Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Hall-of-Famer Carmelo Anthony shares his thoughts on the upcoming Western Conference Finals

The Oklahoma City Thunder are still the team to beat on their quest for back-to-back titles, even with Jalen Williams hamstring injury keeping him absent so far, but the San Antonio Spurs are reaching for the throne. The upcoming clash between the regular season’s top-two Western powers will begin on Monday in OKC.

They played five times before the playoffs, which included an NBA Cup game, with the Spurs winning four of them, but considering how the physicality has been raised 80° since, it’s hard to use those games to gauge which team has the advantage.

Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony imparted his wisdom in his interview with D.J. Siddiqi on these matters, saying, “ “Regular season doesn’t mean anything right now. It’s a different brand of basketball. I know people want to put one up against the other, but it’s a different brand of basketball. Nobody’s even thinking about regular season once you’re in the playoffs.”

Another thing the Hall of Famer is sure about is that great players can’t be shut down. Much of that has to do with the rules favoring the offensive player since hand checks are outlawed and carrying violations are not always enforced, which is a huge disadvantage for the man back peddling. Nonetheless, when it comes to Victor Wembanyama, the challenge is making it difficult for him for “48 minutes.”

The Thunder will try but, Wembanyama‘s height and passing gifts make him a threat to dissect double teams. That’s a lethal combination with three high-level ball handlers that eat up schemes at the point of attack. The challenge gets tougher since he is a good roamer without the ball behind the arc and on the baseline. He’s shown he can be dormant while he waits for his teammates to get going, then he turns into a supernova.

Guarding Wemby presents even more problems because he can dribble up court, and pull up from long range. Setting early pick up points against that are not the same as sending them at someone like Kevin Durant, who is still close to seven feet, but not skyscraper big.  The playoffs have made it clear that using bully-ball to bother Wembanyama gets canceled out by his length.

On the other side, one thing the Thunder could try is to make Wembanyama work by limiting Isaiah Hartenstein’s minutes on the floor with him. While Hartenstein has a nice jump hook from the short to mid range area, Wembanyama can complicate things for OKC by sagging off to the middle like he did against Portland and Minnesota successfully. If Chet Holmgren is playing center, it will force Wembanyama to guard a real scoring option.

As the stakes rise with each round and coverages get tighter, this could be a tough series for Luke Kornet because he is a slower-footed disruptor, most ineffective outside of the lane. It’s not what the Spurs want to do, but this could mean Wemby playing close to 40 minutes a game because he’s a much stronger against screen rolls, especially if they are coming from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Anthony said Wembanyama is the best defender in the NBA — it helps that he’s got major help because opposing ball handlers have a quality disruptor switched on to them at every turn. Still, the Thunder are capable of matching San Antonio’s defensive potency and bring their own edge to that side.

All of the talent featured in this Western Conference Finals could create a classic series that will be remembered for decades. Make no mistake: this series will be the equivalent of two heavyweights facing off in a title eliminator.