Oklahoma City Thunder: 5 Keys To Closing Out The Series
5. Control The “Controllables”
Against a smart, experienced team like the Spurs, the Thunder have to stick to their guns, limit their mistakes and control all the variables that are within their control.
For starters, OKC must maintain its drastic advantage on the boards, particularly on the offensive glass. The Spurs aren’t a particularly dangerous offensive rebounding team, and with Steven Adams, Serge Ibaka, Enes Kanter, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook capable of gobbling up boards, it’s no wonder this has been one of the Thunder’s biggest advantages in this matchup.
Thunder are winning the rebounding margin vs. Spurs in this series, 222 to 187.
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) May 12, 2016
Offensive boards: 56 to 37
Oklahoma City was the NBA’s leading rebounding team in the regular season, and they’ve put that attribute to good use against San Antonio, out-rebounding the Spurs by 35 boards over their three wins. In the two losses, they were dead even on the boards.
That’s quite a discrepancy, and when Billy Donovan has gone with one of his most effective lineups in limited minutes, the Spurs have been bleeding offensive rebounds:
In 25 playoff minutes together, the Westbrook-Waiters-KD-Kanter-Adams lineup has grabbed 57.1% of available offensive rebounds.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 11, 2016
The Thunder would also do well to limit their turnovers, though that statistic has been a bit of an anomaly in indicating success this series. In the two losses, OKC committed 10 and 14 turnovers, leading to 23 total points off turnovers for the Spurs.
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In the three wins, oddly enough, OKC has averaged more turnovers per game (16.7), leading to 18.3 points per game for the Spurs. There wasn’t a drastic shift in pace that accounted for the difference in turnovers in those games either, making this something of a statistical anomaly.
Still, taking care of the ball never hurts, and with the Spurs trying to stave off elimination in a desperation Game 6, avoiding giving the opposition any sort of advantage is a good idea.
Finally, the Thunder have to continue doing the little things that have brought them success over the last four games. From completely shutting Tim Duncan down (3.4 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 7-for-25 shooting) to making free throws to closing out quarters strong, the Thunder have to do all the little things right to finish the Spurs off.
Next: No. 4