Thunder reach West finals as Spurs left to realize basketball mortality

As the Oklahoma City Thunder prepare to face the Golden State Warriors, the San Antonio Spurs must ponder their basketball future after a season-ending Game 6 loss.

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OKLAHOMA CITY — If the San Antonio Spurs fell off a cliff somewhere in the course of their second-round playoff series, it was because the Oklahoma City Thunder pushed them. Players age. Teams struggle. Games are lost to slumped shooting or flustered decisions. Yet Oklahoma City took a proactive role in bringing these facts of basketball life to the forefront in each of the final five games of the series, thereby forcing San Antonio to confront its every limitation. A 67-win team with a historic regular season point differential does not bend but by force.

The Thunder showed that force in spades. With each successive game, they stripped away at a few more elements of the Spurs’ offense. The fluid system that once delighted basketball purists devolved first into desperate pick-and-rolls and then into sputtering isolations. By Game 6, OKC defenders were on top of everything. San Antonio couldn’t manage a single three-pointer in the first half of its 113–99 loss. Set plays were recognized and snuffed out immediately while the creative abilities of Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge were pushed to their reasonable limits. There was ultimately nowhere left to turn.

Gregg Popovich, in classic elimination-game fashion, left no stone unturned. Little-used reserves Boban Marjanovic and Kevin Martin both played actual, competitive minutes before the game got out of hand. Boris Diaw was nixed from the rotation entirely. San Antonio started the second half down 24 points and in its smallest lineup of the series—a direct counter to the jumbo, bulk-rebounding lineups that had turned the series in Oklahoma City’s favor. The sum of those moves and the Spurs’ increasing desperation cut the deficit to 11 points in the fourth but no further. Just when it seemed San Antonio had ground the game into something manageable, Serge Ibaka obliterated a Tim Duncan layup attempt and triggered Kevin Durant for a fast-break dunk. A final air of decision came with it. 

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Controlling a team like the Spurs game after game demands rare persistence. The Thunder of the regular season didn’t seem capable of it; that team would drift when tasked with defending consecutive actions, slacking gradually as a possession wore on. Despite that, Oklahoma City’s executional endurance was never much of an issue in this heavyweight series. Sequences that would have worn down the Thunder just months earlier were handled deftly.

“I thought we did a really good job defensively in the series,” Thunder head coach Billy Donovan said. “Because listen: they’re really, really hard to guard. They’re unselfish. They’re smart. They’re very, very savvy. They play the right way. They’re a hard team to guard."

Classic Sports Illustrated photos of Tim Duncan

Rare SI Photos of Tim Duncan

Manny Millan

Tim Duncan dunks during Wake Forest's game against Saint Louis in the second round of the NCAA Tourament on March 18, 1995 in Baltimore.

Manny Millan

Tim Duncan poses during a photo shoot on Aug. 3, 1995 in Christiansted, St. Croix.

Manny Millan

Tim Duncan walks with his brother-in-law Ricky Lowery on Aug. 3, 1995 in Christiansted, St. Croix.

Walter Iooss Jr

Tim Duncan poses during a photo shoot on Oct. 16, 1996 in Winston-Salem, N.C.

John Biever

Tim Duncan grabs a rebound over Kelly Thames during Wake Forest's game against Missouri on Feb. 9, 1997 in Columbia, Mo.

Bob Rosato

Tim Duncan blocks a shot by John Stockton during Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz on May 10, 1998 in San Antonio.

Bob Rosato

Tim Duncan defends against Shaquille O'Neal during Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers on May 19, 1999 in San Antonio.

David E. Klutho

Tim Duncan and David Robinson defend against Latrell Sprewell as he misses the last shot of Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks on June 25, 1999 in New York City.

John W. McDonough

Tim Duncan shoots against Alonzo Mourning during the NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 13, 2000 in Oakland.

Robert Beck

Tim Duncan and David Robinson watch Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round between the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns on April 29, 2000 in Phoenix.

Bob Rosato

Tim Duncan dunks against Shawn Bradley during Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks on May 12, 2001 in Dallas.

John W. McDonough

Tim Duncan consoles David Robinson during Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers on May 10, 2002 in San Antonio.

John Biever

Tim Duncan and David Robinson look on from the floor during the San Antonio Spurs game against the Houston Rockets on March 2, 2003 in Houston.

Bob Rosato

Tim Duncan argues with a referee during Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers on May 5, 2003 in San Antonio.

Bob Rosato

Tim Duncan dunks during Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets on June 4, 2003 in San Antonio.

John W. McDonough

Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich celebrate after winning Game 6 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets on June 15, 2003 in San Antonio.

Michael O'Neill

Tim Duncan poses during a photo shoot on Aug. 14, 2003 in New York City.

Michael O'Neill

Tim Duncan poses during a photo shoot on Aug. 14, 2003 in New York City.

Michael O'Neill

Tim Duncan poses during a photo shoot on Aug. 14, 2003 in New York City.

Michael O'Neill

Tim Duncan and David Robinson pose together during a photo shoot on Dec. 3, 2003 in San Antonio.

Bob Rosato

Tim Duncan tries to keep the ball away from Manu Ginobili during the Olympic Basketball Tournament Semifinals between USA and Argentina on Aug. 27, 2004 in Athens, Greece.

John W. McDonough

Tim Duncan gives Manu Ginobili a low five during Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons on June 12, 2005 in San Antonio.

John W. McDonough

Tim Duncan drives to the basket against Rasheed Wallace during Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons on June 23, 2005 in San Antonio.

John Biever

Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen celebrate after winning Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons on June 23, 2005 in San Antonio.

Greg Nelson

Tim Duncan smiles during warmups for the San Antonio Spurs game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Nov. 4, 2005 in San Antonio.

Greg Nelson

Tim Duncan moves the ball during the San Antonio Spurs game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Nov. 3, 2006 in San Antonio.

Greg Nelson

Tim Duncan takes the opening tip-off against Zydrunas Ilgauskas during Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers on June 10, 2007 in San Antonio.

Greg Nelson

Tim Duncan defends against LeBron James during Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers on June 10, 2007 in San Antonio.

Greg Nelson

Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett look on during the San Antonio Spurs game against the Boston Celtics on March 17, 2008 in San Antonio.

John W. McDonough

Amar'e Stoudemire, Tim Duncan and Yao Ming attempt to grab a rebound against Kevin Garnett during the NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 15, 2009 in Phoenix.

Greg Nelson

Tim Duncan stretches while hanging from the rim before the San Antonio Spurs game against the Utah Jazz on Jan. 20, 2010 in San Antonio.

Greg Nelson

Tim Duncan drives to the basket during the San Antonio Spurs game against the New York Knicks on Jan. 21, 2011 in San Antonio.

Robert Beck

Tim Duncan boxes out Blake Griffin during Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers on May 20, 2012 in Los Angeles.

Greg Nelson

Tim Duncan keeps the ball away from Kevin Garnett during the San Antonio Spurs game against the Boston Celtics on Dec. 15, 2012 in Los Angeles.

John W. McDonough

Steph Curry and Tim Duncan vie for the ball on the floor during Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors on May 10, 2012 in Oakland.

Robert Seale

Manu Ginobili has some fun with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker during a photo shoot on June 2, 2013 in San Antonio.

John W. McDonough

Tim Duncan shoots against Mario Chalmers during Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat on June 5, 2014 in San Antonio.

John W. McDonough

Tim Duncan smiles with his son Draven and daughter Sydney during a press conference following Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat on June 15, 2014 in San Antonio.

Robert Seale

Tim Duncan gives LaMarcus Aldridge a look during a photo shoot on Oct. 16, 2015 in San Antonio.

​

There wasn’t a single matchup or adjustment that won this series for the Thunder. There were waves of them. San Antonio’s best efforts in defending Durant and Russell Westbrook amounted to little; both were able to work their way to enough quality shots to justify additional pressure, off of which the supporting cast thrived. A defense will almost inevitably come up short when committing extra attention to a pair of superstars, scrambling to contest any shooter that mattered, and making a mad dash to contend with huge, physical bigs on the glass. Even possessions of near-perfect execution too often left the Spurs wanting. 

“Sometimes it’s not meant to be,” Spurs guard Tony Parker said. That much was hinted by the basketball gods when a wild, promising sequence at the end of Game 2 turned to dust in the space of a few seconds. It was reinforced when Game 5 slipped away with missed shots from Parker and missed calls when San Antonio desperately needed them. A few bounces might have turned the results of those games, though it wouldn’t have changed the general tenor of the series once Oklahoma City locked in and played the best basketball of its season. The Warriors, who await the Thunder in the Western Conference finals, will demand every bit of it come Monday.

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Donovan, when asked how his team might match up with the Warriors, almost laughed off the question. This was some 15 minutes after his team had claimed victory over a foregone conclusion: Golden State and San Antonio, two of the best regular season teams ever, destined to meet late in the playoffs. Oklahoma City didn’t just upset that premise but proved it definitively false. The Thunder will advance because they deserve to, and in the interim can claim the luxury of a moment’s reprieve.

“I think the best way to describe it is, if you do win a playoff series, it’s an unbelievable relief,” Popovich said earlier in the series. “One would think there would be joy, but it’s just an unbelievable relief. When you lose, it’s a devastating feeling. The key is to get over it quickly, either way. Do not think it’s such a big deal if you win and it’s not the end of the world if you lose.”

Life goes on in Oklahoma City and San Antonio alike. Donovan will soon reconvene with his staff to parse video and Thunder players will be so immersed in the matchup they’ll count Stephen Curry jumpers as they lay down to sleep. The Spurs move on—perhaps, in some cases, beyond basketball entirely. Tim Duncan is 40 years old. Manu Ginobili is 38. Their illustrious careers may well have ended with their season, played off by a Thunder team that took full advantage of all they could no longer do. No fan of the game should root for their exit, though it would hardly come as a surprise. Never is the vision of basketball mortality clearer than when a legend falls victim, all at once, to context, twilight and a clearly superior opponent.