Thunder looking like much different team lately

When the Western Conference semifinal series between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder began, there were questions about whether the inconsistencies that had dogged the Thunder throughout the NBA’s regular season - a lack of constant commitment on defense, a first-year NBA coach in Billy Donovan, an inability to properly execute late in games - would come back to haunt them.

After a blowout loss the Spurs in Game 1, the Thunder began to look like a much different team. Their defense dramatically improved. Donovan made several key adjustments that paid immediate dividends.

And after trailing heading into the fourth quarters of Games 4 and 5, the Thunder came back and won each contest, simply by executing better than the Spurs.

Then came Thursday night’s Game 6, in which the Thunder was presented with the chance to close out this series in front of a frenzied, partisan, sellout crowd inside its own arena. Oklahoma City did so at the best possible time, blowing San Antonio out in the first half and closing out series in six games.

Suddenly, as the Western Conference final between the Thunder and the Golden State Warriors kicks off Monday night at Oracle Arena in Oakland, it appears that the version of the Thunder everyone wondered would ever arrive finally has.

“We wasn’t in this position for nothing,” Kevin Durant said Thursday night. “I think, just throughout the season, we were still learning who we were as a team. We were mixing different lineups, so guys were learning that, as well. That helped us out, as well, because guys got experience out there during the regular season.”

Even that is something the Thunder has struggled with this season. After getting blown out in Game 1, Oklahoma City center Steven Adams gave a telling quote following the Thunder’s win in Game 2 last week to even the series at a game apiece.

“We came out and actually tried,” Adams said.

That kind of inconsistent effort made the Thunder a conundrum all season. Oklahoma City would often fall asleep in games - particularly on defense - which is the biggest reason the team lost 15 games in which it started the fourth quarter with a lead (14 in the regular season and one in the Thunder’s opening-round victory over the Dallas Mavericks).

That changed dramatically against the Spurs, though. After that disastrous performance in Game 1, the Thunder was locked in for the vast majority of the remaining five games of the series, often making San Antonio - a team that won a franchise record 67 games this season - look lost offensively.

Adams played a huge role in that, including making a series of ridiculous plays in the frantic final 13.5 seconds of that Game 2 win. But even someone like Durant, who isn’t exactly known for his defense, gave tremendous effort throughout the series against Spurs star Kawhi Leonard.

“The one thing that’s happened for our team that has been good against Dallas and San Antonio … these games have gotten us better,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “We’ve improved, gotten better, and this is an opportunity for us to continue to grow for our team.

“Going through the first few games, obviously coming out of that first game and losing the way we did, I give our guys a lot of credit for how they paid attention and locked in and tried to improve from game to game.”

For the Thunder to be successful against the Warriors, it will require a completely different look than what beat San Antonio. Donovan’s key adjustment in this past series was playing Adams and Enes Kanter together for big minutes, which allowed Oklahoma City to obliterate San Antonio on the boards. But that alignment, which was plus-27 in 66 minutes against the Spurs, according to NBA.com’s stats tool, will almost certainly not work against the Warriors.

Golden State operates best when it is playing its small-ball lineup which features all-star Draymond Green at center and Harrison Barnes at power forward. It’s a lethal lineup that features five players capable of shooting three-pointers, as well as handling the ball - meaning Kanter would have to defend on the perimeter and in pick-and-roll situations. Those were things he never had to do against San Antonio’s lineups featuring two traditional big men. That combination won’t work in the conference final, but the Thunder has the athleticism to match up with the Warriors in ways few teams can - not to mention having two of the best players on the planet in Russell Westbrook and Durant.