San Antonio Spurs outclass Oklahoma City Thunder to reach NBA Finals

The Eastern Conference Finals series was wrapped up in six games much to the disappointment of Pacers fans and viewers who expected a closer finish. A day later, the Thunder and Spurs were battling it out in the Western Conference Finals to book their place in the Final against the defending champions Miami Heat.

Here’s all you need to know about Game 6 between the Thunder and Spurs:

San Antonio Spurs Vs Oklahoma City Thunder

For the first time in the history of the San Antonio franchise, they have made it to the NBA Finals in consecutive seasons,and also for the first time in 16 years since the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz match-up, will we see the same two teams battle it out in the NBA Finals in consecutive years.

The Spurs have booked their sixth NBA Finals appearnace under the Big 3 and Coach Poppovich with a big win over the young Oklahoma City Thunder on the road, in overtime. San Antonio came through despite not having All-Star guard Tony Parker, who was suffering from ankle pain for the entire second half, but the other players stepped up and made handy contributions to give them 4 days rest before Game 1 of the NBA Finals at home.

Game 6 reserve Power Forward and French national Boris Diaw rose to the occasion, scoring a team high 26 points along with 4 rebounds and 2 assists and led another balanced offense from the Spurs. He explains why the Spurs were so determined to close out the series in Game 6:

"We didn't know how much Tony was hurt in his ankle,But we didn't want to go to Game 7, and we didn't know if he would be ready to play if we did or if he would be 100 percent, so we tried to get it over with tonight."-Boris Diaw

Tim Duncan turned the clock back with some clutch buckets in overtime,recording his 155th career playoff double double with 19 points and 15 rebounds for the game. Kawhi Leonard turned in another productive game on both ends of the floor including a clutch steal with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists.

Danny Green who seems to have found his touch off late from long range chipped in with an usefull all-round game registering 11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks. Off the bench Manu Ginobili filled the stat sheet with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals.

Duncan’s double double:

Coasting with a lead of 10 behind a huge third quarter, the San Antonio Spurs looked to win the game in the allotted 48 minutes. However, Thunder’s Big 3 of Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka had other plans as they made a comeback in the final period of play to cut the deficit.

The Spurs still had a chance to close out the game having the ball and 9.2 seconds on their side, but Ginobili missed a relatively open shot leading to five extra minutes.

Westbrook whose ability to fill the stat sheet productively across multiple cateogries has been well documented in these playoffs, had another one of those nights with 34 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists and 6 steals,but 7 turnovers. Durant also had 7 turnovers.

They could have ended up on the losing side,not before Durant recorded 31 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks for the game in 51 minutes of playing time.

Ibaka did his part contributing 16 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks but it wasn’t enough as the Thunder received only 5 points from the bench, all from Derek Fisher.

Despite going overtime,the Spurs were pretty much in control of the game throughout. They won the match 112-107.

Looking ahead to Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday the Spurs would be looking to avenge last season’s disappointing defeat at the hands of the Miami Heat and bring home their fifth championship.

A battle of the top seeds from each Conference begins in 5 days.