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This post is particularly interesting given the whole defense and rebounding argument was my exact point as to why you and others where overrating the clippers and underrating the Lakers.

People are blinded by offense far too often, I agree 100%. It is the Thunders ability to control the paint and the boards that separate them. Those were the exact reasons I had them as the favorite over Miami in the preseason. To beat the heat you have to force them into the half court by controlling the boards and not turning over the ball. The Lakers laid out the blue print yesterday. But very few teams have the personnel to follow it. The Thunder are one that can.

I still put the Lakers as the second best team out west and really have the only chance to knock off the Thunder. The reason why they can is because they have two front court players that can score. Most teams have one, which means the Thunder can matchup with Ibaka on the lesser of two inside scorers where he can roam and disrupt. This is obviously what he does best. But against the Lakers, they can make Ibaka play post defense where he isn't nearly as effective. Perkins then becomes the off ball roamer and he isn't a shot blocker. Their interior defense is forced to play out of its comfort zone. Am I saying the Lakers win? No, but they clearly have the best shot of any team out west.

The Lakers still are in terrible need of a pg though. If they find someone and their chances go up even higher exponentially.

Unless you suffer injuries, depth isn't a huge issue come playoff times. Playoff basketball has a lot more commercial breaks than in the regular season. Most teams shorten their bench to about 8 players. Depth is far more important during the regular season grind.

Last edited by Hoosier at 3/5/2012 10:26:36 PM

The funny thing is that the Thunder are not a great rebounding team. Almost killed them tonight against the Mavs at times. If the Thunder clean up their turnover problems then I think they will be in the finals.

The Lakers do have 2 post scorers, but they also have a perimeter player that does not give them the ball enough. Westbrook bludgeons the Lakers too....there isn't a PG on the market that could slow him down so the Lakers may be in trouble. Plus the Thunder are the 1 team in the league that can constantly throw good defensive bigs at the Lakers in Ibaka/Perkins/Collison/Mohammed/Aldrich (if needed). We'll see if Bynum makes it to the playoffs with his knees before I even resign to the fact that the Lakers will even get to the Thunder.

Without Billups the Clippers lose a mismatch as well as a good defender...something they don't have an abundance of. They just lost for the 3rd time against Minnesota. Love has their number! The injury has hurt the Clips quite a bit. I want both LA teams to play in the first round. PLEASE be the 3 and 6 seeds! I just don't see it...the West isn't that strong. Lots of parity after the Thunder actually.

Last edited by Stauder at 3/5/2012 10:59:17 PM

I still stand to my word when i say they have no depth. Kendrick Porkins, is not a good basketball player. He does do one thing well though, which is to be a big presence in the middle so ill give him that, but besides that he is nothing, and i still say Sefolosha sucks. In my opinion that is. Feel free to yell at me on how I'm wrong again if you feel necessary but like I stated in my last post We can agree to disagree. Theres no problem with that.

As for Harden being 6th man of the year you may be correct about that but there are a few others that could claim that title (A. Harrington from Denver), but i wont get too much into that because you are right. Harden is good and in my opinion should be the starter over Sefolosha, and any other SG on that team.

P.S. I don't mind you explaining why OKC has some depth but you must also be very ignorant if you think they have the best depth in the league.

P.S.S. Can we still be friends?

I could practically make a similar argument for the Timberwolves. We have a very good scorer in Beasley, a 3 pt shooter in Ellington, two defensive bigs/ shot blockers in Milicic and Randolph. We have a solid backup PG in JJ Barea. And I didn't even mention Derrick Williams. I would put the Thunder's bench depth at average for the league. Not great, not awful. But you're a bit of homer if you're saying they have the best bench in the league ( No matter how much I love Aldrich ;) )

You just named a bunch of lesser versions of Thunder players. Wow, you and EWB can be ignorant together.

Man, you must be a die hard Thunder fan Chill out bro.

We can agree to disagree, sure. However, I'll agree to agree with people who cover the NBA for a living. Last time I checked guys like Sefalosha don't make all defensive teams because they are trash. Hope you watched the game tonight. Perkins guarded J Terry on the perimeter tonight and forced an airball that ended in a shot clock violation. Perk is not an offensive player, but is a great defensive player and rebounder. Again, the proof is in the pudding. Celtics are repeat champs if he plays game 7. Period. You think it's a coincidence the Celtics haven't been as good since that trade?

Harden should NOT be the starter. Do you not see guys like Terry, Ginobli, Odom for LA last season, that come off the bench and score? Bench points are more valuable than having him start with RW and KD. He finishes in the 4th quarter when it matters and actually plays D unlike Al "nobody will keep me longer than 2 seasons" harrington.

Then you fail to even acknowledge guys like Collison that consistently rebound, take charges, and play great defense coming off the bench. Not to mention that he is one of the best screen setters in the league.

So let me see. The Thunder have a top 5 PG, the best pure scorer, the best shot blocker, the best 6th man, an all nba defender, and a top 5 post defender as their top 6 players. Then you throw in the best depth at post in the league in collison/mohammed/aldrich and you are telling me there is no depth?

You must be a Lakers fan....they are all ridiculous.

Die hard? sure. Homer? Not really considering I even posted that I believe you could make an argument for a few teams having a better shot at the title than the Thunder. For the record I would say there are only about 4 or 5 that even have a shot and the Thunder are definitely one of them. Of course the popular choice is the Heat, but the thunder have been the next most popular choice for a reason.

I'm plenty chill, but I will post sensible arguments when others come at me with ignorance and just cop out by saying "agree to disagree".

Actually I'm a Denver Nuggets fan, but i do agree with you on Harrington not playing very good defense usually but if you watched Sunday night when he was guarding Tim Duncan, he was a beast. also I simply said that he was still in the running, not that he was the better player even though he might be. He averages just as many points and assists as Harden and gets more rebounds then him. Plus he does it in less time on the court. I call that production.

P.S. I hate the Lakers.

P.S.S. OKC has no depth.

Last edited by E.B.W. at 3/6/2012 12:08:26 AM

Uh I'm not sure what you looked at but Harden is scoring over 2 points per game more than AH and has over 2 assists more per game than AH. A PF is grabbing 1.5 more rebounds than Harden if you want to tout that stat. Don't forget James Harden also is shooting at a higher percentage, that's called efficient production. Yeah Harrington beasted 5-14 shots at SA yesterday. Great efficiency.

Also, if he is so great why shouldn't he be starting for Denver? Oh yeah, bench scoring is important like I said.

PS Harrington should score more since all the nuggets do is run.

PSS The Thunder with one of the deepest teams in the league will beat Denver in the first round of the playoffs again....if they even make it.

Correction kind sir: 6-14 not 5-14.

Also Harrington doesn't start because we have Nene and Kenneth Faried (Who is a beast). I doubt OKC will play Denver in the first round, considering the Nuggets will have at least a 6 seed at the least. probably more like a 4 seed.

If you want to talk about Depth then Denver is one of the best teams you can talk about actually. Much better then OKC. Look at the facts: Denver gets so much more support from different players instead of just have 3 players do all the scoring for them. Id hate to see one of those three get hurt for a week or two because OKC would either crumble or Durant would have to score 40+ points for every game that Westbrook or Harden missed. These are the nuggets:

D. Gallinari: 17.0 PPG
T. Lawson: 15.9 PPG
A. Harrington: 14.3 PPG
Nene: 13.4 PPG
A. Afflalo: 12.8 PPG
A. Miller: 10.5 PPG
C. Brewer: 10.2 PPG
K. Faried: 9.8 PPG
R. Fernandez: 9.3 PPG

That is real depth. 9 players who average more then 9 points per game. But this will be the end of my posting about this. Lets try to get back onto the topic of Lakers VS Clippers okay? Thank you very much.

E.B.W.