This was a long, long night for those trying to make that sale to him, and the Oklahoma City Thunder have to hope that Game 1 was merely an aberration, that there isn’t such a gulf between them and the Spurs.
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Leonard and Aldridge accounted for 63 points while totaling 51 minutes as the Spurs ripped Oklahoma City 124-92 in Game 1 of the NBA’s Western Conference semifinals.
San Antonio never trailed and shot a scorching 81.8 percent from the floor in the first quarter with Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard (25 points) leading the way.
While Oklahoma City knows it must play better, Durant is also aware San Antonio has too much respect for the Thunder to coast in Game 2.
In his first four seasons as a Spurs starter, Danny Green shot over 40 percent from 3-point range and averaged from 9.1 to 11.7 points a game.
While the Spurs’ overwhelming offensive explosion was definitely the story of the game, equally notable was the disappearance of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. Westbrook was 3-of-16 in half-court and was held to two points on 1-of-7 shooting and committed a turnover when Leonard was the primary defender.
On Saturday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder began their second round match up against the always-challenging San Antonio Spurs. By the end of the first quarter, the Spurs led 43-20. “We’ve just got to play better”. “Their team, their system, their continuity and how they move allows him to get free a lot of times and utilizes his game”.
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.
Now this is only 1 game and the Thunder will probably regroup strongly and certainly it his highly unlikely for this series will go less then 6 games. Meanwhile, Leonard and Aldridge combined to make 28 of 36 shots. “I just think they just had the bad game, and they’re going to come back strong tomorrow”. He drove to the basket early to put the OKC defense on its heels and then he pulled up and stabbed in jumpers when the Thunder fearfully gave one of the game’s great mid-range shooters room to fire over the top.
“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.
“It’s very clear. We’ve got to play better”, OKC coach Billy Donovan said in one of the bigger understatements of the postseason.
“Just one of those games”, Aldridge said. “(But) I thought they did a really good job of finding Green and he knocked down some 3s”. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich paced the sideline in concern, asking Leonard “are you OK?” on the Spurs’ ensuing possession. No news of retirement after this season has been reported, but it figures if this team wins another title, he could ride out of town knowing there is nothing more he could have done in the game.
Thunder-Spurs III is no undercard, especially in the final year of Kevin Durant’s contract, with San Antonio quietly discussing what kind of cap gymnastics it would take to get into the Durant derby, per several league sources.
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“It’s one game”, Green said.
