OKC Thunder Podcast: Loud Noises - episode 27; The wide-open West

The Oklahoma City Thunder lead the Dallas Mavericks 3-1 and, barring a huge letdown, should put the series away tonight. That would set up a matchup with their perennial nemesis, the San Antonio Spurs.

With Golden State's Stephen Curry set to receive an MRI on the knee he injured in Sunday's game, the likely Spurs/Thunder matchup suddenly has real stakes. With Curry healthy, OKC/San Antonio was basically just a precursor to see who would lose to the unstoppable Warriors. Now, there's a real chance that either of these teams would be favored in the Western Conference Finals.

That's a pretty grim way of looking at the fact that the soon-to-be back-to-back MVP and the most popular athlete in the country just suffered a terrible knee injury. Sadly, though, it's the reality, and it's something the remaining teams in the West are undoubtedly conscious of.

With all of that peripheral noise, not to mention the Thunder series itself - which has featured Kevin Durant really living up to his Not Nice personal through technicals and flagrants - I needed someone close to home digest it all. For that reason, I brought on our own JA Sherman, and we covered everything from the chippiness of the series, to the Curry injury, to how well OKC matches up with the Spurs, to Dion, to Enes, and everything in between.

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