Bizarre Game 2 Finish Helps Oklahoma City Thunder Exorcise Personal Demons
Thanks to a bizarre ending and some outstanding fourth-quarter play, the Oklahoma City Thunder managed to steal home-court advantage away from the San Antonio Spurs with a 98-97 Game 2 victory. Though it's been nearly impossible to win within the hostile confines of the AT&T Center, they did exactly that while overcoming LaMarcus Aldridge's monstrous 41-point performance.
But before focusing on the Thunder's ability to beat back their late-game demons with inspired ball movement in clutch situations, we have to talk about that ending. You know, the one where Dion Waiters blatantly shoved Manu Ginobili while trying to inbound the ball, and the refs swallowed their whistles:
Aldridge's look of utter shock just about says it all.
As does head coach Gregg Popovich's fine-avoiding understatement of the night, as relayed by Royce Young of ESPN.com:
Given the stakes and situation, that's one of the more interesting no-calls you'll ever see, though there's obviously no guarantee San Antonio would have scored, even if it had gained possession. To be fair, the Spurs did still force a turnover, and they failed to capitalize on the final sequence—which, to be even more fair, also featured some interesting no-calls under the basket, a jump on the inbounds pass, Ginobili stepping on the baseline, a fan grabbing Steven Adams' arm and plenty more.
As Ginobili himself told reporters after the game, per BBallInsiders' Ben Dowsett: "It's not that play that decided anything. We got the steal, we got a shot, we got an offensive rebound."
The final score will always read 98-97, and that means the Thunder evened up the second-round series at one game apiece. No matter how controversial the end-game sequence may have been, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the rest of the OKC troops showcased resiliency heretofore unseen during the 2015-16 campaign.
After all, everything was working against them heading into Monday night.
The Spurs had gone 40-1 at home during the regular season, outscoring their opponents by 13.9 points per game. And that trend was only continuing during the playoffs, as they'd taken down the shorthanded Memphis Grizzlies by a combined 58 points during two first-round games played before their hometown fans.
Beyond that, they'd absolutely steamrolled the Thunder in Game 1, winning by a final margin of 124-92 that had to dishearten the opposition. Surely a similar story would unfold for Game 2—a veteran Spurs squad taking advantage of a mentally fragile Thunder outfit that had spent the regular season blowing one fourth-quarter lead after another.
So much for that. Not only did Oklahoma City win the game, but it also acquitted itself during the final period by playing some of its best basketball, absorbing every punch from the No. 2 seed and responding with a deadly counterpunch of its own.
Westbrook finished with 29 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists on 11-of-25 from the field, as his willingness to make the right play outweighed the occasional ill-advised jumper. Just as they normally do for the league's second-best point guard, the positives had far more impact on the outcome than the negatives.
Durant was similarly excellent while throwing up a line that included 28 points, seven rebounds and four dimes. Incredibly efficient throughout the game, he flung flames at the Spurs defense and came up big down the stretch with 10 fourth-quarter points.
But the positives don't end with the two superstars. Young noted Roberson's defense on Leonard:
Roberson did a fantastic job throughout the night, holding the all-around stud to a 7-of-18 performance from the field. Enes Kanter provided his typical contributions—offensive rebounds and close-range points galore. Adams was engaged in a constant physical battle against Tim Duncan en route to 17 boards.
This was a team effort, and that was never more clear than down the final stretch, when the Thunder uncharacteristically swung the ball around the horn and looked for open shots. We've typically seen this team devolve into isolation sets in crunch time, but outside of a few select possessions, that wasn't the case.
Even the missed shots looked better—Andre Roberson's wide-open corner three that clanged off the iron serves as the perfect example, since the Thunder trusted their ball movement instead of just relying on the leading stars' shot creation.
According to NBA.com's statistical databases, the Thunder found themselves in clutch situations (games that feature a margin of no more than five points during the final five minutes) 44 times throughout the regular season. They went .500 during those contests and were outscored by a grand total of 22 points, leading to constant speculation that this team didn't know how to close—speculation that only grew louder when the problems worsened after the All-Star break.
As Jesus Gomez wrote for SBNation in early March, the problem lies in the Thunder's very identity:
"The entire offensive identity of the roster has been built around their stars' ability to create almost every trip down the court, as other shot-creators have been traded and replaced by finishers or defenders. Because Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are that great, it works.
Late in games, however, the strategy stops being as effective. It's just too easy to figure out what the Thunder will do.
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More often than not, OKC defeats itself by not having a backup plan. If the initial action is stopped, there's nothing brewing to bail out the superstar who was given the green light to call his own number. It leads to ugly shots and numerous empty possessions, as well as unnecessary losses.
But on Monday night, the Thunder proved they know how to fix that issue. By running plays that have multiple outlets—shooters letting fly if they're open and cutters running to the basket for easy looks—they can torture a defense and make use of their immense and widespread offensive talent.
Can it continue? We'll find out as the series moves to Oklahoma City, but the Thunder have already put themselves in an advantageous position by refusing to devolve into those isolation sets that have become all too familiar.
Just bouncing back from the Game 1 blowout by hanging tight might've been a moral victory in the AT&T Center. Earning an actual win and working to dispel the notion that they can't perform down the stretch of a tight game could potentially tip the balance of this series.
Unless otherwise indicated, all stats are from Basketball-Reference.com or NBAMath.com.
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