Heat and thunder now without lebron or durant.

[NZStreetBaller]

Man they're struggling. last season both team were almost dominating their conferences.

I understand that the heat have started to age and yes lebrons gone but thunders still got some young fire power.

I just dont understand why people say that durant has a stacked team when without him they are struggling at the bottom of the conference where as last year (even without westbrook) durant was kickin arse. not just "executing" empty triple doubles.

Durant carries the thunder:rockon:

[Graviton]

OKC is 8-2 this season when Westbrook has a triple double.

Empty indeed.

[Prime_Shaq]

Thunder's injuries woes doesn't end with Durant though.

[J Shuttlesworth]

The Thunder would be 4th seed in the East or better. The Heat are barely a 7th seed at .465 win %. Sure they don't have Bosh, but they also have gained Whiteside/Dragic/Deng.

[DaSeba5]

Miami is lucky even to be still relevant this year. They really found some gems this year. If we just make the playoffs, anything that happens is a bonus. This is the worst Heat team since we only won 15 games.

[Micku]

Thunder's injuries woes doesn't end with Durant though.

This is true. But I was impressed by last year that the Thunder was able to keep within the top 10 defense and offense without Westbrook. They also kept the 2nd or 1st seed for a long while.

This year, Westbrook wasn't able to keep the team afloat like Durant did, which showed how valuable Durant is to the team.

[Spurs5Rings2014]

This is true. But I was impressed by last year that the Thunder was able to keep within the top 10 defense and offense without Westbrook. They also kept the 2nd or 1st seed for a long while.

This year, Westbrook wasn't able to keep the team afloat like Durant did, which showed how valuable Durant is to the team.

Those two statements contradict each other. There has been tons of injuries to OKC this year throughout the season. I can see if this season only Durant was out, but that is miles from the truth. The fact of the matter is, you can't compare the two because the situations are completely different. At the end of the day, Westbrook has been balling out of his mind and the only way to take that away from him is to create a vacuum that never existed.

[k0kakw0rld]

Man they're struggling. last season both team were almost dominating their conferences.

I understand that the heat have started to age and yes lebrons gone but thunders still got some young fire power.

I just dont understand why people say that durant has a stacked team when without him they are struggling at the bottom of the conference where as last year (even without westbrook) durant was kickin arse. not just "executing" empty triple doubles.

Durant carries the thunder:rockon:

Westbrook got injured twice, same thing for Durant. Ibaka is also injured. It's a combination of them not being healthy all at the same time. Nothing to do with Durant at all.

[Micku]

Those two statements contradict each other. There has been tons of injuries to OKC this year throughout the season. I can see if this season only Durant was out, but that is miles from the truth. The fact of the matter is, you can't compare the two because the situations are completely different. At the end of the day, Westbrook has been balling out of his mind and the only way to take that away from him is to create a vacuum that never existed.

Westbrook has been balling, no doubt. The team need Westbrook to do a lot of things, but the situation isn't so different. One of the biggest difference is that Ibaka is out, but we can analysis how they were before he was out. I guess you can say the trade too with Perkins, but is that really a bad thing? The other ones you could say are the injuries of a couple of the role players. I would say the biggest change would be the trading and the roster change.

But even with that said, Durant still hold the Thunder to 1st or 2nd seed, along with the Thunder still being top 10 in both offensive and defensive categories. Maybe it was that they had a better team last year or it was something about Durant style of play that made the team what it was?

Not to take anything from Westbrook tho.

[dunksby]

Westbrook has been balling, no doubt. The team need Westbrook to do a lot of things, but the situation isn't so different. One of the biggest difference is that Ibaka is out, but we can analysis how they were before he was out. I guess you can say the trade too with Perkins, but is that really a bad thing? The other ones you could say are the injuries of a couple of the role players. I would say the biggest change would be the trading and the roster change.

But even with that said, Durant still hold the Thunder to 1st or 2nd seed, along with the Thunder still being top 10 in both offensive and defensive categories. Maybe it was that they had a better team last year or it was something about Durant style of play that made the team what it was?

Not to take anything from Westbrook tho.
Ignore the haters, this year's OKC especially since the trade is a much better team, Durant(81) had Perkins(62, 3.4PPG) starting at center with Thabo(61, 6.3PPG) and Ibaka (81, 15PPG) last year, only 8 players averaged more than 5 points, D.Fish(5PPG) while none of them shot better than 45% save for Durant and Ibaka :lol OKC still finished the season 6th in both ORTG and DRTG, right now the Thunder are 11th in ORTG and 12th in DRTG.

[pauk]

Man they're struggling. last season both team were almost dominating their conferences.

I understand that the heat have started to age and yes lebrons gone but thunders still got some young fire power.

I just dont understand why people say that durant has a stacked team when without him they are struggling at the bottom of the conference where as last year (even without westbrook) durant was kickin arse. not just "executing" empty triple doubles.

Durant carries the thunder:rockon:

Dunno about OKC, but Miami yea... and it was not "almost".

[AintNoSunshine]

Thunder was hit by a sht ton of injuries and is still safely in the Playoffs, in the fking west. While the Heat is below 500 and would be a lottery team in the west.

[NZStreetBaller]

Dunno about OKC, but Miami yea... and it was not "almost".

Well yeh the dominating part was for the heat and the almost was for the thunder lol

[NZStreetBaller]

Westbrook got injured twice, same thing for Durant. Ibaka is also injured. It's a combination of them not being healthy all at the same time. Nothing to do with Durant at all.

Lets be real here though if durant was healthy all season long and everyone else was going through injuries the thunder would have a much much better record.

[ImKobe]

Lets be real here though if durant was healthy all season long and everyone else was going through injuries the thunder would have a much much better record.

Russ hasn't been healthy all season long as well though, he broke his hand, came back and got a face injury that's forced him to wear the mask

And don't forget how Reggie Jackson and Ibaka went off during that stretch without Westbrook in 2013-14.

I'd say KD and Westbrook equally have the same kind of impact, much like Shaq and Kobe back in the day. OKC needs both or they don't do anything.

Healthy KD without Russ in the Playoffs - Lost to Memphis in 5 with multiple games choked away in crunch time due to bricked shots/FTs. And KD wasn't playing that well in the Playoffs last year either.

[ScarSymmetry]

Thunder was hit by a sht ton of injuries and is still safely in the Playoffs, in the fking west. While the Heat is below 500 and would be a lottery team in the west.

This.

[BlakFrankWhite]

if there's any justice westbrook gets mvp.....carrying thunder without ibaka,durant

#1 in scoring
#4 in assists
#1 in steals

[NZStreetBaller]

Russ hasn't been healthy all season long as well though, he broke his hand, came back and got a face injury that's forced him to wear the mask

And don't forget how Reggie Jackson and Ibaka went off during that stretch without Westbrook in 2013-14.

I'd say KD and Westbrook equally have the same kind of impact, much like Shaq and Kobe back in the day. OKC needs both or they don't do anything.

Healthy KD without Russ in the Playoffs - Lost to Memphis in 5 with multiple games choked away in crunch time due to bricked shots/FTs. And KD wasn't playing that well in the Playoffs last year either.

Well yeah memphis is one of those teams that seems to really step up during the playoffs.

Plus durant at that point wasnt the developed mvp that he was last season (hes improved alot)

Russ is really stepped up his game and is also moving into his prime but if u compared current russ.to last years durant. Durant is still the more dominant player.

[NZStreetBaller]

if there's any justice westbrook gets mvp.....carrying thunder without ibaka,durant

#1 in scoring
#4 in assists
#1 in steals

I dont deny russ individual brilliance. hes awesome and all and hes done well. But its still barely 8th seed. I dont know if hes carrying them. But i would say hes kept them afloat or held the fort lol

[ArbitraryWater]

OP failed with pretty much everything he tried to say... amazing.

[NZStreetBaller]

OP failed with pretty much everything he tried to say... amazing.

Well i cant argue with the smartest man on ish :lol
thanks for the amazing referral :cheers:

[BasedTom]

Too many variables. Both teams have had an insane amount of injuries, guys out for the season; and have made key acquisitions and trades. OKC has had Durant at times while Lebron isn't ever putting on a Heat jersey again.

If you're trying to prop up LBJ and KD then this isn't necessary- we all know how good they are anyway.

[f0und]

yeah the heat should have a better record, but their list of injuries this season is a bit ridiculous. theyve had something like 28 different starting lineups this year.

[DaSeba5]

The Heat don't have a player as good as Westbrook as well. It's not like Wade is in his prime.

[Joyner82reload]

Russ hasn't been healthy all season long as well though, he broke his hand, came back and got a face injury that's forced him to wear the mask

And don't forget how Reggie Jackson and Ibaka went off during that stretch without Westbrook in 2013-14.

I'd say KD and Westbrook equally have the same kind of impact, much like Shaq and Kobe back in the day. OKC needs both or they don't do anything.

Healthy KD without Russ in the Playoffs - Lost to Memphis in 5 with multiple games choked away in crunch time due to bricked shots/FTs. And KD wasn't playing that well in the Playoffs last year either.

Since when is 30/9/4 57 TS% not playing well in the playoffs? :biggums:

As for the Memphis series, ya no shit. Durant was literally the ONLY offensive threat on OKC and he was doubled everytime he touched the ball, not to mention Memphis had the best perimeter and one of the best post defenders in the league on their team.

And Ibaka/Jackson went off? Durant was fvcking averaging 35/8/7 on 65 TS% without Westbrook, that was historic levels of great

[AkronAngel]

The Heat added a lot more quality players to help with the loss of LeBron and still had a massive collapse. Just shows you how great LeBron is.