I’m amped and ready to see what should be an extremely physical Western Conference Finals between the Thunder and Minnesota TWolves. 7.5 seems about right considering the Nuggets were 10 to11.5 point road dogs in their four games inside of the Pay.Com Arena. And if you’d taken the points in those four collective games with Jokic you would have gone 2-2. So there’s that.
I feel for the referees in this series because in a sense the Minnesota TWolves are a mirror reflection of the Thunder as far as their defensive intensity. Though Minnesota is a more traditional NBA defensive team in the sense their offense doesn’t live and die in transition with the live ball turnovers.
To me..tonight in the first 16 minutes or so we’re going to see what the NBA officials are going to allow Alex Caruso to get away with as far as his hands being all over Anthony Edwards or Julius Randle or whoever Coach Mark has his doberman guard.
BTW…if Coach Mark guides his team to the NBA Finals..I’ll start referring to him as Coach D here on the Underground because at that point in my mind he will have traversed the canyon from being a developmental coach over there at the Little Girls U8 girls soccer field on Danforth Rd in Edmond to an NBA championship coach. I’ve told you MJ haters on here on my private mailbox…I’m a Libra and at the end of the day I’m always fair-minded no matter if I have to correct an intial narrative. If the Thunder don’t win this series however…he’ll still be Coach Mark on the only honest Thunder blog in Oklahoma.
If I’m Coach Mark here’s what I’m saying to my team…do not allow these guys the chance to breathe. They do not thrive at our pace. Turn up the pace. Everytime Anthony Edwards even thinks he’s going to touch the ball get inside of his space and time just like Caruso did with Nikola in Game 7… until the refs do not allow you to tackle him. Make Julius Randle, Naz Reed, Jaden McDaniels, Mike Conley, Donte, the slug Rudy Gobert, and Alexander-Walker beat us. Get inside of Anthony Edwards’ head and stay there this entire series.
Plus, everytime the ancient Mike Conley brings the ball up court I want us to trap his old ass and make him look like Russell Westbrook did in Game 7. That being, like someone who should be reminded he’s an old guy trying to hang with you young thoroughbreds and should probably consider this his last run.
Conversely..if I’m Coach Chris Finch I’m telling my team if they turn the ball over more than 14 times tonight there’s a fairly strong liklihood they’re going to be 0-1 heading into Game 2. Take care of the ball and make these guys run half court offense with Rudy Gobert taking the rim away from Shai’s toolbox in this series. Make the other Thunder players beat you shooting threes and see what happens. Throw some zone at them as well. Mix it up.
I’m thinking it will be a tough six or seven game series. Kind of like those old battles the Thunder had with the Memphis Grizzlies when they had Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, and the then young MIKE CONLEY.
Defense and an iron will win championships. I said it in my Game 7 pre-game breakdown and nothing has changed, nor will it through the course of these NBA Playoffs. Defense wins NBA championships as it does in the NFL and NHL as well.
No space. No time. No shelter. No nothing.
Good luck to both teams tonight in Game 1. Give us a good show.
Mike J