Player grades: Thunder outlast Spurs for second straight win
By Tony Heim
The Oklahoma City Thunder barely beat the San Antonio Spurs’ B-Team on Sunday night. Ultimately a win is a win, but this game left this Thunder fan slightly disappointed.
Tonight’s victory against the San Antonio Spurs was a strange one for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Playing a Spurs team without LaMarcus Aldridge, Rudy Gay, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard meant OKC had a clear talent advantage for the full 48 minutes of the game. That didn’t stop the Spurs from controlling the pace of play and almost stealing a game from the Thunder.
After a first half in which the Thunder scored 54 points on 52.3% shooting their offense virtually froze. It was eerily similar to Friday night’s matchup against Minnesota, where OKC looked like a legitimate cohesive offensive unit in the first half only to revert to their old behavior. 16 of Oklahoma City’s 21 assists came in the first 24 minutes yet 13 of their 20 turnovers came in the second. Ultimately their offense looked better for a linger period of time compared to Friday, but the stark contrast in play proves there’s still much work to be done.
The good news is the Thunder’s defense held strong all night. Besides a few missteps with Davis Bertans, OKC was able to communicate around the Spurs’ system of constant screens, cuts and ball reversals. San Antonio only hit 28.6% from deep on 28 shots, their lowest percentage of the season with that many shots.
All this to say…this was without the Spurs’ five best players. The Thunder should not have been a Brandon Paul three away from going to overtime. The lack of offensive consistency at Game #22 is worrisome, especially when the game was going so well early-on. I need to see this team play a consistent offensive style for 48 minutes soon. If they continue this post-Magic defeat trend we should see that on Thursday against the Nets (in a perfect world).
Now onto the grades.