Good boy effect

Good boy effect...  It is what flashed in my mind after I finished watching Spurs vs. Thunder series.  It certainly reminded me another series, Patriots vs. Jets a few years ago.  Patriots had perfect record, but they eventually lost to Jets in the championship game.  Spurs did almost the same thing.  Spurs won 20 games straight before the series.  They even got the first two games in the series.  Then they fell flat.  It makes me so sad.  But I cannot stop thinking about Good Boy Effect.

It is true that OKC outperformed Spurs in every category.  Anyone can just go and review the stats.  Spurs' average for FG, FT, 3p are 468, 721, 409.  OKC's stats are 474 and 404.  I need to find OKC's FT.  The difference is hard to see here since the margins are really small.   The one stats that really matters I think is Steal.  I do not include block is because both team dipped in that category, but I don't think that really matters too much.  So why does Steal matters?  Simply because, Steal is a team effort, and almost anyone on the team can contribute, unlike block, which required height, or jumping ability.  To me, Steal is a team effort.  Compared the regular season, Spurs's steal dipped to 2/3 of the regular season.  On the contrary to Spurs, OKC increased that stats.  The stats showed a few problems, OKC successfully stunted Spurs' ball movements.  I think that manifested on the turnovers.

But after all the analysis, we still have to face a fact.  Because if we just looked at stats, we would missed the whole point.  Since that it was the last game, and all Spurs' stats were almost all better than OKC, but they still lost.  The reason is more of psychological than anything else. 

It is hard to discern the reason of a game's outcome, is it because we are not good enough?  Or is it they are better than us?  Is there anything we could do?  Different strategy?  Different mentality?  Different rotations?  If it was because of what we did, or is it simply a weakness in the team's composition?  Could we just simply change the rotations, strategies, but keep the same team?  If they were better than us, then, in which way?  Captain" Jack, one of the Spurs' player said, "they are just better than us."  So how do we know that?  And if it is true, then there is nothing we can do? 

I think in terms of team composition, OKC was indeed better than Spurs.  This was shown in the clutch time, many of the 4th quarters.  But it was not just because OKC stars can make a 1-on-1 contribution.  It is more of a team effort.  My problem with Spurs also started here.  They started to focus on what the other team was going to do.  They started to think how they should respond.  On the contrary to that mentality, it was a time for attack.  Spurs' stars should drive so hard in the last minute,score, or making the other teams foul.  Only by doing that,3s then would be significant. 

The other stat that was significant during the series was turnover.  Now, we have to ask, why so many turnovers on the Spurs' side?  I think OKC's anticipation of the ball movement maybe a key.  But that cannot explain everything.  And plus, the anticipation of the ball movements was all practiced on the Spurs, how come, now it was so significant? 

I cannot think of the failure of the series as a psychological issue.  They say we did everything we could.  But the fact was that their perfect record let them down.  The steal and turnover was the significant factors here.  Because to me, these two stats showed me that they were focusing on the player rather than a team and this was the reason their Steal dipped.  Turnover meant that they were afraid.  They played with too many stress on their  backs, could not relax.  The Spurs were a team with plan and execution.  But now they rushed.  It was true that OKC had a better team.  But it was also true that most of the turnovers during the series was a result of rushing. 

This is just an impression.  Since I did not watch the whole series.  I don't think Spurs played with less intensity, on the contrary, I think they were over strained.  Because of the Good Boy Effect.  They think we did everything right.  But that thought would always bother them, because there's always a question mark at the back of their thought.  However, at the end, my impression was just that, my impression.  It is certainly that a team could outperformed the other team simply because they are indeed better.