San Antonio’s defense sparked their offensive output, beginning with Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green.
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“They won one game on their home court”, Westbrook said”. “It’s not a momentum thing”.
The Spurs are braced for a different Game 2, after having their way in Game 1. It’s a new roster with younger, inexperienced players who had never walked into AT&T Center for a big playoff game.
The blowout was such a blur that after the game the Thunder couldn’t even explain what went wrong.
All year long the Thunder have tried to convince the world, if not themselves, that the West wasn’t a two-team race, that they belonged in the championship conversation along with the Warriors and Spurs. If they don’t rebound, the Spurs will hold a huge series lead and be in the drivers seat to finish the series early. Yikes! Adding to Oklahoma City’s dilemma is the fact that the Spurs are 25-4 in best-of-seven series after winning Game 1 under head coach Gregg Popovich.
The Thunder did their best to avoid invoking much of the “it’s only one game” jargon, but it is true: The Spurs don’t get to start Game 2 with a 32-point lead, even if they probably deserve to after the kind of performance they put in Saturday. The two-man game with Tony Parker and LaMarcus Aldridge, Kawhi Leonard’s devastating transition jams, Manu Ginobili’s wizardry, and a number classic Tim Duncan moves on the block. By the end of the first quarter, the Spurs led 43-20. LeMarcus Aldridge did whatever he wanted in the game, going 18 of 23 from the floor.
San Antonio had 11 assists, alone, in the first quarter and was just as tough defensively, cutting off the Thunder at every turn and blocking six shots. Meanwhile, San Antonio is just 2-6 ATS in its last eight games off a double-digit win and 1-5 ATS in its last six games versus.
Green, on his four-point play in the second quarter, after being fouled by Durant: “I’m shocked I got the call”. Hopefully we don’t fall for that.
“We know that they’re going to come out super-aggressive next game, they’re gonna make adjustments, and we’re not gonna shoot as well as we did”, Green told reporters.
The Thunder returned to the AT&T Center on Sunday morning for a workout and met with the media afterward.
“Now we’ve got to get back to the drawing board and see what we’ve got to do better to get ready for Game 2”, Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook said. “Yeah, it sucks looking at it mate, but you’ve just got to let it go”. “We have to make some corrections and find a way to play more competitively”. Unfortunately for OKC, neither did Kevin Durant (16 points on 6-of-15 shooting), Russell Westbrook (14 points on 5-of-19 shooting) or the rest of their starters, who couldn’t carry the load for the top-heavy Thunder.
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Ibaka, Durant and Westbrook were a combined 19 of 49 from the floor, making one more shot as a trio than Aldridge made by himself.
