Durant gives scouting reports of the Spurs’ defense
The San Antonio Spurs are coming off a dominant series sweep against Memphis and are having one of the best defensive seasons in NBA history.
According to basketball-reference.com, the Spurs’ 99.0 defensive rating is the 11th best in the league since 1973. The Spurs held the Thunder to 98.3 ppg in four meetings, 11.9 points below OKC’s season average.
“They don’t foul and they don’t give up 3s,” Kevin Durant said of what makes San Antonio’s defense so good. “They’ve got bigs that sit at the rim and contest shots and don’t foul. But anything is this league is a challenge, especially this time of year.”
Durant’s one of the best mid-range jump shooters in the NBA, but even he admitted that the Spurs excel at forcing teams to take those shots.
“I can make some of those tough shots, but I don’t want to rely on them,” Durant said. “I want to try to generate some easy layups as well; backdoor layups, transition layups, free throws … figure out a way I can generate those shots and it may open up some stuff for our team.”
WHAT DONOVAN’S LEARNED
Billy Donovan, the first-year NBA coach, is prepping for a meeting with the longest tenured coach in the league, 20-year Spurs head man Gregg Popovich.
Donovan said the biggest thing he learned in Round 1 against Dallas was the emotional part of coming back after a loss.
“You get to the end of the NCAA Tournament and you lose, that’s emotional but you’re not picking yourself back up off the carpet to go into the next game,” Donovan said. “I think that’s the challenge. The constant, the mental grind from playing a team potentially seven straight times, know each other real well, the individual battles, all those things.”
GAME 1 TIP SET
With Atlanta’s 104-92 win over Boston in the Eastern Conference first round, Thunder-Spurs Game 1 on Saturday is officially set for 7:30 p.m. in San Antonio.