Spurs-Thunder Preview

By JEFF LATZKE
Posted Jun 01 2012 6:17PM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) As Manu Ginobili was finishing up his answer to a reporter's question, Tony Parker walked up behind him, put both hands on his shoulders and provided his teammate an escape.

"Great job, Manu," Parker said, having heard hardly a word of Ginobili's five-minute, question-and-answer session.

After losing for the first time since mid-April, it was time for the San Antonio Spurs to face an entirely different set of questions Friday with their Western Conference finals lead over Oklahoma City cut to 2-1.

No longer was the talk about whether the Spurs - riding a 20-game winning streak less than 24 hours earlier - were invincible. It was about how San Antonio could regroup following a 102-82 blowout loss in time to face Game 4 in Oklahoma City on Saturday night.

"Usually it's easier to refocus after a loss than after a win. Players usually have a tendency after winning a few games to relax or feel complacent. In the past, we've reacted really well to wins. We'll see now how we do against losses," said Ginobili, held to eight points in Game 3 after totaling 46 through the first two games. "Even if we react well, it's a tough place to win and they are a great team."

The Thunder limited the output of San Antonio's best backcourt players by deploying 6-foot-7 Thabo Sefolosha to use his five-inch height advantage and wingspan to corral Parker, and by changing up their defense on the Spurs' pick-and-roll attack.

Oklahoma City players who had been guarding the ball frequently switched to defend the screener, and vice versa. After scoring a postseason-best 120 points in Game 2 and averaging 109.4 during the winning streak, San Antonio was held to a season-low 82 points in Game 3.

"They're doing a lot of switching. They're doing a lot of those, so they're ending up with a lot of different guys on a lot of different guys," Spurs star Tim Duncan said. "We're going to have to take advantage of that. We've got to use the mismatches that we get from that, and Tony and Manu will be expecting those kind of switches and understand that they have to attack it a different way.

"Their length and their size and their athleticism is a huge advantage for them, so we're going to have to move their bodies and move the ball and use our passing to kind of neutralize that a little bit."

Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks refused to pinpoint any of his adjustments as the difference-maker in what could be a momentum-changing win. He put more emphasis on his players giving maximum effort and executing all of the defensive plans.

The changes bore some similarities to the previous round, when he used Sefolosha, James Harden and even the nearly 7-foot Kevin Durant to mix up his defense on Kobe Bryant.

Sefolosha made a big splash early in Game 3, recording four steals in the first 3 minutes, and finished with 19 points and six steals - both the best of his career.

"It's always good to have everybody taking cracks at the good players," Brooks said. "You can't have one guy on a great player to give him the same coverage. They're going to tear that apart. ... Ginobili and Parker are the best penetrating decision-makers in the league and they do it where you don't think that they have opportunities to score or to pass, and they make those passes every time."

The changes got the Spurs out of that free-flowing offensive game, and Ginobili and Parker both suggested that San Antonio ended up playing too much one-on-one and without enough aggression.

"There are some ways to try to make them pay a little bit more, so hopefully we find them and we have a clearer mind to read the situations better," Ginobili said.

As San Antonio's streak kept growing - eventually becoming the longest ever to carry over into the playoffs - players frequently said it wasn't their focus. But now that it's over, they'd prefer if it was still going on.

"Everybody wants to win every game. That's what you try to do: You try to win," coach Gregg Popovich said. "They played great and they had a lot to do with us playing poorly, but nobody wants to lose a game in the playoffs. You try to win every game."

Popovich said he thought Oklahoma City had played as though their season was on the line in Game 3. Durant said the Thunder "knew what was at stake, but we weren't desperate."

"We just played harder," the three-time NBA scoring champion said. "We were there for each other, we covered for each other on the pick-and-roll. ... We didn't really make a huge adjustment."

The Thunder still face the task of winning three out of the next four against a team that hadn't lost since April 11.

"They're a great team. They won 20 games (in a row). They're not going to push the panic button after one loss," Brooks said.

With a win Saturday night, the Spurs would put Oklahoma City in a 3-1 hole that only eight teams in NBA history have overcome.

"In every sport in every country of the world, when you win everything is great and you were almost perfect. When you lose, you start hearing critics," Ginobili said. "It's how the world is run and how it works. We knew and Pop was adamant in showing us that we were making mistakes, even when we were winning. But losing can happen."

Durant powers Thunder past Spurs 109-103

By JEFF LATZKE
Posted Jun 03 2012 12:11AM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) When Lil Wayne turned down Kevin Durant's invitation to watch the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, he missed quite a show by the three-time scoring champion.

Durant scored 18 of his 36 points in a scintillating final 7 minutes, Serge Ibaka added a career-high 26 points and the Thunder evened the series at two games apiece by beating the San Antonio Spurs 109-103 Saturday night.

After seeing his team's 15-point lead dwindle to four, Durant took over midway through the fourth quarter by scoring all 16 of the Thunder's points during a span of just over 5 minutes to keep the Spurs at bay.

"I didn't tell myself that I need to go score because what we were doing was working," Durant said.

"We were passing the ball and guys were making shots. ... I just wanted to stick with what we were doing, but it started to open up for me and I could see some lanes that gave me some opportunities to make some shots."

With All-Star teammate Russell Westbrook limited to seven points, Durant did almost all of the damage late to send the series back to San Antonio all square for Game 5 on Monday night.

Durant, who finished behind only LeBron James in MVP voting, hit three straight jumpers, the last one coming after he bumped into Tony Parker in the lane to draw a foul and set up a three-point play. Then he attacked the rim for his next three baskets, getting to the line again when he was fouled on a layup off of James Harden's alley-oop.

Durant hit another jumper after coming off a Westbrook screen for the last basket in his personal run - and the Spurs were still within striking distance. Rookie Kawhi Leonard bracketed a pair of 3-pointers around that Durant jumper, and the Spurs were only down 102-96 with 1:24 left.

The Spurs succeeded in getting the ball out of Durant's hands on the next possession, only for him to provide the assist on Harden's 3-pointer from the left wing that bumped the lead to nine.

"When a player that talented gets hot, it's really hard to contain," San Antonio's Manu Ginobili said. "We tried different things and they didn't work.

"He scored a bunch in a short period of time. When we tried to blitz or really help, he kicked it and they made big shots."

Durant hit two free throws in the final minute to help close it out.

"We tried to do a couple of different things but his play was better than anything we did defensively, that's for sure," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He finished it off in fine fashion."

Before the game, Durant said he still hoped to convince Lil Wayne to come see a game in Oklahoma City after the rapper created a stir before Game 3 by tweeting he was denied access and followed it up by saying he felt "unwanted" at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

With another big closing effort, Durant provided another reason to catch the Thunder in the playoffs.

"I just want to be calm and composed and poised in those situations and make the right basketball play," Durant said. "I just try to calm down and go with my instincts."

Oklahoma City is trying to become the 15th team in NBA history to overcome an 0-2 deficit in a seven-game series, and the eighth to do it since 2004. The Thunder avoided an even trickier task by winning.

Only eight teams have ever overcome a 3-1 hole, and only two had done it while needing two wins on the road - the 1995 Rockets and 1968 Celtics.

"We've just got to go down there with the mindset that we're going to play hard every possession, play together like we've played in these last two games and we'll see what happens," Durant said.

"We've just got to keep believing, man, and we'll be fine."

Tim Duncan had 21 points for San Antonio, which had won 20 in a row before losing Game 3. Leonard added 17 points and nine rebounds.

The Spurs wiped away most of a 15-point deficit with a run that coincided with Popovich turning to DeJuan Blair, who's had some notoriously big games against the Thunder but had occupied a spot on the bench for most of the playoffs after starting 62 of the 66 regular-season games.

Blair sprung free for a layup early in an 18-5 comeback, and Ginobili's 3-pointer from the top of the key trimmed Oklahoma City's lead to 73-71 with 1:16 to go in the third quarter.

The Spurs were within four after Duncan's left-handed runner with 6:55 left in the game. That's when Thunder coach Scott Brooks called a timeout, and Durant came out of it firing away. He made seven of his last eight shots and also finished with eight assists and six rebounds.

"It was hard because were on a run, we were feeling good about ourselves and we just couldn't make a stop," Ginobili said.

Ibaka made all 11 of his shots - and all four of his free throws - to lead a strong performance from Oklahoma City's frontcourt while Durant's usual running mates, Westbrook and Harden, both struggled.

Ibaka, starting center Kendrick Perkins and reserve Nick Collison combined to go 22 for 25 from the field for 49 points. Westbrook missed eight of his 10 shots and Harden was limited to eight points.

The Thunder shot 56 percent and outrebounded San Antonio 41-31.

Oklahoma City pulled ahead to stay with a 12-3 run early in the second quarter with Durant and Westbrook both taking a break. Westbrook nailed a 3-pointer from the left side soon after returning to provide the Thunder's first double-digit lead at 43-33 with 4:44 to go before halftime.

NOTES: After committing a postseason-worst 21 turnovers in Game 3, San Antonio had 10 that led to 11 Oklahoma City points. ... Ryan Seacrest sat in the front row near midcourt.

Notebook: Thunder 109, Spurs 103

Posted Sunday June 3, 2012 12:31AM

By Randy Renner, NBA.com

THE FACTS: Kevin Durant scored 18 of his game-high 36 points in the fourth quarter and Thunder forward Serge Ibaka scored a career-high 26 points on 11-for-11 shooting as Oklahoma City held on for a thrilling 109-103 win over San Antonio to even its Western Conference Finals series with the Spurs 2-2. For the first three quarters Ibaka and Thunder center Kendrick Perkins torched the Spurs for 37 points on an incredible 16-for-18 shooting. In the fourth Durant took over, scoring 14 straight at one point to finish off cooking the Spurs. Tim Duncan led San Antonio with 21 points on 9-for-17 shooting, while Kawhi Leonard added 17 and Manu Ginobili had 13.

QUOTABLE: "All their bigs were really outstanding tonight, what'd they hit like 22 of 25 or something crazy like that? If you did a shooting drill with nobody guarding you I don't think you could do that."
-- Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich

QUOTABLE II: "We have a deep team and as you coach this group you see different guys step up. Last night it was Thabo [Sefolosha] (19 points, six steals) tonight our bigs did a great job of defending and scoring."
-- Thunder head coach Scott Brooks

THE STAT: All season long the Spurs have been the best team in the NBA on moving the basketball and getting assists. Tonight the Thunder made the extra pass to the tune of 27 assists. They also out-rebounded the Spurs (41-31) and were about even (48-52) in points in the paint.

TURNING POINT: The first came in the second quarter when the Thunder sprinted away from the Spurs, outscoring them 29-17 and shooting 72.2 percent and holding San Antonio to just 31.8 percent. The Spurs rallied in the third quarter to cut what had been a 15-point lead all the way down to just two. But in the fourth Durant was just too much for the Spurs to handle.

QUOTABLE III: "When a player that talented gets hot, he's really hard to contain. We tried different things and they didn't work. We made a great effort in the second half but we just couldn't contain him (Durant) down the stretch."
-- Ginobili on Durant's fourth-quarter burst

QUOTABLE IV: "We know this is just one step closer, we did what we were supposed to do, win at home. We just gotta keep believin' and we'll be fine."
-- Durant

HOT: At halftime the Thunder bigs were 15-for-17 for 33 points (Ibaka 6-for-6, 14 points, Perkins 6-for-8, 13 points and Nick Collison 3-for-3, six points). ...The Thunder finished the game shooting 56.4 percent, with their frontcourt hitting 22-for-25 from the field.

NOT: Tony Parker shot only 5-15 from the field on his way to 12 points. The Thunder had Sefolosha guarding him for most of the night, and the matchup paid off for Oklahoma City.

INSIDE THE ARENA: A little more star power in the house tonight, NBA Commissioner David Stern watched the game along with American Idol host Ryan Seacrest and superfan Jimmy Goldstein. Dallas Cowboys running back Felix Jones was also in the crowd tonight along with legendary former University of Oklahoma and Dallas Cowboys head coach Barry Switzer.

GOOD MOVE: Brooks stayed with the strategy of starting Sefolosha on Parker and he continued to hold him in check. At halftime Parker was 3-for-8 (six points) with two assists.

BAD MOVE: DeJuan Blair has had a history of big games against the Thunder and yet he had only played garbage minutes until tonight. Spurs fans had been wondering how long Blair would sit the bench. He was 5-for-7 finishing up in Game 3 and many thought he might start tonight or at least start the second half. He did neither and when Popovich finally sent him into Game 4 late in the third quarter the Spurs rallied to get back in the game. The Thunder led by 14 when Blair came in with 5:19 left in the third. Four minutes later the cushion was gone and the lead was just two.

NOTABLE: Ibaka's 11-for-11 night is the best in the Playoffs since Scott Wedman of the Celtics also hit all 11 of his shots in 1985 vs. the Lakers. The NBA playoff record for perfection in a game is Larry McNeill's 12-for-12 effort in 1975 when his Kansas City/Omaha Kings beat Chicago 102-95. ... OKC's 27 assists ties a season-high, the Thunder also had 27 helpers against Charlotte on March 10th. ... OKC is 17-2 when Westbrook attempts fewer than 15 field goals (2-of-10 tonight). The Thunder and Spurs are a perfect 13-0 at home so far in the Playoffs. Before Durant's 18 fourth quarter points tonight, he scored 10 total fourth quarter points in first three games. San Antonio is 4-0 this season following a two-game losing streak.

UP NEXT: Monday, Game 5 @ San Antonio

• Spurs: Byars, Joseph
• Thunder: Jackson, Maynor

• Spurs: --
• Thunder: --

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
• Officials: #41 Ken Mauer, #14 Ed Malloy, #19 James Capers
• Attendance: 18203
• Duration: 2:27