Although the Western Conference Finals had plenty of fanfare heading in, most of that press was surrounding the Golden State Warriors. That isn’t to say that they didn’t deserve it. They won an NBA record 73 games during the regular season. Steve Kerr won coach of the year. Stephen Curry was a unanimous MVP selection. They dispatched of the Blazers without the services of said MVP for over half the series. But few gave credence to their opponent in this series, the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC upended the team that many believed to be the defending champs’ lone roadblock to back to back championships, the San Antonio Spurs. They came back from a 2-1 deficit to do so, winning the final three games in impressive fashion. After taking an instant classic in game one, the Thunder and Warriors have traded blowouts in games two and three. The latter has the “underdogs” rolling in a manner that many believed they should have been doing for years. They are up 2-1 now, and look poised to stifle chances of a repeat of the 2015 NBA Finals.
Unlike his predecessor Scott Brooks, Billy Donovan has cultivated the niches of one of the league’s most talented rosters. Sure, having two of the top five players in the game, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, help loads, but Donovan has given the role players actual roles. He makes adjustments both during and after games. Such was evident from the opening tip as the Thunder looked unshaken from their game two shellacking. They didn’t deviate from what they did right, but made several moves to smooth over their rough edges.
One of those moves was to beat the Warriors at their own game. Steven Adams and Enes Kanter have been tremendous this postseason, and combined for 20 boards in this one, but it was when the duo were off the floor that the Thunder were at their booming best. The heavily criticized Dion Waiters completed a small ball lineup and terrorized the Warriors perimeter defenders. Along with Andre Roberson, they ran Klay Thompson through a seemingly endless conga line of screens and cuts. They equally hassled Thompson on the other end of the floor.
The brilliant thing about Oklahoma City’s performance is that they took it straight to the best that Golden State had to offer. They didn’t take advantage of substitution patterns or weak spells. They slammed the gas pedal to the floor and flattened the league’s elite team from the regular season. Thompson (-41), Curry (-39), and Draymond Green (-43) received front row seats to a clinic in efficiency. In fact, while the Thunder claim it had zero effect on their play, Green’s low blow on Steven Adams sparked a 24-5 run by the home team that all but put the game away. You could see each squandered possession further cripple the champs as the Thunder became sharks in a sea of blood.
Along with Waiters, the surprise revival in game three was of Serge Ibaka. A ghost in the first two games, and frankly for the entirety of the playoffs up to this point, Ibaka was the key to making the small lineup work for the Thunder. Billy Donovan had barely deployed Ibaka at center throughout their playoff run, leaving him to be more of a stretch four. He was a funnel to Kanter or Adams rather than the rim protector he had so adeptly been earlier in his career. But after game two, having Ibaka be the center of the more fleet of foot lineup was a risk that paid off brilliantly. The Warriors shot an uncharacteristically low 33% when Ibaka was at the 5, and in turn the Thunder shot over double that figure with said lineup. It will be interesting to see if Donovan goes with that configuration even more, possibly from jump street, in game four.
Golden State’s All-Star trio will bounce back. That is something I’m sure of. But, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are no longer alone in their fight against them. The reduced impetus to make EVERYTHING happen showed as they played more controlled in game three and cut their turnovers in half (11 to 5). Though they still don’t have that proverbial third amigo, a la James Harden in their last Finals run, the Thunder have found many a method to give supply to their stars, as well as shoulder some of their incredible burden. From the small lineup, to different defensive assignments, the coach and the players have found a true syncing point. That plus their talent makes them all the much more dangerous.
Coming into the respective finals, Golden State and Cleveland were lauded as favorites, almost to the point of disregard for their opponents. But now Oklahoma City has a 2-1 series lead on their home floor and Toronto just decimated the Cavs ahead of tonight’s game four in Canada. The afterthoughts are giving their opponents plenty to think about going forward. In the Warriors case, the can’t let the roll that the Thunder are on turn into an avalanche.