San Antonio Spurs: History Favors Oklahoma City Thunder In Game 6

With everyone expecting the San Antonio Spurs to bounce back and force a Game 7 after falling into a 3-2 series hole, history says otherwise

There’s no way that the San Antonio Spurs are going to go out like this, right?

The Spurs, who are on the heels of their best regular season in franchise history, won’t lose in the second round of the playoffs, robbing us of the Western Conference Finals matchup between the Spurs and Warriors that we all wanted, right?

They can’t.

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You are never supposed to count out Gregg Popovich, who many perceive to be the best coach the game of basketball has ever seen, much less the team that has knocked off the NBA’s goliath time after time.

Although, and perhaps interestingly, history actually favors the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6. With the Thunder up 3-2 with the series shifting to Oklahoma City, the odds point to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook taking care of business Thursday.

Per ESPN Stats and Info (H/T CBS Sports), the Pop-lead Spurs are 2-10 when facing elimination on the road.

In fairness, the Spurs HAVE won in OKC already (Game 3). But the feel in Game 6 is going to be on an entirely different level than it was for Game 3. This is a close-out game. Perhaps more importantly, this can be a “securing-Kevin-Durant” type of game.

I mean, we could sit here and try to create the narrative that the Spurs just lacked another gear when the playoffs started, sure. Or perhaps how Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge aren’t as ready to take over the mantle as we all expected them to be.

But that’s not really the case. This is a make or miss league, and the Spurs missed a bunch of shots that they normally make in Game 5. Couple that with the extraordinary play of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, and it really shouldn’t be a surprise that OKC is on the verge of knocking out the Spurs.

Spurs were 10-of-22 on uncontested shots in Game 5. They shot 63% or better on those shots in three of the first four games of the series.
— Shooting The Sh*t (@STS_Pod) May 11, 2016

Can the Spurs win Game 6 on the road and then follow that up by a Game 7 win at home? Sure. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s what most people are expecting to happen. I don’t blame them, either.

More sir charles in charge: Spurs vs Thunder: Three Takeaways From Game 5

However, we also shouldn’t be surprised if the Thunder closed this series in Game 6. If the play of OKC in the last two games hasn’t reasoned that for you, then maybe history will. And it says that OKC has a great chance at winning this series on their home floor.