Planet Spurs

Let's say you missed game two of the Spurs-Thunder Western Conference Finals.  If I were to tell you Tim Duncan only scored 11 points and Thunder stars Kevin Durant had 31, Russell Westbrook had 27, and James Harden had 30 off the bench, (in fact Oklahoma City's bench outscored San Antonio's 40-38) what would you think happened last night? 

You would think the Spurs dropped their first playoff game and the Thunder stole game two on the road.  However, that's not the case.  Not the case at all.  The Spurs got a huge performance from Point Guard Tony Parker who lead all scorers with 34 points and 8 assist.  Manu Ginobili scored 20 and Kawhi Leonard added 18.  The Spurs were set in cruise control all night and thumped the Thunder 120-111 despite big performances from OKC's stars.  The Spurs take a 2-0 series lead on the road to OKC for game three Thursday night.  More impressively is that this win gives San Antonio a 10-0 playoff record and a 20-0 record if you combine the last 10 regular season games with these 10 post season W's. 

The big take away from last nights Spurs performance is that they are simply playing the game of basketball on an entirely different level than anyone else right now.  They brushed their somewhat poor performance from game one aside and executed the "pick and roll" to perfection all night long in game two.  The play of the night came off a high "pick and roll" set that sent Duncan slashing across the paint from the wing, catching the perfectly timed pass from Ginobili in stride, and then dunking over the out stretched arm of the leagues leading shot blocker Serge Ibaka.  When Tim Duncan is jamming in your face, you got problems.  Duncan, not known for his poster making skills, made one last night that will be hanging on a lot of bedroom walls in San Antonio for years to come.  

The Thunder found ways to score, but San Antonio's defense still made them take a lot of difficult shots.  The Spurs got easy bucket after easy bucket and the Thunder couldn't keep up.  The Spurs looked un-beatable after last nights win.

Combine easy buckets with veteran poise and San Antonio has themselves a special club.  When the Spurs have stared adversity in the face this post season, (down 24 in LA against the Clippers in game three of the Western Semis), they didn't panic.  They did the same in game one of this series against OKC.  San Antonio got down in the third, but crept back in and pulled away for the easy victory.  Their ability to conquer any issue is unparalleled. 

No doubt the Spurs are on another planet right now.  Through two games against a Thunder team who had an 8-1 2012 post season record headed into the conference finals, the Spurs have indeed made beating them look easy.  Now up 2-0 the discussion begins to shift to what would be a more entertaining Finals matchup; Spurs-Heat or Spurs-Celtics.  OKC isn't done yet, they have the leagues leading scorer in Kevin Durant and one of the loudest home courts.  They will have to raise their game another notch or two if they expect to hold court with the Spurs in these next two games.  If not, then San Antonio could very well get their third series sweep of 2012.

Video of Duncan's slam on Ibaka via YouTube.  Love Reggie Miller's comments.