NBA Final Four

PARIS (George Eddy's International Show) - Four teams are left standing in the NBA Playoffs and 3 of them will finish the season disappointed as Gregg Popovich would point out.

Pop saw his ultra-dominant team during the regular season "go to crap" against a surprisingly smart Oklahoma City Thunder team in the last three games of their beautiful matchup. The San Antonio Spurs lost the series in Game 5 at home on one or two possessions in the money time. A missed shot here or an offensive rebound there made all the difference and even if Pop said after that game that "the series is not over", it essentially was!

OKC ran over the seemingly slower Spurs in Game 6 at home and left no doubt who was the younger, more dynamic and aggressive team which translated into alot more rebounds and "50-50" balls as Russ Westbrook likes to underline. LaMarcus Aldridge showed he is not yet the equivalent of a Tim Duncan in his prime, because as the stakes got bigger his game got smaller (6 for 21 in Game 5!) and he looked alot like the same player he was in Portland who couldn't make the decisive plays to help his team get over the hump in the really big games.

Pop and his staff will have a lot of soul-searching and second-guessing to do in this off-season.  Why did Tim Duncan (19 points in Game 6) and Boris Diaw play so little and David West play so much? Why did the bench give so little production when that was supposed to be one of the Spurs' biggest advantages? Why did the ball stop moving on offence leaving Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard exhausted by trying to beat the Thunder by themselves with alot of one on one? Who will leave the roster and who will stay?

Duncan and Manu Ginobili can do one more year of on-court mentoring or move into a management role if they choose. Mike Conley would be a good fit for the team. If I was R.C. Buford I would be travelling to Moscow to try and sign Nando De Colo, the recent MVP and champion of the Euroleague because he is just what the Spurs need: a smart scorer, shooter and creator with young legs, in his prime and who knows Pop and his system! Will Ettore Messina leave to coach some weak-sister franchise or will he hang around until Pop decides to retire?

If this season ends in San Antonio with a lot of difficult questions, in OKC right now, they have all the answers. Eliminating the Spurs increases considerably the chances of Kevin Durant re-signing with the team. At 27, he and Westbrook are in their prime, a time when the physical and mental planets align perfectly. Forget all those fourth quarter meltdowns during the regular season and hail the return of "tall ball" thanks to Steven Adams, 22, the revelation of this series with double-doubles in the last three wins. The youngest of 18 children from the farm country of New Zealand was extraordinary as well as Serge Ibaka and Enes Kanter. Those three big men, born outside the USA, were the deciding factors just after Durant and Westbrook, who were simply stratospheric!  Head coach Billy Donovan even outcoached the legendary Pop in his first season in the NBA.

Will all that be enough to eliminate the Golden State Warriors? Yes! At the very least, the Thunder start the series with just as many chances as the Warriors to qualify for the NBA Finals thanks to the enormous amount of confidence they accumulated by eliminating the Spurs. This is what they will need to transform one of the first two away games into a key victory.

Another foreign center, Andrew Bogut, might miss the first game which hurts Golden State because he's severely under-rated and overlooked when you talk about the Warriors' success! Steph Curry's knee and ankle and Draymond Green's ankle are also worrisome for NBA Coach of the Year Steve Kerr, who will probably end up being very happy that his team has the homecourt advantage!

Another foreign center was a big key in the Toronto Raptors advancing to the Eastern Conference for the first time in franchise history. Bismack Biyombo, of the Democratic Republic of Congo, filled the void left by Jonas Valenciunas's absence beautifully in Sunday's Game 7 against the Miami Heat with 17 points and 16 rebounds. He helped Toronto, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan vanquish their old demons by eliminating a courageous Heat team led by the eternal Dwyane Wade and the surprising Goran Dragic. The knee sprain of Hassan Whiteside killed Miami's chances ("small ball" has its limits) but they can be proud of what they accomplished this season

Toronto has now won two Game 7s in a row which will silence all those who said they were playoff chokers! However, that probably won't help them win more than one or two games against a totally impressive Cleveland Cavaliers team surfing the wave of two sweeps which leaves them fully healthy and rested. The great chemistry within the Cavs' Big Three and the fact that the whole team is historically prolific from three-point range make them my actual favorites for the NBA title.

It's time for us to fasten our seat belts and enjoy some rollicking NBA playoffs basketball!

George Eddy

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.