Early Rumblings – San Antonio Spurs, Game 5

To say that Oklahoma City needs to win this game is an understatement. San Antonio has only lost two games on their home floor, one of them to the Thunder in the playoffs, but going behind 3 -2 would be difficult to come back from, especially as they would have to win two in a row against the team with the second best record in the NBA, as detailed in this version of Early Rumblings.

This series has been a battle of the second best offense in the NBA (behind that Golden State team) against the best defense in the NBA. Oklahoma City has two top-ten scorers in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. San Antonio has the defensive player of the year in Kawhi Leonard, Tim Duncan who is an elite defender and Danny Green plays tight defense as well.

This playoff series has had it all. In the first four games, both teams have won and lost on their home court, both team have won a close one and both teams have won by double digits. I would love to predict what comes next, but I will not, it is that kind of series.

Game 1 was the Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge show, taming the Thunder offense and putting on quite the show themselves. Game 2 was the return to form of Durant and Westbrook, with greater help from their supporting cast against a special offensive game from Aldridge. Game 3 saw Westbrook struggle with his shot but still come away with 31 points (10 – 31 shooting) and Durant continue his efficient shooting (10 – 18) on his way to 26 points. This was not enough as the Spurs behind Leonard’s 31 and Tony Parker’s 19 won the game by four.

Then came the most pivotal game of the season thus far for the Thunder, Game 4. Westbrook sat in front of the media after Game 3 saying that improvement in ball movement and shot selection had to come from him. The result was a 15 assist master class and a 41 point night from Durant and the Thunder coming away with a victory despite 20 plus points from Leonard, Aldridge and Parker.

Now we come to Game 5 in San Antonio, the Thunder have to take a second victory from the Spurs on their home court in order to win this series. The keys to this victory will be:

1. Westbrook to continue to facilitate and trust his teammates to score. If he gets huge assist numbers again then the Thunder go along way to winning the game.
2. Durant keeps the energy up. If he has another game like Game 1, then the Thunder are in trouble but Durant has a history of not having two bad games in a series. His energy on defense is also a required element to the win so Leonard does not have another break out game.
3. Steven Adams keeps playing at his current ferocity. The wild-haired Kiwi has collected 49 rebounds in four games at 12.3 rebounds per game. He is defending Aldridge in tandem with Serge Ibaka and needs to keep the Spurs power forward to 20 points. I also hope that the woman who tried to grab him at the end of game two is in the crowd. A fired up Adams is an awesome prospect, he is replacing Nick Collison as the soul of this team and I love what I see.
4. The Thunder bench need to keep up the pressure. If the Thunder bench can put in 30 – 40 points then the Spurs will have no rest period or any time where they can come back at the Thunder. Enes Kanter needs to justify his contract, and Dion Waiters needs to prove why he is worth investing in next year.

Game 5 needs to be the last time that the Thunder visit San Antonio.