[Highlights] Spurs Dismantling the OKC Defense To Build On the Lead in the 4th
2014 Spurs are back
And they said we had too many guards. Our ballhandling and passing is a big part in breaking down that great OKC defense
All your guards are huge though. Most of them are strong enough to be small forwards.
Apart from Harper and Fox… They all look like small forwards.
The fact that they landed the GOATed prospect severely underrates that they lucked into Harper too, who’s basically a lock to be somewhere in the Fox or Harden-tier.
And Castle’s on the exact same tier as the other two as well. F***ing great.
In drafts with surefire top prospects, they moved up and were blessed to get them. This took away any pressure in needing to swing for the fences in bad drafts, and to instead clean up on Castle.
All 3 guards are elite slashers that can break down any defense. Spurs are legit!
Spursgasm
They never left
You sir maybe the only person that has actually watched Spurs’ games through the last few years because their passing has always been really good, even when they were only winning 20⁄30 something games.
Problem is they couldn’t make the shot at the end, but their assist numbers have always been towards the top of the league
Exactly. The system has always been the same but we have much better players running it now.
I think the spurs guards are collectively better than okcs. they’re easy to root for
It’s the beautiful game baby
Brought me back.
Spurs vibes aren’t just immaculate. They’re divine.
Excuse me by the way my friends, yall see that Wemby pump fake and then disgusting pass from the top of the 3 to the paint
Or King Julian flying in from goddamned Narnia for the hammer jam?
Wemby is soooo damn daring and experimental for a 7’6 KD who really doesn’t have to do all that s*t.
Wemby could just play like KD and have a dominant career. But nope, he’s steadily risking cross court passes, behind the backs, chaining tough crossovers, random unnecessary stepbacks, and constantly pushing his skill ceiling upwards as a result. It’s incredible and scary
They can match OKCs motor its scary
That guard rotation is demonic
That’s why I never understood people that were freaking out when we got Harper. It’s like they haven’t been watching the NBA the last few years. You want to have as many downhill attacking guards as humanly possible.
A lot of praise goes to Fox. He is an all-star who has completely changed his style to fit in to the team. He is mostly playing off-ball now and letting Castle and Harper shine. He steps up whenever they have bad nights but on good days (like today) he plays very low-key just being a solid vet. Without that I dunno if the guard rotation would have worked as well as it is working.
Dude is not low key today, dude is playing bad, like how he has always disappear against better defending teams. Dude is too small to go against anyone in the paint and when his shots aren’t falling, he comes a liability defensively. Dude was even 0/4 from the free throw line.
You probably only watched the highlights and saw the headline stats. Yes, he didn’t score well. But he was +18, with 9 ast and 0 TO. Against OKC. He has done what the Spurs needed from him to win.
He’s a pretty good defender especially on a team that is good defensively
yep, jus like how he was efficient against this team earlier in the year yep.
Honestly during the draft process when Coop was doing bad I almost bought into Harper as the first pick just cause of that driving.
Yep and they have multiple strong and competent lead level guards. Usually OKC just pressures the hell out of your playmakers and gets in the gaps and you just can’t get any offense going but all 3 of the spurs guards can dissect their defense. NBA is very matchup dependent and I’m sure OKC is really hoping not the get the Spurs.
So the strategy is:
Throw guards/wings who can handle (Brunson, McBride, Clarkson, Bridges), and have a big that can smother Chet as a presence (Mitch)
The Knicks got it.
Welp I guess OKC isn’t breaking the record, we can end that discussion now
When do they play the pelicans ?
RemindMe! 4 months
2015-16 Warriors never lost 2 in games to the same team.
buddy by the time the warriors had 4 losses they had 37 wins
Dylan Harper is so good… He does not play like a rookie at all.. he is so composed and well balanced all the time. He is going to be a super star in his own right
the most dominant 4-point game you will see in a while (a special mention goes to Fox for the same reasons)
I keep hearing that about spurs rookies 😅 cant be a coincidence
OKC had the easiest schedule up until a week ago.
caN tHEy chALLengE 73-9??? Yeah if they’d dominated actual good teams. Kept telling them fools to wait until we’ve seen them vs the rest of the good teams in the West.
They started 24-1 with an all-time best point differential. Easy schedule or not, that wasn’t a crazy question to ask.
Some of the proclamations got out of hand for sure, but mocking the idea of thinking they had/have a shot at the all-time record doesn’t make sense.
Man how was Rutgers so bad with an elite floor general like Harper
They had Ace Bailey too lol
Their defense was ass, ranked 116 in the country according to KenPom. Roster didn’t really have a rim protector. A Big 10 schedule is rough especially when you schedule tough out of conference games. They had to play 17 Q1 games. Lost two random games at the buzzer to mid majors. Loses added up quick.
Rutgers were a tough team but apart from Ace and Dylan the talent just wasn’t there. Huge talent disparity in the roster.
Harper walked into the best possible situation for a rookie point guard. You have a defencive specialist coaching staff, Fox and Castle (who is challenging for leap of the year this year himself). Dude has room to grow off the bench given the coaches have given him free reign to just be himself.
Rutgers bball program in comparison is simply trash.
OKC is much closer to 2024 Cleveland than they are to 2016 Golden State
No fans hate the 2025-2026 OKC more than the Warriors fans.
Disagree
Yeah I hate them a lot too, and I would love to see them lose in the first
amen brother
Damn straight
It’s bc the glaze was so premature. Folks act like we didn’t just watch Indy outplay them in 6.5 games. And then the bullshit net rating built off beating bad teams.
IDK, man. I’m a Knicks fan and can’t stand them (had me rooting for the Pacers!). Don’t like their 2k autogenerated players. I don’t like their MS Paint logo. I don’t like their lame ass crowd or annoying defense chant sound. I don’t like their foul bating or “hard D” that just amounts to “we’ve systematically figured out the most mph we can drive over 65 without getting a ticket”. They’re boring and soulless and I’d rather anyone but them win.
I’d say the closest historical comparison would be 2008 Boston:
- All time great defense? Check
- Went to 7 with multiple teams they were way better than on paper? Check
- Oddly questionable halfcourt offense despite lots of talent? Check
extremely stupid statement
Except they won a championship. Like literally last year they won a championship
Who gives a shit
Lmao I hope the Thunder don’t wanna be like the choking ass 2016 warriors
Okc is nothing like GSW2016… they actually won the ring.
Warriors won in 2015 too?
When Kyrie AND Love missed nearly the entire series. They then had the most embarrassing choke job in league history the season after.
The Warriors still had to face Lebron lmao.. the Thunder were up against the duo of Siakam and Andrew Nemhard in game 7 of the finals and still almost lost.
Almost
Too bad we actually won unlike the Frauduliers who had the greatest choke job in league history. Embarrassing.
I think you’re too braindead for this to register but Warriors winning in 2015 is like the Thunder winning in 2025… Thunder hasn’t even had the equivalent to Warriors 16 season yet, atleast the team won 73 games and made it to game 7 of the finals. Lets see the Thunder beat either of those things
The warriors facing a team with 2⁄3 of their best players injured nearly the entire series in the finals is much easier than the Thunder facing a team that was completely healthy until the second quarter if game 7; hope you can understand that.
Prime Lebron James is better than the entire Pacers combined, do you understand that?
Thank God OKC isnt like those fraudulent warriors. Only won in 2015 because Kyrie AND Love were out the entire series and then had the most embarrassing choke job in league history the season after.
It felt there was a never ending stream of guards charging down the lane.
OKC went from looking like the GOAT team to suddenly vulnerable, losing 3 out of the last 5.
They went to 7 games twice in last year’s playoffs, and in both of those series - injuries helped them pass through.
They were never the going to be the GOAT team even if they beat the record. On paper they’re mediocre, hard carried by the reining MVP.
you mean nba officials?
That’s what he said.
That MVP is hard carried by the refs.
Ajay the real MVP, the only plausible explanation
I mean he’s the only guy outside of Shai that can break down the defense. Jdub can create and make some of his own offense but typically not in the same way a Shai or Ajay could
This Spurs team is so damn fun.
Wow with that flair too? Respect. 🫡
Guards are fast af.
It’s crazy to see a defense as disciplined as the Thunder to be caught off guard and ball watching.
Say what you want, this is ethical basketball
“Defense”? I think I need new glasses
SGA just standing there ball watching is crazy.
If Jokic played defense that bad for one possession, it’d have its own clip on the front page
Jwill got cooked so bad he touched earth
This is going to be like the Spurs Lakers rivalries that dominated the 2000-10s
The Spurs have never had this many guards who were this good, this aggressive, and so defensively sound. They are fearless. Castle alone may be better than Wemby.
Unselfish, egoless basketball 🏀🏀
Imagine if OKC turns out to be the Cavs of this season. Absurd start only to fizzle out in the second round
Hope we get to see this matchup in years to come!
Dort looks sloooooooowwww
This feeds my soul.
OKC defense when they can’t just foul without repercussions
That pass by Wemby thread the needle. The clearance between the defender’s arms was almost nonexistent. Honestly that was incredible he almost stole that pass.