Thunder at Spurs: Pregame Primer
vs. 
OKC Thunder (33-22, 17-11 road) at. San Antonio Spurs (31-23, 19-10 home)
TV: KSBI Thunder TV (Cox 15, HD 715)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:30 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 106.3 (17th), Spurs – 109.3 (7th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 102.9 (3rd), Spurs – 104.8 (11th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.6 (16th), Spurs – 91.4 (24th)
View from the enemy: 48 Minutes of Hell
So what happens after you lose? Do you play again? Do you have to go home for the rest of the season? It’s just been so long since it happened that I’ve forgotten. It’s funny though thinking about it. Last year, it was a strange feeling if we won. Now, it’s getting odd if we lose. I think I like it better this way.
I can’t be the only one though that gets nervous after losses, especially when Oklahoma City has to turn around and play another tough team the next night. It’s like I have this ongoing fear that every loss is going to be the beginning to a miserable slide that ends up putting a damper on this excellent season. Like I said, I’m just not really all that used to this winning thing.
As for tonight: OKC is 13-8 when coming off a loss. So that’s good news. Tony Parker is questionable. I suppose that’s good news, but we thought Steve Nash being out would be good so who knows. The bad news is that this is the dreaded fourth game in five days for the Thunder. So heavy legs along with heavy hearts from the night before are going to be tough to shake.
San Antonio coming in: While the Thunder will be tired, the Spurs should be rested. They last played on Sunday, losing to Detroit in the last game of an eight-game road trip. So this is their first trip home since being away for eight. San Antonio is 5-5 in its last 10 and 19-10 at home.
THE MATCHUPS
Tony Parker is questionable, but much like Goran Dragic, George Hill is a more than capable backup. He’s extremely athletic, a savvy defender and can hit the 3. Russell Westbrook will certainly have his hands full on both ends of the floor, no matter who is starting at point for the Spurs. Kevin Durant has a clear advantage over Richard Jefferson at the three. Jefferson just has not been himself this year in any way. But with KD surely being tired both mentally and physically, you’ve got to wonder a little about him tonight.
But without Parker, the Spurs have been playing three guards with Roger Mason, Hill and Keith Bogans. So it’s possible Jefferson will check Jeff Green if San Antonio hangs with that lineup. Bogans is a worthy defender that will likely guard Durant if Jefferson doesn’t.
Of course there’s Tim Duncan inside, who OKC really has no answer for. DeJuan Blair grabbed 20 boards at the Ford Center the last time these two teams played and it’s likely Duncan could do the same. The main advantage the Thunder have on him is speed and quickness. Don’t be surprised if OKC runs a little more tonight. Finally, Manu Ginobili comes off the bench with Blair and Antonio McDyess to give San Antonio an excellent second unit. However, in two games against the Thunder, Ginobili is 0-18 from the floor and 0-8 from 3. So expect him to explode for 40 tonight.
It’s a big rebound game against a tough opponent on the road. Not ideal, but this Thunder team typically plays well in these types of games. It was a bummer to lose the streak and while there’s a chance to start one in the opposite way tonight, there’s also a good chance to get right back on track. It’s a big game in terms of playoff seeding and also tie-break terms. Not the end of the world to lose, but it sure would be nice to win.
Tip at 7:30 CST. Go Okay See.
it will be worse in the playoffs . . .
At least we have a juicy home stretch MIN, TOR, and SAC to hopefully get back on track.
I’m really hoping for some kind of changes in the rotations or starting lineup (Collison for Krstic)..
@justin
I think it does have a lot to do with the surprise factor of the team as well. If we were 23-33 instead of 33-22, I have a feeling there would have been a lot of little changes made. It’s like Brooks see the team as a house of cards. You can continue to build, but if you try moving it around, it could all come tumbling down.
I understand what all of u guys are talking about but we need somebody for kd as pau gasol is for kobe IMO
I wish we had marc gasol
I’d like Collison to start as well too – but I don’t think it will happen . . .
@josh
Superstar 2nd bananas don’t fall into your lap the way Pau did for Kobe very often. We can’t just hold our breath for that.
I think people (esp @justin) need to settle down. We do NOT lose every close game like you are suggesting. Playing one-on-one basically got us the lead as Westbrook was abusing his man one-on-one over and over. I don’t think this game is perfect, but the Spurs are always going to move the ball better than us because of their personnel. To only lose at a veteran, healthy San Antonio team after playing 4 in 5 days with 2 big guys out and your star player’s shot off does not mean that we are a bad team. THE FACT THAT WE WERE IN THIS GAME WITH EVERYTHING AGAINST US SHOWS HOW GOOD WE HAVE BECOME. Let’s come back and win on Friday!
hey, we do have Mullens, so your worries are over . . .
@josh
We have the cap to make a run at a second tier guy (David Lee), and the trade assets to try swinging a big sign and trade (Bosh). It would be great for Westbrook or Green to be that go-to second option, but I think Presti will have his hands in a lot of pots this offseason.
good point . . .
@Keith
It’s also about expectations. I can’t remember what article I saw it in, but basically someone was asking when do the Thunder raise the bar on their expectations? When we lose games like this, I feel maybe they think it’s OK to lose because ‘we shouldn’t be this good anyway’. There’s even some of that sentiment here on this blog. Every loss is rationalized by the fact that the team is “ahead of schedule”.
To me, that’s over with. This is a good team that should be getting better, doing whatever it takes to getting better. So what if we weren’t expected to be in the hunt for the playoffs, the team is what it is and that’s not a reason to get complacent. Brooks sticks to the guns because there’s no pressure to win.
Didn’t Thabo have a knee injury early in his career with the Bulls? Might just be a tendinitis kind of thing that doesn’t mean he can’t play. But might be sore and inflammed and limits his effectiveness against the quicker wings like we have seen with Richardson and Manu. Given those would be tough matchups no matter what and can make anyone look silly on any given night.
@Durantula
Russ made some nice plays but he was 6-21 from the field. You don’t win games that way.
that’s 29% . . .
OUCH . . .
Some of those misses, the three pointers in particular, weren’t really his fault. He had a nice run getting to the basket but eventually it averages out and if you keep taking mid range shots you’re going to miss them..
@justin
On some level, it’s understandable, even ok. I’m not going to be really put off if we don’t make the 4th or 5th seed. I’m not going to be disappointed in the team if they don’t go deep in the playoffs. But, I do think people need to wake up a little bit. Yes, it’s great that the Thunder already have as many wins as they were expected to get in the whole year. But that’s not excuse to give away opportunity. There isn’t a light switch that guys turn on when they have a good team. They need to constantly be pushed, even before they are “good” in order to succeed down the road.
Our team and fans need a little kick in the rear to remind them that if they aren’t moving forward, they’re being passed by.
we’re probably looking at a 6 or 7 seed . . . we have a chance against Utah or Dallas, but I don’t like the Nuggets matchup . . .
@Durantula
justin beat me to it, but you can’t really say Russ was abusing his man 1 on 1 over and over when he was 6-21. And I also agree with the sentiment that we shouldn’t get complacent. We have done incredibly well this year, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look for ways to improve. If you get a 90 on a test, don’t you look to see what you did wrong? I’m pretty sure Presti does, and Scotty should too.
BOSHBOSHBOSHBOSHBOSHBOSHBOSHBOSH!!!!!
some people are ecstatic with a 90 . . .
I don’t think playoffs are even guaranteed. We’re only four games ahead of NOH, 4.5 ahead of MEM. Those guys put up a win streak in March when our schedule toughens up.. you never know.
I’d be happy with a playoff berth. I want this team to make the playoffs and get experience.. anything short of that, at this point, would be a major disappointment for this group.
@nick
Pau is not a superstar on his own. He is a 2nd tier star. I think we can get a 2nd tier star, who is like a notch below Pau, someone like Bogut maybe. Presti needs to lump all our picks plus maybe one good asset on our roster and go after Bogut this summer
@Kev
It’s just tough. As great as we have been, I kind of feel like we’re built for the regular season, not the playoffs (kind of like the Suns). When a team can scout us that much, and try different things for at least 4 straight games, the simplistic offense and tiny defensive mistakes kill us. Westbrook will be absolutely abused in the postseason defensively, and we’ll need to build sizable leads to win as teams lock in on us once our offense turns to it’s ridiculous 2 minute drill.
We don’t space the floor well because we have no one inside, and most of the teams in the playoffs will have strong frontcourts to magnify our weakness there.
they arent guaranteed, but it’s likely – 4 1/2 is a lot to make up in 25-28 games . . .
@justin– I agree!! I am still superstitious about this playoff talk business….. Win ballgames. period.
excellent points – considering all of our issues, Brooks has done an OUTSTANDING job to get this team to have the record they do . . .
@Kev
Haha, yeah, I thought of that. Again, I’m pretty sure Presti isn’t one of those people though. And I hope Brooks isn’t either.
@I am the DON
Milwaukee is already trying to load up a team around Bogut and Jennings, he’s not going anywhere. But a player of his caliber would be great.
@girlballer
If we hope hard enough, we can make it happen.
you are right
excellent statement . . .
EXACTLY.
We were a timely charge taken by Collison and/or a timely block by Ibaka away down the stretch to maybe tilting this game in our favor. We were missing two huge assets tonight and yet we still could’ve won.
These negative, alarmist, obsessive posts by Justin are just tiring and old.
The best guy we have a shot at getting is Jefferson, and he’s been looking rough.
@I am the DON
Oh, yeah, that was what I meant. He’s a great second banana, that’s what I meant by superstar second banana. That probably wasn’t clear. He’s an excellent player in his own right though, a step above a guy like Lee or Bogut (who I don’t see Milwaukee giving up). Obviously its been discussed ad nauseum here, but even a guy like Lee who’s a notch below Pau (like you suggested) would help immensely.
@Kev
No one can say what we’ve done so far isn’t impressive. Brooks just needs to stop short of hanging his hat on being impressive and figure out how to lessen our weaknesses. Better substitutions and end game play-calling could go a long way with very little change to the overall gameplan.
he seems like a smart guy – I bet he will do a lot this offseason to work on that – but you are right, I wish he would tweak some things now . . .
@I am the DON
That goes back to what I said earlier though. Are you content with a 90, or do you want better? The point of the posts isn’t to suggest that we’re terrible, we all are extremely pleased with how the team has played this year (justin included, if you read all his posts). But that doesn’t mean there isn’t further room for improvement. And especially something that can be addressed without waiting for the off-season, like simply running more creative offense in the last few minutes, should be dealt with if it can be. And I don’t see why it can’t be. Better players would obviously help, but our roster doesn’t absolutely dictate that we just run 1 on 5 once the clock gets inside 4 minutes.
@justin
I would have been ecstatic with getting Jefferson earlier in the year, but he’s been pretty bad of late. I’m not so sure anymore.
@nick
Yeah, I am somewhat coming around to Lee just because we are in such desperate need of a reliable scorer, especially one that gets almost all his baskets primarily around the basket
I am just not a huge fan of Lee simply because he is quite possibly the worst defender in the league, but our offense is so bad we might just have to take that tradeoff
If we sign him we need to lace his contract with incentives based around defensive production
Thunderites,
Please don’t treat this like some treat College Football, where every loss is a soul-crushing defeat. There are 82 games in a season and losing one isn’t a big deal. Yeah it’s awesome to win, but no one has gone 82-0 before and they won’t. Ever. We lost the short end of a back to back on the road to one of the hardest teams to play against in the league(when they’re healthy).
In professional sports, losing happens. It’s ok. The Cavs just went on a three-game skid, and no one is crying apocalypse.
We have a great team that is only going to get better as they age. They already have the chemistry. They have the fundamentals. It’s only going to get better.
@nick
I think that late game offense is the Kobe-Lebron effect. Lebron once scored the last 25 points of a pivotal playoff game in order to win the game and ultimately take the series. Kobe repeatedly hits huge, game-winning shots to snatch victory from the clutches of defeat. Now, everyone wants their superstar to do that. They don’t care that Kobe was 4-18 until that point and LA was losing in the final seconds precisely because of him. They don’t factor in that Lebron is the PG of his entire team and actually racks up 8-10 assists every night. Fans and front offices want the ball in their star’s hands, and want him to beat the world before their eyes.
No one remembers that Lebron and Kobe are probably two of the greatest players of all time, or that world beating is a lot easier with 5 guys than 1.
@Keith
The funny thing is, even those guys are WAY less efficient in end of game scenarios, precisely because of the 1 on 5 foolishness. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, and I’m sure our resident stat guys can look them up, but offensive efficiency in the final possessions of close games is terrible leaguewide, even for LeBron and Kobe. I’ve seen clutch stats showing that Kobe is something like 30% at the end of games and LeBron is around 40%, which is quite a bit worse than they normally are. Obviously some of that is due to an increase in defensive intensity, but some of it is because of the same kind of stupid offense that we run at the end of games.
@I am the DON
Lee’s definitely not a good defender, but he hasn’t really had much of a chance to develop defensively playing on the joke of a Knicks team. Since his game is generally predicated on outworking people (his rebounding, developing a consistent jump shot), I can see him fitting into the system and becoming an acceptable defender. Not good, but not terrible. And if that’s the case, his offense and rebounding will more than make up for his offensive deficiencies. That’s how I see it at least.
@nick
It’s all a show. It’s more impressive, draws more oohs and ahs for one guy to win you the game. Of course, Lebron’s never won a championship. Kobe couldn’t even get out of the first round by himself. Wade needed a 20 and 10 Shaq and the help of at least 3 officials to win it all.
Fans only remember the hero, not the guys who got him there, and it’s a shame.
@Keith
Yeah, that’s exactly where I was going before I lost motivation in my essay/post. Its some sort of masculine, mano a mano fight to the death that fascinates everybody. Of course, the best end of game play I’ve seen in forever was SVG drawing up an alley oop for a rookie. Its too bad he missed that, I’m it convinced people that nobody other than a superstar can hit a last second shot.
*I’m SURE it convinced …
stupid typo
@nick
Damn that was a sweet play. The degree of difficulty was amazing, yet they nearly pulled it off. It had everything needed to work. And why? Because teams don’t even bother guarding players who aren’t stars at the end of games. It’s become so ingrained in the fabric of the game that most coaches never even think to give the ball to someone else, or even wonder where else the ball might go.
I still wish he would have pulled that off. Partly because I hate the Lakers, and that would have given Orlando a ton of momentum, partly because I would have watched it over and over again squealing in delight.