Game Preview: San Antonio Spurs @ Oklahoma City Thunder

San Antonio Spurs @ Oklahoma City Thunder

Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
April 7, 2015, 7:00 p.m. Spurs Time
TV: TNT - RADIO: 1200 AM WOAI

Normally, a matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder would be a must-see for Spurs fans. Normally, it could be a potential Western Conference Finals preview. Normally, the Spurs' championship hopes would be legitimately threatened by the Thunder.

This season has been anything but normal, though. The Spurs had some bad luck with injuries, but it seems that the Thunder are cursed. They've been without maybe the second-best player in all of the NBA, Kevin Durant,  for most of the season; and they shut him down for good in late-March. Noted Spurs-killer Serge Ibaka is currently out after having knee surgery in March. What was once a juggernaut of a basketball team has been reduced to one bad man a bunch of misfits.

The bad man (who, according to this awesome profile by Sports-Illustrated's Lee Jenkins), is actually a good man) in question is none other than Point Godzilla himself: Russell Westbrook. After the All-Star break, Westbrook has taken over the NBA, recording 9 triple-doubles, and relentlessly wiling his weakened team to playoff contention in the wild, wild Western Conference.

Westbrook is brilliant, and will do his best against the silver-and-black, but there's not a whole lot to help him carry the offensive load on the Thunder's active roster. The next best scorer for Oklahoma City is Enes Kanter, who has enjoyed a career-best 18.4 points per game on .564 from the field since being traded to the Thunder at the deadline, but he'll have to deal with the staunch post defense of Tim Duncan and company all night. After Westbrook and Kanter, the Thunder's offensive output relies on the shooting exploits of Anthony Morrow, constant pick-and-rolls from D.J. Augustin, and Dion Waiters driving to the lane recklessly and throwing up a wild shot hoping for a whistle.

Even if Oklahoma City can put together a good offensive game, they still won't be able to stop San Antonio's offense, which has been firing on all cylinders as of late. The Thunder used to scare away the Spurs' lane penetration with Serge Ibaka camped out in the middle, but like we saw in last year's Western Conference Finals, if he isn't at 100%, or even on the court to begin with, then Tony Parker and the rest of the offensive attack have the ability to torch them just like they would any other team.

	vs
Oklahoma City Thunder (42-35)		San Antonio Spurs (51-26)
April 7, 2015
Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
7:00 p.m. CDT
TV: TNT Radio: WOAI 1200AM
Starters
Russell Westbrook	PG	Tony Parker
Dion Waiters	SG	Danny Green
Kyle Singler	SF	Kawhi Leonard
Enes Kanter	PF	Tiago Splitter
Steven Adams	C	Tim Duncan

Game prediction: Spurs by 10.

For the Thunder's perspective, visit Welcome to Loud City.

As always, Tony must dominate Fisher, and you can get your San Antonio Spurs tickets from Daniel Farias with Spurs Sports & Entertainment: Tel: 210-444-5607 | dfarias@attcenter.com