Spurs Shut Down Thunder in Another Blowout Win

It is hard to remember a series that has been so boring go at least six games. There are still great individual performances, and things worth talking about yet one of the five games the final score has been under 10 points with none of them being close in the fourth quarter. TNT is probably going to church each day praying for a close game.  San Antonio didn't answer those prayers on Thursday night blowing out Oklahoma City, 117-89 featuring a big night from the Spurs bench, Gregg Popovich making the necessary adjustments and what's really going on with Serge Ibaka?

One of the things we haven't seen from the Spurs in the last couple of games is their bench coming to play on Thursday night.   San Antonio got great contributions from their bench last night with the stalwart Manu Ginobili having another great game and Boris Diaw coming to play making it real difficult on the Oklahoma City big men. Diaw spread out the floor creating separation inside allowing the Spurs perimeter players to attack the lane much better than the past two games. Matt Bonner started for Tiago Splitter, but he only played 17 minutes. It seems like Diaw will probably be getting the start for Game 6.  It makes the most sense for the Spurs. When he's playing at his highest level, it is the best Spurs team facing the Thunder.

Even though games are won on the court, Popovich ran circles around Scott Brooks. He didn't stay the course with the lineup he put out there for the last two games, and it paid off. Tim Duncan had his best game of the series since their Game 1 victory with 22 points and 12 rebounds making eight field goals as well. Duncan had a lot more room to operate thanks to the decision to increase the minutes of both Diaw and Bonner, the newest buddy cop drama. Pop also gave big minutes to Patty Mills who contributed with nine points off the bench hitting three big 3-pointers.  In the last three games, Mills combined for a total of seven points. Will Brooks have an answer for the new look Spurs?  The only thing I can think of is going super small with the Thunder starting Westbrook-Jackson-Butler-Durant-Ibaka, but that might do more harm than good.

Speaking of Ibaka, he might be hurt again. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! reported last night Ibaka feels the same he did in the first two games of this series. What does that mean exactly?  His body feels like it did for the first two games of the series?  Or is he bummed out with what happened in Game 5 as it did compare to the first two games?  I am going to guess the former because that's all we care about right now is the health of Serge. If he is at 50 percent in Game 6, can Oklahoma City really start him out there? I guess they could for a little while, and then keep him on the bench the rest of the game. It is also possible Serge is toying with the media as they have done with him for the past couple of weeks. It has become a boy cried wolf scenario for Ibaka. I don't put much stock into what's out there until we see it in front of our faces.

I wish I had a handle on this series like I do with Indiana-Miami. I have no idea what to expect in Game 6, but please for the love of James Naismith can we have a close game?  Just one, that's all I am asking for out of this series. I expect some changes to Oklahoma City's lineup and I do think Pop will make slight adjustments as well.

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. 

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.

NBA Playoffs Recap: OKC's 1-2 Punch Delivers & Return of Roy

Second Round of NBA Playoffs will feature two games of night.  I dropped the ball on writing on Saturdays meaning Friday games were left in the dust.  I am going to write about the games like we did for the first round because it is picking up steam in terms of the hits. I will probably add a full blog post sometimes when we have a must talked playoff win. 

KD & Russ: OKC's Watch The Throne  
A day after Kevin Durant won an MVP and gave an emotional speech that made every mom fall in love with KD, he came through with his pal Russell Westbrook with near triple-doubles from both of them (Russ technically had a triple-double but that was a weak 10th assist). It was like watching Kanye West and Jay Z on the basketball court. We can debate which one is whom. Durant looked completely in control early on with 17 first half points and Westbrook finished them off in the second half. He helped them pull Oklahoma City away in the second half. Huge effort from Westbrook in terms of energy and what he brought to the table. If we keep getting this version of Russ, Oklahoma City will be hard to beat for the rest of the playoffs.

It is worth mentioning the developing storyline of Serge Ibaka's defense against Blake Griffin has been stellar for the first two games of the playoffs. Griffin scored 13 points in the first two games of this series against Ibaka's defense. He needs to figure it out against Serge and be a factor because if not, the Clippers inside presence isn't really there.

ROY HIBBERT LIVES 
I struggle with Indiana in the worst kind of way. One minute, they look like complete hell and the next, Roy Hibbert drops 28 points with nine rebounds to go along with it. According to Hibbert, he went fishing with Paul George whom had TMZ-esque rumors about him with Hibbert's wife, and helped clear his mind. Also Andrew Bynum left the team as well. I think we need to look at Indiana from a one game a day. We shouldn't expect this in Washington, and sort of wait and see. I will add this about the game, it was an old-school Indiana win.

Old school is only a year ago, but Indiana won this game by playing defense. Paul George and David West combined for 20 points and they still won this basketball game.  That's extremely impressive.  Additionally, Lance Stephenson was 3/12 on the night which all seem like recipes for failure, but not for Indiana as their defense willed them to the victory along with a few big shots.

Charlie.