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The Western Conference finals have been set: Oklahoma City Thunder vs San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder are entering the Western Conference Finals, having finished first in the West and swept the Suns and Lakers. San Antonio is entering this series after finishing second in the west beat the Trailblazers in 5 games and taking down the Timberwolves in 6 games.  

These two teams are set to face off in a possible 7-game series after meeting five times in the regular season. In those regular-season matchups, the Spurs won four games, and the Thunder won one.

Coming into this series its going to be a long and tough series between both teams. Both teams, according to NBA advanced stats, the Thunder had a defensive rating of 109.3 (6th best), Spurs had a defensive rating of 102.2 (1st best).

Key Match-up to Observe

All eyes will be on Shai and Wemby, rightfully so. A key match-up that is a rivalry that nobody seems to know the reason for execpt for Wemby, is Chet vs Wemby.

These two are the best when it comes to defense capabilities. Head-to-Head, this matchup has been awesome to watch in the regular season. These two head-to-head, neither has scored more than 20 points against the other since the 13th of December, when Wemby scored 22 points.

Wemby has recently gotten the better of Chet defensively. Holding Chet since the 13th of December to no more than 10 points when matched up against one another. But offensively, Chet has been the fourth-best player on offense in these playoffs with a rating of 128.3. Countering that, Wemby has been the 4th best player defensive player at a 96.4 rating these playoffs.

Players who need to step up to win the series

Spurs: Spurs need someone to step big time in this series, other than Wemby or Castle, is Champagnie. The reason for picking Champagine over Fox is simple three point shooting. Champagine has been the Spurs’ best three-point shooter in the playoffs, being 45% on 5.6 attempts per game. He’s someone who can drastically change this series with his three-point shooting if he finds his rhythm.

Thunder: Its been a nice boost for the Thunder for Ajay Mitchell to come up big for them since Jalen Williams has been injured. Ajay Mitchell was the best player in that Lakers series for the Thunder, while Shai was being doubled or trippled at points. So he’s one player who needs to continue that hot streak for the Thunder to win.

Prediction

These two teams are the future dynasties of the NBA. From the OKC draft picks and youth to the Spurs’ incredible big man Wemby, and the young core of Wemby, Castle, and Harper.

For the Spurs to win this series and advance to the finals, they need to protect the ball. OKC has been the second-best team in the regular season for opponent turnover at 16.7. That stat has continued to 17.4 in the playoffs. The Spurs need to take care of the ball. Spurs need to continue their 38% from three in this series. OKC allows its opponents to shoot 36% from three in the playoffs.

For OKC to win the series, they need to keep putting pressure on the ball handlers to force turnovers. The Spurs turn the ball over an average of 14.6 times in the playoffs. They also need to convert on those pts off turnovers, OKC averages 22.9 pts off tunrovers and the Spurs allow 17.6 points off turnovers.

My prediction is that this series goes to seven games with the Thunder winning a close game over the Spurs.

Game 1 is on May 18th at 7:30 pm on NBC and Peacock to watch. The final score of the game is going to be 119 to 105, with OKC taking game one.