Quote:
Originally Posted by KC_Connection
OKC's ball movement and ease of offense just wasn't quite up to par today. Harden was a great facilitator and playmaker in a way that Westbrook and Durant simply aren't. He's really irreplaceable.
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This game had nothing to do with Harden. The Thunder had games just like this last year with Harden.
You do realize Harden normally drove to the basket? He averaged 3.6 assist a game playing 32 minutes.
The problem is our bigs can't finish no matter who is passing them the ball. It's also the reason Durant, Westbrook, and even Harden go into hero mode.
The ball movement was crisp in the first half. They just weren't hitting shots. They had games that way even with Harden. Look how many shots Ibaka and Collison missed early. That's why the ball stops moving.
Yes, there are issues with the Thunder winning a championship, but people are focusing on the wrong one.
Ibaka has to play better or they have to find someone that can. Martin filled the role fine tonight.
Westbrook would have had the ball at the end of the game with Harden, and the result would have been the same. When the bigs hit easy shots the Thunder roll. When they don't things get interesting.
How many times has Westbrook been abused for the same thing in the past? This is nothing new.
It's not all his fault either. He can't trust the bigs to finish and Durant has problem getting open at times in crunch time.
To simplify it to they lost this game because of the trade is silly. If you watch this team on a nightly basis nothing new happened tonight.