This regular season, the Oklahoma City Thunder were 4-0 against the San Antonio Spurs, largely in part due to Serge Ibaka. Unfortunately, the Thunder will be without his services for this series against the Spurs and possibly the remainder of the postseason. A calf injury in his left leg has sidelined him.

In their first game without the 6'10 Ibaka, the Thunder lost to the Spurs 122-105.

The Spurs big men had their way down low with the absence of Ibaka. The biggest stat of the night was points in the paint. During their four regular season games, the Spurs scored an average of 41.5 points per game in the paint. Monday night, the Spurs destroyed the Thunder down low by scoring 66 points in the paint. The Spurs would also shoot 57 percent overall from the field, driving to the hoop with ease all night with layups and uncontested slam dunks.

Does Serge Ibaka really make that much of a difference?

Apparently so. The Thunder hit more three pointers and hit six more free throws, but without the usual dominant interior defense of Ibaka, it didn't make a difference. Tim Duncan usually has his issues with Ibaka, but without his presence last night, Duncan would score 27 points on an efficient 11-19 shooting performance. It comes as no surprise that the Spurs out-rebounded the Thunder in the game, but they even limited the Thunder to just three blocks the entire game.

Thunder and Head Coach Scott Brooks are just going to have to adapt. Without Ibaka on the court to intimidate the Spurs, changes are going to have to be made. Center Kendrick Perkins, who is 6'10 and 270 pounds, only played 24 minutes for the Thunder in the Game 1 defeat. Despite only playing 24 minutes, Perkins grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. The Thunder are going to need Perkins out on the floor more often if they want to have at least an average defense.

Spurs are now 7-1 in their eight home playoff games.

Durant and Russell Westbrook combined to score 53 points and hit 19 field goals. The Spurs know they can't completely shutdown that dynamic duo, but without Ibaka they know they can score at will. Durant is an elite scorer in this league, who has led the NBA in scoring multiple times, however, even he has room to improve defensively. Game 2 will be played Wednesday night at 9:00 p.m. EDT in San Antonio at the AT&T Center on TNT.

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