San Antonio Spurs Must Stop Beating Themselves to Salvage Series vs. OKC Thunder

Before the San Antonio Spurs even think about climbing out of the 3-2 series hole they have dug against the Oklahoma City Thunder, they must first push back against a more pressing opponent.

Themselves.

The Thunder, to be sure, did plenty to overwhelm the Spurs during their 95-91 Game 5 victory on Tuesday.

Russell Westbrook rallied after a tumultuous first-half performance, tallying 21 points, nine rebounds and six assists through the final two frames. He flirted with yet another triple-double in the end, leaving AT&T Center with 35 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. San Antonio had no answer for his probing drives, and he, for the most part, made the Spurs pay whenever they went under him on screens.

Kevin Durant has enjoyed more efficient outings (8-of-21 shooting, five turnovers), but he partnered his 23 points with six rebounds, five assists, two steals, one block and, most importantly, exhausting defense on Kawhi Leonard in certain situations.

Steven Adams came up huge for Oklahoma City as well. He pestered the Spurs on defense, dominated the glass on both ends of the floor (11 boards) and destroyed San Antonio’s bigs with his crafty touch around the basket.

This was nevertheless a winnable game for the Spurs. In fact, it was one they should have won.

It was them, not the Thunder, who built a 13-point lead midway through the third quarter. Danny Green drilled six of his nine three-point attempts. Leonard, despite facing impossibly suffocating defenders, powered and patrolled his way to 26 points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists.

But just as they did at the end of Games 2 and 4, the Spurs wilted down the stretch, beating themselves in very un-Spurs-like fashion, as Seth Partnow of Nylon Calculus noted:

Just a lot of mental errors you don’t expect from the Spurs. Losing track of shot clock. Not playing to whistle. Bad gambles defensively.

— Seth Partnow (@SethPartnow) May 11, 2016

Scoring droughts punctuated the second half. San Antonio shot 6-of-21 in the fourth quarter alone. LaMarcus Aldridge couldn’t buy a basket, finishing 6-of-21 from the field.

Someone else, aside from Leonard, needed to come through in the clutch. And they didn’t.

That’s the story for the Spurs since Game 1. They can’t, as ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe deftly described, piece together a complete performance for a full 48 minutes:

I think all 3 Westbrook 3s were bananas. LMA 6-of-21, missed some great looks in …

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