Spurs, 99 - Thunder, 107 - Reflections

Spurs Gone Fishin'

In the infamous words of Ron Burgundy: Boy, that escalated quickly.  A few weeks ago, the Spurs were seemingly invincible.  Then the series started, and they were in total control.  Then, after Game 3, the Spurs were scrambling for answers.   Unfortunately for them, they never really found them.  The same problems that plagued the the Spurs throughout their first 3 losses in this series continued to do so in this decisive Game 6.  Tony Parker was contained by the active defense of the Thunder (after the 1st quarter anyway).  The Spurs were unable to stop the Thunder, and Kevin Durant, in particular.  The Spurs' role players continued to inhabit the back of the milk carton instead of the court where they belonged (with the VERY notable exception of my Game 6 hero, Stephen Jackson).  All this added up to a disappointing Game 6 loss for the Spurs, and what is sure to be an uncertain off-season.


The game started off great.  I really thought the Spurs were finally responding to the challenge the young Thunder had given them.  Tony Parker was slicing and dicing the Thunder defense as he had in the first two games of the season.  The Spurs were burying threes on seemingly every possession.  They closed the quarter with a 34-20 lead.  Unfortunately, this lead was little more than a smokescreen.

In actuality, in that first quarter, the Spurs didn't really play any better than they had in Games 3, 4 or 5.  The only difference was that they were hot from 3.  They just couldn't miss.  And as every basketball fan knows, that type of shooting is unsustainable for 4 quarters.  And, to give credit to the Thunder and their fans, they never lost hope that they could come back no matter how far they fell behind.  Even when the Thunder were down 15, the roar of the Thunder crowd was deafening.  I truly believe that were the Thunder or their fans a less confident team, the Spurs would have won this game.  When a team jumps out to a lead like the Spurs did in the 1st quarter, there are many arenas in the league where the fans would start to stir uncomfortably before falling quiet.  The shoulders of the players would slump, and they would reason "Well, there's always Game 7" before packing it in.  Well, the Thunder didn't do that.  They continued to play with confidence.  And sure enough, the Spurs started to miss (well, everyone except Captain Jack).  The Thunder started to give Tony the jump shot, which he gladly took, and while it fell in the 1st quarter, the well dried up in the 2nd half.

Then in the 2nd half, as he has so many times this series, Kevin Durant went to work.  And from there, the result was academic.  Our lead, seemingly so insurmountable, dissipated at an unbelievable rate.  As has been the case throughout this series, we couldn't stop the Thunder.  And we were incapable of outscoring them as well.  With the Spurs, if the ball isn't flying around the perimeter and finding the open man then we simply can't score effectively.  We resorted to isolation basketball, which is fine if someone other than Gary Neal is doing the isolating.  Unfortunately, whenever Tony got the ball, he was content to shoot a jumper rather than drive to the basket.  For his part, Timmy scored on a few post moves down low in the clutch, but he can't be expected to do that every possession.  Manu, as part of his continued up and down postseason, was largely nowhere to be seen during all this, although he was robbed of a phenomenal potential 3-point play on a questionable charge call (one of many).

Speaking of those questionable calls: I won't spend too long complaining about officiating.  I hate when NBA teams and fans blame losses on blown calls, which I will not do here, but I think I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there were some very questionable whistles late in the game, mostly by the Spurs' old friend Joey Crawford.  I know it's ironic for me to say this as a Ginobili fan, but the sight of the Thunder players flopping so liberally during this game was somewhat jarring, especially because I didn't think they needed to do that in order to win.  Stepping in front of a charge is one thing, but flopping on screens and jump shots as James Harden and Derek Fisher did on some of their more egregious flop is another thing entirely.  I'm a big fan of James Harden, one reason being his similarity in many ways to Manu, but I hope this is one aspect he will remove from his game as he continues to mature.  Anyway, flops by these players led to 2 or 3 unjustified charge calls in this game, but that is neither here nor there.  The Spurs had 3 games to figure this Thunder team out and put up some kind of a fight, and we failed to do so, so we deserved to lose.  It's that simple.

I will say, however, that Joey Crawford's technical on Stephen Jackson was so bad it warrants some kind of review by the league, especially given Crawford's history with the Spurs.  I was very proud of Stephen Jackson for his performance in this Game 6.  Not only did he have a huge game (23 points on ONLY 3s, which he hit 6 of 7), but Stephen was one of the few Spurs who I felt played with a chip on his shoulder in this game.  He wasn't afraid to take the big shot, and he made several.  He was jawing a little bit with the Thunder players, but within reason.  And he refused to back down.  For him to get called on that technical for practically no reason was an injustice.  It contributes to his reputation as a troublemaker when, in this particular game, he was anything but.  Unlike some of our other players, he was a fighter in Game 6.  I was let down by Parker in this regard, who didn't take this series over the way I believe he was capable.  Overall, Duncan had a fine series he should be proud of, particularly on the defensive end, but his hesitancy on jump shots at several key points during this game and the series was not what I expected from him, either.  If Duncan is scared to take the big shot, what are guys like Danny Green supposed to think? In general, I'm so frustrated that weren't able to win at least one more game after the Thunder turned up the intensity in Game 3.  The young team punched us in the mouth, and we did not respond with the intensity of a team that has a championship pedigree such as ours.

In particular, Green and our "young" crop of players simply failed to show in this series.  Maybe that's Pop's fault for not giving Splitter, Blair, Green, etc. a chance.  But I tend to disagree with that sentiment.  After all, Kawhi Leonard is the least seasoned player on the team, and he was out there in key moments, making plays.  Because of the age of two of our most important cogs, Duncan and Ginobili, and because of the lack of effectiveness of our young players in the playoffs, the Spurs future is less than certain than usual after this playoff loss.  Of course, Ginobili and Parker will be back.  And there is no reason to expect Parker won't have another spectacular regular season.  It is expected that Duncan will come back for 2 more years at the least.  After that the Spurs have no 1st round draft pick as a result of the Jackson trade, but a few players stashed overseas who could potentially come over to help.

Unfortunately for the Spurs, however, their biggest problem isn't in-house.  Their biggest problem resides in Oklahoma City.  The Thunder are a great team.  Not a good team, a great one.  And they are young.  That means they are only going to get better.  While our older players continue to regress.  Obviously, Splitter, Leonard and others could and should improve, as well.  But no young player on our roster has the potential to be as good as Durant or Westbrook.  And those two will have Finals experience and potentially a championship to their credit next year.  Sure, the Spurs will have the benefit of an 82 game regular season next year, but fatigue and injuries were not the issue for once this season.  It was a question of talent.  We can't match the Thunder in that regard.  And I can't see a way that we realistically will ever be able to.  Our only options are to hope that one or more of our younger players can develop into a better player than I can now envision happening, or that injuries or contract issues limit hamper the Thunder in some way.  Or I suppose we could naively have faith that our system is good enough overcome our talent deficiency, but it sure didn't happen in this series.  Thus, I think we have good reason to believe that we have likely just squandered the Spurs last great chance to win a title in the Duncan era.

Optimistically speaking, though, the Spurs' run is far from "over".  They will be back next season.  And they will win 50 or more games.  Parker will have a great season.  And it's difficult to complain about the plight of the Spurs in a league where forever middling teams like the Clippers, Warriors, Bucks, etc. exist.  We have had an incredible run of success over the last decade, unparalleled in the major North American sports.  And it ain't over yet.  See you next season.