The Margin: Oklahoma City Thunder 102, San Antonio Spurs 82
We hope by now you know how it goes when we decide to do the margin. One talking point for every point differential in the final score. I didn’t feel like doing an El Conclusion tonight, so here we go.
- Tim Duncan had only two rebounds. As Aaron McGuire noted in our postgame show, Duncan has been shooting terribly against the Thunder all season, but his rebounding can’t be so bad. It has to be better in Game 4.
- It was expected that the Thunder would come out with the energy that they did, but it’s on the Spurs to make the plays over the course of the game to bring them back down. That didn’t happen.
- The Spurs lost the second quarter 32-17. They were within striking distance in every other quarter, but that second quarter gave the Thunder an advantage the Spurs were never able to close in on.
- Milk carton: Danny Green
- Tim Duncan became the all-time playoff shot blocking leader, overtaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Although, as many noted on Twitter, the NBA didn’t start officially recognizing blocked shots until 41 games into Kareem’s playoff career. The Spurs just couldn’t get any positive momentum tonight.
- Nothing sums up the night better than this.
- Boris Diaw had an extremely limited impact on Game 3. Honestly, I’m not completely sure why. I’ll have to watch the game to get a closer look, but the fact that I don’t remember when he was in the game and when he wasn’t usually isn’t a good sign.
- Despite how bad it looked, the Spurs don’t need to shake things up. Simple adjustments and an improved effort should be enough to beat the Thunder. You don’t make wholesale changes to a team that just won 20 games in a row.
- That includes playing DeJuan Blair. There were many problems in Game 3 and DeJuan Blair is the solution to none of them.
- It is a concern that the Spurs shot over 40% from 3-point range and the Thunder shot less than 30%, and OKC still won.
- The Thunder made their living shooting inside, outscoring the Spurs 44-24 in the paint. I’m sure many people will give you that stat tonight and tomorrow. It was kind of important considering how the Spurs made their living over the previous 20 games.
- The Spurs had a OffRtg of 89.5 and a DefRtg of 111.5. These are both terrible numbers. To me, they’re signs of being completely outplayed in one game, not necessarily something systemic that the Thunder have figured out. (Stats courtesy of NBA.com)
- That said, Gregg Popovich and Co. need to figure out how to free Tony Parker from Thabo Sefalosha and give Tony some driving and passing lanes.
- The Thunder hoisted 12 more shots than the Spurs did. This was in part due to the 21 turnovers the Spurs committed. I’ve said before that the Spurs’ offense can be prone to stretches of turnovers because of its necessary timing and spacing. Just a few fewer turnovers and handful more shots could’ve made this game more competitive going into the fourth quarter.
- Because the Spurs rely on so many young role players, they’re subject to more fluctation in performance than we may remember from past title teams. Those teams relied heavily on veteran players like Robert Horry, Steve Kerr and Kevin Willis. So you can excuse Kawhi Leonard’s 15 minutes tonight (he did get six rebounds, however) and Gary Neal’s 3-11 shooting. They need to bounce back in Game 4.
- I’m trying to think of a single play where the Spurs ran a pick-and-roll with Tiago Splitter to perfect execution. I got nothing.
- No stretches of sending Tiago Splitter to the line intentionally, but with the way the Thunder were rolling there was no need to.
- I don’t expect to see any major changes in Game 4, just better effort.
- Stephen Jackson shot the ball well but had four turnovers. I was kind of curious why he didn’t guard Kevin Durant as much in Game 3 as he did in Game 1. Danny Green spent a lot of time on KD when Kawhi Leonard was out of the game.
- I’m feeling like the Spurs win a very close Game 4. It could be the game this series is defined and remembered by.
