The San Antonio Spurs are in a spot that not many expected them to be in at this point in the playoffs.
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Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) defends as San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (2) shoots during the second half of Game 4 of a second-round NBA basketball playoff series, Sunday, May 8, 2016, in Oklahoma City. If you think this is going to be about the no calls and how they’ve favored the Thunder each game, you might want to stick around. The Cavaliers won both regular-season games, 115-92 on February 21 in Oklahoma City and 104-100 on December 17, 2015 in Cleveland. Will MVP runner-up Kawhi Leonard be able to lead his team to victory? And the Durant call that Popovich alluded to, perhaps even moreso than the Leonard non-call, had everything to do with the Thunder’s ability to head home for Game 6 on Thursday. Instead, LaMarcus Aldridge was called for a shooting foul, resulting in a three-point play for the Thunder that gave them a four-point lead.
San Antonio has held double-digit leads in the each of the past two games before wilting under Oklahoma City’s late-game siege. The Spurs have bucked the trend by staying with good ball movement and traditional big guys rather than playing small-ball like everyone else. The Spurs were a strong defensive club all season but the dominant duo for the Thunder are giving OKC a legitimate chance at now making the Western Conference Finals.
The potential implications are obvious: Kevin Durant’s expected flirtation with other teams in free agency is predicated on him wanting to be someplace where he contends for a title.
The Spurs should have known better when they saw Dion Waiters and Manu Ginobili together again on the AT&T Center sideline on Tuesday night: they were about to wind up on the wrong end of a no-call.
Duncan has looked every bit the 39-year-old in averaging just 3.4 points and 3.6 rebounds in 20.6 minutes, shooting 7-of-25 from the floor.
Since March 2015, the NBA’s “Last Two Minute Report” has provided a public report card of sorts on everything that happens in the final 2 minutes of games that were within five points or less. They outscored the Spurs 13-3 in the last four minutes Tuesday, and it was more hard work than work of art.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich bemoaned his team’s failure to make crucial shots when it mattered. The most important one was the foul on Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook.
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We will see Thursday night if they can pass that test.
