Role players are propelling OKC to the Finals

I’ll be honest with you. As much as I said OKC was going to shock the world before the playoffs started, I did not truly believe it until last night’s game. But after that performance, I am confident in saying that OKC is the hands-down title favorite.

The surprise of these playoffs has not been the emergence of Steven Adams as an offensive threat. It has not been the weirdly consistent play from Dion Waiters. In fact, it has not even been the reemergence of Serge Ibaka. We knew all of these guys could play. The surprise is that every single role player has DESTROYED all of our expectations.

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, has shocked me more than the offensive machine Andre Roberson. Watching the 24-year old shoot open threes makes made me cringe. His form still needs work, but he can wait until the offseason to tinker with that. Roberson went 1-14 from behind the arc in the first ten games of the postseason; since than he is 9-16… WHAT?!?!?! Even better, he has been able to contain Klay Thompson (minus last night’s third quarter). That’s an X-Factor if I’ve ever seen one.

Now let’s turn to another starter and so-called X-factor: Steven Adams. The New Zealander has grown into the most physically imposing big man in these playoffs; multiple kicks to the crotch can’t even stop him. The only time Adams has had a shooting percentage under .500 this postseason was the Game 3 loss to San Antonio, and he only took one shot.

On the defensive end, Adams has been the catalyst to stopping Chef Curry. Curry is visibly shaken by the 22-year old every time he enters the paint. With the paint out of the question, the MVP is forced to shoot outside. Well, every player on OKC is athletic enough to at least get a hand in Curry’s face; a knee injury does not effect a person’s shot as much as a hand in someone’s face.

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And now the last starter: X-factor Serge Ibaka. Are you starting to catch a trend yet? Everyone not named Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook is an x-factor on this team; Sam Presti built a team in which every player has a specific role. The beauty of these playoffs-for OKC at least-is that everyone on the roster has figured out what their role has to be.

Dion Waiters knows he is the spark plug off the bench. Instead of focusing on his own scoring, however, he is looking to get his teammates involved as well. And when nothing is going, Dion can calmly pull up from anywhere with the shot clock winding down.

Even Enes Kanter, with his diminished minutes this series, has realized what he needs to do to help the Thunder capture an NBA crown. A lot of Kanter’s points in the regular season came from isolation post-ups as the main scorer in the second unit. Since he is playing with the starters now, the 24-year old has shifted to a pure rebounder for OKC.

All credit to this unnaturally quick learning curve HAS to go to Billy Donovan. Donovan has used his experience from nurturing young players in his time at the college ranks to perfection. He knows exactly what it takes to win a championship, and his young players have bought in.

There is not one X-factor for the Thunder; there are at least five. As long as they all continue this meteoric rise, OKC fans should have nothing to worry about.