Oklahoma City Thunder Ungguli San Antonio Spurs di Final Barat

Oklahoma City Thunder merebut keunggulan 3-2 atas San Antonio Spurs dalam seri Final Wilayah Barat setelah meraih kemenangan 127-114 pada Game 5 hari Selasa di Paycom Center.

Hasil ini membuat San Antonio Spurs kini menghadapi situasi eliminasi dan harus memenangkan Game 6 di kandang mereka untuk memaksa terjadinya Game 7.

Devin Vassell menyatakan keyakinannya bahwa kurangnya pengalaman tidak menjadi masalah bagi skuad muda Spurs yang dipimpin oleh Victor Wembanyama.

"That experience does not matter," kata Devin Vassell, garda San Antonio Spurs. "Experience does not matter. We’re here. We’ve had all the experience we’ve needed this regular season, and we’re going to keep proving everybody wrong."

Rekan setimnya, Stephon Castle, merefleksikan kekalahan di Game 5 dan mengaku bersemangat untuk melihat reaksi tim saat berada dalam posisi terdesak.

"Find a way back here for Game 7," ujar Stephon Castle, garda San Antonio Spurs. "I feel like we’ve been great when we’re desperate all year. So I’m excited to see how we’ll respond."

Stephon Castle juga menyoroti bagaimana tim lawan mengirim banyak pemain untuk mengawal Victor Wembanyama yang agresivitasnya sangat dibutuhkan tim.

"They send so many bodies towards him, it’s hard at times," tutur Stephon Castle, garda San Antonio Spurs. "He just wants to make the right play and wants to win. So it’s tough, he’s our best player. We need him to be aggressive. I feel like him being aggressive opens up shots for other guys."

Pelatih Spurs, Mitch Johnson, menegaskan bahwa bintang utamanya tersebut dituntut untuk tampil lebih produktif dalam urusan mencetak angka.

"He’s going to have to score more than 20 points for sure," tegas Mitch Johnson, pelatih San Antonio Spurs.

Di kubu lawan, pelatih Thunder, Mark Daigneault, memuji konsistensi dan ketenangan Shai Gilgeous-Alexander yang menjadi kekuatan besar bagi tim sepanjang tahun.

"One of the things about him is he’s so consistent," kata Mark Daigneault, pelatih Oklahoma City Thunder. "His temperament’s the same all the time. His approach is the same all the time. His floor game is the same all the time. He obviously was sloppy early, but I didn’t think it was approach-based. That’s one of the things that really is a superpower of his. And I think it gives the team tremendous confidence as we’ve navigated these situations throughout the year and throughout years."

Mark Daigneault juga menambahkan mengenai kontinuitas yang dimiliki inti timnya dalam menghadapi kesulitan sebagai sebuah tantangan.

"It’s a huge factor for us, the continuity we have. This core has been together a long time, and they’ve also done an unbelievable job of bringing the guys that we’ve layered into the club very quickly. … but we’ve been doing this all year in terms of just problem-solving as a team and competing together, not making excuses, seeing adversity as a challenge," sebut Mark Daigneault, pelatih Oklahoma City Thunder.

Pemain Thunder, Isaiah Hartenstein, menekankan pentingnya aspek mental dari pengalaman playoff terdahulu agar tidak terlalu terbawa emosi.

"The thing that you take from those experiences is the mental part of it – not getting too high, not getting too low and just going in there knowing you have to come with a certain sense of urgency," kata Isaiah Hartenstein, pemain Oklahoma City Thunder. "I think our group does a great job of just not being too emotional with it. I think when you go into any playoff game and your emotions are too high or too low, that’s kind of when it doesn’t work for yourself."

Mark Daigneault juga sempat mengutip kalimat yang relevan mengenai performa Ajay Mitchell pada pertandingan sebelumnya di Phoenix.

"Winners fail, losers hide," ucap Mark Daigneault, pelatih Oklahoma City Thunder.

Dilansir dari nba.com, cbssports.com, dan si.com, pengamat SportsLine Mike Barner mencatat kembalinya De'Aaron Fox dari cedera engkel dan kontribusinya di area selain poin.

"De'Aaron Fox has played at least 31 minutes in all three games since returning from his ankle injury," tunjuk Mike Barner, pakar NBA SportsLine. "He hasn't been scoring a ton, but he has contributed in other areas. He has provided at least 12 combined rebounds and assists in all three games. Across five regular season games against the Thunder, he averaged 3.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists. I'll take this over again."

Pakar lainnya, Larry Hartstein, mengulas perubahan peran Isaiah Hartenstein yang kini menjadi pembatas utama bagi efisiensi ofensif San Antonio.

"After playing just 12 minutes in Game 1, Isaiah Hartenstein has taken on a huge role in this series," kata Larry Hartstein, pakar SportsLine. "He's the best primary defender on Victor Wembanyama, and his presence has limited San Antonio's offensive rebounding. So Hartenstein should continue to play substantial minutes. He's also in rhythm with his patented floater, shooting 12 of 19 in the past two games. Back Hartenstein to score eight or more points in Game 6."

Analis taruhan pemain juga mengomentari kontribusi rebound dari pemain pemula, Dylan Harper, yang memanfaatkan perannya di lapangan tengah.

"Dylan Harper has cleared this rebounding prop line in 11/15 full playoff games, including 3/4 against the Thunder," jelas Prop Bet Guy, pakar taruhan. "Looking to be relatively past his adductor issue, Harper has contributed with 5 and 6 boards over the last two games, with nine rebound chances in each game. The Spurs have effectively gone to a 7-man rotation (plus some Luke Kornet minutes to spell Victor Wembanyama), which puts Harper at 24-28 minutes. The Spurs rookie has benefited from his halfcourt role as a baseline cutter when Wemby has the ball at the high post, crashing the offensive glass. And defensively, Harper has been active as the Thunder continue to wall off Wemby (18 total rebounds over the last three games)."

Thunder berhasil mengamankan Game 5 meski tanpa diperkuat Jalen Williams dan Ajay Mitchell berkat performa solid Jared McCain yang mencetak 20 poin.

Pertandingan Game 6 dijadwalkan berlangsung pada hari Kamis malam waktu setempat di San Antonio.