The San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their series against one another tonight.

The Spurs come in as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and had the best record in the NBA during the regular season at 62-20. Point guard Tony Parker is 32 years old and has been the best player on this Spurs team all year. In game five against the Portland Trail Blazers, he left the court because of an injured hamstring. He suffered a grade one hamstring strain, but it has been reported that Parker is going to start and play game one.

Tony Parker has been the Spurs' leading scorer (19.3) and assist man (4.3) this postseason, which has consisted of 12 games. Tim Duncan continues to grab huge rebounds and hit mid range shots, even at the age of 38. Aiding Tim Duncan in the paint is Brazilian center Tiago Splitter, who has been a monster defensively. Splitter was exceptional in the first round against future Hall of Famer, Dirk Nowitzki and in the second round eliminated LaMarcus Aldridge from having any big impact at all. Thirty-six-year-old Manu Ginóbili out of Argentina has been hitting huge shots for the Spurs this postseason and has often times been the ball handler for Parker coming off the bench.

The young guys for the Spurs are going to have to play great for the Spurs to advance to NBA Finals.

Forward Kawhi Leonard is one of, if not the best, on ball defenders in the league. Look for him to be guarding Kevin Durant on many occasions. Of course, Tiago Splitter is going to have to keep his hot defensive streak going, and maybe add some more offensive support as well in this series. Patrick Mills is another young player to keep an eye on. The 25-year-old guard has played twice the amount of minutes and scored twice the amount of points this season, than he ever has before. Mills provides a good spark off the bench with his speed and shooting.

Their opponents, the Oklahoma City Thunder, are led by the NBA MVP, Kevin Durant. Durant is averaging 31.4 points per game this postseason and his three point shooting has been terrific. The Thunder are the younger team here, but they have been to the NBA Finals recently, back in 2012. This team is young, but they do have experience. Russell Westbrook is the most athletic point guard in the NBA, who is capable of taking over a game at any point in time.

Unfortunately for the Thunder, they will be without their forward, Serge Ibaka. The 6'10 250-pound Ibaka provided a big body in the paint, and in the past gave Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter problems. In the regular season, the Thunder were 4-0 against the Spurs, largely in part because of this man. He is expected to miss the entire series with a calf injury.

Westbrook has had his way with Parker in the past. This will be an exciting point guard matchup for fans to watch. Italian born guard Reggie Jackson, (who saved the Thunder in the first round against the Grizzlies) is going to have to hit perimeter shots and provide a third scoring option for the Thunder. Derek Fisher may get an increase in playing time as well. As a five time champion, he's used to these big moments.

These two teams are very familiar with each other and this should be a great long series. Game one begins Monday night at 9:00 EST in San Antonio on TNT.

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