San Antonio Spurs berhasil menyamakan kedudukan Final Wilayah Barat menjadi 2-2 setelah menumbangkan Oklahoma City Thunder dengan skor telak 103-82 pada pertandingan Game 4 yang berlangsung Minggu malam waktu setempat di San Antonio.
Kekalahan telak Oklahoma City Thunder ini dipicu oleh performa lini serang yang tumpul menyusul absennya dua fasilitator serangan utama, Jalen Williams dan Ajay Mitchell, akibat mengalami cedera. Tim asuhan Mark Daigneault mencatatkan akurasi tembakan keseluruhan yang sangat rendah sebesar 33 persen, termasuk performa buruk dari garis tiga angka yang hanya mencapai 6 dari 33 percobaan sepanjang laga malam itu.
Performa buruk tersebut diperparah oleh hilangnya efektivitas Chet Holmgren di bawah ring akibat penjagaan ketat dari rivalnya, Victor Wembanyama, yang tampil dominan dengan mencetak 33 poin untuk keunggulan tuan rumah. Berdasarkan statistik dari RotoWire, Spurs menahan akurasi Thunder hingga 42 persen sepanjang seri ini, sementara akurasi tembakan Spurs sendiri berada di angka 43 persen dari lapangan dan 33 persen untuk tembakan tiga angka.
Kepala Pelatih Oklahoma City Thunder, Mark Daigneault, memberikan evaluasi tajam mengenai kegagalan skuatnya dalam membongkar pertahanan rapat yang diterapkan oleh San Antonio Spurs setelah pertandingan usai.
"We can," kata Mark Daigneault, Kepala Pelatih Oklahoma City Thunder. "I thought we left a lot to be desired on that end of the floor. We didn’t have the sharpness, force or precision necessary to crack them."
Daigneault menambahkan bahwa atmosfer pertandingan babak penentuan wilayah ini sangat ditentukan oleh intensitas fisik serta tekanan emosional yang ditunjukkan oleh masing-masing tim di dalam lapangan pertandingan.
"A lot of these playoff games come down to physicality and force," cetus Mark Daigneault, Kepala Pelatih Oklahoma City Thunder. "Your force has to be better than their physicality on defense, and your physicality has to be better than their force on offense. That’s kind of the trenches of a playoff game. … You’ve gotta give yourselves more bites at the apple."
Pelatih peraih gelar Coach of the Year tersebut mengakui kekalahan skuatnya juga dipengaruhi oleh kegagalan kolektif seluruh pemain dalam menerapkan strategi menyerang secara menyeluruh di lapangan.
"We went to him a little bit at different times," tambah Mark Daigneault, Kepala Pelatih Oklahoma City Thunder. "But I just thought the overall, the global approach offensively tonight didn’t benefit anybody. It was more of a five-man issue. And again, San Antonio is playing really good defense, a combination of us not being as sharp as we could have been and San Antonio being really good. But I don’t know what I could have called tonight that would have changed it. It was more of a global approach, slash San Antonio."
Bintang utama Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, yang hanya mencetak enam poin saat dijaga ketat oleh Stephon Castle, mengeluhkan agresivitas Spurs sejak kuarter pertama bergulir.
"They just punched us in our face early," aku Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Pemain Oklahoma City Thunder. "I think they just did a good job of being the aggressors. They were in us - forcing turnovers, being physical."
Pemain yang masuk dalam jajaran All-Star tersebut juga menyatakan timnya sebenarnya sudah terbiasa bermain tanpa pengatur serangan murni, namun mereka kehilangan energi yang tepat dalam laga ini.
"Two of our handlers, our creators, are out, but guys are good off the ball, and we played a fair amount of games this year with no handlers," jelas Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Pemain Oklahoma City Thunder. "So, we're a little bit used to that. But I mean, regardless, I think it's just a snowball effect. I think when you come out with the right energy, things like that work out and the offense has flow. And I don't think we came out with the right energy today."
SGA kemudian menanggapi pertanyaan awak media terkait minimnya kontribusi dari Chet Holmgren yang hanya mampu menyumbangkan 10 poin dan melakukan tiga kali kesalahan umpan sepanjang pertandingan Game 4.
"Chet's an easy target to find," tutur Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Pemain Oklahoma City Thunder. "So, probably just find him more in the dunker spot or when he's spacing. Just put him in better positions to use his strengths as an offensive talent. I don't know exactly what that looks like."
Menutup sesi wawancara, pebasket asal Kanada tersebut mengingatkan rekan-rekan setimnya bahwa posisi kedua tim kini kembali sama kuat untuk memperebutkan tiket menuju babak Final NBA.
"The series is 2-2, basically 0-0, and it’s first to two games now," tegas Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Pemain Oklahoma City Thunder. "It’s not at the front of my mind, but it is a fact and the reality of where we are."
Di sisi lain, Chet Holmgren mengakui keunggulan motivasi bertanding skuat San Antonio Spurs yang bermain jauh lebih gigih di hadapan pendukungnya sendiri.
"They played like their season was on the line, and we didn’t," ungkap Chet Holmgren, Pemain Oklahoma City Thunder.
Pertandingan krusial Game 5 babak Final Wilayah Barat antara San Antonio Spurs dan Oklahoma City Thunder dijadwalkan bakal berlangsung di markas Thunder pada Selasa malam waktu setempat.
