Category: OKC Thunder Blog

Look who’s unstoppable now.

Forget that incredible San Antonio streak of 20 straight wins. That’s ancient history, and the way the Oklahoma City Thunder have taken complete command of the Western Conference finals, the Spurs might soon be finished themselves.

Kevin Durant scored 27 points and the Thunder are on the brink of the NBA Finals, beating the Spurs 108-103 in Game 5 on Monday night and going from an 0-2 hole to moving within a victory of a series knockout. Their first chance will be Wednesday night at home, where they haven’t lost all season.

”We never thought we’re supposed to wait our turn,” Durant said. ”Coach always emphasizes that with every opportunity that you step on the floor. It’s a great opportunity to get better. To get to our dream.”

Russell Westbrook added 23 and the Thunder took a 3-2 lead in a wildly entertaining Western Conference finals. Looking invincible while carrying a 20-game winning streak a week ago – the fourth-longest in NBA history – the Spurs have lost three straight and are on the verge of a stunning collapse.

Manu Ginobili scored 34 in a smashing return to the starting lineup, and the switch showed just how much Spurs coach Gregg Popovich knew his team might be in trouble. The only way the Spurs would have considered it a success is had they won, and that chance went clanging off the back of the rim with 4.9 seconds left with Ginobili missed an off-balance 3.

Ginobili then walked to the scorer’s table, made a fist and hammered it down.

”It wasn’t a great shot, but it wasn’t a bad one,” Ginobili said. ”It just didn’t go in.”

It was the Spurs first loss at home since April 11.

— Reported by Paul J. Weber of the Associated Press

In making his first start since March 23, Ginobili poured in 34 points, churning the Spurs — and the whited-out home crowd — into a frenzy of energy.

It was not enough to stagger the young Thunder, growing up before everyone’s eyes. In fact, they barely blinked.

Kevin Durant scored 27 points in leading OKC to the brink of the Finals, but his running mates, first Russell Westbrook (23 points, 12 assists) then James Harden (20), made the two biggest shots down the stretch.

A 13-point OKC lead with 5:17 to play had been whittled to two on a pair of Ginobili foul shots when Westbrook, oft-maligned for his fourth-quarter shot selection, rose and swished a 17-footer.

After a Tim Duncan bucket on the other end, Harden stepped back on Kawhi Leonard and buried a tough 3-pointer to make it 106-101 with 28.8 seconds left.

“We stuck together,” OKC coach Scott Brooks said. “We had a couple bad stretches, but we didn’t break.”

— Reported by Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News

After Westbrook’s jumper, the Thunder got Tony Parker to miss a 16-foot jumper, which Westbrook contested wonderfully without fouling. Westbrook missed a driving layup at the other end, and Duncan made the Thunder pay by banking in a shot on a cross-match that had Harden covering him in the post.

The Thunder led 103-101 with 50.1 seconds left.

The AT&T Center crowd was on its feet. The noise was darn near deafening.

Harden then sent everyone home hoping this series returns to San Antonio for a Game 7. He hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc over Spurs rookie Kawhi Leonard with just two seconds left on the shot clock.

It gave the Thunder a 106-101 lead with 28.8 seconds remaining.

— Reported by Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman

When Lil Wayne turned down Kevin Durant’s invitation to watch the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, he missed quite a show by the three-time scoring champion.

Durant scored 18 of his 36 points in a scintillating final 7 minutes, Serge Ibaka added a career-high 26 points and the Thunder evened the series at two games apiece by beating the San Antonio Spurs 109-103 Saturday night.

After seeing his team’s 15-point lead dwindle to four, Durant took over midway through the fourth quarter by scoring all 16 of the Thunder’s points during a span of just over 5 minutes to keep the Spurs at bay…

With All-Star teammate Russell Westbrook limited to seven points, Durant did almost all of the damage late to send the series back to San Antonio all square for Game 5 on Monday night.

Durant, who finished behind only LeBron James in MVP voting, hit three straight jumpers, the last one coming after he bumped into Tony Parker in the lane to draw a foul and set up a three-point play. Then he attacked the rim for his next three baskets, getting to the line again when he was fouled on a layup off of James Harden’s alley-oop…

Tim Duncan had 21 points for San Antonio, which had won 20 in a row before losing Game 3. Leonard added 17 points and nine rebounds.

Ibaka made all 11 of his shots – and all four of his free throws – to lead a strong performance from Oklahoma City’s frontcourt while Durant’s usual running mates, Westbrook and Harden, both struggled.

Ibaka, starting center Kendrick Perkins and reserve Nick Collison combined to go 22 for 25 from the field for 49 points. Westbrook missed eight of his 10 shots and Harden was limited to eight points.

— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press

Before the fourth, the Spurs were burned by the surge of Ibaka, who made all 11 of his field goals, one shy of an NBA playoff record, en route to a career-high 26 points, adding a perfect (4-for-4) showing from the foul line.

Not renowned for his offense, Perkins nailed seven of his nine shots for 15 points to go with nine rebounds.

“Their bigs were the difference in the game,” said Tim Duncan, who had his best game of the series with 21 points and eight rebounds.

Together, Ibaka, Perkins and Collison formed an unlikely Big Three for OKC, combining to make 22 of 25.

“If you had a shooting drill with nobody guarding you, I don’t think you could do that,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

Durant had just four attempts during a first half spent involving the OKC big men.

— Reported by Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News

The NBA record for the most shots made without a miss in a playoff game is 12-for-12, set by Larry McNeill in 1975. Scott Wedman is the only other player in NBA history to go 11-for-11. He did it in 1985.

“That’s a pretty big effect,” a still astonished Popovich said. “All the (Thunder’s) bigs really scored tonight. Obviously, you put most of your attention on the big three there and try to do a great job on them first. But the bigs came through tonight and were outstanding.”

The Thunder’s big man trio of Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison combined to shoot 22-for-25. Perkins was 7-for-9. Collison was 4-for-5.

— Reported by Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman

Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs are making this look way too easy.

Parker had 34 points and eight assists, Manu Ginobili added 20 points and the Spurs stayed perfect in the playoffs with a 120-111 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals Tuesday night.

So far, the Spurs have turned a hotly anticipated matchup between the league’s top two scoring teams into a lopsided mismatch more befitting of an early round.

Game 3 is Thursday night in Oklahoma City, and the Thunder can only hope that a change of venue throws San Antonio out of its groove. The Spurs put on an offensive clinic for three quarters on Tuesday night, shooting 60 percent and building a 22-point lead.

”We like to play like that,” said Parker, who hit 16 of 21 shots. ”That’s the way we play.”

The Spurs set an NBA record with their 20th consecutive victory bridging the regular season and the playoffs. They came in sharing the longest such streak with the 2000-01 Lakers, who won 19 straight before losing to Philadelphia in the first game of the finals…

”It’s great and it is a great run,” said Tim Duncan, who had 11 points and 12 rebounds…

The Thunder made a late surge to get within six points, but Parker, Ginobili and Duncan helped San Antonio finish them off. Oklahoma City is 5-0 at home in the playoffs, but only 14 teams have come back from 2-0 deficits to win a series in NBA playoff history…

Kevin Durant had 31 points, Westbrook had 27 points and eight assists and James Harden rebounded from a rough Game 1 to score 30 for the Thunder, who have lost two straight for the first time since early April. Oklahoma City dropped to 15-4 in games after losses this season.

— Reported by Chris Duncan of the Associated Press

Spurs guard Tony Parker, who scored 42 against the Thunder back in February, again dazzled, this time with 34 points on 16-of-21 shooting to go with eight assists. His efforts captained a 27-assists night for the Spurs, who used that precise ball movement to get about anything they wanted, exactly when they wanted it.

San Antonio also made 11-of-26 3-pointers, burning the Thunder with the same sharp-shooting that the Spurs displayed during the regular season. Two nights earlier, the Thunder held the Spurs to 8-of-24 shooting from 3-point range and perhaps thought it had solved that part of the puzzle.

Only another problem popped up.

While the Thunder’s big three of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden did what they needed to do, combining for 88 points on 30-of-54 shooting, the rest of the Thunder’s players scored just 23 points on 7-of-34 shooting.

That was a huge difference in the game.

— Reported by Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman

OKC got 88 points out of its Big Three — 31 for Kevin Durant, 30 from James Harden and 27 from Westbrook — but only 23 from everybody else.

In producing their highest playoff scoring night since a 128-119 overtime victory over Sacramento in 2006, the Spurs got points from across the box score.

Rookie forward Kawhi Leonard provided the Spurs with 18 points and 10 rebounds, his highest-scoring game of the postseason and his first double-double.

Duncan, meanwhile, shook off 2-for-11 shooting to pad the stat sheet with 11 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and four blocks.

Yet it was Parker who spearheaded the Spurs’ victory, playing like the almost-MVP he was during the regular season.

“It’s always been a battle for me to find that happy balance,” Parker said. “Over the years, I’ve gotten better at knowing when to find my spots to pass and to score.”

As the series shifts north of the Red River for Games 3 and 4, the challenge becomes daunting for the Thunder. They must win four of five over a team that hasn’t lost since April 11.

— Reported by Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News

It’s a catchphrase likely coming soon to fan T-shirts, Internet memes and the lexicon of the NBA playoffs for the foreseeable future.

”I want some nasty!”

Gregg Popovich didn’t just coin it. He snarled it, and the way his San Antonio Spurs obliged has the Western Conference finals off to a thrilling start.

Manu Ginobili scored 26 points and the Spurs won their 19th in a row – tying the NBA record for longest winning streak kept alive in the playoffs – by rallying in the fourth quarter on the orders of their furious coach to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 101-98 in Game 1 on Sunday night.

It was a tantalizing near-upset for the young Thunder, who came as close as anybody to beating the Spurs for the first time in 46 days. But a nine-point lead didn’t last after the famously mercurial 63-year-old Popovich – the NBA’s Coach of the Year – huddled his lagging team together in the fourth and told them to ”get nasty.” …

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 27 points. Russell Westbrook had 17, and insisted he was OK after taking a spill that was nasty in its own right – face first, bracing his fall with his hands and sitting under the basket for more than a minute while the entire Thunder bench walked across the court to check on their All-Star point guard…

After being held to just 16 third-quarter points, San Antonio scored 39 in the fourth. Westbrook chalked it up to a defensive breakdown that ”got out of hand” but it still left the Thunder in search of the road win they’ll need to in this series to reach the NBA finals for the first time since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City in 2009…

The Spurs matched the fourth-longest streak in NBA history, and with one more will become just the fourth team to surpass 20. Tim Duncan had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Tony Parker shook off a dismal start to finish with 18 points…

On the other end, Oklahoma City’s own Big Three struggled to find its shot early before awakening in the second half. Durant, Westbrook and James Harden at one point through the second quarter were 5 of 21 – a typically ominous stat line for a trio that had been responsible for nearly 70 percent of Oklahoma City’s points through the playoffs so far…

Gary Neal added 12 points and was the only other Spurs player in double figures.

— Reported by Paul J. Weber of the Associated Press

Two classic Ginobili drives in the final 1:57 essentially finished off OKC. The capper, in which he split a pair of defenders before finding the rim, put the Spurs up 96-89 with 1:11 to go.

“That’s Manu’s game,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He’s somebody we depend on to create and make things happen.”

Tony Parker added 18 points, six assists and a season-high eight rebounds, while Duncan had 16 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the postseason.

Harder-earned than most, the victory gave the Spurs claim to one of the fourth-longest winning streaks in NBA history.

Heading into the fourth quarter, with the Thunder up nine and rolling, that streak seemed on life support.

OKC already had forced 14 first-half turnovers, undermining any chance the Spurs had of generating offense, and Kevin Durant was heating up on his way to 27 points and 10 boards.

— Reported by Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News

Prior to James Harden’s back-to-back but too-little-too-late 3-pointers in the final four seconds, the Thunder went just 5-of-14 in the fourth quarter. The reason was a heavy dose of one-on-one offense. The Thunder ran few sets and seemingly spent the first 15 seconds of the shot clock on every trip getting the ball up the court and trying to force feed it to Kevin Durant, who Spurs forward Stephen Jackson crowded in crunch time to prevent clean catches.

“We stopped moving the ball,” Harden said. “In that third quarter, we did a great job of moving the ball and getting their defense to move a little bit by hitting wide open shots and wide open layups. In the fourth quarter, we kind of slowed that down and they got a couple of easy transition buckets.”

To this point, the Thunder had been excellent this postseason at closing games. Oklahoma City came in 4-1 in games decided by three points or less and 5-1 in games decided by six points or less. The Thunder has battled back from seven-point, fourth-quarter deficits twice in these playoffs, as well as two other 13-point, fourth-quarter deficits.

— Reported by Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman