DUNC-ed ON

   Wide open. Uncontested. No one was even within 10 feet of an opposing player. That’s the kind of defense that the Oklahoma City Thunder presented to the San Antonio Spurs last night in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. OKC lost to the Spurs 105-122 in a game that stayed close through 3 quarters, but got out of hand quickly once the fourth quarter began. The defense was anemic to say the least, and the offensive execution just wasn’t there for the Thunder when they needed it most.

  Kevin Durant finished the game with 28 points, and Russell Westbrook racked up 25 points of his own, but those kinds of numbers are not going to cut it for OKC if they keep playing like they did. The offensive production that Oklahoma City put up was nothing short of disgusting. Two starters, Thabo Sefolosha and Nick Collison, didn’t even score a single point! The Spurs, on the other hand, had every player score at least once besides two players that sat the bench for the whole entire game. If you were on San Antonio and got playing time, you were going to score the basketball. This just proves, once again, how bad the defense was last night in the absence of the injured Serge Ibaka.  But every Thunder fan has seen this movie before. They lost Game 1 to the Clippers in an abysmal fashion, and came back to win the series in 6 games, and in 2012, OKC was down 0-2 to San Antonio before ripping off 4 straight wins to advance to the NBA Finals. The bottom line is this: There is no reason, if you are a Thunder fan, to push the big, red, panic button.

   Thunder coach, Scott Brooks, is believed to be using Game 1 as a measuring stick for the multiple lineups that he put on the floor last night, and build on what worked in order to not have to shuffle around so much for Game 2. Jeremy Lamb got his first look of action since the Thunder’s blowout win against the Clippers in Game 2, and his defense left something to be desired, to say the least. Derek Fisher showed up big time off the bench, and Caron Butler made a 3-pointer along with some free throws to add onto OKC’s bench production. Reggie Jackson scored a season-low 13 points against San Antonio. He was averaging 21 points per game against the Spurs coming into Monday night, but the San Antonio defense was the exact opposite of Oklahoma City’s, and was making sure the Thunder got no easy looks. 

  When looking back at this Game 1, all you can really say is that the Thunder were experimenting with lineups, missing Ibaka greatly, and let the Spurs shoot above 57% from the floor, and 52% from beyond the arc. When San Antonio is hitting like that, they are hard to beat. Don’t expect that trend to continue at all, and expect the big boys for OKC to step it up on the defensive end after what Tim Duncan did to them. Duncan scored 21 first half points, and ended the night with 27. If that isn’t an obvious sign that Serge’s presence on the floor is being missed, then what else would you call that?

  Looking ahead to Game 2 in the AT&T Center, the Thunder need to hit the wide open shots that their ball movement was producing, not commit 16 turnovers, and lock down on defense, if they want to split this series in San Antonio. They will need to split these first 2 games if they hope to win this matchup against the Spurs, because if they don’t, they maybe in for an early vacation. Just something to think about as the Thunder look to rebound from Game 1 and figure out their new identity without Serge.