The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are playing on the NBA playoffs schedule on Sunday night and the Game 3 matchup is crucial for OKC, as they are down 2-0 in the western conference finals series and this game starts up at 8:30 pm ET on TNT and is streaming online live from Chesapeake Energy Arena with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker.
Serge Ibaka is expected to return for the game after previously being out the first two matchups and that has left the Thunder vulnerable to the Spurs and his return could huge. Two years ago the Thunder came back from being down 2-0 on their run to the finals against San Antonio, but this time around the Spurs are much stronger and now OKC will need to have Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka on their A-game. The defense should be much improved for Oklahoma City with Ibaka back in the lineup, as he is the leading shot blocker from the regular season in the NBA and that should at least make these games not blowouts like other two were.
Durant will have to play like an MVP on Sunday night for Oklahoma City to bounce back and he comes in after scoring 15 points in the last matchup, while Russell Westbrook finished with five assists. The Thunder need to bounce back to make this a series and on the other side, the Miami Heat are now up 2-1 against the Indiana Pacers and looking like they are getting back into championship form. Oklahoma City played against the Miami Heat two years ago in the NBA finals and last season it was the San Antonio Spurs and now those two teams are battling it out to see who will get to the championship series this year.
Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili have been setting records as the wins keep coming and now the big three is looking to matchup with the Miami Heat to get the first rematch in the NBA finals in over a decade if Miami can advance over the Pacers. The Spurs come in after getting 22 points from Tony Parker and he has been excellent all postseason and while he had an injury in one of the games, it was not serious and now he has the chance to give his team a commanding lead in the conference finals. Duncan had 12 rebounds in the game and he has been playing like a younger version of himself and that has been clutch for the team and the offense for the Spurs has been fantastic and the defense for OKC has been subpar.
The Spurs size has been too much for the Thunder to handle in this series and the return of Ibaka should help that, while players like Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison have to play a bit better to win this one against San Antonio.
Check here for the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs live coverage for the NBA playoffs.
