The NBA season that almost wasn't will soon be the NBA season that just ended. Oklahoma City has played 57 of the scheduled 66 games (86%) and has already clinched the Northwest Division along the home court advantage that status guarantees in the first round of the playoffs. If the Thunder get some combination of wins or Laker losses that sum up to two over the next three weeks, they will also be assured more home games in the event of advancing to the second round. That seems pretty likely.
Thanks to an incredible hot streak by the San Antonio Spurs and the Thunder's first three game slide of the season, the status of best record in the Western Conference is suddenly a toss-up. As of this morning, OKC has a one game advantage over the Spurs (who have played two fewer games). San Antonio only has to aim for a tie, however, because they won the regular season series with the Thunder (2-1). Of course, of the other teams who might face the Thunder in the post season, San Antonio is the team they most need the advantage of playing at home against.
Even that may not be enough. Over the past two season, the Thunder have won only once in six games versus the Spurs. In several of those, the outcome was never in doubt. Despite the Spurs historical success, it is surprising that the Thunder have struggled so much against them. From a match-up standpoint, one might expect Oklahoma City to be the dominant team.
San Antonio puts a similar line-up on the floor. Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook are basically the same player and should theoretically cancel each other out. Each team has a future hall of famer in Tim Duncan and Kevin Durant. They both even have a spark plug sixth man who most other teams would build their team around. The difference is that the Spurs players are so old their coach strategically rests them rather than risk injuring his decaying stars.
Yet, with the advantage of young legs, the Thunder fail to make these head-to-head games competitive. Why?