Thunder Vs. Spurs: Complete Western Conference Finals Coverage

There’s a reason it seems that way -- it’s because it’s true. This will be Fisher’s eighth trip to the NBA Finals in a 16-year career. He has won five championships. But this one would be particularly sweet for Fisher.

Realistically, though, it was difficult to imagine Fisher providing much more than a few minutes per game backing up Westbrook and an experienced locker room presence. The locker room impact alone made the acquisition a no-brainer. Still, as heartless as it seemed for the Lakers to part ways with their long-time stalwart, it wasn’t particularly surprising from a basketball standpoint. Fisher was shooting just 38 percent for L.A., averaging just six points and three assists per game. By any metric, he was among the least productive rotation players in the league. But with Westbrook playing over 35 minutes per game, the Thunder didn’t need a lot out of Fisher, just a steady hand to run the show whenever Westbrook needed a breather.

You can pick a few different highlights from the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Game 5 win over the San Antonio Spurs as your metaphor for what’s happened in the Western Conference Finals so far.

Harden in the final minute, one-on-one with the shot clock running down, nailing a fatal stepback three that left us all shaking our heads.

“They’re a hell of a basketball team,” Gregg Popovich said afterward. “I don’t know what else to tell ya.” There’s not much to say. If you love basketball, you have to love what’s happening here. And if you’ve watched much of this series, how can you not love basketball?

As the Spurs were winning 20 straight games, including 10 straight to open the playoffs, they looked unbeatable. The offense was in such a good groove that it didn’t much matter what the defense was doing -- the Spurs were too efficient, too precise to be stopped.

So how have the Thunder managed to turn the table on the mighty Spurs? There’s really no single answer, other than the obvious observation that Oklahoma City is a very, very talented basketball team.

It seemed as though San Antonio was on its way to a comeback victory after trailing by eight points at halftime, but Harden’s dagger three-pointer close the door on any sort of Spurs momentum. The loss was a serious surprise to those that have followed San Antonio’s season considering tit was the first time they’ve lost three consecutive games all season -- especially since it came at what was likely the most inopportune time.

For more on the Spurs, check out Pounding the Rock. For Thunder news and notes, visit Welcome To Loud City. And for news, analysis and everything else revolving around the NBA Playoffs, be sure to visit SB Nation’s NBA page.

Saturday’s Game 4 is scheduled to tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on TNT.

For more on the Spurs, be sure to visit Pounding the Rock; for the Thunder, Welcome to Loud City. And for news, analysis and everything else revolving around the NBA Playoffs, be sure to visit SB Nation’s NBA page.

It worked? Really? What game were they watching?

When the Thunder began fouling with two and a half minutes remaining in the third, the Spurs were ahead by 16 points. For the next five possessions, the Thunder intentionally fouled Splitter, who made five of his 10 free throws. At the end of those five possessions, the Spurs led by 16. At the end of the third quarter, the Spurs led by 16. One might have thought that in order for a strategy to be deemed a success, it might actually need to produce some measurable benefit on the court, perhaps reduce the deficit some -- but evidently not.

The Thunder played hard and did a lot of things right in Game 1, but the Spurs -- the one-seed and also unspeakably awesome playoffs buzzsaw -- ended up pulling out the three-point victory.

Oklahoma City is definitely capable of putting up a fight against San Antonio, and probably can do that again. But at this point, you have to wonder: can anybody beat the Spurs? OKC? Miami? Boston? (Just joking, probably not Boston.) It’s pretty inconclusive thus far, as the Spurs are 9-1 in the playoffs and basically won a trillion games in a row.

And then it happened. The gears of the San Antonio offense began spinning in greased grooves in the fourth quarter, and suddenly the Thunder, long and athletic though they may be, had no answer. San Antonio opened the quarter on a 20-5 run to turn a nine-point deficit into a six-point lead and never trailed again. In the end, the Spurs scored 39 points in the final quarter, after scoring just 38 in the two middle periods combined.

During their unbeaten postseason that has now reached nine straight wins, the Spurs have consistently impressed. But in a way, it’s when they have faced adversity that they’ve seemed most invincible. When the Clippers put them in a 24-point hole in the second quarter of Game 3 of that series, San Antonio methodically, and in the end rather easily, wiped away the deficit and won the game. Likewise Sunday night against the Thunder, the Spurs made it look easy in the fourth quarter. With the game on the line, despite trailing by nine, San Antonio calmly ran their sets and put the game away, against a supremely talented opponent.

The two Western Conference Finalists have become the envy of the rest of the NBA, as two relatively small-market franchises who have been able to identify talent in the draft and compete for championships without exceeding the luxury tax.

The Thunder’s GM, Sam Presti, is a disciple of Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford in San Antonio. Front-office executives influenced by the Spurs, like Rich Cho in Charlotte, have begun to spread throughout the league.

Here, the three regular-season matchups could be very instructive. The Spurs won two of them, and in general, they’ve had their way with the Thunder over the past three years. However, the regular-season matchups are only as meaningful as the trends that developed over those three games. Can those trends hold up?

We’ll explore seven big ones to prepare for this series.

And I’m trying to explain how they can win this series?

So how can the Spurs beat them, supposing that this is a much stronger challenge?

Still, Oklahoma City’s run pales in comparison to San Antonio’s. For one thing, the Thunder had a four-game lead in the standings in mid-March when the Spurs got hot, but ended up losing home court advantage for this series. And while the Spurs have had only one close game during the postseason, the Thunder have had mulitple nailbiters against the Mavs and Lakers. Based on the way they’re playing right now, the Spurs have to be considered the favorites to win the West and maybe eventually win their fifth championship.

And while that’s true in any game or series, it will be especially true against the Spurs. The incandescent individual talent of Durant and Westbrook (and yes, Harden as well) are one of the advantages the Thunder have in this series. They’ll need to get huge production from their stars over the course of the series to have a chance of moving forward.