NBA Playoff Recap: Spurs Inside Dominance Take Game 1

When Oklahoma City Thunder lost Serge Ibaka for the playoffs, they knew it would be an uphill battle. Ibaka is a defensive force for Oklahoma City, and their weak inside presence became weaker without having Serge in there. San Antonio exploited them with 66 points in the paint including a big second half from Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan having one of his best games this playoffs. But this shouldn't be a panic button sort of things for Oklahoma City right now.  

While it is great to have players like Russell Westbrook and the NBA MVP Kevin Durant, it means absolutely nothing, if the team cannot guard the paint. Arguably one of the pillars to the NBA in terms of being successful. Points in the paint equate to easy buckets most of the time. Using that logic, 54 percent of San Antonio's shots were scored inside the paint and 'easy.'  54 percent!  That's only half of their points happened in the paint. No team is winning a basketball game with those sort of numbers meaning the Thunder will need to adjust in a major way in the following games.

Manu Ginobili always seems to have one game where he stands out in a major way. We all know he is not the same player as he once was, but sometimes, Manu dials up the time machine for a big performance. He definitely did on Monday night with a massive 18 point second half. He made 7 of  12 shots including three big 3-pointers helping San Antonio pull away.  Ginobili looked great out there finding different spots on the court to cause problems for the Thunder. This is a solid bounce back game for Ginobili whom averaged only eight points a game in the five-game series against Portland. He seemed comfortable out there and could be a real big problem for Oklahoma City.

Another player whose been sort of so-so through the playoff is Tim Duncan. Now, Duncan's 'so-so' is some players best effort so it is not really fair criticism. Although we haven't seen a game like this from Timmy D since Game 1 of the Dallas series.  Duncan had 27 points in 28 minutes with seven rebounds. He played great out there taking control with guys like Steven Adams and Kendrick Perkins being absolutely no match for the old wily veteran. For reference, Duncan averaged 14.8 points a game in the four meetings in the regular season meaning there was a direct effect of Ibaka not being on the court. Duncan could have one of those playoff series we will remember him fondly for if this continues in the coming games.

Oklahoma City is sort of screwed. They really cannot play zone against the Spurs because Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard and Ginobili will hurt them from the outside plus the zone allows Duncan to hit some of his favorite spots on the court. This is no time to panic for Oklahoma City, but they will need to do something different with their defensive effort. For whatever it's worth, they gave up 120-plus points to Los Angeles to start the series and adjusted nicely. Granted, they had Ibaka, but it is apparent Oklahoma City needs a game to adjust a bit.

For people to think this series is over should take a big cup of relax. It's not over yet, but if 60-plus points in the paint happen again in Game 2, we could be looking at another chance for the Spurs at the Larry O'Brien trophy.

Charlie.