OKLAHOMA CITY -- Serge Ibaka walked slowly and carefully, but without a limp, before facing reporters Saturday afternoon.
Guilherme Siqueira Jersey . Much has been made of the Oklahoma City defensive stars absence in the first two games of the
Western Conference finals series against the San Antonio Spurs. The 6-foot-10
power forward strained his left calf in the previous playoff series, and the
Thunder said they expected him to be out for the playoffs. The team changed
course Friday and declared him day-to-day. He worked out Saturday, but he didnt
practice before addressing the media for the first time since his outlook
changed. With Ibaka, the leagues leading shot blocker, the Thunder were one of
the best defensive teams the NBA. Without him, the Spurs shot at least 50 per
cent in the first two games of the Western Conference Finals and won them by a
combined 52 points. As he stood for the five-minute session wearing a black
compression sock over the calf, he deflected claims that he could be a saviour
heading into Game 3 on Sunday. "Ive been hearing a lot of people saying my team
lost two games because I was out," he said. "Thats not true. I believe in my
guys. I believe in my teammates. They can be better with me or without me. Its
no excuse because Serge Ibaka was not there. Just San Antonio, the first two
games, they played better basketball." Ibaka said he sometimes screamed at his
television set when he watched scenarios in which he could have made plays
during the losses. He is not sure if he will play in Game 3 -- he said it is up
to doctors, and much will depend on how he feels in the morning. For now, he
will depend largely on rest, ice and luck. His presence is needed, even if he is
less than fully healthy. Kendrick Perkins, Nick Collison and Perry Jones have
struggled against the Spurs big men. Kevin Durant, normally a small forward, has
played some power forward in the series because of Ibakas absence, and his
relative lack of physical strength and unfamiliarity with playing post defence
has been exploited. The Spurs prepared all along as though he would return. "It
gives them another hell of a player," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, "but we
are who we are and weve got to be who we are. We cant change what we do." Even
if Ibaka returns, it will not fully solve Oklahoma Citys problems defending the
perimeter. San Antonio has made 18 of 40 3-pointers in the series and guards
Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are slashing into the paint with stunning
frequency, often scoring or finding their teammates for open shots. The Thunder
say it starts with basics. "Its just an individual effort," Perkins said. "Got
to put it in your mind that you want to stop the guy in front of you, and thats
it. Backside got to be ready. But the thing is when they penetrate, thats what
opens those threes. Well do a better job of keeping the ball in front of us, but
weve just got to be individual and youve got to want the match up." To be fair,
San Antonio shares the ball like no one else. The Spurs led the league with 25.4
assists per game during the regular season. That average is up to 27.5 against
Oklahoma City. Parker and Ginobili generate many of the assists, but many others
come from simple ball movement. "We dont have a Durant," Ginobili said. "We dont
have a Kobe (Bryant) or LeBron (James) that can go one against one and finish
every single time. We need to pass the ball to find open teammates, and thats
what we do, and thats what weve been doing. We all feel proud about it. We know
when we have 25 assists or 30, we are much better and we try to do that every
time." Because the Spurs generally have five capable scorers on the floor at a
time, it forces opponents to have a greater attention to detail than usual.
"Theyve got threats," Durant said. "Everybody on their team is a threat because
of their offence. They move the ball. Theyve got 3-point shooters. You take away
3-point shooters, they get the role guys and they get the paint points. You take
away that and they start hitting the threes. So we have to do both. We have to
be able to close the paint up and get out to shooters. Easier said than done,
but we can do it." The Spurs are off to a good start, but experience tells them
they wont have as easy a time in Oklahoma City. And in 2012, Oklahoma City fell
behind San Antonio 2-0 in the Western Conference finals before winning the
series 4-2. "Weve got to know that in their arena its going to be different,"
Ginobili said. "Theyre going to be way more aggressive, theyre going to be
pushed by their fans. We just won two games. They are going to make more shots,
they are going to attack harder, they are going to go to the free-throw line
more.So, there are a lot of things that they can do much better and were not
going to make as many shots."
Filipe Luis Jersey . But its also a smart game. Theres more to the Kings than banging bodies. They take a toll mentally on
their opponents.
Blank Atletico Madrid Jersey . The Goldeyes (10-7) lost 4-1 to the Saltdogs (8-9) Sunday afternoon before 5,834 sizzling
fans at Shaw Park. The loss drops Winnipegs record to 3-4 during this past weeks
seven-game homestand.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule
enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at
[email protected]! The mail bag is loaded with questions as to how the Los Angeles
Kings third goal in their 6-0 win over Montreal on Tuesday could possibly have
been allow to stand after Kyle Clifford backed into Habs goalie Carey Price deep
in his goal crease (video link here). As my colleague Ray Ferraro said on the
TSN broadcast, "Oh, I cant believe there are going to allow this goal...In my
opinion, this is as goaltender interference penalty as youll find!" I couldnt
agree more with Rays accurate assessment of this play. What troubles me most,
beyond the tremendous inconsistency we see in calling goalkeeper interference,
is that Referee Kevin Pollock had an unobstructed view from a stationery
position in the corner closest to Kyle Clifford and Carey Price. The clear
sightline gained in advance by the referee, as the Kings attacked the Montreal
goal, should have made it easy to wave off Alec Martinezs first goal of the
season and assess a penalty to Clifford for goalkeeper interference! The rebound
off the initial save that Price made went to the opposite side of the net from
where the referee was standing - as Clifford was backing deep into the goal
crease and initiated contact with Price. From his position, the referee couldnt
help but look through the blue paint to locate the puck and therefore should
have reacted to the obvious goalkeeper interference that knocked Price off his
set and thereby prevented him from defending his goal. It matters little to me
that this goal didnt impact the final outcome of the game. What this play
highlights for us is that the current system of detecting and enforcing
goalkeeper interference is not working. When the referee on the goal line, and
directly responsible for this call, doesnt catch the interference a subsequent
conference held between the four officials is intended to act as a safety check
to make the correct determination. Thaat obviously isnt happening on a regular
basis.
Lucas Hernandez Jersey. Recent decisions in the past couple of weeks have impacted games and will continue to do so until a
video review process is implemented to allow the refs to get this important call
right! On Nov. 27, Evgeni Malkin pushed Toronto goalie Jonathan Bernier off a
frozen puck and completely across the goal line with his stick before scoring
the tying goal that forced overtime. While goalie interference was most obvious
on this play, no call was made and the goal was allowed to stand. Pittsburgh
picked up two points in the eventual shootout win. Two nights later, a Leaf goal
was immediately disallowed by referee Justin St. Pierre when Habs goalie
Carey Price moved forward to establish position in his crease and initiated
contact with James van Riemsdyk. JVR had set up just inside the top of the
crease with his skates visible in the blue paint. On that play rule 69.3 was
enforced by the letter of the law which states, "If a goalkeeper, in the act of
establishing his position within his goal crease, initiates contact with an
attacking player who is in the goal crease, and this results in an impairment of
the goalkeepers ability to defend his goal, and a goal is scored, the goal will
be disallowed." The goalie interference rule doesnt get any clearer than that
and demonstrates in both philosophy and spirit that a goalkeeper should be
allowed to position himself within his blue paint to stop the puck without any
physical obstruction unless initiated by a defending player. Im good with that
philosophy and the call that referee Justin St. Pierre made in the enforcement
of this rule. The problem we see far too often is that protection of the
goalkeeper is not enforced consistently. I hope the leagues executives have
addressed this pressing issue, among other problems that need their attention,
during recent meetings. The implementation of referee video review and/or a
coachs challenge seems to be the most logical solutions to get this crucial call
right.
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