Oklahoma City Thunder 118 — Dallas Mavs 104
Finally…we’re to the NBA basketball season.
After a preseason to see if Kevin Durant’s Jones’ fracture healed properly, then a completely boring regular season in which OKC won 55 games, but was left in the competitive dust by the record setting Warriors and Spurs—we’re to where we all thought the OKC Thunder would be.
Namely-the Western Conference Semi-Finals. Nothing has changed except Steph Curry has sprained knee ligaments–which could be something if the Thunder survive and advance beyond the Spurs.
But as far as the Thunder, we really still don’t know all that much because this first round series against the Dallas Mavs was basically nothing. Dallas was hurt. Dallas doesn’t have all that much talent on its roster, and in essence all OKC did was win four out of five games against a team it swept 4-0 during the regular season.
Now we start to find out if the Thunder are pretenders or serious contenders. We find out if Durant and Westbrook have finally reached the juncture in their careers when they can lead a team to an NBA Finals without James Harden in actuality being their MVP as he was in that Western Conference Championship 2012 run to the NBA Finals.
No excuses. Durant healthy. Westbrook healthy. Ibaka healthy. Kendrick Perkins hands of stone exiled into the NBA wilderness. Scott Brooks is now the coach of the Washington Wizards. Steven Adams has evolved. Enes Kanter has shown he can play some. Maybe a problem with the shooting guard position, but gimme a break here–Jordan and Pippen won NBA championships with Stacy King and Luc Longley. At some point if you want to be mentioned among the league’s elite you take your team by the reins and lead. This would be that time.
So here we are. For the first time since the Harden trade, OKC is healthy in post season. For the first time since the trade we’re going to get the opportunity to see if the roster Sam Presti has assembled is championship worthy.
Durant and Westbrook can’t do this alone. Players named Ibaka, Kanter, Waiters, Adams, Collison, Foye, Morrow, and even Kyle Singler will have to pull their collective weight. This can’t be two versus five. Period.
This series against the Spurs should be fascinating. The Spurs have retooled with Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge now the superstar faces of the franchise. It’s a deep Spurs team with a blend of talent, age, and experience. And it’s a team which will have home court advantage in this series in the event it goes to a Game 7.
I’m not exactly sure what Mark Cuban was trying to say, but I know what I’m saying–it’s time for both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to show what they’ve got against the league’s elite players and teams.
It’s time.
Mike Jackson