San Antonio Spurs Take 2-0 Lead Against The OKC Thunder

The San Antonio Spurs are the quite guys. They don’t make a lot of noise, they don’t really don’t seem to be wanting to grab all the attention. The thing here is that they make it all look too easy, the shots they make, the flawless pick and rolls, the fact that this guys have won 20 games in a row and haven’t lost a game in the postseason, the way they almost ridiculed the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first half; it all adds to boring but extremely effective basketball. It was never close, even though 111-120 win at home can make it look a bit overwhelming, even thought the Thunder came back, it all seemed like a cruel joke played on the younger rooster. The Thunder got a better outcome through the solid game of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Particularly Harden who came back from a very mediocre performance in game 1, to deliver 30 points and 7 rebounds in game 2 Rajabandot.

Still it was not enough, and even thought they cut it down to a 6-point deficit in the fourth quarter, San Antonio never loss its cool. And perhaps most of the damage made against the Thunder came by the way of the point guard Tony Parker. He has really managed to find the balance between his duties assisting other player offensively and making the points when needed. On game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Finals, the Frenchman Tony Parker finished the night with 34 points, 8 assists and 3 rebounds. As if that was not enough, the Argentinean Manu Ginobili chipped in with 20 points and 4 assists coming off the bench as theSpurs set an NBA record with their 20th consecutive victory bridging the regular season and the playoffs.

Now, to be fair, the San Antonio Spurs are now 10 down and 6 more games to go before doing something no other NBA team has done: sweep in the NBA Playoffs. And sure enough, we still need to see how this team is going to play at Oklahoma City, were the Thunder are currently a -3½ point favorite on the NBA Playoffs betting spread. Somehow that hasn’t kept the press from arguing that they might just have a chance to make history. They believe that the Oklahoma City Thunder is not going to have what it takes to secure a win at home, and that on the NBA Finals, the Miami Heat or the Boston Celtics are not really equipped to give these guys a run for their money. 6 games to go, at least in paper it looks quite easy, considering that they have won now 10 straight games in the Playoffs and 22 straight including the regular season. So what then? If the Thunder wants to win this one, they have to find a way to slow down Parker.

Even the Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich knows very well that “Tony’s been great all year. He’s been really focused the entire season…” and that all the game flow is going through him. The Oklahoma City Thunder has the manpower, I’m just uncertain if they have the emotional strengh to keep it together under heavy pressure. 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. Those alone are phenomenal numbers for a squad, but somehow Oklahoma never seemed to really have a chance.