The Oklahoma City Thunder were unable to figure out the key to beating the San Antonio Spurs in the first game of the Western Conference Finals. Scott Brooks is expected to alter some things for Tuesday night's Game 2, however, as his Thunder attempt to hand the Spurs their first loss in this year's NBA Playoffs.
One of the issues brought up in the opening-game loss was the fact that starting shot blocker Serge Ibaka spent too much time on the bench. While it's difficult to say that he would've given the Thunder the victory on Sunday night, Ibaka is expected to have a bigger role in Game 2.
Brooks does this by moving Kevin Durant from the shooting forward 3 position to the "stretch 4" forward spot. This forces opponents to go with a smaller 4 themselves to better defend Durant, arguably the toughest one-on-one matchup in the league.
"We've done it in the past and have had a lot of success, so you can't really look back and beat yourself up too much ... but I will," Brooks said. "It was nothing against what Serge did."
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"Going into the next game, I see him playing his normal minutes," Brooks said.
It'll be interesting to see if more minutes for Ibaka translates into less points for the Spurs and, in turn, a Thunder victory.
For more on the Spurs, be sure to visit Pounding the Rock, for the Thunder, Welcome to Loud City. And, if you're looking for news, analysis and everything else revolving around the NBA Playoffs, be sure to visit SB Nation's NBA page.
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