San Antonio's 44 combined turnovers across the first two games of the Western Conference Finals - 20 of them from rookie of the year favourite Stephon Castle - have become the defining tactical battleground of the series, and on NBC's postgame coverage on Wednesday night Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady all warned that Oklahoma City has already turned them into a death sentence.
The Thunder evened the series at one apiece with a 122-113 win, generating 55 points off Spurs turnovers across the two games and pulling the rebounding battle back to a virtual draw after being outworked 61-40 on the glass in Game 1. The trio of analysts said the leak begins, but does not end, with Castle.
"That is a concern for me, not just Castle," Anthony said. "Castle now has 20 turnovers in two games. Forty-three turnovers in two games is a concern, because if you're going to play against a championship squad like OKC, I'm not going to say you have to play perfect basketball, but you can't give them that many opportunities and possessions. You can't have wasted possessions against a team like this, particularly in their building. Usually you get away with that at home, but now you're not getting shots. They've been dominating OKC on the board. So at the end of the day, you just want to get a shot up to give yourselves the chance to get an offensive rebound, to get open threes, because when they get those opportunities, usually you get made threes."
Carter added the on-court explanation: Castle is being asked to do too much, with point guard De'Aaron Fox already out and rookie Dylan Harper lost to a leg injury midway through the second quarter. "He's being asked to do so much," Carter said. "They're just running out of bodies on the perimeter. They're asking so much of their guys."
The NBC crew also focused on what Oklahoma City's defence was doing to manufacture the turnovers. "It's activity, I think, bothered them to where they were rushing and trying to make plays that probably was not there," Anthony said. "I think the defence, you're going to see another level to OKC defence on the road. I think they figured some things out defensively. Isaiah playing the way that he played today against Wemby and against the Spurs allows OKC to relax and settle down."
McGrady singled out a separate adjustment from Chet Holmgren, who he said had stepped up after a quiet eight-point Game 1. "I thought he was a little bit more aggressive today, and they needed that with J-Dub going down," McGrady said. "I just thought his activity was a little bit more, with pace today, with the Euro and one. He got 10 shots up, 13 points tonight. I like his activity. I need him to do more." The trio noted Holmgren had picked up Wembanyama at the half-court hash mark to deny him a head of steam, a deliberate counter to the Game 1 carnage.
Vince Carter pinpointed Hartenstein's physicality as the wear-and-tear catalyst on the Frenchman, who played 49 minutes in Game 1. "He looked tired tonight," Carter said. "You could tell he was struggling a little bit. But I thought Hartenstein did an amazing job on applying the pressure, making him work for everything, wearing him out."
With the series moving to the AT&T Center on Friday for Game 3, the analysts agreed the turnover line is now the single most important number San Antonio needs to fix. "I hope they're able to clean that up in Game 3," Anthony said. "If not, they're going to see somewhat of the same type of defence." Castle, who has spent the playoffs growing into a co-star alongside Wembanyama, is suddenly the variable the title odds turn on.
