Tuesday Bolts – 5.20.14

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports

: “Far from the beginnings of these Western Conference finals, far from these unfortified Oklahoma City Thunder, Serge Ibaka is defiant and determined for the world to witness his Willis Reed moment. Ibaka, so proud, so professional, is respectively raging against his injury diagnosis. Ibaka is back in Oklahoma City for Games 1 and 2 – ruled out of the playoffs with a lower leg injury – but his willingness to play with pain, his loyalty to the championship cause, has him thinking about starting some stationary shooting late this week, a league source told Yahoo Sports on Monday.”

Ben Golliver of SI.com: “The line between analysis and over-analysis is a thin one. It might have been tempting to go against the grain, to conclude that three straight days of saturated coverage concerning the loss of Serge Ibaka was overkill or to argue that the Western Conference finals would be determined by the healthy players rather than the one with an injured calf. Such an approach may still prove to be true as Oklahoma City gets its bearings without its ace shot-blocker, but it certainly wasn’t the case in San Antonio’s 122-105 victory in Game 1 on Monday. The Thunder suffered a 17-point defeat, matching their worst of the postseason, because they didn’t have Ibaka and because they haven’t devised a functional method for replacing him.”

Zach Lowe of Grantland in his preview yesterday: “But Ibaka encapsulates a lot of what makes Oklahoma City so dangerous to the Spurs. San Antonio is the league’s best team, but this has been a problematic matchup. Ibaka is the rim protector the Spurs have trouble overcoming and the third option who demands attention. He has had some seminal games against San Antonio — his 11-of-11 performance in Game 4 in 2012, a 25-point outburst last season, and four solid games this year. The Thunder will have to scramble without him. Let’s be clear: The Spurs could have taken this series with both teams at #FullSquad levels of health. Hell, they might have taken it in fewer games than we’d expect. They are that freaking good, and sports are unpredictable. But without Ibaka, it feels like they have a major edge.”

J.A. Adande of ESPN.com: “Even on a night in which they had a robust 28 assists, that still left 22 individually produced baskets for them. And some of the assists came because the ball handler beat his man and drew help defenders to create an easy scoring opportunity for someone else. It started with Tim Duncan, taking Kendrick Perkins off the dribble or overpowering the skinnier Kevin Durant, who was forced to guard him when the Thunder went with smaller lineups. Duncan scored 12 of his 27 points in the first quarter, and the Spurs were on their way to a 67-point half. Duncan was easier to account for in the past because you knew exactly where he’d be: on the left block, maybe drifting out to where the Spurs’ logo is on the court.”

At ESPN.com, on how the Thunder missed Serge Ibaka, like a lot.

Via NumberFire: “According to SportVU’s player tracking data, Perk held Duncan to 5 of 18 shooting (27.8%) in the 19 minutes they matched up directly in the season series, which the Thunder swept 4-0. Ibaka only played half the amount of time on Duncan this season and might not have drawn him very often on defensive assignments anyway to avoid foul trouble.”

Kevin Pelton of ESPN Insider on KD and Collison: “Such performance would be easy to dismiss as a fluke were it not a consistent trend dating back to 2009-10, when the Thunder first emerged as a contender. Since then, as the chart at right shows, Oklahoma City has always played better with Collison and Durant together — often substantially so. This isn’t just a story of the MVP filling in for a role player’s weaknesses. Instead, it’s been a symbiotic relationship that benefits both teammates. After all, when Collison was on the bench and Durant on the floor, the Thunder outscored opponents by just 4.7 points per 100 possessions. Over the past two seasons, Durant has made 57.4 percent of his 2-point attempts with Collison on the floor, as compared to 53.1 percent with him on the bench.”

Anthony Slater: “A good chunk of that can be attributed to Ibaka – a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate whose stock for next year’s award rose on a night when he was at home. But plenty of credit should go the Spurs way. They were smooth, free-flowing and lethal right from the tip, getting contributions from everywhere, but starting with their cornerstone.”

Andrew Gilman of Fox Sports Southwest: “But the song remains the same. Now and forever. The Thunder defense isn’t sustainable enough to win games on its own. It’s not consistent enough to do it for four quarters. It’s not good enough to count on. And it doesn’t really matter who they put on the court.”