You had to know they were there. At tipoff, after all, there were three guys not named Durant of Westbrook in Oklahoma City Thunder jerseys, and a whole bunch of non-bearded players seated on the bench. You could see their names on the roster the team gives out before games. Thus, though the boxscore showed little evidence of their existence in the first two games of the Western Conference finals, you still knew that, somewhere, Oklahoma City’s role players were there. The Thunder very often resembled a team made up of three playersâ€"Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Hardenâ€"but of course, league rules would prevent OKC from carrying just three men.
In Game 1 of the series against the San Antonio Spurs, the “other†three Thunder startersâ€"center Kendrick Perkins, guard Thabo Sefolosha and forward Serge Ibakaâ€"were a combined 5-for-14 from the field for 17 points. Derek Fisher came off the bench for a surprise 13 points, but the Thunder’s main trio was responsible for 64.3 percent of the team’s points.
It was to a greater extreme in Game 2. The other starters were 5-for-20 from the field, and Durant-Westbrook-Harden combined for 79.3 percent of the Thunder points.
That’s just not a winning formula, and if the Thunder were to have a shot against the deep and balanced Spurs, they would have to establish some depth and balance of their own. In the last three games, they’ve done that, and in the process, the role players have helped turn a 0-2 series deficit into a 3-2 lead, OKC now on the brink of a trip to the NBA Finals.
In Monday night’s huge Game 5 win in San Antonio, it was Daequan Cook stepping off the bench to knock down two 3-pointers and another jumper, finishing with an almost perfect eight points in four minutes. Throw in nine points (on 4-for-6 shooting) and five rebounds from Ibaka, as well as 10 rebounds from Perkins, and the Thunder had a quality supporting cast.
“It’s a team thing,†said Cook, who had scored just 26 points in 12 previous playoff games coming into Monday. “Coach (Scott Brooks) called my name and it was just about being ready and doing what I need to do to help the team win. That’s what I did.â€
In the Thunder’s Game 4 win, it was Ibaka and Perkins carrying a sizable load, with Ibaka going a stunning 11-for-11 from the field with 26 points, and Perkins adding 15 points (on 7-for-9 shooting) and nine rebounds.
In the Thunder’s breakthrough win in Game 3, Sefolosha was the role-playing star, scoring 19 points and shooting 4-for-10 from the 3-point line.
In the first two losses, then, Durant-Westbrook-Harden went for 72.2 percent of the Thunder points. In the three wins since, they’ve had to score just 53.6 percent of the points.
“I thought everybody did a great job of chipping in,†Brooks said after Game 5. “D.C., I give him a lot of credit. That’s one of the toughest things to do in this league is to stay ready. Everybody talks about it, but he has done that. He has worked and cheered and did everything under his power to get an opportunity to be ready. And he did a great job, stepped in and had eight points and I don’t know how many minutesâ€"two or three minutes. But everybody did their job.â€
Surprisingly, they’ve done their jobs better than the Spurs. One of the themes coming into the West finals was the overall depth of the Spurs, who go 10 deep and can get double-digit scoring from any of the 10, against the star power of the Thunder. But give Oklahoma City’s role players creditâ€"they’ve asserted themselves in this series, and their ability to take pressure off Durant, Westbrook and Harden has made them much more difficult for the Spurs to defend.
We haven’t heard the last of the Spurs, of course, and their outstanding cast of role players could come back to reassert themselves. But for now, at least, it has been guys like Ibaka and Sefolosha, Cook and Perkins, Nick Collison and Fisher, who have made the real difference in this series.
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