With Warriors' Game 5 Win, Pressure on Thunder

Being down 3-1 in a seven-game series is never a good thing, in fact it's normally a death sentence to a team's season. Only nine NBA teams have ever come back from being down 3-1 in a series like the Golden State Warriors were to the Oklahoma City Thunder. After last night's crucial Game 5 win for the Dubs, it's 3-2 in favor of the Thunder as the series shifts back to OKC. The pressure is all on the defending champs to force a Game 7.

Or is it?

There is certainly pressure on the champs to come back and win this series. After all, they say 73-9 don't mean a thing without the ring. But heading into Game 6 Saturday night in Oklahoma City, the Thunder are under immense pressure to get the job done. A loss would send the series back to Golden State for a winner-take-all Game 7 and the prospects of winning that are slim to none. Oracle Arena is one of the toughest places to play in American sports and the Warriors have only lost three games there all season. 

Couple that with the fact that the Thunder are potentially seeing a championship window close in front of their eyes and it's now-or-maybe-never for OKC. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook's free agencies loom in the offseason and, due to injuries is past postseasons, the playoffs have not gone the way many Thunder fans expected. After a 2012 trip to the Finals, OKC has not been back despite keeping the core of Durant, Westbrook and Serge Ibaka intact. This is the closest the Thunder have come since that 2012 run and a win over the Warriors would mean OKC dispatched the defending champions and the San Antonio Spurs en route to this year's Finals. Not bad.

And while it won't be easy, the Thunder seem up to the task. Long gone are the accusations that the Thunder blow fourth-quarter leads and can't finish. Long gone are the gripes about Westbrook's game and superstar status. And on top of all that, the Thunder are far from scared by the Warriors. The big lineups employed by Billy Donovan have given the Warriors fits and Westbrook flat out laughed at a question in last night's press conference about Curry's defense. This is a team that believes they can and should win.

The Warriors won't have Oracle behind them Saturday night and the 8-0 runs won't be met with any enthusiasm. Instead, they will be heading into a hostile crowd that is also one of the best in the Association. The Thunder won Games 3 and 4 in OKC by 24 and 28 points, respectively. Despite that, Game 6 feels like a must-win and it probably should be viewed as that by everybody. 

Going into Oracle and stealing Game 7 would be the toughest challenge for any team. That's why the pressure is on Durant, Westbrook and the Thunder to win Saturday. If they don't then they can kiss this season goodbye.

Blue Jays, Rangers Share Blame in Bench-Clearing Brawl

It's a feud that came to fruition in the 2015 ALDS, and on Sunday May 15th it escalated to become one of the uglier incidents in baseball history as far as brawls are concerned. It all started when Toronto's Jose Bautista launched a moonshot of a home run into the left field bleachers in the seventh inning of game 5 last October. The three-run blast broke the 3-3 tie and would prove to be the final nail in the Texas Rangers' coffin. Bautista certainly took advantage of the moment and milked the celebration for all it was worth. To say that Bautista did a "bat flip" before rounding the bases would be an understatement. The Blue Jays' right fielder stared back at the mound before lofting his bat a solid nine, maybe ten feet in the air before heading towards first. That's all well and good, there are no written rules against that, but Bautista should not be surprised that the Rangers aren't big fans of his.

Bautista's bat flip still matters in Texas seven months later

What happened yesterday is inexcusable on the part of both teams. If the Rangers wanted to hit Bautista, there is no problem with that at all. I don't like the bat flipping and the desire to bring celebration into baseball, but there's no stopping it. On the other hand, hitters are foolish if they think that they'll get away with celebratory antics without paying a consequence. Baseball is a game that is well over a hundred years old which means the expectations and standards of the game have been around longer than any player in the league right now. You learn about the unwritten rules as soon as you pick up a baseball and play catch and "The Code" surrounds every single game played. And I hate to break the hearts of the Bryce Harpers of the world but guess what? It always will.

Pitchers are not going to change. Baseball is a game that has demanded respect and class since it came into being and to think that the culture will change into one similar to football is ridiculous. It's funny to see the people on social media who were so upset about Cam Newton's touchdown dances in the winter are now advocating for more bat flips and celebrations in baseball. Is there a double standard involved here?

All that to say, the bat flip heard 'round the world started the feud, so there should be no surprise that the Rangers retaliated in yesterday's game. However, the Rangers were cowards in the way they handled it. If you're going to hit Bautista, go ahead and plunk him in the first game of the season and be done with it. Send a message, let him know what he did doesn't sit well with your team, and move on. Don't wait until you're in the seventh and final game of the season series and do it in his final at-bat because now what does that say about your team? Are you focused on winning a game? Or have you been more focused on Bautista and counting down the days until you get to hit him? Again, hitting Bautista is not the issue, but the timing of the decision to hit him was wrong.

What happened after Bautista was hit is also inexcusable. Bautista should have expected to be hit at some point and if he didn't see that coming then he's as naive as they come. Accept the bruise from the pitch and go down to first base. Don't go barreling into second base looking to intentionally injure Rougned Odor because you got hit by a pitch for acting like a fool after you hit a home run. That shows a complete lack of class and it's a bush league play considering we've seen serious injuries happen to both Jung Ho Kang of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Ruben Tejada, formerly of the New York Mets, on plays that occurred because of late slides. For that, Bautista is clearly at fault for what ultimately started the brawl.

On the other hand, Odor should receive his fair share of discipline for cleaning Bautista's clock after the slide. In the moment, it's not easy to pull yourself together and brush it off when a guy comes in hard looking to tear up your knee, but to hit a guy with a full-on right hook from hell shows a true lack of self-control. Odor wasn't hurt on the play and Bautista was inevitably going to be called for interference, granting the Rangers both the second and third outs of the inning. Instead of letting Bautista be the one who received the discipline, Odor started the ugliest brawl the MLB has seen in quite some time. For that, both players are at fault and should receive heavy discipline.

The punch that cleared the benches

Is the game of baseball changing? Maybe. It's hard to tell because it's always going to be black and white. There is no grey area when it comes to certain topics, in this case celebrations. Should players be "allowed" to celebrate? They already are. There's no rule saying they can't. Hitters just need to remember that this isn't football where celebrating is considered part of the game. Baseball demands more class and because of that the old-fashioned players will always take exception to moments where they feel like they're being shown up or disrespected. That is not going to change and fans need to recognize and appreciate that. There is a fine line between celebrating and acting like a clown, and Bautista's bat flip crossed that line. With that being said, the Rangers could not have handled the situation any worse than they did for multiple reasons. The timing and reaction to Bautista's slide were both ill-advised and childish which proves they share as much blame as Bautista for the brawl that ensued.

These two teams won't meet again this year unless they match up in the playoffs like they did last year. Should they happen to play one another again there's no telling what will happen. One would like to think that this can all be laid to rest now that they've aired out their frustration, but baseball players have long memories. We have most likely not seen the last of the bad blood between these two teams.

With Potential Duncan, Ginobili Departure, San Antonio Will Take on a Whole New Look

It wasn't the ending that Spurs, or NBA fans for that matter, had in mind for San Antonio. The team that won 67 games in the regular season was said to be a shoe-in for the Western Conference Finals and the team that could take down the Golden State Warriors. Yet the Oklahoma City Thunder accepted the underdog label, as well as a Game 1 embarrassment, and ended the series in six games. It was an entertaining series to say the least, but the young athleticism and support of seldom-mentioned role players propelled the Thunder into the next round where Golden State awaits.

Duncan and Ginobili have lots to smile about after another successful season

While the Thunder/Warriors series has NBA fans licking their chops, the uncertainty of San Antonio's "Big 3" lingers in the minds of fans everywhere as Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili take the time to make a decision about whether or not to retire. It's a decision much less subtle than that of fellow All-Star Kobe Bryant, whose season turned into one big farewell this year, and deservedly so. The great thing about Duncan, Ginobili, and really the Spurs organization as a whole is that they don't attract, or even want that kind of attention. This is not to say that Kobe's farewell tour was in selfish or bad taste. That's not it at all. But Duncan and Ginobili have displayed nothing but class in both victory and defeat and they embody what the Spurs' organization is all about. For that reason, San Antonio and the NBA will take a significant hit should they decided to hang it up for good.

With Duncan being 40 years old, and Ginobili not far behind at 38, it would have made sense for both of them to retire two years ago when they won the title. Could there have been a more perfect ending for two players who have done so much for the game of basketball? To see the greatest power forward of all-time and the player who paved the way for future Argentinian NBA players, there's not a more fitting conclusion than that championship. But they both came back, and that shows not only their dedication to the Spurs and the game of basketball, but the impact that organization has on its players.

Teammates since 2003

In an article by ESPN's Michael C. Wright following last night's game, Ginobili responded to a question regarding his potential retirement by saying "It could have happened two years ago. I really appreciate everybody: the team, front office, coaches, everything. So it makes it different." It's nearly impossible to find a professional organization where the athletes and the front office coincide so well. Being a Bulls fan, that's a foreign concept, but it goes to show just how in-tune the Spurs are from top to bottom and it shows the precedent set by Duncan and Ginobili over these last 20 years. You just don't find humble, classy players that manage to stay together like these two and Tony Parker have. It doesn't happen and it most likely won't happen ever again. Players are too concerned about money and have too much ego to be concerned with pay cuts or lessening their role the way Duncan and Ginobili have.


There's no telling what the final decision will be. Maybe it depends on whether or not San Antonio can attract a big free agent like Kevin Durant or Mike Conley, both of whom have been named people of interest for the Spurs. Maybe it depends on the Spurs' outlook heading into another year in the ever-competitive Western Conference. Or maybe, and perhaps most simply, it depends on whether or not Duncan and Ginobili believe they can still play at a high level. It would appear that both still have a little left in the tank, as Duncan posted 19 points last night and Ginobili averaged 21 minutes for the series. They're still capable, but the Spurs are not a team that plays just to play. They are perennial contenders, and the wear and tear of playing 85+ games (once playoffs are factored in) is not exactly friendly to the body of veterans at their ages.

So is this the end? Only time will tell. Should Duncan and Ginobili decide to retire, fans can be sure that it will be done quietly and humbly, the same way they have done everything throughout their careers. No flare, no desire to make headlines. The NBA will miss Duncan and Ginobili whenever they do ride off into the sunset, but when they do, they should be appreciated. They have shed positive light on the league and have shown professionalism every step of the way. They are two players that everyone can learn from, athlete or not. They've done things the right way. The Spurs have done things the right way. It's sad to think that this could be the final time we saw these two All-Stars in uniform, but they have given us more than enough memories from their illustrious careers.