TA vs Perk in the semis... who will you be rooting for?

[Fafnir]

I don't really see a plausible argument that Conley is better, or "smarter", than Westbrook.

He's not, but Conley is asked to do less for the Grizzlies when it comes to play making because they have two post players who they run their offense through.

Westbrook's up and downs hurt the Thunder a lot more because he's a bigger cog. His decision making last night was bad in the fourth in particular, but that happens to all players. I'm curious to see if he bounces back strong.

[Fafnir]

I would like to see Memphis pull this one out.  Their D has been lock down, and they are playing a gritty, physical game.  I actually think they have a better shot at taking down the Lakers.  They have the size up front to not only defend, but also SCORE on the Lakers in the paint, and they have three or four guys that they can rotate covering Kobe throughout the series.  They also have most of their scoring coming from the 1/2 spot, which means it will be up against Fisher and Bryant, two of the Lakers' weaker defensive spots.

Kobe is a weak defender? He is one of the best wing defenders in the league and has made 8 all nba defense 1st team .

He's no longer deserving of that honorific, and a lot of those 8 were reputation votes. He used to have elite defensive ability, but the effort was wildly inconsistent.

I want to see how he deals with his ankle. Physically he reminds me o Pierce last year, very up and down.

[Fafnir]

OKC. They have a better shot at beating the Lakers.

I agree, Ron Artest has declined a lot in just a year. I think Durant will do a lot better against him this go around. Combine that with a better front court with Ibaka/Perk and an improved Westbrook and the Thunder are the biggest threat to the Lakers.

[Fafnir]

OKC. They have a better shot at beating the Lakers.

Agreed, and I think its because OKC has the better PG.  Time and again, LA has shown they have a hard time containing good PGs.

But, do you guys trust Durant against Kobe and Artest? I don't.

As long as he doesn't settle for 3s, Durant can get right by Artest especially if he gets a screen.

[Donoghus]

Perkins & the Thunder.  

It's not even close to me.  First of all, OKC has a heckuva better chance of knocking off LA in the playoffs and second, I've always been a much bigger fan of Perk than "Trick or Treat" Tony.

[Roy H.]

I don't really see a plausible argument that Conley is better, or "smarter", than Westbrook.

He's not, but Conley is asked to do less for the Grizzlies when it comes to play making because they have two post players who they run their offense through.

Westbrook's up and downs hurt the Thunder a lot more because he's a bigger cog. His decision making last night was bad in the fourth in particular, but that happens to all players. I'm curious to see if he bounces back strong.

I agree that Westbrook having a bad game has more of an impact on OKC than Conley having a bad game.  That's because Westbrook is a better player, and thus is asked to do more.

This particular tangent grew out of the argument that the Lakers might struggle covering Westbrook, because they have issues with elite PGs.  Another poster then argued that Conley is somehow better, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.  Westbrook is much more likely to exploit the Lakers than Conley is.

[Fafnir]

I don't really see a plausible argument that Conley is better, or "smarter", than Westbrook.

He's not, but Conley is asked to do less for the Grizzlies when it comes to play making because they have two post players who they run their offense through.

Westbrook's up and downs hurt the Thunder a lot more because he's a bigger cog. His decision making last night was bad in the fourth in particular, but that happens to all players. I'm curious to see if he bounces back strong.

I agree that Westbrook having a bad game has more of an impact on OKC than Conley having a bad game.  That's because Westbrook is a better player, and thus is asked to do more.

This particular tangent grew out of the argument that the Lakers might struggle covering Westbrook, because they have issues with elite PGs.  Another poster then argued that Conley is somehow better, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.  Westbrook is much more likely to exploit the Lakers than Conley is.

I agree, with you I was just chiming in with a logic to why Westbrook often looks worse than Conley when it comes to decision making.

I don't think much of either as offensive facilitators personally. Their other attributes make them effective PGs.

[BudweiserCeltic]

OKC. They have a better shot at beating the Lakers.

Agreed, and I think its because OKC has the better PG.  Time and again, LA has shown they have a hard time containing good PGs.

But, do you guys trust Durant against Kobe and Artest? I don't.

As long as he doesn't settle for 3s, Durant can get right by Artest especially if he gets a screen.

The only way Durant has a good game against the Lakers is if he's playing a lot off the ball and the team makes a good effort to get him open and then give him the ball for a catch and shoot. Else, he's going to suffer the same kind of problems he's had with the Lakers for the past 2 years, particularly against a strong defender with good hands.

[Roy H.]

I don't really see a plausible argument that Conley is better, or "smarter", than Westbrook.

He's not, but Conley is asked to do less for the Grizzlies when it comes to play making because they have two post players who they run their offense through.

Westbrook's up and downs hurt the Thunder a lot more because he's a bigger cog. His decision making last night was bad in the fourth in particular, but that happens to all players. I'm curious to see if he bounces back strong.

I agree that Westbrook having a bad game has more of an impact on OKC than Conley having a bad game.  That's because Westbrook is a better player, and thus is asked to do more.

This particular tangent grew out of the argument that the Lakers might struggle covering Westbrook, because they have issues with elite PGs.  Another poster then argued that Conley is somehow better, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.  Westbrook is much more likely to exploit the Lakers than Conley is.

I agree, with you I was just chiming in with a logic to why Westbrook often looks worse than Conley when it comes to decision making.

I don't think much of either as offensive facilitators personally. Their other attributes make them effective PGs.

Yeah, I think they're both decent passers, but neither is anywhere near elite at running an offense.  It's the other stuff that Westbrook does that makes him special.

[Fafnir]

OKC. They have a better shot at beating the Lakers.

Agreed, and I think its because OKC has the better PG.  Time and again, LA has shown they have a hard time containing good PGs.

But, do you guys trust Durant against Kobe and Artest? I don't.

As long as he doesn't settle for 3s, Durant can get right by Artest especially if he gets a screen.

The only way Durant has a good game against the Lakers is if he's playing a lot off the ball and the team makes a good effort to get him open and then give him the ball for a catch and shoot. Else, he's going to suffer the same kind of problems he's had with the Lakers for the past 2 years, particularly against a strong defender with good hands.

He's played well versus the Lakers this year. They're a very good defensive team but his TS% only declines a few points from .58 to .55. They do keep him off the three point line very well.

[BudweiserCeltic]

OKC. They have a better shot at beating the Lakers.

Agreed, and I think its because OKC has the better PG.  Time and again, LA has shown they have a hard time containing good PGs.

But, do you guys trust Durant against Kobe and Artest? I don't.

As long as he doesn't settle for 3s, Durant can get right by Artest especially if he gets a screen.

The only way Durant has a good game against the Lakers is if he's playing a lot off the ball and the team makes a good effort to get him open and then give him the ball for a catch and shoot. Else, he's going to suffer the same kind of problems he's had with the Lakers for the past 2 years, particularly against a strong defender with good hands.

He's played well versus the Lakers this year. They're a very good defensive team but his TS% only declines a few points from .58 to .55. They do keep him off the three point line very well.

That's getting skewed a bit because he had one great game against them in which he shot 11 of 15.

The other 2 games he went 8-24 and 8-20. Then you go back to last year, particularly in the playoffs, and it really doesn't look good for him.

Glossing over the last 13 games he's played against the Lakers over the past 2 years, he seems to have had about 3 or 4 games in which he actually played great, and a lot of awful shooting performances among them.

He hasn't had any success really to speak of against the Lakers, so I don't know why one would be confident of his ability going forward in a series against the Lakers. He might end up having a great series, but history so far is counting against it.

[xmuscularghandix]

My man!

[OsirusCeltics]

TA, cause I think Memphis can beat them

Thunder could contain Nene, but they can't contain both Gasol and Randolph

[Moranis]

Perkins & the Thunder.  

It's not even close to me.  First of all, OKC has a heckuva better chance of knocking off LA in the playoffs and second, I've always been a much bigger fan of Perk than "Trick or Treat" Tony.

Memphis was 2-2, OKC was 1-2 against the Lakers and the 1 win for OKC was the third to last game of the year when LA didn't really care.  Memphis has an uber quick PG, like OKC, but unlike OKC has a lot of big bodies that can actually score in the paint.  Randolph will push Gasol around and Gasol will make Bynum cry (so to speak). 

[housecall]

The team that has the best chance of beating the Lakers...there are things i like about both teams but at this time i feel OKC is the team in the west best suited to dethrone the Lakers.Memphis is playing at a high level but its more about the Spurs not playing there best basketball.RJ hasn't given them anything,T.Parker is missing shots he normally make,etc.It wouldn't surprise me if they turn this series around.