As I sat back on the couch and watched San Antonio suffer a slow death at the hands of a choking Thunder defense that forced them into a desperate barrage of three-point bricks, I realized that I needed to prepare to swallow my pride and admit that I messed up.I was absolutely, totally, and embarrassingly wrong about the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In fact, I was just too naive to believe that any team in the NBA could dismantle that same Spurs squad that lost only one game in almost 3 months before entering the Western Conference Finals.
In my defense, they were the hottest team in the league back then, and following the first two games of this series, there was no reason to believe otherwise.
Led by Tony Parker and a rejuvenated Tim Duncan, the Spurs were as close to perfect on the basketball court as it gets:
-They attacked the gaps and earned open jump shots for their outside shooters.
-They clogged up the lanes on defense and got physical with the Thunder's young stars.
-They rarely turned the ball over and capitalized on any, and every, opportunity they had to get easy baskets.
-They famously "got nasty" with the Thunder who looked disheveled and disoriented on offense in games 1-2.
Most importantly, San Antonio was literally playing the best team basketball that I'd seen in a few seasons, maybe dating back to the Detroit Pistons of 2003-04.
However, even though Oklahoma City may have lost those first few games, they never looked beat and they never lost their swagger.
In fact they looked confident, and over the next four games of the series, they played with a sense of desperation and confidence that not even Coach Brooks could have hoped for.
With their backs against the wall, they welcomed the opportunity to prove themselves under pressure and they succeeded; a true test of maturity. They were able to rise to the occasion and make pivotal changes to their game plan, which ultimately helped them grow into a totally different Thunder team than we had watched in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
OKC knew they had just survived the Spurs' best offensive onslaught, and although they were down 0-2 in the series, the Thunder knew what they were up against, and they knew what needed to be done in order to get to the Finals.
They were also aware that they had yet to play their best basketball.
It was this youthful mental resolve that I dismissed in my original analysis of the Western Conference Finals (I predicted the Spurs in 6 games a little over a week ago) that played such a pivotal role in the final outcome of this series.
Shame on me to not realize the adaptability, stubbornness, and impressionability of the NBA's youth!
When the Thunder got back into Oklahoma after failing to steal a win in San Antonio, they were too stubborn to buy into the Spurs hype, and why should they? They had already taken the Spurs' best punches in their house, yet OKC still managed to lose the first 2 games by a combined total of only 12 points. Also, they had exposed the Spurs as a human ball club, especially in the second half of those games.
In both games 1 and 2, the Thunder found themselves down by double digits in the first half, but they still managed to put runs together in the 3rd and 4th quarters that pulled them within single digits of the Spurs. For a squad that was known for closing games out decisively, especially in the first few rounds of the playoffs, San Antonio was struggling to keep up with the Thunder speed in the second half, and found themselves relying more and more on their outside shooting rather than getting to the rim. The Thunder were forcing them to do things they weren't necessarily comfortable doing. For example, they forced Tim Duncan (practically begged him) to shoot that 20 foot jumper at the top of the key, which he still wasn't making consistently by the time game 6 rolled around.
Regardless of OKC's efforts to steal wins in SAS, OKC was still down 0-2, and realistically, things weren't looking all that great.
It wasn't until Coach Brooks came up with the "Sefolosha Strangle" defense, Russell Westbrook learned that sometimes "less is more" at PG, and Ibaka and Perkins asserted themselves in the paint, did the Thunder turn into the "Category 5 Storm," that demolished the Spurs at their own game.
The Thunder had refined their game plan, and were playing better basketball than the "perfect" Spurs.
They out ran San Antonio on the break, were scrappier on defense, moved the ball better on offense, and owned the glass on both sides of the ball. In other words, they adapted to the circumstances of the series, believed in their coaches' confidence, and disregarded the naysayers.
Between games 3 and 6, there wasn't a question of who was the better team on the court because the Thunder controlled every aspect of the ball game from the tempo to the hustle board to the momentum.
While the Spurs played the age card, the Thunder matured, and evolved, into an even more dominant team:
-They developed not one, but two clutch offensive players in James Harden and Kevin Durant.
-They utilized Serge Ibaka not only for defense, but for offense too, where he began to knock down a consistent 15-18 foot jumper, which only creates better looks for his teammates.
-Coach Brooks unleashed the "Swiss Handcuffs," better known as Thabo Sefolosha, who pretended to be Lebron James for a week and guard every position on the floor .
-Russell Westbrook learned what it takes to be a true, winning PG in this league, and started dishing out assists at will.
-Their bench grew into a formidable defensive unit that Scotty Brooks can use in the Finals in order to give his starters a breather.
-Coach Brooks evolved into a proven strategist that was able to fully utilize the multitude of talents on his team in order to beat a far more experienced team coached by a much more experienced coach.
Not to sound too corny, but the sky's the limit for the Thunder, because a team that has the capability to learn and grow at this rate is a team that deserves a Championship.
Time will tell.
