Written by Nick Gallo at Thunder.com
On one second half possession a solitary fingertip was all that Andre Roberson needed to wreak complete havoc against the San Antonio Spurs. That fingertip jostled the ball away from Kawhi Leonard, and then the duo were off to the races in the backcourt, diving on the ground for the ball.
The spry Roberson jumped off the hardwood first, scooped up the ball and finished at the rim to ignite an already blazing hot Chesapeake Energy Arena crowd. It was that type of defense-to-offense effort that fueled the Thunder in a monster first half, and it resulted in a series-clinching 113-99 victory over the Spurs on Thursday night in front of its Oklahoma City faithful.
“I just tried to do anything I can to get my hand on and deflect it a little bit,” said Roberson, who also finished with a Playoff career-high 14 points. “I got my hand on it and it’s a race to the ball.”
After falling behind 2-1 in this Round 2 series, the Thunder rattled off three straight victories against a 67-win Spurs team that had the best margin of victory in the NBA and a historically good defense. Each Thunder win in the series was more impressive than the next, capped off by what was mostly a blowout in Game 6.
It wasn’t a completely perfect night, which was expected against a savvy Spurs team. After building a 28-point lead in the third quarter, the Thunder got off to a rough start to the fourth, allowing the Spurs to outscore it 23-8 to pull the game back to within 99-88 with just under four minutes remaining. Tim Duncan rose to the rim but that’s where Serge Ibaka met him, swatting a shot that led to a Russell Westbrook to Kevin Durant transition dunk.
“He was huge, that block was the game saver,” Durant said of Ibaka. “That was like a clutch basket. We were able to gain the momentum back after that one. Coach has been talking to us all season about momentum-changing plays and that was one of them.”
When Westbrook swished a jab-stepping 3-pointer and Durant sealed off a defensive possession with a rebound, the fans knew it was over and gave a raucous ovation-slash-sigh of relief.
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