OKC - 2011/12 - Thunder Three-peat

[Houndy]

Games have been much closer

[Phil89]

That's for sure. 1 more win and I'll have a shot at back to back titles.

If I get to the Finals at least I should regain my rebounding dominance. A tough series against Yao and now against Haynes and Nene.
Cleveland don't have Shaq or Ilgauskas anymore. Just Varejao. Atlanta have Horford, Pachulia and Przybilla. Not too bad.

[Murat]

Good wins... Good luck at Finals...

[Phil89]

??/5/11

Oklahoma City Thunder [11-0] vs Denver Nuggets [8-6]

Thunder win game 4 and complete least lopsided sweep ever



OKC - 30 26 38 33 127
DEN - 22 26 32 30 120

Player of the Game: Kevin Durant

Top Scorers
Kevin Durant - 33
Carmelo Anthony - 30
Greg Oden - 28
Brandon Roy - 27
JR Smith - 27
Nene - 20
Chauncey Billups - 18
Randy Foye - 15
Russell Westbrook - 14
LaMarcus Aldridge - 10

Assists
Russell Westbrook - 13
Chauncey Billups - 10
Carmelo Anthony - 7
Nene - 3
Greg Oden - 3
Kevin Durant - 3
Jeff Green - 3

Rebounds
Nene - 12
Garry Haynes - 11
Greg Oden - 11
LaMarcus Aldridge - 10
Chris Andersen - 7
Kevin Durant - 6
Carmelo Anthony - 5

Video Highlights
Westbrook finds Durant who finishes with a windmill dunk.


Green alley-oop to Oden.

[Phil89]

Western Conference 1st Round
(1) OKC vs DEN (3) - OKC wins series 4-0

Eastern Conference 1st Round
(1) CLE vs ATL (7) - CLE wins series 4-3


Full preview to follow.

[Andrew]

Congrats on making the Finals again, definitely a competitive series despite the sweep. Good luck against the Cavs!

[Phil89]

??/6/11

It's the Finals series everybody wanted to see as the thunder take on the Cavaliers



How They Got Here
Oklahoma City
Regular Season - 71-11 (1st in West)
1st Round - UTA - 4-0
West Semis - HOU - 4-0
West Finals - DEN - 4-0

Cleveland
Regular Season - 55-27 (1st in East)
1st Round - CHA - 4-2
East Semis - CHI - 4-3
East Finals - ATL - 4-3

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Meetings This Season
January 26 - @ Cleveland - Thunder won 91-85.
March 2 - @ Oklahoma City - Thunder won 114-106.

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Line-ups
Oklahoma City
Starting 5 - Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Durant, Brandon Roy, Russell Westbrook.
Subs - Kenyon Martin, JJ Redick, Jeff Green, James Harden, Eric Maynor, Serge Ibaka.
Inactive - BJ Mullens, Roy Parrish, Boris Jones.

Cleveland
Starting 5 - Anderson Varejao, Antawn Jamison, LeBron James, Delonte West, Devin Harris.
Subs - Daniel Gibson, Jamario Moon, Christian Eyenga, JJ Hickson, Curt Blake, Hubert Ripley, Adam Morrison.
Inactive - Darnell Jackson, Carl Landry.

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Key Players
Oklahoma City
Kevin Durant
Averaging 30.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.8 APG and 3.4 SPG in the Playoffs.
Lead his team to the second best record in NBA history. 3rd in scoring during regular season.

LaMarcus Aldridge
Averaging 15.1 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.7 APG and 2.2 BPG in the Playoffs.
Solid at both ends of the court. Has recorded many 20-10 games this season.

Cleveland
LeBron James
Averaging 24.9 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.3 BPG, 2.1 SPG in the Playoffs.
He was named the league's Most Valuable Player this season. 4th in scoring during regular season.

Devin Harris
Averaging 16.9 PPG and 5.2 APG in the Playoffs.
Swapped New Jersey for Cleveland and has really flourished as LeBron's #2.

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Key Factors
Fitness - Cleveland have played 8 more games in the post-season than Oklahoma City, including two game 7's.
Rebounding - Oklahoma City have Oden, Aldridge and Hibbert while Cleveland only have Varejao.
Depth - Oklahoma City have players like Green, Redick, Martin and Harden who can come on and add scoring. Cleveland have Hickson and Gibson.
Pride - Oklahoma City are defending their title.

[Andrew]

They definitely seem to have had the harder road. With your advantage on the boards and your Big Four, I reckon you could very well sweep through the entire postseason.

[Phil89]

I'm amazed that they made it this far with that roster to be honest. Must be because of Morrison.

[qfrmcpt310]

Ammo = G.O.A.T

[Martti.]

KD vs The King. Should be interesting.

[Phil89]

??/6/11

Oklahoma City Thunder [12-0] vs Cleveland Cavaliers [12-8]

Thunder outlast determined Cleveland to take game 1



OKC - 30 31 26 41 128
CLE - 25 34 27 33 119

Player of the Game: LeBron James

Top Scorers
LeBron James - 37
Russell Westbrook - 27
Brandon Roy - 25
Kevin Durant - 24
Delonte West - 22
Devin Harris - 21
Greg Oden - 17
Antawn Jamison - 17
LaMarcus Aldridge - 14
Jeff Green - 13
Anderson Varejao - 11

Assists
LeBron James - 11
Russell Westbrook - 10
Devin Harris - 9
LaMarcus Aldridge - 5
Greg Oden - 4
Brandon Roy - 3
Antawn Jamison - 3

Rebounds
Anderson Varejao - 13
LaMarcus Aldridge - 10
Greg Oden - 9
Kevin Durant - 6
LeBron James - 5
Delonte West - 5
Antawn Jamison - 4
Curt Blake - 4
Brandon Roy - 4
Jeff Green - 4

Video Highlights
Durant with a spectacular dunk.


Oden finishes with an acrobatic lay-up.


Durant sinks a 3 to give the Thunder a 103-101 lead midway through the fourth.


-----
Durant started really slowly scoring wise, but Westbrook stepped up and kept me in it until Durant got going.

[Andrew]

Just three wins away from a repeat. Looks like LeBron has come ready to play though. Good luck the rest of the way!

[Houndy]

Let's go Thunder, let's go!

[Axel The Great]

37 points by LeBron! Nice job taking Game 1, now sweep them!

[BD1599]

Nice win against Cleveland! LeBron's face in that picture is priceless.

[Phil89]

??/6/11

Oklahoma City Thunder [13-0] vs Cleveland Cavaliers [12-9]

Thunder overcome shaky start to beat Cavs



OKC - 20 33 34 34 121
CLE - 25 30 25 28 108

Player of the Game: Brandon Roy

Top Scorers
Kevin Durant - 31
LeBron James - 31
Brandon Roy - 27
LaMarcus Aldridge - 21
Antawn Jamison - 18
Delonte West - 17
Devin Harris - 17
Jeff Green - 16
Greg Oden - 11

Assists
Devin Harris - 12
LeBron James - 9
Russell Westbrook - 6
Eric Maynor - 5
Brandon Roy - 4
Delonte West - 4
Daniel Gibson - 4

Rebounds
Greg Oden - 18
Anderson Varejao - 10
Antawn Jamison - 10
LaMarcus Aldridge - 9
Kevin Durant - 5
Brandon Roy - 5
Russell Westbrook - 5
Jeff Green - 5

Video Highlights
Green dunks over Harris.


The crowd loved it when Durant blocked LeBron's shot.


Roy sinks it from half court on the buzzer at the end of the third quarter. Too bad it didn't count.


-----
I trailed by as many as 9 early in the second quarter. Fought back and they seemed to run out of legs in the fourth.
Plus Jamison and Varejao picked up their 5th fouls midway through the fourth.

[Andrew]

If all goes well, that's the last game in Oklahoma City for the season. Sounds like you made it memorable for the fans.

[Phil89]

??/6/11

Oklahoma City Thunder [14-0] vs Cleveland Cavaliers [12-10]

Game 3 win edges Thunder closer to back to back Titles



OKC - 24 27 29 31 111
CLE - 23 21 35 22 101

Player of the Game: Brandon Roy

Top Scorers
LeBron James - 35
Kevin Durant - 29
Brandon Roy - 27
Delonte West - 25
LaMarcus Aldridge - 19
Jeff Green - 19
Devin Harris - 17
Antawn Jamison - 15
Russell Westbrook - 13

Assists
Devin Harris - 12
Russell Westbrook - 5
LaMarcus Aldridge - 3
Kevin Durant - 3
Jeff Green - 3
LeBron James - 3
Daniel Gibson - 3

Rebounds
Greg Oden - 15
LaMarcus Aldridge - 12
Anderson Varejao - 12
Antawn Jamison - 11
Brandon Roy - 8
LeBron James - 8
Devin Harris - 5
Jeff Green - 4

Video Highlights
Green with a 360 dunk.


Green sinks a massive three to halt Cleveland's momentum.

[Andrew]

LeBron's having a pretty good series, much better than his 2007 Finals series, but it appears it will be for naught. One to go.

[Axel The Great]

One win away from going 16-0 and sweeping the NBA!

[Bucket]

Sorry, but your record is boring. 15-0 and 71-11.

[Andrew]

What's he supposed to do? Lose on purpose?

Don't look at the record, look at the games. Phil's had some really competitive games even in the midst of sweeps and some exciting finishes.

[Axel The Great]

Maybe Phil's just too good for this game. Anyways, look at the Lakers, they're champions, but they had some very tough games this season.

[Phil89]

Sorry, but your record is boring. 15-0 and 71-11.

I'm sorry you feel that way. But these Playoffs have been in no way boring for me.

The Denver series was incredible. An average winning margin of just 5 points. A double overtime game.