Thunder vs Spurs: Kevin Durant Must Be More Assertive to Lead OKC to Game 3 Win

The Oklahoma City Thunder belongs to Kevin Durant, and he needs to remind his teammates of that tonight in Game 3.

Well, mostly just Russell Westbrook, who took seven more shots than the scoring champ in Game 2, yet Durant outscored him 31-to-27. Through two games, Westbrook is shooting a woeful 37 percent from the field, missing 28 of his 45 shots in the series. He only has 13 assists, despite possessing the ball far more than any other player on the floor. He also has taken 11 more shots.

Unacceptable.

Durant is shooting over 50 percent from the field, and is drawing fouls whenever he wants to. His long arms on top of a 6’9’’ frame allow him to blow past taller defenders, and back down smaller ones.

The Spurs have not shown the ability to get consistent stops against Durant in this series after two games, which is why he leads both teams with a 29 point average.

Tony Parker has been able to successfully bait Westbrook into shooting bad shots, and is clearly winning their battle on both ends of the floor. He’s beginning to get inside Westbrook’s head.

The 23-year-old is reverting back to his old ways, last seen in the Western Conference Finals a year ago against the Dallas Mavericks. He wants to desperately be the guy to save this team, but can’t do it shooting over 20 times a game.

Only Durant can.

There was a moment that really stood out in Game 2, towards the end of the third quarter, where the Spurs were up 14 with roughly a minute to go in the third quarter. The Thunder needed to get a quality shot if they wanted to enter the fourth quarter only down 10.

At the time, Durant had just scored, giving him 27 for the game. He looked completely unstoppable at that particular moment.

This is where Durant needs to be more vocal; he needed to demand the ball. Instead, Westbrook rushed the ball down the floor and shot a horrific deflating airball that was completely ill-advised with 20 seconds still on the shot clock.  

In Game 3, if Durant gets on a roll, he needs to ensure that Westbrook knows where the ball is going.

The beauty of the point guard position is the sheer amount of control one player has over everything else. Westbrook has all the power, which is a dangerous thing at times. Right now the Thunder are in the danger-zone.  

If the Spurs and their ridiculously efficient offense puts them up by 10 or more early on, is Westbrook going to resort to “hero ball”?

It’s a question Durant can't answer, and if the solution is allowing the forward to bring the ball up, so be it.

This isn’t a time to coddle egos or to make your friend happy. If the Thunder plan on making this a series, they have to win Game 3, or the series will be all but over. They have to play almost perfect basketball to compete with the Spurs, who have quietly molded into the sort of juggernaut not seen since the 2001 Lakers. With 20 straight wins and counting, the Spurs are quietly morphing into an All-Time great team that will forever be etched in the history books.

The Thunder doesn’t have the depth to match the Spurs. Sure they have two All-Stars and the Sixth Man of the Year James Harden, but when the ancient Derek Fisher plays 24.5 minutes per game, you don’t have a deep bench. Fisher was the only other player aside from Harden to score off the bench. Five players from the Spurs bench registered point in Game 2.

This isn’t rocket science for the Thunder.

They have the best player in this series, the opposition hasn’t been able to consistent contain him and it’s the only real advantage they have. The Spurs are controlling this series both mentally and physically, and only the scoring champ can bail them out.

But until Westbrook swallows his prides and accepts this, the Spurs are going to leave Oklahoma City on a 22-game winning streak. 

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