Hoping to lock up a spot in the Western Conference Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder host the San Antonio Spurs at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Game 6 of the NBA Playoffs.
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Everyone thought that we were no doubt headed for a 2016 Western Conference Finals showdown between the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors, the two best teams from the regular season. Oklahoma City ranks 14th in points allowed per game with 102.4. In what may have been his final game in the NBA, Tim Duncan scored 19 points in 34 minutes of action. Sure, his minutes were scaled back this season, but he played a significant role in helping the Spurs to their best regular-season results.
Duncan looked rejuvenated in the first quarter. In dropping the last two games, the Spurs have been outscored 60-35 in the fourth quarter by a Thunder team that was said to be weak in the knees at crunch time.
Duncan likely will need to play more like his former self on Thursday night if the Spurs are to extend their season and perhaps his career.
In five previous games during this postseason, Duncan was 7-of-25 on shots from the field and scored a combined total of 17 points. Embodying the Spurs’ unsteady state has been Tim Duncan, the longtime franchise cornerstone, who in this series has suddenly been recast as a feeble figure.
“Closeout games are the hardest”, Durant said via ESPN. “They just didn’t fall”.
“I’ll get to that after I get out of here and figure life out”, he said. However, he finished off the series with a strong performance, scoring 19 points and grabbing five rebounds in 33 minutes. Not only that, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, when Westbrook isn’t turning the ball over more times than he should, have proven to be clutch throughout the series. Adams and Kanter have put in time to make the experiment of playing together a success for the Thunder. “So you let it go so you can play the next game”. That wasn’t enough. There were also a few times when they had both Durant and Westbrook in the lineup and yet, they were losing. And it was Russell Westbrook who’s non-stop effort, relentless competitiveness, and heart won the Thunder the game. Oklahoma City controlled Game 6, leading by as many as 28 points.
Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams, right, dunks in front of San Antonio Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) in the first quarter of Game 6 of a second-round NBA basketball playoff series in Oklahoma City, Thursday, May. “We know (these are) tough games”. They have too much character and are too good of a team. Both are bonafide superstars (sorry Mark Cuban, we disagree with you) who are capable of going for 40-plus points on any given night.
“We have to go into their building and force another game (in San Antonio)”, the Spurs’ Danny Green said.
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Still, even with the Thunder, this should be a fun series coming up with the Warriors. “We just wanted to try to match their intensity”. He’s getting to the rim.
