The finals last year was OKC/SA. And the finals next year will be OKC/SA.

[wally_world]

They should rename the Eastern conference playoffs to NBA Finals runner-up tournament

[ralph_i_el]

How the hell would Miami defend OKC?

Westbrook would have COOKED everyone on the Heat until that shit got bad.

And no, the refs weren't sucking LeFlop's **** this year. They put on a historic rig job to get him his first ring but these past two years really haven't been that bad. I doubt Durant gets in foul trouble three games in a row again while the refs refuse to call blatant fouls committed against him and Westbrook

And lol, last time OKC played MIA in the playoffs Ibaka was a 9PPG scorer

MIA is actually kind of lucky they got San Antonio who couldn't abuse any lone matchup. Westbrook could have easily averaged 35-40 PPG vs Miami in the Finals while OKC would have swept Miami.

If you thought what Westbrook did to Conley, Paul, and Parker was bad..........
And if you thought LeBron making Kawhi Leonard look like Michael Jordan was bad... imagine Durant

Miami would have defended okc way better than they did SA. SA dominated Miami with spacing, making it impossible to hedge/blitz/double team SA's perimeter players. OKC takes turns playing ISO. Miami would have forced a ton of turnovers against OKC (and I'm saying this as a DC Metro area native who loves Durant+ a UCLA fan who loves Russ). OKC just plays ugly ball due to bad coaching and a weird mix of players.

[Fudge]

Hahaha yes sir, chump ass Eastern conference. Weaker than my calves (no pun intended) after leg day.

[russwest0]

Hahaha yes sir, chump ass Eastern conference. Weaker than my calves (no pun intended) after leg day.

I keep having to hear the Heat get hyped like they were some great team...

Yet in the West they're the goddamn 4th seed..

[tontoz]

What about the year before? Was MIA/IND the real finals?

Did Miami take the Spurs to the woodshed last year? Or did they stay alive with a miracle 3?

[SOD 21]

Oklahoma City could very well be the best team in the league next season and they are certainly no worse than second or third best team going into next year.

But I do have someone legitimate concerns about them that I will be very interested to watch this coming season:

1. Will Kevin Durant continue to allow short defenders to crowd him on the perimeter without taking them to the post effectively? He cannot continue to allow defenders like Tony Allen, Chris Paul or Danny Green guard him effectively on the perimeter.

2. Will Russell Westbrook improve his decision-making and will his knee continues to stay healthy for an entire season? I don't know if Scott Brooks has the ability to hold him accountable for his poor decision-making at times.

3. What will OKC do to improve their ball and player movement and attempt to transition from such a isolation heavy offense? I would have liked to see them bring in an offensive minded coach as an assistant to help address this obvious weakness.

4. Is Scott Brooks capable of holding his players accountable for poor decision-making, developing his young players and implementing an offensive scheme that brings about better ball movement? Phil Jackson didn't have to be an expert on the triangle offense when it was implemented by Tex Winters. He only had to be smart enough to recognize that there was a weakness in Chicago's isolation heavy offense and needed to come up with a solution. Can Scott Brooks and Oklahoma City do the same?

5. Oklahoma City is filled, practically overfilled, with young players that have loads of room for improvement from Steven Adams, Jeremy Lamb, Perry Jones, Mitch McGary, etc., and can these players develop over the season to be impactful players in the playoffs next year? Can Adams play 25 to 30 minutes a game without foul trouble, can Jeremy Lamb become a consistent performer and improve defensively, can Mitch McGary crack the rotation?

Is remarkable that they are a top two or three team in the league with all these questions, legitimate questions, swirling about them. It says a lot about their talent level.

And yes, I am very long-winded. Sorry about that.

[GrapeApe]

Did Miami take the Spurs to the woodshed last year? Or did they stay alive with a miracle 3?

Irrelevant. Anything can be spun using hindsight. Was the '04 ECF the real finals because Detroit spanked LA? I could go on and on. My point is that most people thought this year's finals was going to be an epic 7 game battle. It didn't turn out that way.

[navy]

Irrelevant. Anything can be spun using hindsight. Was the '04 ECF the real finals because Detroit spanked LA? I could go on and on. My point is that most people thought this year's finals was going to be an epic 7 game battle. It didn't turn out that way.

Was the ATL Hawks the real finals in 08 because of how the Celtics spanked the Lakers?

[Kingwillball]

OKC would not even of beaten the Heat.. They def won't beat the New look Cavs wake up op..

[tontoz]

Irrelevant. Anything can be spun using hindsight. Was the '04 ECF the real finals because Detroit spanked LA? I could go on and on. My point is that most people thought this year's finals was going to be an epic 7 game battle. It didn't turn out that way.

No it isn't irrelevant. The OP makes a legit point that OKC may have been the 2nd best team in the league.

Miami was weak in the regular season relative to the top teams. They finished second to a reeling Indy team and won only 54 games in a historically weak conference.

And they collapsed when they finally faced a strong team in the playoffs. They were lucky to win 1 game in the finals and got destroyed the last 3 games.

That wasn't even remotely comparable to last year's finals.

[rmt]

1. Will Kevin Durant continue to allow short defenders to crowd him on the perimeter without taking them to the post effectively? He cannot continue to allow defenders like Tony Allen, Chris Paul or Danny Green guard him effectively on the perimeter.

2. Will Russell Westbrook improve his decision-making and will his knee continues to stay healthy for an entire season? I don't know if Scott Brooks has the ability to hold him accountable for his poor decision-making at times.

3. What will OKC do to improve their ball and player movement and attempt to transition from such a isolation heavy offense? I would have liked to see them bring in an offensive minded coach as an assistant to help address this obvious weakness.

4. Is Scott Brooks capable of holding his players accountable for poor decision-making, developing his young players and implementing an offensive scheme that brings about better ball movement? Phil Jackson didn't have to be an expert on the triangle offense when it was implemented by Tex Winters. He only had to be smart enough to recognize that there was a weakness in Chicago's isolation heavy offense and needed to come up with a solution. Can Scott Brooks and Oklahoma City do the same?

5. Oklahoma City is filled, practically overfilled, with young players that have loads of room for improvement from Steven Adams, Jeremy Lamb, Perry Jones, Mitch McGary, etc., and can these players develop over the season to be impactful players in the playoffs next year? Can Adams play 25 to 30 minutes a game without foul trouble, can Jeremy Lamb become a consistent performer and improve defensively, can Mitch McGary crack the rotation?

Is remarkable that they are a top two or three team in the league with all these questions, legitimate questions, swirling about them. It says a lot about their talent level.

And yes, I am very long-winded. Sorry about that.

1. Dirk also had the problem KD is having against smaller players like Stephen Jackson and eventually figured out how to play against them. Of course that was later along in his career so that the inevitable decline due to age coincided with the wisdom learned through experience. KD is young enough to figure it out and still have his prime ahead of him (and high chance of championships).

2. Westbrooke has to buy into the team before individual (ego). Still amazes me how high he can jump even after what 3? knee operations.

Much of OKC's problems have to do with Brooks. I shudder to think what Rick Carlisle would do with a team with so much talent (and so young). Good for SA's fans that isn't the case. Hopefully it'll take him a few more years to figure it out by which time SA's window will have passed (Duncan and Manu - retired). Don't think they'll get rid of Brooks since they kinda all "grew" up together.

[rmt]

Irrelevant. Anything can be spun using hindsight. Was the '04 ECF the real finals because Detroit spanked LA? I could go on and on. My point is that most people thought this year's finals was going to be an epic 7 game battle. It didn't turn out that way.

Wasn't that way because Pop studied and keyed in on beating the Heat. He moved away from a staple of Parker/Manu pick and roll which is easily defended by Miami's swarming defense to crisp, ball movement - the perfect foil for MIA's type of defense. The interchangeable parts and heavy use of Diaw as point-forward nixed their defense.

[SOD 21]

1. Dirk also had the problem KD is having against smaller players like Stephen Jackson and eventually figured out how to play against them. Of course that was later along in his career so that the inevitable decline due to age coincided with the wisdom learned through experience. KD is young enough to figure it out and still have his prime ahead of him (and high chance of championships).

2. Westbrooke has to buy into the team before individual (ego). Still amazes me how high he can jump even after what 3? knee operations.

Much of OKC's problems have to do with Brooks. I shudder to think what Rick Carlisle would do with a team with so much talent (and so young). Good for SA's fans that isn't the case. Hopefully it'll take him a few more years to figure it out by which time SA's window will have passed (Duncan and Manu - retired). Don't think they'll get rid of Brooks since they kinda all "grew" up together.

Good post, by the way.

I understood why Scott Brooks the offense simple and allowed these talented young players to pretty much just go out there and play by keeping things simple. They were young and their talent would simply overwhelm the opposition, and still does in most cases.

But my problem with Scott Brooks is that he hasn't demonstrated the ability to hold his players accountable as they have matured or implement a more sophisticated offense. It would be scary what a quality coach that will hold the players accountable to do for this team.

Scott Brooks isn't all bad because he is good at fostering a good culture on the team and will not hesitate to stand up for his players. He is a standup guy. As much as the players like him and even KD has stood up for him, but he is also probably their biggest stumbling block.

It is tough to replace a coach that has been there since the beginning with all these young players and is so well-liked, even though it is obvious to the rest of us the change could benefit them.

[Milbuck]

Don't sleep on the Bulls russ..you can't deny how sick a healthy Rose v Westbrook matchup would be. I'd pick OKC to win, but it'd be a close series.

[Lakers Legend#32]

Durant's mind is already checking out of OKC.