Spurned by the Spurs

The Western Conference Finals

Game 1: Thunder 0-1 Spurs

Introduction: 

   One word that sums up how the Spurs played their game 1 of the Western Conference Finals:  EFFICIENT.  The Spurs made over half of the shot attempts they made at 57.5% against the Thunder's 46.2%.

Worries coming in, and out:

   Tony Parker exited the last game against Portland after only playing one quarter. He complained about a tight hamstring.  His game play didn't seem to be affected by this but he played a full 35 mins-game one and worries me that this may aggravate this condition (if there is really any). So far, he hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. But then again, this is still a long series and with a Conference as top-heavy as the West, it is always possible for this to be extended up to the deciding game 7.

The missing "D", definitely not Duncan.

   OKC only had 3 blocks total. This is about half of what Serge Ibaka got against the Spurs during the regular season (5 blks).

Pounding it inside:

   With Serge Ibaka possibly out for the rest of the postseason, the Spurs have capitalized on inside scoring. Quoting Tim Duncan, "We were taking what we were given. We knew we would be able to get into the middle and attack more than we have, and we were able to make some shots tonight."  And that was exactly what they did which can easily be seen by how much the Spurs have outscored OKC in the paint, 66-32. 

Master of Mismatches:

   Coach Pop is always one to capitalize on what is obvious and then some.  There were a few instances where a switch resulted in a Forward being matched up with a Guard in the post (Duncan/Fisher, Diaw/Jackson).  These mismatches do not happen by accident but rather through a well orchestrated and painstakingly practiced ball movement. Oh, and I still don't understand why Scott Brooks would put Durant on defense against Timmy.  It is just wrong whichever way you look at it.

It ain't that bad:

   You can't really say that the OKC superstars had a bad night.  Kevin Durant scored 28 pts, 9 rebs and 5 asts which isn't very far from his Playoff average of 31.4p/9.5r/4.3a. Westbrook scored 25 pts 5 rebs and 7 asts.  But apparently, KD and RW scoring close to their averages is not enough to secure a win from the ever efficient San Antonio Spurs.

It will come:

   A team as talented as the Thunders will definitely bounce back.  Both KD and RW are capable of dropping 30-40 points in one game.  The likelihood of this happening within this series is very high and that is one way of  getting a "W" from the defending WCF Champions. Either that or everybody starts to contribute Offensively and Defensively. Quoting Durang,  "Look, Serge (Ibaka) is not going to be here. He's injured for the rest of the postseason, so we've got to move past that and just keep playing as a team."  The sooner the whole team realizes this, the sooner they will be able to get that win.