Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook led the way once again as the Oklahoma City Thunder eliminated the San Antonio Spurs with a convincing 113-99 victory here in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals. This season, the Spurs had the second best record in the West and yet, they just lost to the Thunder in 6 games.
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San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan was noncommittal about his National Basketball Association future after his team was eliminated from the playoffs in a 113-99 loss to the Thunder on Thursday. When they suffered a humiliating defeat by Spurs in Game 1, they turned the tide with vengeance by winning three games in a row leading up to 4-2 lead.
San Antonio also will look at shoring up its depth, which has always been a strength for the team, but didn’t work out very well against Oklahoma City.
Steven Adams also had back-to-back double-doubles via 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Oklahoma City opened up a 47-29 lead late in the second quarter after a three-pointer by Westbrook that brought a roar from the crowd.
Duncan had 19 points and played 35 minutes, including the entirety of a fourth quarter that seemed close to producing a miraculous comeback. Nothing was working for San Antonio, so why would Coach Popovich not try Diaw? The OKC Thunder had more talent but many picked the Spurs due to their collective team effort. He’s in the final year of his contract with Oklahoma City, and hasn’t made a commitment to staying with the team that drafted him in 2007. “We knew at some point they were going to make a run”.
The Spurs had a 19 to 13 lead early in the game and then the Thunder made a decision to take off. He had 26 points in the 100-96 loss, but bounced back with 41 points in the 111-97 win in Game 4.
He would give the Spurs a younger dynamic point guard, with Tony Parker entering next season at 34 years old, and a facilitator for Leonard and Aldridge to initiate the offense.
“We’re not done yet”, Durant said. They’re a good team.
Throughout the regular season, the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs appeared to be on a collision course as both geared up for an epic showdown.
“Timmy was playing really well so he we played him as much as we possibly could because he earned the minutes”, Popovich said. Waiters, Randy Foye and Enes Kanter came in and kept the pressure on the Spurs on both ends of the court and helped stretch the lead to 18 points.
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Westbrook struggled the most against those two opposing players when trying to take them off the dribble. “Just getting to the Conference Finals felt like a huge success regardless of what was going to happen”, Kerr said. “Everybody loses but one”. They pushed us all series. But I wanted to hear the entire press conference, because, as you know, I like the challenge of asking Popovich a question that he’ll answer. They promised more energy, better execution.
