I acknowledge when they have INJURIES(key is plural). Not just him tho. When these dudes had J Dub, Chet, Caruso and others all in street clothes, I literally said, “I hate these dudes. They basically got a starting 5 on the bench injured and they’re still winning”. I say that to say, I would not have given any team credit if they would’ve beat the Thunder like that.
But your last sentence proves my point on this particular postseason run so far. They only played the Suns(whose injuries really didn’t matter imo) and the Lakers without Luka.
Let’s say their path would’ve been Rockets/Lakers(without Durant or Luka), Nuggets/Twolves(Without AG or Donte/Ant) and then Spurs(Without Wemby). THEN everyone would say, “If (insert Thunder opponent) was healthy…”.
If they made it to the Finals and that was their path, they should get crucified just like everybody else did on their path who rode injuries to the Finals. J Dub or no J Dub. However, I’m glad J Dub back and the Spurs are healthy so we can say at least they battled each other at full strength.