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The Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma City Thunder are set to play the first game of their Western Conference Final battle. Join The Roar for our live blog and scores from the match, starting from 11am AEST.
While it might not be the match-up we all expected at the end of the regular season, the one we’ve got ahead of ourselves has us all salivating and counting down for the first tip.
There are crazy matchups as far as the eye can see; Curry vs Westbrook, Thompson vs Roberson, Barnes vs Durant, Green vs Ibaka, Bogut vs Adams and so on and so on.
Golden State put together the greatest season in NBA history on their way to a 73-9 record and so far in the Playoffs they’ve shown us all glimpses as to how they were able to pull together that many wins. They lost their two time MVP Steph Curry for a couple of weeks due to injury, but he came rampaging back and helped finish off the Blazers in the second round.
With the only injury concern belonging to the big man from our shores in Bogut, the Warriors come in extremely formidable and will like their chances against the Thunder after winning the season series 3-0.
The Thunder will be full of confidence after sending the San Antonio Spurs packing in their second round series. During that series the Thunder experimented with a few different line-ups and had great success in doing so.
While the NBA movement has been to that of small ball the Thunder went against this and used big men Steven Adams and Enes Kanter together for long stretches against the Spurs. Unfortunately for the Thunder, this tactic may not work against the incredibly versatile Warriors.
It will sound weird to say and even hear, but the Thunder may be better suited to try to slow the pace of the game down and make this a half court battle. In doing so they can allow their big men time to use their bodies against the Warriors small line-ups.
Here is where the problem lies, the Warriors can match up with big line-ups just as well as they can with small ball ones.
Yes it’s a tough situation to be in however this won’t phase the Thunder and it shouldn’t. When you boast a team that has two of the top five players in the league, you should go into any battle with a little bit of swagger.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook will need to play the series of their lives if the Thunder are to advance to the NBA Finals.
The keys to victory for both sides will lie outside of the marquee players and sit on the shoulders of the bench. Whichever bench unit can bring the most to the table along with whichever team can control the pace will determine the victor for what should be an epic encounter.
Prediction
The Warriors will be out to prove a point and yes the Thunder took apart the ever-impressive Spurs, this is a whole new beast and in front of their home crowd I’m expecting nothing but the best from the Warriors.
Golden State by 13
Be sure to join The Roar for the live blog and scores of this match from 11am (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
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