.jpg)
55 minutes ago
3
The Western Conference Finals will be decided by a Game 7.
It's not a huge surprise that the Spurs and Thunder are in this position. San Antonio was Oklahoma City's toughest opponent in the regular season. Victor Wembanyama is already in the conversation for best player in the league at only 22 years old. And as much of a cheat code as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is, the Spurs might be the only team in the league with some answer for him.
It's not as though Gilgeous-Alexander has been invisible in this series — he's still leading the Thunder with averages of 24.3 points and 8.8 assists per game — but he hasn't been nearly as efficient as he usually is.
There's one play from Game 6 that's a perfect example of how the Spurs are doing the impossible.
Let's take a closer look.
The play
MORE: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's struggles explained by head coach Mark Daigneault
The breakdown
Gilgeous-Alexander has the ball at the top of the perimeter with rookie Carter Bryant guarding him.
The numbers say Bryant has little to no chance of stopping Gilgeous-Alexander. The Thunder star led the league in isolation scoring in the regular season while ranking in the 93rd percentile in efficiency. (In simpler terms, he scores more than anyone else in one-on-one situations while still being more efficient than almost everyone else.)
It usually doesn't matter who is defending him. If Gilgeous-Alexander has anyone on an island, it's bad news for them.
Bryant has actually proven himself to be up for the challenge of guarding Gilgeous-Alexander, but it's what happens behind him that's worth paying attention to.
First of all, notice how far De'Aaron Fox is from Chet Holmgren?
NBA.com
That's not normal.
Holmgren is actually a good shooter. (He shot 36.2 percent from 3 in the regular season on decent volume). Helping off of a him that aggressively is risky — more on that soon — but it makes Gilgeous-Alexander's life a lot more difficult because there isn't a clear driving lane to the basket.
Secondly, look at what Wembanyama does.
He starts the sequence on Luguentz Dort, but as soon as Gilgeous-Alexander makes a move toward the basket, Wembanyama leaves Dort to park himself in the paint, basically shifting from playing man-to-man defense to zone.
NBA.com
Forget the shot (which, by the way, Bryant does an excellent job of contesting). Just look at how crowded it now is for Gilgeous-Alexander inside the 3-point line:
NBA.com
Two Spurs defenders have their feet in the paint, and each help defender has eyes on Gilgeous-Alexander.
Had Gilgeous-Alexander gotten past Bryant, he almost certainly would've had to shoot over at least two defenders. He's capable of making heavily contested shots, but the Spurs are doing a good job of wearing him down and making his life as difficult as possible.
MORE: Carter Bryant gets credit for wearing down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Why it matters
The Spurs are doing what no team has been able to really do over the last two seasons — slow Gilgeous-Alexander down.
Through six games, SGA is shooting an uncharacteristic 37.9 percent from the field. He has made less than half his shot attempts in four straight games. That's one of the longest streaks of his career.
There is a risk in showing Gilgeous-Alexander as many bodies as the Spurs are. According to NBA.com, the Thunder are a scorching 34-for-78 (43.5 percent) on 3-point attempts set up by Gilgeous-Alexander in this series. That's where a good chunk of his 8.8 assists per game have come from.
Alex Caruso has been the biggest beneficiary of that strategy. The Spurs have been daring him to shoot by having Wembanyama guard him. And by guard him, I mean dare him to shoot by basically pretending he's not on the court to help whoever is defending Gilgeous-Alexander.
NBA.com
In the Thunder's three wins this series, they've made 41.5 percent of their 3-point attempts. In their three losses, they've made only 28.0 percent of their 3-point attempts.
Maybe the Thunder will make enough 3s in Game 7 to punish the Spurs for the way they're defending Gilgeous-Alexander, but also it's helped get them to this stage and could be what punches their ticket to the NBA Finals.
More NBA news:
- What to know about Victor Wembanyama's religious beliefs
- NBA players have never lost a Game 7 on their birthday, and 1 Spurs-Thunder player has theirs this time
- Tracy McGrady urges Victor Wembanyama to keep attacking the paint to dominate the Thunder
- Cryptic Luka Doncic announcement confuses NBA fans, but there's a clear explanation
- Giannis Antetokounmpo sends exciting message to Knicks fans before NBA Finals
English (US)