SpursUniverse

Head to Head: The San Antonio Spurs will be taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals! San Antonio is 4-1 against the Thunder this year and are eager to keep proving the doubters wrong! The Spurs are 3rd in the NBA at defensive rating at 111.3 and 4th in the NBA at offensive rating at 119.6. In contrast, Oklahoma City is ranked 7th at offensive rating at 118.9 and 1st in the NBA at defensive rating at 107.7. Both teams are deep and are ranked in the top ten in bench points with San Antonio scoring 41.5 a game and Oklahoma City at 38.5.

Keys for the Spurs: There will be five keys to San Antonio winning this series against the defending champs! 1. San Antonio has to limit turnovers and keep the Thunder from running. If the Spurs take care of the ball they will force SGA into tough shoots and have their defense set so that they can dictate match ups! 2. With that being stated, the Spurs need WeMVP to control the paint and win his match ups with the Thunder bigs! SGA likes to get into the paint and pass to the bigs or shooters so with Wemby controlling the mid range and paint this will make scoring low percentage threes and two’s more difficult than what the Thunder have been accustomed to. Wemby will be extra motivated with being second in MVP voting and this will be his chance to show the NBA just how impactful he can be on both ends of the court! 3. The Spurs guard trio of D. Fox, S. Castle and D. Harper will be a key in that they don’t turn the ball over and that they stay in attack mode all series! The Thunder have good guards in SGA, A. Caruso, L. Dort and J. Williams but they will have a hard time staying in front of San Antonio’s three point guard rotation. Expect Dort or Caruso to guard Wemby so that takes a few of the defenders away that normally will be primarily guarding the point! Castle will in turn have his hands full with SGA, but he has held his own this season as well as last season. The Thunder will try and slow down Harper, but he is leading the NBA in bench points so that will be a tall task no matter who they ask to do it. Fox is that older statesman in the locker room, and will be pivital in getting the Spurs in their sets and making tough shoots! Fox will have to play big and put pressure on the Thunder throughout this series! 4. The Spurs bench has been hit or miss in these playoffs, but with every round comes different options and match ups! Look for L. Kornet, H. Barnes, C. Bryant, D. Harper and K. Johnson to really be a factor in this series. Each player will have a game or two that they need to affect the game positively with their hustle, shooting, rebounding and attention to detail! 5. Shooting and coaching will also be important as J. Champagnie and D. Vassell are the best shooters on the team! They will be important in the team having spacing and they have to hold their own on the defensive side of the ball. The Spurs as a whole have to make open shots and trust in themselves to let the ball fly as OKC has the number 1 defense in the NBA. Open looks will be hard to come by if they set up their defense. Also, Coach Johnson will have to adjust some of his match ups as the Thunder will look to play a small on Wemby. On the other end, the need for Wemby to protect the paint will give a few of the Thunder players open looks. It will be about who shoots the shots and not just about the Thunder getting some open looks as Caruso can’t beat you, but SGA can! 6. (Honorable mention) the refs will also dictate how each team plays. The Spurs and Wolves series saved the NBA with it’s physicality and great basketball. The Thunder won easily against a Lakers team that had no real hope without Luca as controversy surrounded the series with foul calls that had the NBA talking! If the referees let the Spurs be physical and SGA does not live at the free throw line, look for the Spurs to be the more ready team!

Prediction: Spurs win a classic 7 game series and head to the NBA Finals!