KRS-OKC Evens Up The Series

People love to bring up Oklahoma City traded James Harden to the Houston Rockets. It is a fun topic to remember as Harden became one of the top 10 scoring guards in the NBA. Many people assumed there would be countless situations where we wondered as basketball 'What if the Thunder had Harden, would they won an NBA Finals or made another NBA Finals appearance.' It is time for those articles and the hypothetical situations to rest in peace. 

Serge Ibaka is proving to be a more vital cog to Oklahoma City as they have won the last two games in rousing fashion. Last night featured an all-time Russell Westbrook game with Kevin Durant playing a solid Robin to Russ's Batman in a 105-92 victory. Oklahoma City has turned the tide on San Antonio, how do the Spurs adjust?     

Vince Carter had the nickname of 'Half Man, Half Amazing' and it honestly fit him during his time with the Toronto Raptors yet we could reuse it for Oklahoma City's point guard. Westbrook played a complete game with a stellar performance with 40 points, 10 assists, five rebounds, five steals and a block for good measure. If anyone ever wondered if Oklahoma City could make without Westbrook probably stopped trying to make that argument with their buddies at the bar. Same goes for those whom think Westbrook is only a second banana. When Russ is playing at his 100 percent, there are not many better. Only three of Westbrook's baskets were outside 13 feet with many of them of him attacking the paint. He got to the free throw line 14 times. There was also this crazy statistic about Westbrook's night. 

The weird thing is Durant had a pretty damn solid night. If it is hard to have a quiet 31 points, five rebounds and five assists, that is exactly what happened with KD last night. Durant had a big second quarter which helped push Oklahoma Ctiy out to a 15 point lead at halftime which included a 58 point half from the Thunder. Durant and Westbrook combined for 71 out of 105 points for Oklahoma City. The dynamic duo had two-thirds of the team's buckets. Some might say this should be a cause for concern, but if Durant and Westbrook are playing at this elite level, I don't know what team is stopping them. 

Ibaka being back is helping in a major way though. The last time San Antonio beat Oklahoma City with Serge in the lineup was Monday, March 11th, 2013.  That's over a year ago. Ibaka had only nine points and eight rebounds with a PER of +11 last night, and in Game 3, he had 15 points and seven rebounds. But it is not the point total, it is the defensive presence inside. Tim Duncan had only nine points in Game 4, he only added 16 in Game 3. Ibaka keeps haunting nightmares and it's not just Duncan's as the Spurs seem afraid to visit Ibaka's lane. Their confidence against Ibaka seems to have disappeared therefore what can be done to rid themselves of this terror known as Serge? 

The simple answer is foul trouble.  The game plan should be taking it to Serge right away in the opening part of the game with Duncan getting some of the first touches trying to draw Ibaka in foul trouble early on. Same goes for attacking with him with Tony Parker whose been terrible in the last two games. If he gets his shot blocked, so what? If a foul is called and Ibaka is out of the game, it opens up the floodgates to attack the paint. The other one is they need a secondary big man scorer. Duncan can only do so much in the twilight of his career. If the Spurs can get a 15 to 20 point effort from Boris Diaw or Tiago Splitter, that will be huge for the Spurs.

Many people are saying this is history repeating itself from 2012. I am not ready to go there yet. This Spurs team showed a great deal of resilency this playoffs in the Dallas series, and their overall bounce back from the heartbreak in Miami last June. But I do know, this is a different Thunder team. One that's getting more terrifying by the moment. 

Charlie.