The Final Score: The distinction between Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook

Not surprisingly, I was left breathless by another lopsided victory by the San Antonio Spurs in game two of the Western Conference Finals. Surely OKC was left breathless too, the way runners are gasping for air with three kilometers to go in a full marathon. Was it another clinic by the Spurs? Sure. Yet it was less a basketball clinic and more like open-heart surgery. The Spurs were master surgeons. Thunder players were asleep and felt no pain.

[Related: Danny Green explosion continues Spurs’ dominance over Thunder]

If I wanted to write about the Spurs’ triumph in games one and two, my entire column would consist of about five paragraphs repeating just this one sentence over and over: Pass, pass, one dribble, pass, pass, fake, pass, cut and shoot. I’ll type that one sentence until it reaches 500 words. Repetition, after all, leads to mastery. For readers’ sake, we’ll make the article more multimedia. A clickable file of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 will accompany the piece.

All teams have their Spurs-ian moments I’m sure. Hindi lang naman Spurs are marunong mag-ball movement. I can probably put together a ball-movement highlight reel of the Sixers even. You just need to give me time. A lot of time. But we can all agree: no team dominates the way the Spurs dominate.

So instead of evaluating the Spurs’ supremacy, something you’ve all seen in striking clarity for 96 basketball minutes, I choose to illustrate the distinction between the team’s star point guards: San Antonio’s Tony Parker and Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook.

Anyway, Tim Duncan has no counterpart on the Thunder and Manu Ginobili has no mirror image in OKC. So Parker and Westbrook it is.

Parker, even when he scores 22 points and tallies five assists, exudes the Spurs’ nah-don’t-look-at-me-look-at-the-team attitude. Westbrook, on the other hand, attracts so much attention to himself, not automatically because he wants to, but because he’s so ibang-klaseng-level good and divisive and talented and dumbfounding and incredible and promising all at the same time.

Parker and Westbrook are the same because whenever they hit the bench, the units on the floor lose so much personality. Suddenly, there is less panache for the Spurs. Suddenly, there is less fury for the Thunder.

Fortunately for San Antonio, Patty Mills and Cory Joseph are like padawans under Obi Wan Parker’s tutelage. In the same manner, Reggie Jackson is an aggressive padawan behind Obi Wan Westbrook. Is that a fortunate twist? Mas malakas ba yung Dark Side ng Westbrook-Jackson apprenticeship? We’re not so sure.

Yes, this about establishing contrasts. Two different PGs are playmakers for two teams going in opposite directions. But this is also a celebration of their differences. One is not necessarily better than the other. They’re both superb guards, albeit, in different ways.

No one bothers to call Parker fast. Westbrook is the fast AND the furious.

Parker is James Bond. Westbrook is Rambo.

When Parker takes a pull up three in transition, we’ve convinced ourselves that it’s probably a necessary, Popovich-approved shot.

When Westbrook takes a pull up three in transition, we look at one another waiting for the first person to say – or tweet, “Bad shot.” Then, we can’t help but nod – or retweet - in agreement. It’s almost muscle memory already.

Parker is built like…I often wonder how he has survived all the spectacular collisions and crashes from driving into the lane so much.

Westbrook is built like a super athlete, someone who could play basketball, baseball, football, frisbee, tumbang preso, dodgeball, etc.

Parker makes the hard look easy.

Westbrook makes the hard look even harder.

Ganyan si Parker eh. Swabeng-swabe. He slices and dices while some are too preoccupied blaming Westbrook for the Thunder’s maladies, Britain’s cholera epidemic of 1831, the US stock market crash of 1929, and the cancelation of Tabing Ilog in 2003.

It is not Westbrook’s fault that Parker and the Spurs are this good. Ganyan si Westbrook. Madaling sisihin. While we’re debating if Durant and Westbrook should be tag-team partners for life, Parker is quietly putting together twenty-plus points.

Such is the burden of being Westbrook. He conveniently takes the blame. Such is the higher calling of Parker. The team always takes the credit.

I wish not to disparage Westbrook in any way for I have accepted Westbrook for what he is – a raging flurry of Pacquiao punches accompanied by gale force winds and a swarm of locusts. It’s like loving Wolfgang’s Atomica from the album Serve in Silence. Some like it. Some don’t. I like it. Yeah, ganun si Russ – he’s as forceful as Wolfgang on full blast.

Sincerely, I want to see Westbrook and Durant break through and win a championship together someday. Following their arduous journey, and it’s really supposed to be an arduous journey, will be a privilege.

Meantime, in the Spurs’ universe, it is folly to single out Parker, Duncan, Ginobili or any other teammate. Hindi sila ganun eh. But in an effort to highlight contrasts, I had to measure Parker against Westbrook. One is not necessarily better than the other. Magkaiba lang talaga sila. One team, however, is clearly superior compared to the other. Parker’s team is ahead, 2-0, against Westbrook’s team. In the distinction between influential playmakers, that’s really the most relevant difference they have. - AMD, GMA News