Warriors vs Thunder will be like regular season
By Paul Matli
The Oklahoma City Thunder are the same team they were during the regular season even though they beat the San Antonio Spurs.
The Thunder are a flawed basketball team, everybody knows this. The Thunder have flaws the Spurs could not exploit, but the Warriors already did three times.
Despite these flaws OKC is a team the Warriors did not want to face. They are athletic, have a guy in Kevin Durant whom the Warriors can’t stop, and have Steven Adams and Enes Kanter who are impossible to keep off the glass. More importantly, they are young and have the ability to run with Golden State.
The Warriors would have preferred the Spurs to win because they were an easier matchup for them. But like always, they will do what they do: win.
The Warriors will beat the Thunder in 6 games maximum. The Thunder have two of the top five players in the NBA, but the Warriors have the best player. More often than not, the best player prevails.
The Warriors have more depth than the two-man Thunder. Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are playing as well as they ever have. The Thunder don’t have anyone like Shaun Livingston or Andre Iguodala on their team. All of these factors favor Golden State.
When we examine the match ups, the only guy who has bothered Golden State has been Durant. Stephen Curry has abused Russell Westbrook like no other point guard has. Curry has consistently ripped Westbrook’s soul and thrown it to the sidelines. Westbrook has struggled against the Warriors’ team defense. For proof: see his numbers from the season series.
Even though Durant will be unstoppable, it won’t matter. If the Warriors contain everyone else on the Thunder, they will win this series fairly easily. The Warriors have the ability to “flip the switch,” when they need to. This is very similar to the Lebron James-led Miami Heat teams. When they needed to play defense they could. The Warriors can go on a 15-5 run whenever they want to.
Oklahoma City beat the Spurs for two reasons: San Antonio was worn down and they gave games away.
The Spurs aren’t old, but OKC’s athleticism wore them down just like the Warriors would have. The final reason is the Spurs failed to close out games 2,4 and 5. If the Spurs close two of those games they win the series in five games. This shows the Thunder aren’t as good as people believe they are. They could have lost in five games, if the Spurs had a closer.
The Warriors are the best fourth quarter team in the NBA, whereas the Thunder are one of the worst, regardless of the result against the Spurs. Westbrook becomes a ball hog and misses shots instead of giving the ball to Durant. Last night was another example of this.
Admittedly Westbrook played impressive point guard in games 4-6. He set the tone with Durant and then got his own offense as the game wore on. This was key in the Thunder’s success.
The problem the Thunder will run into against the Warriors is the Westbrook vs. Curry matchup. Westbrook is such a fiery competitor that he tends to get carried away trying to outdo Curry instead of doing his job. We’ve seen this in the three games this season. Westbrook has tried to outplay Curry instead of playing his own game.
The Warriors are banking on this continuing. When Westbrook shoots more than Durant the Thunder lose, when he shoots less they win. There’s a defined pattern here. Westbrook will try and outplay Curry and this will cost his team.
This series has the potential to be a classic. These are the two most talented teams in the NBA, sorry Cavs fans. This series has 6 of the last 7 scoring champions and 3 of the last 5 MVP’s. What more can one ask for in a series?