Oklahoma City Thunder crowned Western Conference Champions (Part 2) – NBA Recap
The Oklahoma City Thunder scored 8 free throws in a stretch in the final period as they started attacking the rim and securing fouls. Stephen Jackson’s foul on Durant with 5:13 left in the game sent him to the free throw line for
two free throws. Kevin Durant scored on both and had the Thunder up 93-89.
Oklahoma City followed with two three pointers, one by Derek Fisher and the second by James Harden as they took a 99-93 lead with 3:13 left and the crowd going crazy. It was one of the loudest crowds of the postseason. The Spurs
never got back in the game after that and the Thunder, energized by the crowd’s chants, finished off the series with a 107-99 win to begin the celebrations.
After having dominated the first half, the Spurs went 7 of 22 in the third period alone and missed 9 of 11 three point attempts in the second half. The Thunder got easy points with 15 free throws attempts in the final period alone,
of which they scored on 11.
Durant had an MVP like performance with 34 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists. He was 9 of 17 from the field, 4 of 8 from the distance and 12 of 15 from the foul line for the night. Russell Westbrook added 25 points, 8 rebounds
and 5 assists, going 9 of 17 from the field as well. James Harden added 16 points, including a 3 of 4 shooting performance from beyond the arc. Serge Ibaka had 10 points and 4 rebounds.
Tony Parker had an amazing game 6, scoring 29 points and dishing 12 assists, while going 12 of 27 from the field. Tim Duncan had 25 points and 14 rebounds, as he got more touches in this game as compared to the previous games.
Stephen Jackson was 6 of 7 from the distance for his 23 points off the bench. Manu Ginobili started once again and after a mammoth game 5, managed 10 points from 4 of 12 shooting.
Oklahoma City shot 50% from the field and 55.6% from the distance. The Spurs started hot from the field but finished with 44% shooting from the field and 42.3% from the distance after going 2 of 11 in the 2nd half. The
Thunder had 31 free throw attempts, 13 more than the Spurs. They capitalized on it, scoring on 25 of those to gain an 11 point advantage in free throws over the Spurs.
Despite a mediocre rebounding performance from the Thunder bigs in Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins, they out-rebounded the Spurs 42-34 owing to good rebounding from Durant and Westbrook. Oklahoma City had a 6-2 advantage in blocked
shots as well but turned the ball over 15 times, 3 more than the Spurs.
"This has kinda been like a Hollywood script for OKC. First they played Dallas and then the Lakers and now us. That's 10 of the last 13 championships, I don't know if anyone has ever done something like that before and that's incredible
and I think it's pretty cool for them,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
The Thunder will now host either Miami or Boston in game 1 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. They move one step closer to their ultimate dream of winning a championship after 4 seasons of building
the team.
The Chesapeake Energy Arena will be packed with screaming and shouting Thunder fans, who have proved to be the best home court crowd this postseason, leaving behind Boston and Miami. Boston will have a chance of closing out the
Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday when they face the Miami Heat in game 6. They hold a 3-2 lead in the series.
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