Judgement Day - Wolves at Thunder Game 5 GDT

[FNG]

Basically a mirror image of Game 3...difference is that game meant little to OkC, and this one meant everything to us. True Gentleman's Sweep.

[TAFKASP]

I'm not on the "fire Finch" bandwagon, but it does seem like our players have been so unprepared for what OKC does on both ends of the court. Not his best series. But, you live and learn, and move on to the next season.

Preparation is no use when OKC is so much better. You have to play a perfect game to lose close, and need OKC to play terribly to win. OKC is going to be good for a while, Connelly has his work cut out for him.

[DNatagal]

I'm not on the "fire Finch" bandwagon, but it does seem like our players have been so unprepared for what OKC does on both ends of the court. Not his best series. But, you live and learn, and move on to the next season.

being able to watch Thibs on a daily basis, my big fear is that Finch went from being the guy Rosas was able to hire thinking he could work with anyone and adapt to anything and now he's become Thibs Jr. where he plays favorites, leans too much into vets, and if you're not his type, he doesn't wanna try working with you. There's a ceiling to where those coaches can go. It's a high one, but still falls short of the goal.

Meanwhile, Rick Carlisle's throwing Tony Bradley out there in big spots against the Knicks and showcasing faith that he can go 10 deep and win.

I think Finch deserves some criticism, but do you honestly think his coaching has prevented us from beating OKC?

Finch is the reason this wasn't a competitive series. The head coach should not be putting the ball in Randles hands outside of the box. His handle is atrocious and has been all season.
The short bench has hurt this team that is on Finch. The "offense" that they run is for smart players that can offball screen and backcut. The top 8 players never do that, they mostly ball watch.
The ATO plays and any inbounds play are poorly designed and do not lead to easy shots.
All of these problems are on the coach. He needs to take control and get the players to do the right thing. If he can't do it, get someone else in there.

[Coolbreeze44]

I cringed when people were buying the Ju hype after the 2nd round. I had a feeling this was coming.

[Q-is-here]

being able to watch Thibs on a daily basis, my big fear is that Finch went from being the guy Rosas was able to hire thinking he could work with anyone and adapt to anything and now he's become Thibs Jr. where he plays favorites, leans too much into vets, and if you're not his type, he doesn't wanna try working with you. There's a ceiling to where those coaches can go. It's a high one, but still falls short of the goal.

Meanwhile, Rick Carlisle's throwing Tony Bradley out there in big spots against the Knicks and showcasing faith that he can go 10 deep and win.

I think Finch deserves some criticism, but do you honestly think his coaching has prevented us from beating OKC?

Finch is the reason this wasn't a competitive series. The head coach should not be putting the ball in Randles hands outside of the box. His handle is atrocious and has been all season.
The short bench has hurt this team that is on Finch. The "offense" that they run is for smart players that can offball screen and backcut. The top 8 players never do that, they mostly ball watch.
The ATO plays and any inbounds play are poorly designed and do not lead to easy shots.
All of these problems are on the coach. He needs to take control and get the players to do the right thing. If he can't do it, get someone else in there.

Boy, for how awful you make him sound, one would never know he coached two Western Conference Finals teams!

The Finals will be VERY telling either way.

[Q-is-here]

I'm not on the "fire Finch" bandwagon, but it does seem like our players have been so unprepared for what OKC does on both ends of the court. Not his best series. But, you live and learn, and move on to the next season.

Preparation is no use when OKC is so much better. You have to play a perfect game to lose close, and need OKC to play terribly to win. OKC is going to be good for a while, Connelly has his work cut out for him.

Yup, he does indeed. Now we need to go back to Lip's thread about bringing everyone back (he had a question mark) and folks can revisit their initial thoughts!

[60WinTim]

I cringed when people were buying the Ju hype after the 2nd round. I had a feeling this was coming.

But it was more than the 2nd round. He seemed to find a way to blend in after he returned from injury. I am just not sure what to make of it all...

[60WinTim]

Back to 30! We're comin'!

[Crazysauce]

You guys all hyping the okc like they are the dream team. This is a team that just went 7 with Denver. Not saying they are not good as most top seeds in a playoffs are good. Finch has not been good. He has been awful. Okc are gonna be here for a while. After last years conference finals letdown and this one I would move on from Finch.

[FNG]

I'm not on the "fire Finch" bandwagon, but it does seem like our players have been so unprepared for what OKC does on both ends of the court. Not his best series. But, you live and learn, and move on to the next season.

Preparation is no use when OKC is so much better. You have to play a perfect game to lose close, and need OKC to play terribly to win. OKC is going to be good for a while, Connelly has his work cut out for him.

Yup, he does indeed. Now we need to go back to Lip's thread about bringing everyone back (he had a question mark) and folks can revisit their initial thoughts!

I guess we'll find out what TC and Finchy put more weight on: the fact that we went 25-6 from the time Julius returned from injury through the first two rounds of the playoffs, or the fact that we got our azzes handed to us by the best team in the NBA. Right now this seems more important, but the 31 games before these 5 have to mean something.