is still up in the air.

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Also some mention of Donovan's coaching decision to play both Westbrook and Durant the entire second half without any rest, while Kerr did pull out his stars for some breaks. And thus whether at the very end, a bit of fatigue did finally become a factor along with Durant and Westbrook's trying to do so much by themselves, thus resulting in missed shots or turnovers.

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Someone from espn made a good point that the minutes in G6 were fine, it was playing KD so much in G5 that could be considered a mistake. Hindsight is 20/20, but OKC treated both games like must-win, when in reality it was G6 that could have used a little extra.

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Heavy minutes of Durant/Westbrook + too much reliance on ISO ball by them at end did seem to be good points on why maybe the Thunder broke down offensively at the end.

And of course another good reason for the Warriors pulling that out was simply some nasty three-point shooting by Klay Thompson and Curry. I mean just look at the 4th quarter shot chart posted above. That is just cold killer shooting by Thompson and Curry.

Yeah it took a historic night from Klay for people to be question KD's minutes.

And that is that. Warriors become first team to ever rally from a 3-1 deficit in Western Conference Finals. 10th team overall to do it in any round.

Cavs vs GSW rematch coming up,