The Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors feels… oh, what’s an apt expression for the series right now…
ah, I got it: up in the air.
The series is as “up in the air” as Stephen Curry’s body is in the cover photo for this story. To be more precise, the series is as perplexing as Curry’s decision to risk his body for one damn loose ball, and as confusing as Steve Kerr’s decision to keep Curry in Game 2 as long as he did on Wednesday night.
Here’s the exquisite intellectual tension of the Thunder-Warriors series: It is simultaneously an affirmation and refutation of the Western Conference semifinals for both teams through two games.
The opening acts of the West Finals have reaffirmed the West semifinals for OKC in these ways:
1) A no-show blowout combined with a steely defense-delivered road win. The order was different, but the pair of opening games ultimately brought about the same fundamental result.
2) Steven Adams emerging as a centerpiece player for the Thunder. His defensive presence won Game 1 against the Warriors, and Game 2 against the San Antonio Spurs.
3) The Thunder are a volatile team, overpowering at their best and conspicuously vulnerable at their worst.
The opening games of the West Finals reaffirmed the Portland series for Golden State in these ways:
1) When the opponent makes threes — as OKC’s role players (Dion Waiters, Andre Roberson, and Randy Foye) did in Game 1, the Warriors have very little margin for error at the offensive end of the floor.
2) Andre Iguodala and Festus Ezeli playing their best — perhaps as much as Steph being at his best — truly lifts the Warriors to a higher level.
On the other hand, this series has — in some ways — cut against the West semifinals for both teams through two games.
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Oklahoma City won a game with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook going 17 for 51. That didn’t happen against San Antonio — it couldn’t.
Enes Kanter became a very effective presence for the Thunder against the Spurs’ not-as-quick, not-as-small bodies in the paint. In this series, he has less of a place on the floor, or at the very least, Golden State is much better situated to expose his limitations.
What about the Warriors in this series? Unlike the Portland matchup, the Dubs collapsed in a fourth quarter at home. Their fourth-quarter excellence carried them against the Trail Blazers. In this series, the fourth quarter was either the portal to a damaging loss or a completely irrelevant item.
Another contradiction for Golden State relative to the West semifinals is that Steph Curry’s presence on the floor is no longer an issue. He’s there, which he wasn’t for the first three games of the Portland series. Yet, Golden State has remained stuck in a pit of profound volatility, unable to deliver a steady stream of efficient, purring offense. The Warriors still run in fits and starts as they did against Portland, but now their uneven play is occurring with Steph, not without him.
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On top of this situational clutter lies the simple fact that the series will take a three-day break and change venues. The first two games of this series existed on an island. It won’t be until after Game 4 — when the series moves back to Oakland — that we’ll have a fuller idea of where these teams stand. Game 3 will follow a long layoff. Game 4 will measure these teams’ fuller abilities in the realms of adjustments, resolve, and tolerance of pressure.
It’s easy and natural to want answers at any stage in a series as significant as this one. Sometimes, though, it’s the better part of discretion to acknowledge that clear answers simply don’t exist.
Such is the state of the 2016 West Finals after two games… and before this long break.
