Comments on: Brooks should start Ibaka, Collison

By: Silvio

Silvio — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:35:17 +0000

What a stupid article. You guys have no writer in OKC that actually understands basketball?
Reason Ibaka/Collison come of the bench is not to have them at the bench when it matters most. If they were starting, they would get in foul trouble early. It’s crucial to have them on the floor towards end of the game when refs whistle less and let it be a men game.
Brooks knows what’s he’s doing. Awards are not proof, 2 (and possibly 3) wins against best West team (when everyone expected sweep) are.

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:03:13 +0000

I think since Brooks was coach of the year in the NBA he might know a little more about lineup should be used than some chump named Mike Baldwin who writes for a friggin’ newspaper. The only thing the Thunder has done wrong is get off to horrible starts in games 1, 3 and 5 and that cost them 2 of those games because they weren’t able to recover. Let’s leave the coaching to the experts mr. newspaper writer…

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:15:41 +0000

Westbrook must be wondering how to get Kobe off his back and the answer is run him to another stationary player because Westbrook has the speed and By Kobe pursuing him, Kobe will be looking at him all the time and might miss seeing another player on his side or back. Same with Durant!For defending Gasol and Bynum, Stick to them all the time and that means every Thunder player must stay with their man and not be wandering off and leaving Fisher on the 3-point line to shoot or Kobe alone for a long shot or a drive. The bigs should be ready to take charges from Gasol, Bynum or Kobe. If they loose their man, the other player should switch while the other stay with the other player. Well, thats my take on some defense for them.

By: joe

joe — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:47:14 +0000

The Thunder lack the will to win game 5 as shown by their 1st quarter lackluster slow and timid pace of the game. Looking at the faces of Durant, Westbrook, Sefolosha, Kristic and Green. They did not show that they were the aggressor, out to win one over in Laker land. Scott Brooks was also at fault for not calling a timeout during the 1st quarter collapse and calming his players while giving instruction on what to expect and what to do. He should have substituted Kristic with Etan Thomas and Ibaka for Sefolosha who could not guard Kobe. Durant and Westbrook should have at least drove to the basket to collect fouls, if their 3-point shots or long shots were not going in. Scott Brooks should have a blend of veteran players to put the younger players at more at ease, not all young players who were caught unaware of the Lakers juggernaut.
The Thunder went back to their old bad habits of no rebounding, shooting wrecklessly (just for the sake of shooting), no fast breaks, no shot blocking, no help defense, always remaining stationary (no movement of players) and bad match-up of players (that’s for Scott Brooks).

By: Thomas

Thomas — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:37:27 +0000

Mike, I agree with your idea, except let’s trade Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison to 5 and 4, respectively. Although Ibaka and Collison are listed as the same height, Ibaka is over 1 inch taller than Collison, Ibaka has a larger wingspan, and of course, he can jump over a foot higher. Collison is too short and can’t jump for a 5, but he can do it as a 4. The only problem with Ibaka at the 5 is he is light. But Tyson Chandler is only 10-15lbs. heavier than Ibaka, and Ibaka is strong mentally and fearless. I’m sure he can take the abuse.

By: adcash

adcash — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 23:34:25 +0000

Yo…
It’s Supersonic from the chat room. I’ve been saying this all along. Start Collison/Ibaka. Thanks for the article!! =)

By: hoopla

hoopla — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 23:06:21 +0000

The only reason nenad doesn’t foul is because before he can foul, it is a dunk. collison and serge have played most in the fourth quarter and none of them have fouled out despite playing more minutes than nenad. serge has scored more than nenad in this series. serge and collison have worked as a team and have the best defensive pers on the team. nenad is there to space the floor but he has scored most of his points in third quarter, nearly 70%. and is shooting miserably in the first quarter. He has the best hands of all our bigs but lakers are defending pick and roll with there size and he is not hitting shots on pick and pop. With nenad thabo an jeff unable to hit shots lakers just focus on kevin and russ. Given that we can’t win offensively, defensive stops are more important, offensively it can’t be worse, at least defense can lead to transition buckets.

We will see what brooks is made of, this is indeed a tough test for him.

By: Cecil Samara

Cecil Samara — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:36:24 +0000

Mike -

Great idea: Collison will commit 2 fouls in the first 3 minutes guarding Gasol and then have to go to the bench. At which point Gasol, who will have nicely warmed up on Collison, will then go to town on Krstic.

There is no disguising the fact that, apart from Ibaka, the other Thunder “bigs” just do not match up talent- or size-wise against Gasol and Bynum.

The Thunder will just have to hope that in Game 6 the Lakers go back to shooting outside and miss a lot of them, resulting in Thunder fast break points.

If the Lakers go to their Bigs in Game 6 with success and thereby slow the game down, the Thunder can start contemplating their off-season.

By: CeltsSteve

CeltsSteve — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:27:11 +0000

Life long Celtic fan here. There are only two teams I pull for in the NBA: the Celtics and whoever plays the Lakers. So needless to say, I’ve become a huge Thunder fan. Now take care of business at home on Friday night and then go back to Staples Center and punch ‘em out in Game 7. Anything is possible! You just have to believe.

Now, looking ahead, your franchise can vault to the upper echelon of the entire league next year if Presti can do three things this off-season:

1) Sign Chris Bosh (he’s from nearby Dallas)to a free agent contract;
2) Sign a veteran PG to serve as Westbrook’s backup and anchor the second unit;
3) Either package a couple of those draft picks that Presti has stockpiled to acquire via trade or else sign a free agent veteran wing player ala Raja Bell or Matt Barnes who is capable of knocking down perimeter shots and defending at a high level to guard the opposing teams best scorer ala Lebron, the Carmelo, DWade, Paul Pierce, etc.

Do those three things and commit to keeping your young core together and you’ll be set up nicely for a terrific 5 – 7 year run of success.

Kudos and best of luck!

By: hoopla

hoopla — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:26:45 +0000

My off season wish for the thunder, serge grows three inches and can play center. Second option sam can pull out some big men from his draft hat. We are picking 21 and 26 not great options, may be dexter pittman and tibor pleiss.