San Antonio Spurs vs Oklahoma City Thunder - 5 Talking Points
In one of the most high-quality encounters of the season, the San Antonio Spurs hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder at the AT&T Center, beating them 103-99 in a thoroughly enjoyable match. The level of seriousness displayed by the two sides mirorred that of a real playoff game.
Paul George's 26 point, 7 rebound, 6 assist statline was not enough to push the Thunder over the line, despite PG-13's clutch free throws at the end of the game. The Spurs put together a solid 5 minutes of paint defense and frustrated the likes of Westbrook and Steven Adams in money time, with LaMarcus Aldridge coming in good for the Spurs at both ends of the floor.
The rest of the San Antonio supporting cast played their part in establishing the Spurs' overall superiority on the night. The following are 5 talking points from the game.
#5 It was a high-intensity game filled with turnovers
Both teams played at extremely high pace in the first half. The game was intense and there were a number of hustle plays and deflections on display. The result was an exciting, up-tempo game which involved 8 steals by both teams in the half (Westbrook led all players with 3). While the Spurs had 10 turnovers, the Thunder had 9 for the half - however, the Spurs converted these into 14 points, while the Thunder only had 11 to show.
Paul George and Danny Green, both all-NBA defenders on their own right, were involved in a spectacular sequence early in the 3rd quarter involving a steal by George and a chasedown block in transition by Green. The game finished with 15 turnovers for Oklahoma City and 16 for San Antonio, while the steals totals for the teams were 11 and 13 respectively.