Kevin Durant, Forward (Texas) (23 years old)
Russell Westbrook, Guard (UCLA) (23 years old)
Serge Ibaka, Forward-Center (Rep. of Congo) (22 years old)
Thabo Sefolosha, Guard (Switzerland) (28 years old)
Kendrick Perkins, Center (Clifton J. Ozen H.S., Beaumont, TX) (27 years old)
They also rely heavily on three guys who come off the bench:
James Harden, Guard (Arizona St.) (22 years old)
Derek Fisher, Guard (Ark-Little Rock) (37 years old)
Nick Collison, Forward-Center (Kansas) (31 years old)
Remember these names -- especially Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka, and Harden. I'm not sure that there has ever been an NBA champion whose four most important players were all less than 24 years old -- but that could happen this year. If they all stick together, and they stay healthy, they could be a great power in the NBA for the next decade.
I watched them beat the Mavericks and the Lakers without too much trouble, and I thought their series with the Spurs would be great. But the Spurs were on a massive run, and when they won the first two games at home (101-98 and 120-111) to extend their winning streak to 20 in a row, the conventional wisdom said that OKC would have to wait another year.
But greatness doesn't like to wait. Back home, the Thunder took an easy 102-82 win that had the feel of a rest day for the aged Spurs. The last two games, however, have been wins for the ages. In Game 4, Durant had 36 points -- including a streak in the 4th quarter where he scored 16 of OKC's points in a row, matching the Spurs bucket for bucket -- to lead the Thunder to a 109-103 victory. And tonight, the Thunder went into San Antonio and beat the four-time champs 108-103 to take command of the series.
San Antonio gave it everything they had. Tim Duncan had 18 points, Manu Ginobili had 34, and Tony Parker had 20. They made 9 three-pointers to 8 for OKC, and they went 26-31 from the line while the Thunder went 20-23. But OKC was just unbelievably efficient. Look at these numbers:
From the field: 40-80 (50 percent)
From three-point range: 8-21 (38.1 percent)
From the line: 20-23 (87 percent)
That, my friends, is great shooting. In fact, it gets even better if you take out Russell Westbrook, the only guy on the team who takes bad shots. Westbrook went 9-24 from the field, for 23 points and 12 assists. So he had a solid game. But look at what the rest of the team did:
From the field: 31-56 (55.3 percent)
From three-point range: 8-17 (47.1 percent)
From the line: 15-18 (83.3 percent)
It was almost flawless basketball throughout. OKC led 52-44 at the half, blew that lead partway through the third quarter but fought back for a 81-72 lead after 36 minutes, and then led 101-88 with only 5:17 to go. At this point, the Thunder showed some nerves, giving up 11 points in a row to make the score 101-99 with 1:54 remaining. But then they steadied themselves. Westbrook hit a jump shot to put them up 103-99. After Duncan responded to cut the lead to two, Harden nailed a step-back three-pointer with less than 30 seconds left to make the score 106-101. San Antonio cut it to 106-103, and created a turnover to give themselves one more chance to tie the game. But OKC played great defense, and Ginobili was forced to take a three-pointer that was very difficult. He missed, and OKC had broken serve.
The Spurs are great champions, and it is stunning to think that a team that had won 20 straight could end its season by losing four in a row. But that is what will happen unless they can become the first team all year to win a playoff game against the Thunder in Oklahoma City. If the Spurs can get really hot from three-point range -- or the Thunder get over-confident -- then an upset is possible. But if OKC plays like they did in these last two games, then the West will have a new champion -- one that could stay on top for years to come.
This is exciting. I'm still not watching the NBA, just because I haven't yet again started believing it matters. But the growing enthusiasm in your reports is starting to get to me.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I happen upon ESPN radio a good bit, and I'm on Twitter. And it's just stunning how prevalent the negative opinion is on Russell Westbrook, given that the guy apparently is good enough to start for this fast-rising team. Like I said, I haven't watched the NBA hardly at all the last couple of seasons, but, if I'm on Twitter and the Thunder are playing a significant game, I can almost surmise Westbrook's damage playing out in real time. There just swell up these collective groans with each crazy shot or reckless pass.
If Twitter had been around when The Cosby Show was first out and hot, it would've been interesting to track activity whenever Rudy walked into a scene.
I think Westbrook is actually very good -- he's far better, for example, than John Wall at this point. But he is practically the only guy on Oklahoma City who ever makes a mistake. Durant and Harden and Ibaka have played almost perfect basketball throughout this series -- watching them is like watching an instructional video. So whenever the offense stalls, it's almost always because Westbrook is holding the ball too much.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, if OKC wins the whole thing, then this series will, I think, be remembered as a key moment in NBA history -- just as it was a huge deal when the 1981 Celtics came from behind to knock off the 76ers. In fact, I would not be surprised if, five years from now, Kevin Durant is the most famous athlete in the world.
That stretch in Game 4 where Durant scored 16 consecutive points in the fourth quarter was one of the greatest things I've ever seen. I thought it was the equal to anything I saw Jordan or Bird do in similar situations.
ReplyDeleteYou're Mr. NBA.
ReplyDeleteLet me drop a little NBA knowledge on you now. The Celtics won last night, so they're up 3-2 in the Eastern Conference finals. Rajon Rondo was all over the floor, doing everything down the stretch, and Boston made all of its free throws at the end. And then there's Paul Pierce, who ... well, ... if you ever went went your college buddies and played pickup at a local park or the Y or whatever on a Sunday afternoon and ended up getting involved in one of those round-robin/win-to-keep-playing situations, and there turned out to be this one old guy there who looked to be about 30 pounds overweight and he might even be playing with his church shirt untucked from dress slacks but sneakers that he keeps in his car, and that guy turned out to be absolutely the best player on the court, and he never lost but he'd always delay the start of the next game to go smoke a little bit more of his cigarette ... OK, that guy is Paul Pierce.
ReplyDeleteAll of these guys are all going to retire, of course, soon. And then the Celtics are going to be awful again for a little while. But then I'm sure they'll get some new Larry Bird with a magic draft pick or suddenly get some healthy-again Bill Walton or miraculously trade some beans for a Nate Archibald or a Robert Parish or a Kevin Garnett or a Ray Allen or something like that.
Paul Pierce's game-clinching three over LeBron was iconic -- that was just a wonderful shot.
DeleteI still think LeBron's getting a bad rap, by the way. I was yelling at ESPN radio this morning.
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