Comments on: NBA Playoffs: Incredible comeback has Dallas one game from the NBA Finals

By: passerby23

passerby23 — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:33:18 +0000

The trade for Perkins was done with the belief that the road to the finals goes through LA. As currently constructed, they weren’t in a position to hang with the Laker bigs. With Perkins against LA, I think that’s where you would see the benefit. Against Dallas, Dirk is a matchup problem and you need quicker perimeter defenders on him so Perkins is seeing less minutes. Of greater concern is that Perkins just doesn’t give them the offense and shooting they need against Dallas, the same problem which would’ve occurred for the Celtics against the Heat.

By: davidly

davidly — Tue, 24 May 2011 13:31:09 +0000

Conventional pundit-dom has said that both the Thunder as well as the Celtics were trying to unseat the Lakers with that move. What little wisdom I have tells me that – for this season, at least – both teams would have been better off without the trade.

By: philiplewis1

philiplewis1 — Tue, 24 May 2011 12:53:55 +0000

Kendrick Perkins has to be the biggest “punk” in the NBA at the moment. He’s obviously going after Chandler on every play trying to bait him into losing his cool and doing something stupid. Chandler has done a pretty good job of not letting it get to him but Perkins needs to somehow be stopped by the officials. Every time down the floor he “accidentally” runs into Chandler or “accidentally” falls into him. I watched Perkins some in high school and he was a punk then as well with mostly a lot of size and average basketball skills. One of the great mismatches of all time was watching Chris Bosh run circles around Perkins in the Texas 4A state championship game when Bosh was a senior and Perkins a junior in high school.

By: bittersonicsfan

bittersonicsfan — Tue, 24 May 2011 10:36:09 +0000

I’m starting to think that Kendrick Perkins isn’t as valuable as everyone thinks. When he got traded I thought Oklahoma was going to dominate even more than they already were. Nick Collison has proved to be the right guy in important situations, he’s not an offensive liability nor a force, but he doesn’t make mistakes or call timeouts at silly moments. Pay the man!

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 24 May 2011 06:51:25 +0000

Dirk was just unstoppable in the 4th quarter. He went from making me think he was gonna cost them the game to taking it over and putting them back in it. I have to say dallas’ defense looks good against the thunder especially Durant. I think maybe the Thunder will take 1 in dallas but that seems kinda iffy now.

(Click on my name to check out my sports blog or google Minnesporta)

By: delius1967

delius1967 — Tue, 24 May 2011 06:25:29 +0000

I can’t help but think that, if the Lakers had executed such a comeback, what we’d be hearing about is how clutch Kobe is and how you can’t beat championship experience. It’s been a recurring theme here to not so much credit the Mavericks as to blame their opponents for losing.

Having said that, as a Dallas fan, I feel pretty bad about this victory, especially for Durant, who really is a good kid. (Less so for Westbrook who seems to be more in the “me first” player mold that has plagued the NBA for the last 10-15 years.) You like to say “he’s only 22, he’ll have more chances in the future” but you never know, do you?

I don’t see how the Thunder come back from this. They are too young to recover from such a crushing blow. Dallas will likely win big on Wednesday to close out the series.

By: passerby23

passerby23 — Tue, 24 May 2011 06:19:18 +0000

There’s no better example than that game for what experience can do for you in the playoffs. OKC probably blew their best and only chance to stay alive in this series. It’s tough to imagine them winning two in Dallas, let alone how good Dallas has been on the road. Worse still, it’s hard to imagine OKC being able to get up after for Game 5 after such a letdown. We are gearing up for a Mavs-Heat rematch of ’06.

By: dwighthowardisamazing

dwighthowardisamazing — Tue, 24 May 2011 06:01:05 +0000

the thunder are a young team, someday they will be more experienced in these types of situations and come through them on the other side. however, the mavs did have an amazing finish.

By: joshdisotell

joshdisotell — Tue, 24 May 2011 05:59:17 +0000

So is this gonna be all the talk on tuesday? Okc choked and dallas D had no say in it? Yes, obviously okc kicked dallas butts for 43 minutes, but that want long enough. but when kidd is getting steals, chandler and marion are getting blocks, and players are settling for just plain bad shots , defense deserves some cred. And D in the NBA is only good if it produces offense, and dallas provided that when it mattered most. DIRK FOR MVP!!!

By: aqzi

aqzi — Tue, 24 May 2011 05:52:19 +0000

I wonder if Scotty Brooks will be on the hot seat if the Thunder lose the next one. The offense was just plain horrible, especially coming out of timeouts.

And wow was Dirk good.

By: jjared1101

jjared1101 — Tue, 24 May 2011 05:45:57 +0000

The Thunder had this.

———-

And Dirk took it from them.