On the verge of the Western Conference Finals, it would’ve been absolutely absurd to discuss the Spurs without making extended mention of their reserves, as well as their starting role players. Guys Like Boris Diaw, Tiago Splitter, Danny Green, Stephen Jackson, and Gary Neal had torn the Clippers, Jazz, and a multitude of regular-season opponents to shreds, making this Spurs team not only the deepest in the league, but the deepest of Pop’s squads to date. With Tim Duncan feeling well, Tony Parker playing great, and Manu Ginobili waiting on his moment, this San Antonio team was to be feared. Almost mechanically they had dismantled opponents, winning 18 straight games by an average margin in the teens.
Five games later, they face elimination. Having lost three games in a row for the first time all year, the NBA’s best team (by the record) suddenly looks very vulnerable.
How, you are probably wondering, have the Oklahoma City Thunder been able to snap one of the longest winning streaks in NBA history and simultaneously start a three-gamer of their own? How on earth, after completely throwing game one, have Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden bounced back like this?
To be honest, I don’t have the answer to that. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around this astounding turn of events, and it’s all yet to make sense to me. However, I do know this much—Kevin, Russ, and James haven’t done it without a great deal of help from their supporting cast. Their unheralded, run-of-the-mill, afterthought of a supporting cast.
Take James Harden out of the equation and Oklahoma City got 20 points from three bench players last night. San Antonio, who moved Manu Ginobili into the starting lineup, received a 22-point boost from their reserves… but they played six different guys. So, Stephen Jackson, Gary Neal, Tiago Splitter, DeJuan Blair, Danny Green, and Matt Bonner were only able to produce two points more than Derek Fisher, Nick Collison, and Daequan Cook. That’s a f@cking disaster, but to make matters more frightening the aforementioned crew of Spurs reserves needed 20 shot attempts to score those 22 points. Fisher, Collison, and Cook were much more efficient, taking just 12 combined shots. San Antonio’s reserves contributed to the turnover mess as well, giving the ball up on six different occasions. OKC’s bench never turned the ball over one damn time… not even if you include James Harden, who was able to refrain from charging in game five.
Game four had been a different story—OKC’s non-Harden reserves produced just 8 points while San Antonio’s non-Ginobili guys scored 21. However, I’m sure you recall the games that Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins played. F@cking Ibaka outdid Duncan and damn near set a record while Perkins posted more points (15) than Boris Diaw, Tiago Splitter, and DeJuan Blair combined (14). Again, it was an instance of OKC’s role players stepping up and outplaying San Antonio’s. That wasn’t supposed to happen once, let alone twice.
Going back to game three, it was yet another story… but the now-familiar theme rings true. As you probably remember, game three was the one where Thabo Sefolosha not only scored a career playoff high of 19 points, but also debuted his series-changing defense against Tony Parker. In addition, Nick Collison produced 6 points on 3-3 and Serge Ibaka dropped 14 on 5-9. Stephen Jackson shot the ball with deadly accuracy in this particular game, but the rest of San Antonio’s non-big-three players (excluding DeJuan Blair, who tore it up in nine minutes of garbage time) combined to go just 8-35 (EIGHT for THIRTY-FIVE!!!!). A horrendous display of shooting indeed, but who’d have thought it would kick off a three-game stretch consisting of Thunder-role-player domination we thought we’d never see one damn time? Crazy.
Please don’t take this post as San Antonio’s obituary. There are no fewer than 48 minutes left to be played in this Conference Final; 48 more in Texas provided the Spurs can pull off a single win in Brick Town. The entire world of sports can be turned on its head by a mere game, or even a mere play. This series has already demonstrated that. The sole purpose of this post is to emphasize the impact of an unexpected development… that unexpected development being the play of guys who I thought would get… owned, for lack of a better word.
