GIF Breakdown: Spurs at Thunder

It didn't take long for Kawhi Leonard to do his thing in this one. On the first play of the game Andre Roberson doesn't get enough on his pass to keep Kawhi from poking it out to mid-court after he fought over a Westbrook screen. Leonard didn't really even have to use his length to break up this play, and it takes just two dribbles for the young stud to get from halfcourt to the hoop where he throws down a textbook Whi dunk.

Tiago Splitter and Tim Duncan play the high-low game well. The passing between the two of them has become quite good and this is a nice pass, but it's the post moves from Splitter that are worth noting. Splitter gets the ball at the left block with Serge Ibaka guarding him and he starts his work by trying to back down Serge and then turning in and putting up a fake. Ibake bites on the fake, which frees Splitter to continue to pivot before finishing with a nice lefty hook that is well out of the ace shot-blocker's reach.

The Spurs went to the post early in the contest, perhaps to see if they can generate clean looks for their shooters from the inside out, and to see what Boris, Tim, and Splitter can do down low against OKC. So early in the second we see Boris Diaw go to work against Ibaka with an assortment of bounces, spins, and a fake before getting a six footer to go. Bobo has a vast assortment of junk in his game and Serge wasn't able to solve this Cream Shake.

This is as simple as it gets for a gunner like Patty Mills. He brings the ball up in transition and checks his six to make sure he can launch a pull-up triple. With no one threatening, Patty is free to let it fly and the little Aussie hits nothing but net.

When Tony wasn't being pushed around he was able to do Tony Parker things. This thirty foot drive is remarkable. Tony works around a Timmy screen before avoiding Derek Fisher's steal attempt as he attacks Ibaka. After somehow squeezing through the tiniest opening between Fisher and Ibaka the Wee Frenchman is deep in the lane and he keeps Serge away from the ball as he finishes with a pretty left handed layup from the underneath the rim.

This play from Kawhi is fun. He has Ibaka on him way outside and Leonard drives into the lane. Ibaka keeps up with every move and forces Whi left where Nick Collison can help. So the young man spins and hits a one-handed fade-away jumper over Serge who is in Leonard's jersey. I've never seen Kawhi execute this particular shot, but if he can get it to go reliably we'll be in for quite the treat. Ibaka defended this as well as a player can and Kawhi almost makes it look easy.

We'll end this edition of GIF Breakdown the way we started it. Kawhi pokes the ball away from Kevin Durant and completes the play with a dunk on the other end. Again, it's two dribbles from halfcourt and the same textbook Whi-dunk that started the game. That kid is awesome.

Hat-tip to J. Gomez, aka edg5, aka @jejegomez_PtR for making the GIFs.