Oklahoma City Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs - 5/29/14
Oklahoma City Thunder (59-23) at San Antonio Spurs (62-20)
NBA Basketball: Thursday, May 29, 2014 at 9:00 pm (AT&T Center)
The Line: San Antonio Spurs -4.5 -- Over/Under: 206.5 See the Latest Odds
TV:
The series shifts back to the AT&T Center for Game 5 between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Thunder were able to even the series at 2-2 with a dominant 105-92 win over the Spurs in Game 4. Kevin Durant had a big night of 31 points on 11 of 22 shooting, but there was no doubt that the MVP for Game 4 was Russell Westbrook who poured in 40 points, 10 assists five steals. Westbrook has certainly had bigger scoring nights in the past, but this was definitely his best all-round game, not just these playoffs but maybe ever. As for the supporting cast, Serge Ibaka added nine points but no one else even scored more than seven as the Thunder just let Durant and Westbrook do their thing.
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As for the Spurs, Gregg Popovic said it best, "we just need to play smarter, we were passing up open shots and driving to the basket, daring Ibaka to block us". It's one thing to stay aggressive and attack the rim, but the Spurs have plenty of excellent shooters and should have just took what the defense gave. Tony Parker led the team with 14 points but was benched with the rest of the starters as the game got out of hand early. Fortunately, the Spurs' reserves battled hard and were able to keep the score respectable. In particular, Boris Diaw was able to play a team-high 30 minutes and scored 14 points while Cory Joseph may have earned himself some extra playing time with his 11 points in 17 minutes on the court.
In ATS trends, the home team has gone a perfect 4-0 in this series so far but the Thunder are 12-3-1 ATS in the last 16 meetings overall.
Just a few days ago I was thinking that the Spurs would sweep the Thunder and get some valuable rest before the NBA Finals, but now that Ibaka has returned, the Thunder are looking more and more like the team that swept the Spurs during the regular season. The Spurs are dead in the water if they don't win this one, but it's hard to pass up this many points for the Thunder who have all the momentum now.
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