Spurs embarrass the Thunder in Game 1, 124-92
SAN ANTONIO — Sometime around the middle of the second quarter, I went ahead and set the over/under on seconds it took Billy Donovan to say “it’s only one game” in his postgame interview. I went with 15.
I was wrong.
Donovan never said it. Consider it implied. The Spurs, though, said it a lot.
Donovan did say the Spurs played “really, really well,” which I think is accurate. Very good analysis, imo. It started with a 43-20 first quarter where the Spurs shot 18-22, and snowballed from there. The Thunder literally were never in the game. Even when it was 2-0, it was the Spurs scoring on their first possession on an effortless Kawhi Leonard uncontested driving dunk.
What that was, I do not know. Oh I know what it was. It was a stomping. An obliteration. An evisceration. The Spurs pulled the Thunder out of class and just spanked them on the bare bottom. It was a complete beatdown, the kind that almost gets funnier the wider the margin. With each LaMarcus Aldridge jumper, it was like stubbing your toe on the ottoman over and over and then going so insane about it that you fall over into a ball and start laughing like a maniac.
It took three quarters for the Thunder to finally outscore Aldridge and Leonard, as they led them 66-63. The Spurs, though, were long gone by then, pummeling the Thunder into the ground with each open midrange jumper and 3. Even Donovan postgame didn’t humor anyone with the “oh they made tough shots” routine. He conceded that point, saying the Thunder’s defense wasn’t good enough.
In games like these, you kind of have to state the obvious because there’s not much nuanced analysis to be had. The Spurs worked the Thunder in every way, and if this has any chance to be a series, the Thunder have to be a whole lot better in Game 2. The odds are against them, considering they don’t play well in San Antonio, but they have to win at least once. So far, they’re 0-1. They’ve got at least one more chance to do it, before the pressure really cranks up in what would be a must-win Game 3.
The adjustment right now seems pretty simple: Don’t suck so bad again.
NOTES:
- Durant: 16 points on 6-15 shooting, his lowest scoring night of the season not counting the Wizards game where he had 14 at halftime.
- Westbrook: 14 points on 5-19 shooting, nine assists. Westbrook got to the rim a lot. But finished little. The Spurs contest him at the rim as well as any team in the league, almost funneling him there and using length and non-fouling discipline to make him score over them. It’s very successful.
- It just stuns me when I watch the Spurs how they generate these shots. It’s so easy. It truly makes you wonder, “Why isn’t everyone doing this?” But it’s obviously not that easy. It probably also helps that they played the Thunder’s tissue soft defense tonight.
- The Spurs shot 18-22 in the first quarter and the natural thing to think is, “Well, they got hot and made shots.” But no. Those 22 shots were virtually all excellent, open looks. The Spurs got whatever they wanted them. And the Thunder’s defensive plan of hoping they miss open looks didn’t pan out.
- Westbrook picked up a technical in the third quarter for arguing a non-call. The frustration boiled over.
- I have never seen a team more unprepared to play a Game 1 than that. The Thunder looked like they had no idea what was coming at them. It was similar to the Game 1 in the 2014 Western Finals when Serge Ibaka was hurt, except this time literally everyone on the Thunder roster is healthy, so that excuse is no good. At least then, they really didn’t know what was going on and were trying to adjust on the fly. This time, they just didn’t look like a team that practice the last four days.
- The Spurs hit 20-29 on non-paint 2s. That’s real good.
- Durant was asked about his emotions. He said, “I’m not telling you.” Why not? “Because it’s over with. Move on. We just move past it and figure out what we have to do better. No crazy emotions. It’s not like we were upset and screaming at each other in the locker room after the game. That’s not going to make things better. We’ve just got to go out there and play better. So, no emotions.”
- LaMarcus Aldridge sits down and bumps the table and moves it and said something about it getting physical with him. This is where I joke about the table playing the best defense against him tonight.
- Cameron Payne sighting. He played in the second quarter, which was something I expected. He hit a 3, but other than that, a very low key performance.
- The Thunder fouled a 3-point shooter four times in the first half. In the first half!
- Why is it that a 34 margin doesn’t look as bad when it’s the final score of 124-92, but if it were 96-64 in the third, it looks terrible? This is a really smart, important note.
- It’s real easy to react to a Game 1, and no question, this might be the tone set for the series and it might be three more games of this. But there was the same reaction after Games 1 and 2 in 2012, when the Thunder got beat up pretty bad. Or after Games 1 and 2 in 2014, when the Thunder got smoked and forced it to six games. Or heck, think about the Heat-Hornets series, which is about to have a Game 7. It takes four games to advance. The Spurs have one. One really, really loud and impressive one. But they need three more.
Next up: Game 2 on Monday in San Antonio
