Western Conference Finals

[Kerry]

You can't run the clock out in the NBA but if OKC took a 24 second violation every possesion in the final 4 minutes and just played defense they would have won.

[Stan Silliman]

I disagree, you can milk the clock in the NBA. The strategy would be to use most of the 24 seconds as you can. Time was on our side, but not Dallas, there was more pressure on Dallas to score. So by using up most of the clock, puts more pressure on Dallas, and forces them to take bad shots, forces them to use valuable timeouts, and gives them a inadequate chance to win the game. With only 4:48 left, with a 24 second clock used, limits both teams possessions to 4.

That's always been a bad choice in the NBA which I've been watching for 50 years. Teams try milking, then their flow is disrupted, which leads to bad shots and they usually lose. 4:48 = 308 seconds. If we take 24 seconds every time and hit two shots on nine possessions we'll add 4 points. Opponent starts hitting threes, making put backs but uses only 10 seconds or less per possession, they'll have ten possessions to our nine. In the NBA, a hot team making six threes and a two on a run in their ten possessions wins.

[Kerry]

Stan - you are assuming Dallas starts making 3s every 34 seconds. Since they didn't do that in the actual game I am not sure how safe that assumption is. Dallas tied the game with about 10 seconds left. All we had to do is run an additional 10 seconds off the clock and we win.

[Thunder]

And we just lost.

I really hate that caveman. >_<

[Dustin]

AMAZING SEASON!! Can't wait til' the next!! We are gonna be stronger and better than ever!

[theparkman81]

What a great season, Congratulations Thunder for making it to the western conference finals, even though we came up short, it was a great season and great playoffs, can't wait until next season. GO THUNDER!!!!!

[okcpulse]

GO THUNDER!!! Thank you for a wonderful season and for playing a hard fought game tonight. You played with passion. We will see you next year!

[SOONER8693]

Got to learn to close. Very frustrating, very dissapointing, and very bright future for this bunch.

[maestro6]

Congrats Thunder on a great season. Very disappointing now, but they've come such a long way. Much to be proud of, and much to look forward to next year. They're helping put OKC on the map in an excellent way.

[Kerry]

That was a great run and thanks for not pulling a "Laker" in the final game.

[kevinpate]

A tip of the hat to the Thunder organization. Had a great year, and in the process did something no one else has ever done, not even the Hornets. Basketball has become a topic of conversation in our house and is watched from time to time. My lovely, who generally pays even less attention to pro sports than I, is even more drawn in. Lord help us as the team improves. Something tells me I better just get used to seeing more of that odd shade of orange in their uniforms.

[earlywinegareth]

Bottom line...the future is bright. This series showed we still have plenty of room to improve and I think our boyz will accept the challenge. Congrats to the Mavs for sticking with their game and never losing confidence/composure.

[Kerry]

You know what is scarry EWG, they have a lot of improvement they can make but they actually only need to get a little better to go to the finals.

[Stan Silliman]

The THUNDER had a great season. Good job, guys. There are lots of areas to improve but the base is there. I expect Perkins to be 50 % better, which will put this team on a different level.

[swilki]

As disappointing as last night was......I can't get over how great the future looks. What a great team and it's awesome that we get to call them our's. Terrific season!!!!

[Pete]

If we continue to improve as we have done the previous three seasons, next year could be something very, very special.

Congratulations to the team and especially the organization for making all the right moves. The future is incredibly bright!

[earlywinegareth]

You know what is scarry EWG, they have a lot of improvement they can make but they actually only need to get a little better to go to the finals.

Yep, that's what I was thinking after they reminded us Durant and Westbrooke are 22 and Hardin only 21! They are still 90% talent and 10% polish. I hesitate to say, but I don't think I'm wrong...we have the makings of a dynasty.

[Kerry]

I hesitate to say, but I don't think I'm wrong...we have the makings of a dynasty.

I didn't want to be the one to say it but I agree. We were about 1% away from going to finals this year (and probably still should have). I thought it was interesting that they had Maynor and Westbrook on the court at the same time during the 4th quarter. Westbrook seemed to get open with ease on the backdoor cuts. Just wish they kept doing it in final few minutes of the game.

[Bill Robertson]

I thought it was interesting that they had Maynor and Westbrook on the court at the same time during the 4th quarter. Westbrook seemed to get open with ease on the backdoor cuts. Just wish they kept doing it in final few minutes of the game.

I think we'll see a lot more of that next year. I think they quit using it the last few minutes of the 4th because it wasn't working. Westbrook was getting open but had zero points in the 4th.

[Lord Helmet]

I didn't want to be the one to say it but I agree. We were about 1% away from going to finals this year (and probably still should have). I thought it was interesting that they had Maynor and Westbrook on the court at the same time during the 4th quarter. Westbrook seemed to get open with ease on the backdoor cuts. Just wish they kept doing it in final few minutes of the game.

If we could close out a game we'd likely be in the finals. We gained valuable experience this season in the playoffs. Barring injury...look out next season!

[Dustin]

Mavs and Heat.. Whos gonna win?!?!?!?!?!

[918Town]

I was pulling for your Thunder, but where to begin. Its obvious that most of you are new NBA fans or used to catch a game here or there.

1. Good team, no DYNASTY!
2. Not almost there, need a coach and a veteran leader!
3. Perkins is on downhill, why do you think Celtics traded him. Thunder got rid of Green, WTF..Outside shooting and scoring that was sorely needed to stop those two Dallas runs...remember those.

Oh yeah, an example of 2b and 3b Maynor? ...Maynor?...MAYNOR? the 6th or 7th guy, with the Thunder down by 1 with a minute left in the 4th qtr of game #5 of the 2011 Western Conference Finals waving off KD and RW0, even Hardin to take one of the last shots guarded by NBA 2011 Western Conference All Star 7ft Dirk Nowitzki on his home court in Dallas, Tx. WOW! Okay..moving on.

4. Youthfoul talent, it aint all, it takes to win an NBA Championship or even a conference championship. Dallas was the oldest team in the playoffs. With 5:28 left in game #5 Dallas outscored OKC 17-6 and 17-2 in game #4 with under 5 minutes left. To be truthfull the Thunder was lucky to get by Memphis another young and upcoming team. A few plays here and there and it could of been Memphis up 3-1 coming back to OKC and a different end to the series. That loss in Overtime killed Memphis like Dallas killed OKC in game 4 in OKC. That brings me to my Summary point.

5. Bad Trade - Better Coaching - Veteran Leader - Role Players(outside shooting).
The trade looked good initially, but Collison outplayed Perkins in the series, and the Thunder desperately needed Green's outside shooting in game 4 and 5 especially.
Coaching skills and a floor leader could have saved the Thunders meltdowns in game 4 and 5, the looks on thier faces on the bench going into overtime of game 4, I was literally yelling at the TV for them to snap out of it, like the coach should have been doing. They had already lost then. Use all your time outs if you have to, to stop that run. In the 4th qtr of game 5 Dallas went into a zone and OKC scored only 20 points and had 7 turnovers. Again they needed a leader and an outside shooter to shoot over the zone. Not 6'-3" Maynor shooting over 7ft Dirk, passing up KD and WR down by 1 with 60 seconds left in game 5 of the Western Conference Finals.

KD is a great young player. But its obvious hes not the leader, at least not yet. Because Maynor had no business taking that big shot instead of KD and OKC needs another legit scorer so Durant doesn't have 3 players guarding him at the end of games. (They had that in Green)

I wish the Thunder well next season, but you guys are looking at it all through rose colored glasses.

[Easy180]

Thanks for dropping your knowledge for those of us who just don't understand the NBA...You are right Presti and Brooks don't know what they are doing and need to go

Thunder just couldn't hang with Dallas evidenced by being up by 15 late in the 4th in game 4 and up late in game 5...Just never had a chance from the start

[td25er]

I was pulling for your Thunder, but where to begin. Its obvious that most of you are new NBA fans or used to catch a game here or there.

1. Good team, no DYNASTY!
2. Not almost there, need a coach and a veteran leader!
3. Perkins is on downhill, why do you think Celtics traded him. Thunder got rid of Green, WTF..Outside shooting and scoring that was sorely needed to stop those two Dallas runs...remember those.

Oh yeah, an example of 2b and 3b Maynor? ...Maynor?...MAYNOR? the 6th or 7th guy, with the Thunder down by 1 with a minute left in the 4th qtr of game #5 of the 2011 Western Conference Finals waving off KD and RW0, even Hardin to take one of the last shots guarded by NBA 2011 Western Conference All Star 7ft Dirk Nowitzki on his home court in Dallas, Tx. WOW! Okay..moving on.

4. Youthfoul talent, it aint all, it takes to win an NBA Championship or even a conference championship. Dallas was the oldest team in the playoffs. With 5:28 left in game #5 Dallas outscored OKC 17-6 and 17-2 in game #4 with under 5 minutes left. To be truthfull the Thunder was lucky to get by Memphis another young and upcoming team. A few plays here and there and it could of been Memphis up 3-1 coming back to OKC and a different end to the series. That loss in Overtime killed Memphis like Dallas killed OKC in game 4 in OKC. That brings me to my Summary point.

5. Bad Trade - Better Coaching - Veteran Leader - Role Players(outside shooting).
The trade looked good initially, but Collison outplayed Perkins in the series, and the Thunder desperately needed Green's outside shooting in game 4 and 5 especially.
Coaching skills and a floor leader could have saved the Thunders meltdowns in game 4 and 5, the looks on thier faces on the bench going into overtime of game 4, I was literally yelling at the TV for them to snap out of it, like the coach should have been doing. They had already lost then. Use all your time outs if you have to, to stop that run. In the 4th qtr of game 5 Dallas went into a zone and OKC scored only 20 points and had 7 turnovers. Again they needed a leader and an outside shooter to shoot over the zone. Not 6'-3" Maynor shooting over 7ft Dirk, passing up KD and WR down by 1 with 60 seconds left in game 5 of the Western Conference Finals.

KD is a great young player. But its obvious hes not the leader, at least not yet. Because Maynor had no business taking that big shot instead of KD and OKC needs another legit scorer so Durant doesn't have 3 players guarding him at the end of games. (They had that in Green)

I wish the Thunder well next season, but you guys are looking at it all through rose colored glasses.

Just stop. You have no idea what you are talking about.

First of all, there was virtually ZERO chance we were going to sign Green to a new contract b/c he was going to ask for WAY too much. He was playing out of position and sucked really badly as a power forward. He would have been awesome at the 3 off the bench, but that's another story. Boston had ZERO chance of signing Perkins to a new contract.

Hence, the trade. If we still had Nenad Krstic, Nene would have abused him and we probably lose to Denver. If we snuck by Denver, Memphis sweeps us. Green would have definitely helped in this series, but how much does it help when we're out fishin'?

[Easy180]

Not to mention Perkins was only around 75% this season when he returned

Let's see what he does next season before writing him off

I'm fairly sure we would not have made it to the finals with freakin Nenad at center