With about 6:30 to go in the first quarter and the Oklahoma City Thunder down 12–7 thanks mostly to an early four-point, three-assist outburst from Tony Parker, it appeared as if all the issues the San Antonio Spurs faced in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals had been corrected and that the Spurs were primed for a competitive game they could steal.
Then Russell Westbrook caught a cross-court pass from his running mate and league MVP Kevin Durant, pump-faked a triple, took one dribble in and buried an 18-footer. That was the beginning of the grave he singled-handedly dug for the Spurs in Game 4.
Westbrook was unequivocally the best player on the floor on Tuesday, outscoring all of San Antonio’s starters—combined—and finishing with 40 points, 10 rebounds and five steals, a line that hadn’t been seen in the playoffs since Michael Jordan got there in 1989.
The Thunder’s 25-year-old point guard did it all on Tuesday, leading OKC’s defensive effort by getting out in passing lanes, coming down on the weak side to cleanly strip Spurs and absolutely annihilating Parker after his promising start.
Watching Westbrook take over the game and look even better on the floor than his MVP teammate really drove home the fact that the basketball world too largely focuses on what Westbrook isn’t. A polarizing figure among fans and media alike because he isn’t Chris Paul or Steph Curry or James Harden. No, Westbrook is a different animal than all of these guys. And just because he doesn’t have the natural point-guard skills or the god-gifted shooting stroke or even the natural scorer’s feel, that doesn’t mean he’s a worse player than the above mentioned.
In fact, he’s better than them. And better than every other backcourt player in the league today.
Every player that Westbrook’s detractors want him to be is a tempered, controlled weapon, but Westbrook is an uncontrollable force of nature. A raging typhoon that cares not for the victims in its path.
No guard in today’s game can impact the game the way Westbrook does, and Game 4 was a perfect example of that. Westbrook’s physical ability completely trampled over an entire team that could do nothing but watch in awe. He’s bigger, stronger, quicker, faster and can jump higher than just about every guard in the world and, oh yeah, he’s a pretty damn good basketball player to boot, averaging 26.6 points, 8.1 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game in these playoffs.
So instead of looking at what Westbrook isn’t, take a look at what he is. A monster basketball player the likes of which the world has never seen before, capable of accomplishing feats that no one else in the game can, and the best guard in the world.
And it ain’t even close.
The Spurs need to get back to being themselves
Though they won’t admit it out loud, memories of the 2012 Western Conference Finals must be running through the Spurs’ minds. This series is starting to look almost identical to that one right now, with Oklahoma City squaring things up at 2–2 and looking like the quicker, more talented and more athletic team, while San Antonio appears stuck in the mud.
However, as grim and otherworldly as the Thunder look right now with Serge Ibaka’s return, it isn’t as if the Spurs have no hope—they’re still very much in this series and still hold home-court advantage.
If they want to get back though, they’ll need to take a look at what the bench mob did in garbage time to find the answer.
Boris Diaw and Canadian point guard Cory Joseph combined for 15 points in the last 6:46 of the third quarter to cut a 27-point lead down to 16 at the end of the frame. They eventually pulled within 12, forcing Thunder coach Scott Brooks to keep Westbrook and Durant in longer than was probably needed, but that was as close as they got.
Diaw, Joseph and the rest of the bench showed what Spurs basketball had been looking like for the majority of this post-season. The ball was moving from side to side, the bigs were making passes in and out of the post, and all of that was able to shake loose driving lanes for Joseph, who didn’t seem intimidated by Ibaka in the slightest.
San Antonio’s starters must move the ball with the purpose and crispness that its bench showed at the end of Game 4. Granted, the Thunder did let up on the defensive intensity, but the Spurs’ starters spent a lot of time with the ball sticking, giving OKC time to recover after its defence was successfully shifted by initial ball movement.
All San Antonio has to do to regain control of this series is the make the right pass after successfully moving the Thunder’s defence, because—no matter how fast and disruptive it may be—it’ll still break down if the Spurs play offence the way only the Spurs can.