Enes Kanter and Tim Duncan Have Swung the Thunder - Spurs Series

LaMarcus Aldridge dominated the first two games of the series, scoring 39.5 points on 75% shooting, but the Thunder were able to steal a game thanks to a circus of missed calls in the final seconds of game 2. A factor that could have kept the Thunder in a position to benefit from those missed calls was the play of Enis Kanter, who had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots in 19 minutes.

The Spurs won game 3 as Kanter played a quieter 19 minutes – two fewer minutes than he averaged in the regular season. The Thunder won game 4 as Kanter played 28 minutes. (11 points, 8 rebounds) In Game 5, as the Thunder went up 3-2, Kanter had 8 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks.

The team that has won the rebounding this series has won each game.

G1: Spurs 48-45
G2: OKC 56-45
G3: Spurs 55-48
G4: OKC 51-41
G5: OKC 63-44

Enes Kanter has been the difference in all three Thunder wins. Obviously, it’s nice to have Kevin Durant play perfectly – and Steven Adams has certainly been a big part of the Thunder’s success on the boards (12rpg this series. 6.7 in the regular season.) – but Kanter’s extended minutes have put the Thunder on the brink of winning the series.

With Kanter closing, Donovan is playing an absurdly tall lineup for today’s NBA. The smallest guy on the floor is Russell Westbrook. Dion Waiters is 6’4″. We now know for sure that Kevin Durant is 6’11”. Steven Adams is 7′ and Kanter is listed at 6’11”. They make one of the tallest lineups in the NBA.

Meanwhile, the Spurs front line was supposed to be a problem for other teams this season with the addition of Aldridge and David West. As great as Aldridge has been offensively, his rebounding is down from the regular season. And as for West…

David West, at 35-years old, is in decline. Too slow to guard Kevin Durant, he’s forced to match up with one of the Thunder’s big bigs. The other option is Tim Duncan. Last night we saw for certain that Duncan is no longer a real option.

While Duncan didn’t go the Kobe Bryant route of a publicly funded farewell tour, the attrition may be just as bad. The Spurs were able to hide it fairly well during the regular season where they could pick his spots and teams weren’t trying as hard, but his numbers have fallen off a cliff during the postseason. He’s only been able to play 20 minutes a game in these playoffs. Duncan played 35.7 minutes a night during last year’s playoff run. In his 17 previous playoffs, he’s never averaged fewer than 32 minutes. Last year he managed to average 17.9 points and 11.1 rebounds and shoot .589 from the field. This year he’s at 4.4 / 4.8 / .395. He’s either hurt or done. At 40, there’s a strong case for the latter.

Back to the team rebounding though.

The Thunder had 9 rebounds (3 offensive) in the final 6 minutes. San Antonio managed 5 rebounds in that time – all offensive. And two of those were in the final second of the game.

This does not bode well for the Spurs. Not to mention that the Thunder’s 3-bigs lineup could make for a very interesting match-up for the Warriors.