OKC Thunder seek redemption versus San Antonio Spurs – preview

Keys to the game:

As with every single Gregg Popovich coached Spurs team, there are so many factors that need to be taken into account. The first one is to attack the paint and get pivot Jakob Poltl in foul trouble. While his box scores do not say much, Poltl’s game in the paint is to change shots. He is incredibly proficient at it.

On offense, the Spurs have a heap of good shooters from deep. Patty Mills, Bryn Forbes and Marco Belinelli can all shoot lights out from the perimeter. Add the length of Dejounte Murray, Derrick White and Lonnie Walker and the guard unit are one of the most complete in the NBA.

However, in saying this, the Thunder have their own guard line up which causes opposition defenses to have sleepless nights. For the Thunder to have a win, they need to win the battle of the backcourts.

However, the key matchup for the game is not in the backcourt. The absolute key for the OKC Thunder is the matchup between LaMarcus Aldridge and Danilo Gallinari. I normally would say that Adams gets the match up but Gallinari is almost the same height and needs to make Aldridge work on defense, hopefully stunting his offense.