Dion Waiters Comments on LaMarcus Aldridge, Spurs' Offensive Approach

The San Antonio Spurs' LaMarcus Aldridge is having the series of his life against the Oklahoma City Thunder, pouring in 79 points over the first two games of the second round. According to Thunder guard Dion Waiters, that's just fine.      

"One man can't beat you," Waiters said Wednesday, per Royce Young of ESPN.com. "So we're fine with that. If they want to continue to get out of their offense and throw the ball down there to him, we're fine with that. One guy can't beat us, no matter how much he scores."

While Waiters is correct in theory, Aldridge has done almost as much as one person could possibly do so far. He's made 33 of 44 shots, embarrassing the Thunder defense regardless of how it guards him. He's beaten double-teams and overwhelmed both Steven Adams and Serge Ibaka for stretches. The Spurs have outscored Oklahoma City by 31 points and nearly came back in Game 2 despite putting themselves in a 19-6 hole.

"We've just got to make adjustments, try to make it tough on him," Waiters said. "He's a great player in this league, an All-Star. He's going to make shots. He's playing tremendous right now. But we're fine with one guy just beating us. We're fine with that."

Aldridge's transcendence has been paired with a couple of disappointing performances from Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. The Spurs' stalwarts have combined for 19 total points through the first two games; in Game 2, Parker and Duncan made just four of their 17 shots. Even Kawhi Leonard couldn't find himself Monday night, missing 11 of his 18 shots. 

Aldridge almost single-handedly willed the Spurs back into the game with a 41-point, eight-rebound outing. 

"We're making him take the shots that we want, and he's just making them," Adams said. "That's the only thing that's kind of bumming us out right now. ... We're making him take similar shots [as in the past] and he's just making all of them. And it sucks."

The bright side: Aldridge isn't going to average 39.5 points for the series. The Thunder held him to 14.3 points per game during the regular season. Even a slight regression to the mean could pay huge dividends when the series returns to Oklahoma City. Memphis held Aldridge under 20 points in each game of the Spurs' four-game sweep, and San Antonio has always preferred crisp ball movement over hero-ball tendencies.

If Aldridge doesn't get some help, odds are Oklahoma City's advancing to the conference finals. The downside for the Thunder is that they're facing a 67-win behemoth that features a top-five MVP candidate, three veteran future Hall of Famers and the best coach on the planet in Gregg Popovich to go along with Aldridge.

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