5 reasons Oklahoma City Thunder can win NBA Finals without Kevin Durant

5. Teams who win by the three, die by the three

We saw it all in the Cavaliers series. While the Cavs had shooters, they were a team that was built more to win the game in the paint. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving are drivers. Their physicality of driving to the hole wore down the Warriors in the NBA Finals as they finished them off in seven games.

Make no mistake, the Warriors added more than just another shooter. Still, between their best four players, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, all of their best attributes are centered around shooting.

In game seven of the NBA Finals the Warriors were 15-41 from deep in their loss. In the game six collapse that started the Thunder down fall, it was Kevin Durant shooting 1-8 from three and 10-31 from the field helping the Warriors climb back in it. The Thunder as a team then shot 7-27 from deep in game seven.

Now the entire look of the Thunder has changed. They will revolve around Russell Westbrook, a player who failed to shoot 30-percent from deep in the past two seasons. It means they will look to play a game similar to the Cavaliers of last year. They need to attack on misses, win games in transition and in the paint this year.

Common sense tells you that layups are easier to make than threes. If the Thunder can remain a consistent scoring team in the paint, it will just take a few cold minutes by a team like the Warriors for them to either catch up from deficits, or pull away, like the Cavs did in game six of the NBA Finals. It means you cannot count the Thunder out of any series just yet.

Next: 4. Billy Donovan is a great coach