The Thunder offense has been tough to watch since Russell Westbrook’s injury, mostly because it’s less an “offense” than a series of predictable, slow-moving sets designed to maximize the talent of two individual superstars. Take one of those superstars away, and those same predictable, slow-moving sets aren’t as powerful.

This isn’t Miami or San Antonio, where there is a system of constant movement, screening, and side-to-side action that functions in the same general way, creating the same efficient shot types, regardless of which parts you plug into it. And so the Oklahoma City offense without Westbrook has become drudgery for Kevin Durant. He’s isolating much more, which means the team is isolating much more — on nearly 22 percent of its offensive possessions in three games without Westbrook, up from about 14.5 percent in the regular season, per Synergy Sports. They’re getting fewer shots out of the pick-and-roll or via transition, two Westbrook specialties, and Durant is not exaggerating by much when he suggests Houston is quadruple-teaming him.

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GRANTLAND NETWORK

Grantland Network: The Basketball Jones

By Grantland Network at 4:04 PM ET

On today's show, The Basketball Jones discuss the Western Conference playoff race, whether Doug Collins is done with Philly, memorable Madison Square Garden moments, Derek Fisher's return to OKC's bench, LeBron James's pregame dunking, and Tyreke Evans's "Wanker of the Week" moment.

All that, plus new TBJ Army recruits, horrible birthdays, Dennis Rodman visiting Kim Jong-un in North Korea, and crazy panels we'd like to moderate at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

Thanks to a brilliant second-half comeback and some questionable officiating, on Wednesday night the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since Clay Bennett pooped on the city of Seattle and moved the franchise to Oklahoma City. For many, the game was significant because it served as a changing of the guard in the Western Conference, seeing as how in consecutive rounds of this year’s playoffs, the Thunder and their young nucleus of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden (23, 23, and 22 years old, respectively) knocked out the three teams that have dominated the conference over the past 13 years.

But for me, the most intriguing story line is that 37-year-old Derek Fisher, who is set to make his eighth career NBA Finals appearance in an attempt to win his sixth championship, is either more important than he’s ever been given credit for or is truly one lucky sumbitch.

So much amazing is happening, and the Shootaround crew is here to help you keep track of it all. You'll find takes on moments you might've missed from the previous night, along with ones you will remember forever.

Do You Guys Want to Run It Back?

This was a series that started with the Spurs being called "beautiful" and ended with the Thunder being called "grown-up." Nothing that happened in between made much sense, either, from Pop's language-poet responses to Craig Sager's questions (Q: "What do you need to reestablish the pick-and-roll?" A: "Volcanoes. Metal hooks") to the various positions and ambient-lighting conditions in which Stephen Jackson was able to make love to pressure. From Game 1 on, both teams' identities were in flux. Who was/who wasn't afraid to shoot? Were the Thunder a dribbling team or an assists-dazzled passing team? Tim Duncan's apparent age ranged from "24" to "geologic" at different moments.

In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Wednesday.

• Tim Tebow is officially a New York Jet. The Broncos traded their former quarterback to New York, along with a seventh-round pick, for two earlier picks in this April's draft. As longtime readers of this post will know, Tim Tebow and Rex Ryan are prominent figures in the About Last Night canon. The fact that they're now teamed up is just insane news for me, and I've decided to commemorate it with a spiritual sonnet called "The Glutton Tempts the Son."

The Glutton Tempts the Son

The Son has heard the Jet's seductive roar
The Glutton licks the bone and sips the wine
Of Jersey fair the Son recalls the shore
But not the Glutton's castle made of swine

"Come here my friend, it's past the chocolate oak!"
Cries the Glutton, reaching out his hand.
The Son resists — a frown — "is this a joke?
"God's heaven is the only charm'd land!"

"Philistine," the Glutton stops to mutter,
"Profane ye not my palaces of cheer.
Breaded streets proceed to lakes of butter:
Adipose Rex, I'm called, and we are here!"

"Such wonders!" cries the Son, "unhand thy fork.
It truly is a castle made of pork!"

—March 22, 2012

(I don't even know, guys. I don't even know what's up right now. All I can say is that Tebow and Rex are on the same team, and one way or another a sonnet had to go down.)

In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.

• North Carolina advanced to the Sweet 16 with a win over Creighton, but paid a steep price when point guard Kendall Marshall fractured his wrist. Marshall is the second Tar Heel to suffer a wrist injury in recent weeks, after center John Henson sustained a sprain that kept him out of the ACC tournament championship. "Weak wrists," said former Syracuse assistant Bernie Fine, shaking his head sadly. "I guess my masturbation drills don't look so 'bizarre' now, do they, America?"

In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.

• In his greatest act of humility yet, Tim Tebow threw for just nine completions and 136 yards as the New England Patriots crushed the Denver Broncos 45-10. The most awkward part of the game came when Bill Belichick demanded that Tebow acknowledge his own mediocrity as a quarterback, saying he had the power to blow him out or give him a close, honorable defeat, and Tebow was like, "You could have no power at all against me unless it had been give you from above, therefore the one who delivered me to you has the greatest sin," and Broncos head coach John Fox was like, "hey, wackos, leave me out of this."