Western Conference Finals Preview - NYTimes.com Oklahoma City Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs It would be easy to label the Western Conference finals as a battle of young versus old, but that may be unfair to the San Antonio Spurs as it is not clear that Tim Duncan actually ages. Duncan's minutes were limited during the regular season to an average of 28.2 a game, but he has increased it to 32 a game in the playoffs. That has resulted in his points climbing from 15.4 to a more familiar 17.6. Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili still provide the bulk of the team's scoring, but the Spurs have so much depth that no one is asked to shoulder too much of a load. Compare that with the Oklahoma City Thunder, for whom Kevin Durant is accounting for a little less than 27 percent of his team's points a game during the playoffs and Russell Westbrook has contributed a bit more than 24 percent. The rosters, despite their age differences, have definite similarities, with each having two superstars and a top sixth man. The Thunder feature Serge Ibaka, one of the best shot-blocking centers in the N.B.A., but the Spurs have the advantage in depth with lesser-known players like Tiago Splitter and Kawhi Leonard giving them plenty of offensive and defensive weapons. During the regular season, a hectic pace was expected to slow the aging Spurs, but they rolled to the best record in the Western Conference. Now settled back into the plodding pace of the playoffs, nothing has changed as San Antonio has gone 8-0. But the Thunder, on the heels of defeating the defending champion Dallas Mavericks in four games and the Los Angeles Lakers in five games, are a team on the way up, and as hard as it is to see the Spurs decline, they are not as intimidating as they once were, making this the Thunder's series to lose. But Duncan and the Spurs have been written off before. PICK: Thunder in six.