Comments on: Oklahoma City Thunder: Beating the Heat means making Kevin Durant a power forward

By: Neil

Neil — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:42:17 +0000

The question that does come to mind when looking at these apparently very convicing stats is who does Miami have on the floor when the Thunder go small? Does Miami change their lineup and if so, is it more a case of Thunder’s small lineup beating a group of non-starting Heat players? Remember, without in-depth annalysis of any statistics, incorrect conclusions can be drawn. If any stats guru or film breakdown artist wants to annalyis this point, I would be interested.

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 23:26:15 +0000

It is astonishing to see the exact same game plan from Brooks without any adjustments considering OKC lost the last 5 in a row against Miami. You would think at some point he might make some changes but he doesn’t seem to get it. Clearly Perkins has no place in this series and the normal one-on-one garbage they run isn’t going to work. Zone defenses have been proven to be very effective in dealing with the Heat (see the Eastern finals last year when Boston took them to 7 games) and Brooks didn’t do that either. If he doesn’t make these changes OKC will never beat the Heat…it’s just a fact.

By: MadMax

MadMax — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:02:20 +0000

The Thunder coaching staff should have learned a valuable lesson last night (which should have been crystal clear before the massacre at the Peak, but that’s o.k. – we still have time to adjust). When we play with 2-bigs, the Heat has the advantage and would probably beat the Thunder 8 out of 10 times. If we play small, push the tempo when we can, and spread the floor – the Heat isn’t near as good defensively. Look Lebron can get his 40 any night he wants against us. Our best chance is to push, push and push some more with the smaller line-up, and of course pray KD can consistently make shots (he couldn’t throw it in the ocean last night in the first half). Additionally, the Thunder need to watch some video of the Detroit Piston Badboys. Contested layups that result in fouls and made shots aren’t acceptable. Most of the Thunder lineup played like the Heat were “their idols”. Winning a championship against the Heat will require the Thunder five to be a little more nasty and a lot more hungry.

By: Wino

Wino — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:47:19 +0000

IMO: Play zone. Sit Perk/Thabeet. Stop isolation offense. Zone takes away/limits their driving for a layup or a kick-out. Heat certainly can win with 3-pointers, but it is still the lowest percentage shot in the game. Perk/Thabeet are great against traditional 5s, not so good at rotating/helping and keeping defenders from the basket. Iso-garbage offense makes for nice Sportscenter material, but good things happen when the ball is passed around, and then everyone without the ball works to get an easy look or layup.

By: 0pini0nated

0pini0nated — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:57:04 +0000

I’m not so sure we can blame the loss all on Coach Brooks. I wasn’t thrilled with his lineups and strategies, but none of our players excelled last night. It appears we defeated ourselves mentally before the game even started.

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:36:30 +0000

It totally blows me away why Brooks won’t change , how many times does this happen before its to late. The loss last night is on Brooks and for what they are paying him he should be better alcohol I hope Presti realizes they need another shooter and make a trade.