2020 Playoffs: 4/5: Houston vs. OKC

Really the only first round match-up I'm looking forward to unless the Blazers or Grizzlies get the 8 seed. This one ought to be good. Westbrook and Harden taking on OKC! This is one where the fans will be missed.

The Thunder have overachieved this season - we all know Chris Paul is a great point guard, but to have this kind of success relying on 3 PG lineups, a second year guy in SGA and players previously thought washed up like Gallo is remarkable. Houston's looked great though. I don't think their style of play will hold up against a top-tier team like the Lakers or Clippers but I do think they can beat the Thunder. I bet it takes 7 games though.

I agree, this is a first round series that'll definitely be missing something without crowds. It's certainly a poetic match-up, given the backstory.

Houston's style tends to fall apart in the Playoffs, but I don't think the wheels will come off this early. I don't want to underrate the Thunder, but I do think they'll be outmatched. I'll say Rockets in 5, though I could feasibly see it going to six if Harden and Westbrook combine for a couple of really bad shooting nights.

Houston in 5. Harden's gonna shoot poorly one of these nights and OKC will capitalize

Lol, looks like no one gave two shits about this series.

What a horrendous final possession; it looks like it was meant for Gallinari, but no one else wanted anything to do with the ball.

Nah, I was jumping up and down.

In that 4th quarter, SGA was so unplayable and he stuck out like a sore thumb. I dont even know what the fuck Dort was doing trying to bounce it off Harden with a second remaining lmfao. It seemed like the whistle boys really wanted OKC to win (im not complaining) but man, Gallo shooting those FTs and not CP3? Why?

Took them 2 timeouts to draw a play that was easily read by their star player before. Pass it to Adams for a 3 sure dude.

Missed a prime opportunity to tie the game with a pass to a wide open Adams at the rim. Donovan should be toast; remains to be seen if the buck stops with him, though.

Great defensive play by Harden, too. I will push back on the "Never say anything about Harden's defense again" remark on commentary, because it doesn't invalidate past criticism, nor shield him indefinitely from future criticism if the effort isn't there on D. He did make the stop however, then eluded that bizarre attempt at clock stoppage by Dort, so full credit to him on this occasion.

Harden's still below average at defending guards but his post defense is quite good, which works given his role in the offense. That said he didn't play very well in that game. The narrative is that Dort shut him down which I find a bit hard to believe, but maybe it's true...

I don't think Donovan's on the hot seat. He did a great job getting a projected lottery team to the playoffs. For the love of god, hire an assistant who can run plays out of timeouts! I remember people clowning on Mike Brown for deferring to Kuester late in games way back when but it worked (to some extent)

I mean, back in the day, the triangle came from Tex Winter; not Phil Jackson. The whole point of a quality coaching staff is so that it's not all on one person to see everything and come up with every strategy themselves. At the same time, the head coach has the final say - one would think, anyway - so it's still on him to a large extent.

You're not wrong there. I guess what I'm saying is that while Donovan sucks at calling plays like that, this season was a massive success. Unless we want to give all the credit to Chris Paul, Billy Donovan was a big part of that. After trading their two star players and going into a season where most people thought they'd be a lottery team, they made the pose-season, developed their young players and posted the best clutch rating in the league. I'd be stunned if they fired him but we'll see.

That's true as well. It's easy to forget that they overachieved and focus on the final blunder, which is Prisoner of the Moment thinking that I'm normally very much against. Donovan must share in the credit for that, though it doesn't completely alleviate concerns about his shortcomings, either.

Of course, when it comes to scapegoating, such things don't matter. Fair or not, the blade could well fall on him anyway.

That 4-year, $5.4 million extension that OKC signed Lu Dort to back in June is looking like a real bargain now.

Now if he can just reproduce that game 7 offense on a regular basis to go along with his excellent defense..

I had honestly never heard of him until the playoffs but I was immediately impressed by his defense on Harden

Who doesn't like saying Dort