The San Antonio Spurs continued showing the NBA world why they are the first seed in the West. They defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 120-111 last night in Game 2, taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals.
Led by Tony Parker, who had a game-high 34 points, the Spurs are still undefeated in the playoffs and have won 20 straight games.
Tim Duncan scored, defended and dished the ball as well. He finished the night with 11 points, four blocks and six assists. The most memorable basket of the night was also provided by Duncan.
With the second quarter winding down, Duncan set a pick for Ginobili and then rolled down to the basket. Serge Ibaka, NBA's leading blocker, was a step too late. Duncan jammed it on Ibaka giving the Spurs a 53-42 lead.
The key to this victory was the way they shared the ball. The Spurs ended the night with 27 assists, eight of them from Parker. Many Spurs players touched the ball therefore many players scored in Game 2.
The Spurs bench scored 38 points. The only active player who did not score was James Anderson, but that is understandable since he only played six seconds of regulation.
The Thunder tried making comebacks, but, like Ibaka on the Duncan dunk, it was too late.
The best way to summarize the Thunder's first half of basketball; they played like the Los Angeles Lakers late in Conference Semifinals games.
Oklahoma City looked disorganized and did not know what to do with the ball. Russell Westbrook, who finished the night with 27 points, took quick jumpers. Kevin Durant was irrelevant in the second and fourth quarters only scoring a combined six points in both quarters.
Durant finished the night with 31 points, plus the Thunder got 30 points from James Harden off the bench, but they were in too big of a hole.
In total, James, Durant and Westbrook had 88 of the Thunder's 111 points. The other players averaged what they usually do in ball games so offense was not the issue in this one. The Spurs offensive executed flawlessly in Game 2.
Game 3 will be played in Oklahoma, on Thursday, where the Thunder crowd will hope their team can get back into the series.