With one of the most exciting first rounds in NBA playoff history now concluded, it’s time us fans move on to round two. The Los Angeles Clippers with take on the Oklahoma City Thunder starting Monday at 9:30 p.m. ET in OKC.
Both teams are coming off game seven victories, although the Thunder’s game seven still has an asterisk next to it in my opinion. Zach Randolph should not have been suspended, and practically everyone except Memphis fans expected OKC to win by a comfortable margin. Clippers are coming off a great series with the Warriors all while dealing with the Donald Sterling controversy.
3 things to watch this series:
1: Westbrook vs CP3
With the two best point guards left in the playoffs facing off (no offense to Lillard and Wall) whoever comes out the victor in this matchup puts his team in a great position to win this series. Chris Paul is considered the best point guard in the league by most because he can take over a game from all facets. If Griffin and Crawford can’t get their offense going, Chris Paul is more than happy to step in and drop 25+ points. Paul is an elite defender as well but with a sketchy hamstring and a matchup with dynamic OKC guard Westbrook he’s going to have his hands full on both sides of the court. Westbrook is coming off two triple doubles in the first round and he is not slowing down anytime soon. He also showed how he can dominate games besides scoring with his work on the glass and shot creating for teammates. Then again Russy has still shown glimpses of him wanting to be the alpha dog of this team. He can be the alpha dog, and if he decides to play that role he can definitely get them a win or if he’s lucky two. However if history repeats itself like it always does then if Westbrook is the #1 option over Durant, the series will eventually be taken by the Clippers.
2: DURANT THE MVP.
One thing i’ll give Durant as a star, is that he ALWAYS shows up. He can be broke the entire game but can still will his team to victory in the closing minutes of the 4th. Durant really doesn’t have to worry about an elite defender this series either like he did with Tony Allen in Memphis. Matt Barnes will try his best but that’s just not good enough, Blake Griffin who in my opinion might match up the best one on one with Durant cant afford to guard him or he’ll be on the bench in no time thanks to foul trouble. Danny Granger however could be an interesting matchup the more I think about this. He did give LeBron trouble back in the 2012 playoffs when he played for Indiana but then again he could sag off James thanks to his suspect jumper, he wouldn’t have that luxury with KD. Going off what I said in point one about Westbrook, if he decides he wants to take more shots than Durant then we could be in some trouble. Durant has been known to keep his mouth shut in these situations or even defend Westbrook for his actions when everybody else believes the exact opposite of what Durant says. Although KD played trash to start off the Memphis series don’t expect a repeat because there is no Tony Allen in the Clippers uniform from what we’ve seen this far into the 2013-2014 NBA season/postseason.
3.Battle of the benches
This is going to be the key to the Clippers winning this series. Think about it this way, you have Darren Collison, Jamal Crawford, Jared Dudley, Hedo Turkoglu, Glenn Davis, and Danny Granger on one team. On the other you have Derrick Fisher, Reggie Jackson, Steven Adams, Thabo Sefelosha, Jeremy Lamb and Nick Collison. What team do you put your money on? I’d choose team 1 100% of the time and I’m pretty sure almost all other NBA watchers would too. (I’d also like to point out the first three names from team two are the only bench players who have played significant minutes in the playoffs out the six players I named). Derrick Fisher is going to be a huge liability on the defensive end as well. Unless OKC switches to a zone he’s never going to be able to stay between his opponent and the basket. That leads to defensive rotations which if not executed correctly leaves one of those players listed above open, they can all hit from the midrange and the majority from the three point line if left open.
I’ve had the Clippers as my title pick since around February. Im not one to change my pick unless a key injury occurs, and since that hasn’t taken place I’m still sticking with them. This will definitely be a uphill battle for the Clips getting Griffin involved with Ibaka and Perkins being between him and the basket. Stopping Westbrook and Durant will also be a handful. However if they can do that 4/6 games with good bench production they can advance to the WCF. (I said 4/6 by the way, because if this series goes seven games, i’d have a hard time picking against Westbrook and Durant in game seven on their home court.)
My Pick: Clippers in 6
Game 1 @OKC Mon 5/5 9:30 p.m. ET TNT
Game 2 @OKC Wed 5/7 9:30 p.m. ET TNT
Game 3 @LAC Fri 5/9 10:30 p.m. ET ESPN
Game 4 @LAC Sun 5/11 3:30 p.m. ET ABC
Game 5 (if necessary) @OKC 5/13 TNT tbd
Game 6 (if necessary) @LAC 5/15 ESPN tbd
Game 7 (if necessary) @OKC 5/18 TNT tbd
