Kevin Durant: Best games from the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs: Part 1
After leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to astounding series wins against the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers in the first and second round series of the playoffs respectively, Kevin Durant and company were faced with
their most daunting task in the form of the rampant San Antonio Spurs.
Coming into the series, the Spurs were the team to beat. They closed the 2011-12 regular season with 12 consecutive wins and were undefeated in the playoffs, after sweeping Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers.
Spurs started the series with a bang and in no time took a 2-0 series lead, but then something happened, which very few people could have predicted before.
OKC won the next four games on a trot, and qualified for their first ever NBA Finals. Once again, it was Kevin Durant who turned out to be the architect of the sensational Western Conference Finals heist.
He was head and shoulders above the rest in terms of scoring, managing a total of 177 points on a 53.2 percent shooting from the floor, which included 10 of 28 from the three point range.
Durant also led OKC in rebounds with 45, and was second in assists (32), steals (10) and blocks (9).
Let us review some of his best performance from the series;
27 points and 10 rebounds – Game 1
In what seemed to be an easy win for the Oklahoma City Thunder till the end of third quarter, San Antonio Spurs turned physical in the last 12 minutes and grinded out a 101-98 win.
Kevin Durant had an excellent game. He scored a game high 27 points on an 8 of 19 shooting from the floor and also 11 of 12 from the free throw line. The player also hauled down 10 rebounds – all defensive – dished out four assists,
made three blocks as well as two steals.
But, with the Spurs closing down the driving lanes in the final quarter which a 16-2 domination in the paint, Durant managed only two shots in the period as OKC folded in front of the Spurs to conceded a 1-0 deficit, the first
time it happened in the playoffs.
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