My reflections on a pivotal Tuesday night matchup in Oklahoma City…
Entering the 2025-26 NBA season, I had no reason to doubt that the Oklahoma City Thunder were capable of repeating as champions. Their 24-1 start to the campaign only bolstered my opinion. Then along came the San Antonio Spurs.
First it was San Antonio’s 111-109 victory over OKC in their epic battle in the NBA Cup Semifinal. Then, it was the back-to-back Spurs wins over the Christmas holiday. OKC got their lick back in a mid-January win, only for the Spurs to take their final regular season meeting in February by ten points.
At 1-4, San Antonio was the only team Oklahoma City had a losing record against in 2025-26. So once the playoffs came around, I couldn’t help but ponder if the Thunder had met their match? Game 5 on Tuesday night leads me to believe that the answer is “not yet”.
This Western Conference Finals series has been the tussle we’ve all expected, but tonight’s game certainly spoke to the importance of having deep playoff experience.
The Spurs, after trouncing OKC on Sunday, really didn’t have the same energy and focus in this game. It’s like they used all their energy to tie the series up, only to be gassed when the time came to take back the series lead.
Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox had matching 4-of-15 field goal performances tonight, and neither could sink a three-pointer on the nine attempts between them. Wembanyama in particular seemed fairly sluggish. He went a brutal 4-of-9 in the paint, a crime for a player that is capable of dunking from outside of the restricted area!
He didn’t attack the basket consistently and wasn’t getting up and down the floor all that quickly. We all know that Victor is a competitor, so this definitely felt like a young player that is not used to getting this far into a NBA postseason and has run out of gas. The growing pains of a young star.
Conversely, the Thunder stepped up to the moment. After an uncharacteristic Game 4 — their 82 points was the fewest they’ve scored in the playoffs since 2020 — OKC knew they needed to snap back quickly.
The first key to victory was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s 32 points. This was a big bounce-back after dropping just 19 on Sunday. On Tuesday, he was able to work his way back to the free throw line, going 16-of-17 from the stripe. Those 17 attempts ties a 2026-playoff-high, which he last notched in Game 1 of the First Round.
Secondly, the rotation players came together and hit some timely three-pointers. OKC collectively went 14-of-32 from outside, with standout performances from Alex Caruso (4-of-8), Jared McCain (3-of-9, 3-of-7 in the second half), and Kenrich Williams (2-of-2).
Third, the Thunder frontcourt crashed the boards incredibly well. Isaiah Hartenstein pulled down 15 rebounds, Chet Holmgren grabbed 11, and even Jaylin Williams got four in 17 minutes. Meanwhile, Wembanyama was held to just six boards and Luke Kornet had just one in eight minutes off the bench. Instead, Julian Champagnie paced the Spurs with eight rebounds. Just great interior aggression from the Thunder on Tuesday night.
Certainly, a series can change complexion from game-to-game. The Spurs could absolutely turn around and win Game 6 on Thursday. But based off of what I witnessed in Game 5, San Antonio would have to dig deep from within to pull it off. Tuesday’s game felt like the difference between a team that knew what time it was and a team that still has plenty to learn on their quest to becoming champions.
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