When You Were Young

One of the narratives that's emerged in the Western Conference finals is that the Thunder are "growing up." Really, the question of the Thunder growing up — whether it's happening, when it will happen, what it might mean for Russell Westbrook's glasses — has been part of just about every conversation OKC has figured in since the Lakers series two years ago, maybe even before. And that's only natural; in a lot of ways, our modes of interpreting the NBA are still dominated by the '80s and early '90s, when, the story goes, the Pistons had to grow up to get past the Celtics and the Lakers and then the Bulls had to grow up to get past the Pistons. Watching young teams mature, toughen up, and dethrone the older teams that once kept them down is part of the expected order of the NBA. And the Thunder — a very young, very talented squad whose potential path to the Finals happens to run through the three franchises that won the West every year from 1999 to 2012 — are just the latest chapter in the story.

The only problem with this version of events? Through Game 5, it's not really happening. OKC has now beaten the Spurs three straight times, but the wins haven't fit the mold of NBA maturation — everyone knowing their roles, the superstars reliably taking over during important stretches, the team collectively showing mental toughness and taking care of all the little things. Instead, the Thunder have been winning in the most insane ways possible. They've totally changed identities, going from the team with the lowest assist total in the NBA to one that routinely dishes out 20-plus assists per game. (Westbrook had 12 on Monday night, despite playing the fourth quarter like he hadn't ever met Durant.) Apart from Durant's sublime fourth quarter in Game 4, the superstars have been erratic. Durant, Harden, and Westbrook were 18-for-42 in Game 3. Westbrook and Harden were 6-for-23 in Game 4. All three of them had ruthless-genius moments in Game 5 — the Westbrook Destroys the Universe dunk, the late Harden 3, Durant's little shiv of a got-his-own-rebound putback — but they also made inexplicable mistakes, missed big shots, turned over the ball, and passed to the wrong teammates. (Guys, meet Kevin. He's here to help!)

The Thunder have been winning these weird, frenetic games partly because they've been doing a few extremely big things right (the underrated "hit a dramatic 3 right when it seems like the Spurs are about to tie it" strategy), but also because they've been getting preposterously great contributions from unexpected sources — Kendick Perkins's offensive explosion in Game 4, Serge Ibaka's 11-for-11, Daequan Cook's eight points in four minutes Monday night. Instead of playing like a grown-up team, in other words, they're winning by harnessing some kind of childlike chaos. They're harrying the Spurs on defense and getting steals (fun!) instead of crashing the boards and getting rebounds (boring!). They're coming up huge in all the big moments their own maddening mistakes have created for them. They're doing what you're not supposed to be able to do in this league of playoff fouls, mental toughness, and murderous competitiveness. They're winning like kids.

— Brian Phillips

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jeste skuzili sinoc prije cetvrte genijalni popov intervju od valjda 4 rijeci na 2 pitanja? 

To radi vec neko vrijeme.

Iako tako ne izgleda na prvi pogled, zapravo taj Pop je jako duhovit tip. Vrlo cesto se sprda na taj sav cirkus od NBA-a. Recimo poslije prve cetvrtine protiv LAC u playoffu, kada su gubili 20-tak, njegovi odgovori su isli nekako ovako (parafraziram):
P: Sto kazete da igru LAC?
O: Igrali su super.
P: Sto trebate promjeniti i napraviti da ih stignete?
O: Trebamo igrati bolje i dati vise koseva

Pop je inače kratak i ne-raspoložen sa novinarima, samo gleda kako da pobjegne. No ono je bio rekord čak i za njega.

ovo je bas bio rekord http://youtu.be/KWL-z7cvhVU

Večeras će LeBron biti clutch u četvrtoj, računajte na to...

4 - Griffin
5 - Durant
6 - James
7 - Westbrook
8 - Williams
9 - Wade
10 - Bryant
11 - Iguodala
12 - Chandler
13 - Paul
14 - Love
15 - Anthony