Thunder Must Be More Than Just Big 3 to Play Ultimate Spoiler to Spurs

May 7th, 2016 by Dan Favale Leave a reply »

To beat the San Antonio Spurs, reach the Western Conference Finals and genuinely contend for an NBA title during a season in which the championship chase has been diluted down to exclude them, the Oklahoma City Thunder have to be more than Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka and Russell Westbrook.

So, basically, their postseason hopes won't survive another loss like Game 3.

The Thunder fell to the Spurs on Friday night 100-96, forfeiting the home-court advantage they worked so hard to steal in Game 2. Their 2-1 series hole is by no means insurmountable, but despite almost scraping together another victory against the league's second-best team, Game 3 was hardly teeming with silver linings.

Indeed, for a few fleeting moments it looked as if they might continue turning the tables on San Antonio. They erased an early 15-point deficit to grab a four-point edge in the fourth quarter, cracking the Spurs with pesky defense and timely hoops.

Then, quite abruptly, their lead was gone.

Oklahoma City buried itself amid a haze of defensive breakdowns, poor jump shots, crunch-time indecision and unbecoming turnovers. San ...

Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
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