NBA Western Conference Finals Preview

Durant (left) and Duncan (right) will have to do everything that it takes to get their teams to the NBA Finals

After a lockout subsidized this season to start on Christmas Day, it only took over 5 months for possibly the greatest gift of all to reach basketball fans around the country and around the world. While the Eastern Conference has been littered with shocks and surprises all across it, it is no secret that the teams out West have been taking care of business the entire season. And after the first two rounds that featured all chalk, we’re left with the two best in the Western Conference.

And what a matchup it proves to be.

In the red corner stand the upstarts; for the better part of the series, wearing the blue jerseys and shorts, with orange, black and yellow trim. Originally hailing from Seattle, Washington, now residing in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, they possess one of the best starting fives in the National Basketball Association. Led by their leading scorer, the NBA’s leading scorer, a product of The University of Texas, and their point man from Westwood, your Northwest Division Champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

And in the blue corner stand the veterans; wearing the black and white jerseys and shorts. From the Lone Star State, Alamo City, San Antonio, Texas, they’ve got almost everything that you’d want in a team. A legendary Hall of Fame coach patrolling the sidelines, an established big man who is a surefire lock to make the Hall of Fame, a point man with superior vision, a sixth man from Argentina who has been the catalyst for why they aren’t in the same position as last year. The number one seed in the West, your Southwest Division Champions, the San Antonio Spurs.

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get ready to rumble. 

The Starting Five

Will the Spurs stay rolling? The San Antonio Spurs have been on an unbelievable run since taking a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on April 11th. Since then, to put it bluntly, they haven’t taken a loss, winning the last 18 games they’ve played including two consecutive sweeps of the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers. The Spurs didn’t play the Thunder during this incredible stretch, and will arguably pose their biggest threat that they have faced yet. We’ll find out as early as tonight if the Spurs can keep this hot streak going and make it 19 consecutive wins in a row.

Can the Thunder live up to their potential? Ever since this group was built through the draft the championship aspirations have been their for the Thunder to take. Two seasons ago they were an upstart eighth seed that pushed the would-be NBA champion LA Lakers to an exciting six game series. Last season they made the Western Conference Finals, but were taken down by the eventual NBA champion Dallas Mavericks in five games. This year the Thunder have seemed to have maxed out winning 47 games in the shortened season, and the talk of a championship has been going around since the start of the season. We’ll see if they can get through to the Finals, or whether or not for the second year in a row they will fall short of their goal.

Who wins the battle of the point guard? Two of the best point guards in the league will go at it in this series and it’s going to be an interesting battle to say the very least. The Spurs send out Tony Parker, who was an MVP candidate for much of the season with his numbers (19.1 PPG, 7.1 APG, 3.4 RPG, 1 SPG) and leadership ability being the poignant figures that stood out. OKC trots out the polarizing Russell Westbrook who some say plays about as well as he dresses (although, in that case, you might say he’s not too good, but I for one enjoy the hipster routine). Westbrook has gotten a lot of heat over the last year for shooting too much and a lot of talk has been centered around whether or not he and superstar Kevin Durant can coexist, but the Thunder seem to be disproving that each time they step on the court. Parker and Westbrook do it a bit unconventionally but nonetheless it will be a very, very fun matchup to watch, and my favorite of the series.

Who will step up to stop Kevin Durant? The NBA’s three-time, three-time, three-time scoring champion comes into this game seemingly unstoppable at this point. Durant averaged 26.5 PPG against the Dallas Mavericks, and 26.8 PPG against the Los Angeles Lakers, so he has been scoring in bunches in these playoffs thus far. The Spurs will most likely put Kawhi Leonard from San Diego State, and when he’ sin the game, Stephen Jackson on Kevin Durant, with Jackson being the better of the two in my opinion, but needless to say both Jackson and Leonard will need to play the best couple of defensive games of their lives if they want to try and at least halt Durant from doing as well as he has done. Which, to say the least, seems nearly impossible.

What sixth man will provide the biggest impact? You can talk all that you want about the starting five players on each team, but the bench is generally where series are won, and both the Thunder and Spurs possess great depth. Each team though has an excellent sixth man in their weaponry that they can unleash any time that they choose to. James Harden on the Thunder is about to get paid this offseason no matter if it is by the Thunder or the field, and the Sixth Man of the Year averaged 17 PPG in the regular season and thus far has averaged the same amount off the bench and has shot 33% from 3. Manu Ginobili of the Spurs has been around the block a couple of times and he knows how to play in the postseason, and has averaged 11.3 PPG this postseason along with 4.5 APG and has shot 40% from the field. Ginobili versus Harden is definitely another premier matchup to watch and, at the end of the day, may be the matchup that determines who wins this series.

Heat Check

What player will have to be at their absolute best for their team to win?

Tim Duncan: What more is there to say about Tim Duncan? The surefire first ballot hall of fame big man has proved the doubters wrong year in and year out that he’s “too old” and his fundamentals are about as good as those of the players in your local gym’s 40-year old rec league. Timmy has turned it on in the last eight games of the postseason, averaging 17.6 PPG and has pulled down nine rebounds and blocked nearly two shots a game. His 19 points and 13 rebounds in Game 3 was one of the reasons that the Spurs stomped all over the Clippers in their ridiculous comeback victory. The Spurs can get all the output they want from the rest of the gang, but they’ll need Duncan to be superior as he has always seemed to be if they want to move on to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2007.

Serge Ibaka: You might be surprised at this answer, but when you think about it, it isn’t all that surprising. The “Serge Protector” of the paint was fantastic in the 2011 season, and the soon-to-be free agent hasn’t seen his level of play dip in the postseason either. While he isn’t the greatest offensive threat, only 9.5 PPG during the regular season and just 9.8 during the postseason, his defense has been fantastic. He’s averaged 6.1 rebounds a game and a ridiculous 3.7 blocks a game including a seven-block performance against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Semifinals. Ibaka will find himself lined up against Tim Duncan for most of the series I’d imagine, so his defense down low will be crucial for the Thunder to keep Timothy in check and locked down by OKC S.W.A.T. team captain.

And the Winner is…

This will be a series to remember in my opinion, no matter who the meter moves towards. I feel that the Spurs have been ridiculously hot in the last eighteen games, but I can’t see the Thunder being easily breezed through, or not going without a victory. You can’t say that the Thunder suffer from a lack of experience, especially if you have watched them during the playoffs this year. There aren’t many disadvantages that the Thunder suffer from, and with that said, there aren’t many that the Spurs suffer from either, so I’m predicting a good old fashioned Wild Wild West shootout.

Thunder in 7