The Oklahoma City Thunder got out to a six point lead in game 6 against the San Antonio Spurs, but in the second quarter, they poored it on. OKC played outstanding defense, holding the Spurs to just 12 points in the second quarter, and they scored 30 points themselves. The Thunder put together stop after stop, playing their best defense of the season, and they held the Spurs to just 31 points in the whole first half, the Spurs lowest scoring half of the season.
During the third quarter, San Antonio was able to find their mojo on offense. They scored 34 points in the quarter, led by Tim Duncan who had his best game of the series, but they couldn’t quite find a way to stop OKC on the defensive end, giving up 36 points. The Thunder entered the fourth quarter with a 26 point lead, but the Spurs were ready to cut into that lead. They started the quarter on a 14-3 run, and through the first 9 minutes of the quarter, the Spurs outplayed the Thunder 23-10 to cut the lead down to 13 with three minutes remaining. After David West put in a mid-range jumper to cut the lead down to 11, Russell Westbrook came up clutch and hit a deep three to put the lead up to 14. Kawhi Leonard missed a jumper on the ensuing Spurs possession, and then Westbrook drove the lane after the missed shot and made an easy layup, putting the Thunder lead up to 16 with two minutes remaining. After this, Russell Westbrook kept getting to the rim at the end of the shot clock, and the Thunder ran down the clock until the final buzzer and won the game 113-99.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook shined in tonights game, scoring 37 and 28 points respectively, and they carried the load on offense for the team tonight. Andre Roberson had a fantastic game, playing stellar defense as he always does, but he played a great game on the offensive end, hitting his first three threes of the series on 3 for 5 shooting from deep. He finished with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 blocks, and he slowed down Kawhi Leonard greatly only allowing 22 points from him on just 9 for 23 shooting.
LaMarcus Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard both tried to carry the Spurs on the offensive end, scoring 18 and 22 points in their final game of the season. While the Spurs may have lost by 14 points, Duncan had nothing to do with that. He played a phenomenal basketball game in what could be his final game of his career, scoring 19 points on 7 for 14 shooting, and he was extremely valuable in the Spurs comeback effort, which showed in his +/- which was +13.
The Thunder played exceptionally in the last three games of this series, and now they are set to face the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. After their dismantling of the Spurs in this series, they look ready for the defending champions. In what will likely be one of the most exciting series of the entire playoffs, the Thunder will try to defeat the MVP Stephen Curry and the Warriors. It will be very intriguing to watch Roberson and Westbrook hound Curry for a series while Draymond Green will face the challenge of covering Durant who scored 30+ points in his last three games of this series.
