Spurs push the Thunder's season to the brink, 113-88

There’s not much to say here.

The last eight quarters against the Thunder, the Spurs are plus-64. Thirty-nine 13 days ago, 25 tonight.

What is there to say? There’s not much to say.

Gregg Popovich summarized it this way:

“No matter how you slice it, it is just not a fair fight,” he said. “Nobody is going to give back the win. We are going to take the win and I thought we played well, but you just still feel badly when you see Kevin in that chair out there and the other guys are hurt. It is just not a fair fight.”

After 10 minutes, it was 29-10. And as if it wasn’t obvious before even tipoff, this game was over. This Tuesday night was going to be less about what happened in Oklahoma City, and more about what was going on in New Orleans.

Steph Curry had a great look at a floater to give the Warriors a lead with 10 seconds left, but somehow the ball agonizingly fell off the rim. Then again, he had a look at 3 to force overtime, and it agonizingly rattled in and out. The Thunder have been holding on for dear life the last two weeks, but tonight’s events might have sealed it: The Pelicans are now a half game up in the standings, and one in the loss column (which is essentially two by virtue of the tiebreaker).

There are still four games left for the Thunder, and on paper, all four are reasonably winnable. Then again, the form the Thunder are in — lost four straight and six of seven, with the lone win being a 20-point comeback. And now it’s completely out of their hands. They have to win all four, and the Pelicans have to lose twice.

Otherwise, this season is over (as if it wasn’t already), and it’ll be about the draft and thinking about healing feet and training camp next season.

“There’s no question we want to make the playoffs,” Scott Brooks said. “We’re going to keep working toward that goal. We knew it was going to be tough, but our guys have battled all year long. We’re not going down like we went down tonight. We’re going come back, we’re going to regroup and we’re going to play much better Friday night.”

NOTES:

What went wrong against the Spurs? Well, here’s the main takeaway: The Thunder aren’t nearly as good as them right now. I’d say it’s roughly a 30-point gap between the two teams, in fact. The Thunder are better than what they played tonight, but with Russell Westbrook running on fumes and little help alongside him, there’s just not much left for the Thunder to give.

What has caught up to them is playing so many young players. You have Steven Adams, a second-year 21-year-old, you have Mitch McGary, a 22-year-old rookie, and you have Enes Kanter, a 22-year-old midseason acquisition. In terms of defense, the Thunder truly don’t have the personnel to consistently defend. Adams is supposed to be a defensive anchor, but in reality, he’s a young guy that just happens to be the best available. He’s not anywhere near to the level he needs to be in terms of weakside help, communication, etc. So when the Thunder are trying to work through defensive coverages, they’re handcuffed by the three bigs they’re currently have.

Russell Westbrook left the arena before the general media could talk to him. Scott Brooks took a lengthy amount of time, and while he was talking, the Thunder opened their locker room to the media — which never happens. Westbrook was dressed and ready immediately upon opening — which never happens. (Most games, reporters wait for 15-20 minutes for Westbrook to be dressed and ready. I can’t stress how unusual it is for him to be ready that quickly.) TNT was camped out and got a couple questions in for him, but in terms of the general media, Westbrook left while we were still in Brooks’ postgame presser.

I know, I know. Who cares. Who wants to stand there and talk to us idiots after that game. But to me, this does mean something because this was a 25-point embarrassment for the Thunder, a night in which their season effectively could’ve ended, and instead of being the face for whatever positive spin the Thunder wanted to put out, Westbrook left it to Enes Kanter, Dion Waiters and Kyle Singler to answer for said 25-point embarrassment.

Dion Waiters: “We’ve got to worry about Thunder basketball. We can’t worry New Orleans. We control our own destiny, they control their own destiny. Coming in to every game, we know what we need. We know what we gotta do. We gotta stay locked in and play every game like it’s our last and everything else will take care of itself.”

My reaction. See what happens when you leave it up to Dion, Russ?

Not that it really mattered, but the Thunder shot just 15-28 from the free throw line tonight. Which is bad.

The Spurs do an incredible job of defending the Thunder. They use their hands excellently, and don’t let Westbrook get to the rim. Anthony Morrow couldn’t find shots, and Enes Kanter got nothing easy. It was a defensive clinic.

Pop understands it, but because when discussing the state of the Thunder, so many seem to still either be ignorant of the fact, or just so obtuse to ignore it, the Thunder are still without Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison.

I will say I was incredibly impressed by Thunder fans tonight. The team was down 31 entering the fourth quarter and after a little pump up video played, the still mostly full building got on its feet and gave a solid ovation for the team coming out.

Kawhi Leonard is a superstar. Deal with it.

Popovich was asked about Kawhi Leonard’s ceiling pregame, and I get the feeling he misheard who he was asked about: “I don’t mean to be flippant, but there is no ceiling. He is what he is. He’s not going to get any better. The reason I say that is because he was doing this when he was in Europe. He’s not Kevin Durant, or James Harden. He’s a blue collar guy that basically has a big heart and he plays D and he rebounds and he passes pretty well. He’s consistent, he brings it every night. But we’re not going to teach him a step-back jumpshot or skyhook or something like that. He is what he is, but he was like that when he came.”

No, not that it matters, but Westbrook might have lost the scoring title tonight.

Next up: Home against the Kings on Friday