In terms of Game 3 hospitality, Oklahoma City's Chesapeake Energy Arena seemed slightly less cozy than that howling, highway-choked wasteland depicted in "The Road Warrior."
The San Antonio Spurs' turbo-charged bandwagon was advanced upon with familiar abandon by desperate, swarming adversaries wearing Thunder uniforms.
Fortunately for the Spurs, coach Gregg Popovich is even more resourceful than Mel Gibson's character.
His bandwagon, steered slightly off course after 20 consecutive victory runs, really just needs a tire rotation or topping off of fluids. So despite the obvious talent, energy, tactical smarts and fan support now raging in OKC, don't expect the Spurs to roll into a Western Conference finals ditch.
For context, here's Popovich:
"They played like it was a close-out game, both offensively and defensively," Popovich said of the Thunder.
And the Spurs -- whose 50-day victory roll was generated by high-caliber intensity -- didn't.
With a day of mulling before Game 4 commences, NBA observers have shifted their attention away from wondering how the Thunder can rally and are focusing on a spate of Spurs-related questions.
For example: Are the Spurs as good as their winning streak advertised?
Should the bandwagon lose some passengers? How do the Spurs respond in Game 4? Did the Thunder expose any weaknesses in the San Antonio chassis?
Let's take a look at that last question.
As would be the case with any NBA team, the Spurs aren't good enough to bring a pedestrian effort and defeat the emotionally jacked Thunder. That's not exactly a weakness associated with scheme or roster, but trawling for weaknesses with this team takes a while before achieving a reasonable yield.
OK, here's something else. Although his low-post productivity was muted in Games 1 and 2, Game 3 further demonstrated that 36-year-old Tim Duncan has been unable to force double-team tactics on the block against the Thunder. Although he's still defending, setting screens and moving the ball, his 5-of-15 shooting effort leaves him at 13 of 41 for the series. And before sitting out during a white-flag fourth-quarter, the future toast of Springfield, Mass., managed just two rebounds.
Duncan was turned back early by the bulk of Kendrick Perkins and then denied in three of four consecutive one-on-one isolations against Nick Collison in Game 3's second quarter.
By the way, aside from a strong shooting effort from Stephen Jackson and a nice garbage-time cameo from DeJuan Blair, the San Antonio role players (anyone not named Duncan, Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili) combined to miss 23 of 30 shots in their first road game of the series. And Ginobili was 1 of 5.
Anyway, now that we've registered the Spurs' weaknesses as limited, their status as a title contender still rock solid and their bandwagon having absorbed very little depreciation, let's look the other variables.
How do they respond?
To get to that point, let's look at what they must respond to.
In addition to not matching the Thunder's energy, the Spurs were diminished by the Game 3 efforts of OKC two-guard Thabo Sefolosha.
Sefolosha, who played about 15 minutes in Game 2, gave coach Scott Brooks 19 points and six steals in Game 3. And in addition to knocking down his open shots against the Spurs' lane-clogging defense and contributing to San Antonio's stockpile (21) of turnovers, Thabo also guarded the elusive Parker.
Beyond being more aggressive in sliding over ball screens, Sefolosha was afforded greater help from teammates guarding screeners than Russell Westbrook received in the first two games. While Perkins and Serge Ibaka were busy taking better angles when "showing" on the pick, attacking the ballhandler and keeping their hands high, Sefolosha remained attached to Parker.
With more defensive pressure, Parker had a more difficult time turning the corner for mid-range jumpers or rim attacks, and he didn't have as many immediate passing lanes to kill OKC's defensive rotations.
Instead of moping over the seeming defensive demotion, Westbrook played relentless denial defense against Ginobili during crucial stretches of Game 3.
What can Pop do to counter Brooks throwing Sefolosha at Parker?
"I can ask Scotty not to play him (Sefolosha)," Popovich said when this subject was broached after Game 3. "I don't know what I can do to change what Sefolosha does."
Right, he can't force the Thunder to alter this matchup. But he can attempt to make them pay for their strategy of "switching" on all ball and off-ball screens. Switching (which also assisted a Game 2 rally) enabled OKC to minimize the Spurs' ability to create help-and-rotation challenges by a seemingly simple change of which players are matched against each other after every screen.
In Game 3, bigs such as Perkins did a really nice job of staying in front of Parker or Ginobili and challenging shots after a screen-created switch. The OKC perimeter players also were aggressive when called upon to gang-defend larger players after these switches.
Add the energy attached to that previously referenced 0-2 desperation and OKC surrendered 38 fewer points than in Game 2.
The biggest offensive adjustment the Spurs will make is a commitment to getting into their offense more quickly and making harder, sharper cuts. This should allow their typically stellar ball movement to become more scoreboard-efficient.
They also can make it easier for Parker and Ginobili to take advantage of switches by designed movement off the ball. Taking away help for OKC's bigs when they're guarding the two cat-quick threats will create superior driving lanes.
And the Spurs can make it more difficult for Sefolosha to lock in on his target by starting the offense with Parker off the ball and providing pin-down screens. Putting Parker on the move makes it more difficult for the likes of Perkins to reach help position when the delayed ball screen arrives.
Then, when the blitz of ball screens does take place and the first rotation catches Duncan on the slip, the Spurs can flash forward Boris Diaw to the opposite elbow and space the floor with their shooters.
They also can generate quicker offense if Westbrook is coaxed into attacking the rim as a scorer. Although this usually is a breeze, the OKC point guard deserved considerable Game 3 credit for attacking the lane to pass. Instead of elevating for difficult scoring attempts, Westbrook kept his dribble alive against the Spurs' collapse-happy defense and found open shooters.
Westbrook missed 10 of 15 shots in Game 3, but his relative patience, passing (nine dimes) and lack of turnovers (just two) kept San Antonio at a limited pace in transition. If he can be seduced back into that attack-to-score mode, OKC could have issues balancing the floor against Parker going the other way.
With a team that's won 20 of its last 21 games, any adjustments Popovich makes figure to be subtle.
The biggest thing he needs now, of course, is a little revival of nasty.
