OKC - 2011/12 - Thunder Three-peat

[Andrew]

What was your season record against the Lakers again?

[Phil89]

3 wins, 1 loss. So I'm optimistic about this series.

[NovU]

Crazy... Sweeps through first 2 series. We're looking at a history in making. Seems like when you score more than 100, you win for sure.

[megarover]

I hope you dont turn out like the Cavs. Sweep the first 2 rounds but then Bam. The Lakers are still one bad team.

[Phil89]

Another worrying thing about the Lakers is that they still have Ginobili. I'm sure he's recovered from the injury that prevented me trading him back to San Antonio by now.

Lakers squad - Bynum, Jefferson, Powell, Mbenga, Odom, Artest, Walton, Bryant, Ginobili, Brown, Vujacic, Fisher, Farmar.

Starting 5: Jefferson, Odom, Artest, Bryant, Ginobili. Bench scoring options: Bynum, Brown and Fisher.

Thunder squad - Wallace, Mullens, Krstic, Green, Ibaka, Durant, Gay, Harden, Sefolosha, Westbrook, Weaver, Maynor, Olllie, White.

Starting 5: Wallace, Green, Durant, Gay, Westbrook. Bench scoring options: Mullens and Harden.

At least they don't have Gasol's scoring anymore, right?

[Andrew]

At least they don't have Gasol's scoring anymore, right?

Something to be thankful for at least.

They might prove tougher than the Spurs and Rockets, but I still reckon you can take them down. Durant, Gay and Green have been a pretty effective trio for you throughout the season and you've pulled out some hard fought wins already.

[Phil89]

??/5/10

Oklahoma City Thunder [8-0] vs Los Angeles Lakers [8-1]

Durant dominates as Thunder take game 1 easily



Oklahoma City welcomed the defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers to the Ford Center for game 1 of their Western Conference Finals series.
Both teams started positively, but with the scored tied at 4-4 the Thunder went on a 12-0 run. It set the tone for the rest of the game.
The Thunder really looked fired up early on. They dominated the Lakers at both ends and amazingly lead by 15 points at the first break, 36-21.
Kevin Durant set the example for his young team, scoring 13 points in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant only managed 4 points for the Lakers.
Both teams continued scoring freely in the second quarter. The Lakers looked to get back into the game and at one stage had the lead down to 11.
But the Thunder responded in front of their home fans and went on another 12-0 run. They had one of their best halves of the season and lead 73-50.
Durant and the Thunder continued to pile on the points in the third. He added another 18 points to his tally. Thunder lead 106-85 with one to play.
With the game seemingly over both teams rested their starters and let the bench players have some minutes. Thunder easily won 135-104.
Durant finished with 44 points. Bryant scored 28 and had 8 assists. BJ Mullens came off the bench and scored 20 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.
So the Thunder take a vital 1-0 lead in the series, which returns to the Ford Center in 2 nights time for game 2.

Player of the Game: Kevin Durant

OKC - 36 37 33 29 135
LAL - 21 29 35 19 104

Top Scorers
Kevin Durant - 44
Kobe Bryant - 28
Rudy Gay - 26
BJ Mullens - 20
Lamar Odom - 18
Ron Artest - 18

Assists
Kobe Bryant - 8
Derek Fisher - 6
Manu Ginobili - 5

Rebounds
Jeff Green - 16
Ben Wallace - 9
Andrew Bynum - 8
BJ Mullens - 7
Lamar Odom - 7
Ron Artest - 7

Video Highlights
BJ Mullens gets around Bynum then dunks emphatically.

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Kyle Weaver to Kevin Durant Alley oop dunk.

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[Phil89]

So they did have a fit Ginobili playing point guard, but he didn't cause me any real problems.

That was easily the best game I've played all season. I had to check twice when I saw that I'd scored over 100 points in 3 quarters.

[megarover]

That team is the defintion of stacked and you still managed to steal game 1

[Andrew]

It's not really stealing the game when you're the top seed playing at home. Certainly an emphatic win though, looks like you're in such a zone at the moment that they might not give you as much trouble as perhaps anticipated.

[Phil89]

It was an amazing game. My shots just kept going in and the Lakers defense was pretty poor.

But I'm fully expecting game 2 to be a lot harder. Not to mention the road games in LA.

[Phil89]

??/5/10

Oklahoma City Thunder [9-0] vs Los Angeles Lakers [8-2]

Durant and Bryant put on a show as Thunder take 2-0 series lead.



Oklahoma City welcomed the Lakers back to the Ford Center for game 2 of the Western Conference Finals series, which they lead 1-0.
The Thunder started well, just as they did in game 1. Leading 11-8 they went on a 10-0 run. They lead by 12 at the first break, 29-17.
Los Angeles hit back in the second and gradually eroded the Thunder's lead. They tied the score at 51-51 with 2 minutes left in the half.
But Oklahoma City steadied to lead 63-59 at the half. In what seemed a personal shoot-out, Durant had 16 points in the quarter and Bryant had 17.
The Thunder looked in control, but couldn't shake the Lakers. They managed to pull away late to lead 95-85 with one to play.
They held on in the fourth to record their 10th straight Playoff win, 119-108. They now lead the best of 7 series 2-0.
Durant top scored with 50 points. Bryant managed 38 of his own. Westbrook, Gay and Green all recorded double-doubles.
Westbrook had an outstanding game. He finished with 25 points, 10 assists, 3 blocks and 4 steals.
Green managed 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Gay had 14 points, 2 blocks and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Both teams now head to Los Angeles for game 3. The Lakers must win to have any chance of avoiding defeat in the series.

Player of the Game: Kevin Durant

OKC - 29 34 32 24 119
LAL - 17 42 26 23 108

Top Scorers
Kevin Durant - 50
Kobe Bryant - 38
Russell Westbrook - 25
Lamar Odom - 22
Ron Artest - 18

Assists
Russell Westbrook - 10
Manu Ginobili - 9
Ron Artest - 5
Derek Fisher - 5

Rebounds
Al Jefferson - 12
Ben Wallace - 12
Jeff Green - 11
Rudy Gay - 10
Lamar Odom - 9

Video Highlights
Jeff Green 3 point play early in the first quarter.

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Durant with 2 blocks, Westbrook runs it down the court, Green finishes with a dunk.

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[Bucket]

Nice win. Finals waiting for you.
Black mamba #25 ?

[megarover]

Lol #25 I didnt even notice that. Nice job taking the 2-0 lead

[Andrew]

Sounds like you had a great duel with Kobe, best of all you came out on top. Good luck in Los Angeles, though with your current form I don't think the Lakers are going to come storming back in this series!

Black mamba #25 ?

That'd be due to the trade with the Spurs. The game would've assigned him #25 as Richard Jefferson wears #24.

[kibaxx7]

Sorry man, but I have to say it again: you need to lose some games!

[Andrew]

Isn't playing to win the point of the game though?

[Phil89]

Isn't playing to win the point of the game though?

Exactly. Plus I lost 19 games in the regular season. Isn't that enough?

Black mamba #25 ?

That'd be due to the trade with the Spurs. The game would've assigned him #25 as Richard Jefferson wears #24.

Also, Al Jefferson is #26 because Kobe is #25. Same thing happened to Rudy Gay when I got him. Jeff Green already had #22 so Gay now wears #23.

[kibaxx7]

Isn't playing to win the point of the game though?

Exactly. Plus I lost 19 games in the regular season. Isn't that enough?

I know, just saying because OKC winning 63 games, coming from a 23-win season, and now 10-0 on playoffs... very unrealistic considering you only got Rudy Gay

[Phil89]

It's a game. You create your own reality.

And if you have a problem with the realism, don't read my Dynasty. Doesn't bother me.

[kibaxx7]

It was just a joke man, relax In fact, the other day I used Minnesota in a season, only acquired Devin Harris and went to win like 55 games. So, I won't stop reading.

[Phil89]

That wasn't really directed at you personally. Just in general I hate how people complain about threads, but still post in them

Btw, you forgot one thing. I also signed Ben Wallace

[Phil89]

Ok, I have a decision to make with this. I did a big clean up today and moved my PS3 and TV into my room.
The problem is that at the moment I don't have a way of connecting to the internet in here.

My options:
- Continue playing and post here without pictures and videos.
- Continue playing and save the photos and videos. But wait to post, while I see if I can get internet in here.
- Postpone playing this until I find out whether I can get internet or not.

I have no problem doing this without the photos and videos. What do you guys think?

[Andrew]

Isn't playing to win the point of the game though?

Exactly. Plus I lost 19 games in the regular season. Isn't that enough?

I know, just saying because OKC winning 63 games, coming from a 23-win season, and now 10-0 on playoffs... very unrealistic considering you only got Rudy Gay

Well, they did go from 23 wins to 50 wins in real life.

Unless you go out of your way to re-create what's happening in real life, a Dynasty is always going to differ somewhat from reality and user skill is usually going to account for a better record than one might expect. No one wants to play through a 15-67 season, after all. I understand where you're coming from of course and frankly losing the odd game keeps things interesting for the person playing the games as much as it makes for a better story, but I think one just has to play the game and make a story with the results produced.

Ok, I have a decision to make with this. I did a big clean up today and moved my PS3 and TV into my room.
The problem is that at the moment I don't have a way of connecting to the internet in here.

My options:
- Continue playing and post here without pictures and videos.
- Continue playing and save the photos and videos. But wait to post, while I see if I can get internet in here.
- Postpone playing this until I find out whether I can get internet or not.

I have no problem doing this without the photos and videos. What do you guys think?

Depends on your enthusiasm for playing the game right now, perhaps you'd like play them now and hold off publishing the results until you can get the situation with Internet access resolved since you can write up the recaps and save the appropriate media to your hard drive to upload and post when you can. Otherwise, you were still doing a fine job when you were posting the recaps with real photos and without videos so I don't think anyone would begrudge you that given the situation. Having said that though, I'd suggest option two or three, depending on how keen you are to play out the rest of the series.

[Phil89]

I think I'll go with option 2. I'll save photos + videos and if I don't have internet in a week or so, I'll post the match report without them.