Recent Win Over Spurs Wasn’t OKC Thunder’s ‘Super Bowl’ but a Big One

Tuesday was full of emotions for Oklahoma City. The typically steady and set in their ways of a 0-0 and one of 82 mindset squad couldn't help but allow their actions speak louder than words on the Paycom Center hardwood.

After dropping the first three games of this regular season set to San Antonio, Tuesday's win just meant more for the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was clear in Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's outpour of screams into the crowd and spats with Spurs players leading to a double technical. It was obvious when Mark Daigneault went onto the court to recieve a rare technical, even the elder statesman of the team, Alex Caruso was bouncing up and down as if he was a kid on a sugar rush after returning home on Halloween night awaiting San Antonio to get back on defense after hitting a triple early on.

This 119-98 win doesn't wipe away the three victories the Spurs had earlier this year, but it was a big one. No doubt about that.

"We kinda had no choice. We all knew when we woke up this morning, this team had got the better of us the last three times we played them. That doesn't happen to this group, doesn't happen a lot, I can't remember the last time its happened...Now, from here on, it is just about getting better. Tonight wasn't our Super Bowl, it wasn't anything else but another game on an 82-game season," Gilgeous-Alexander described playing with more juice during his on-court interview with NBC's broadcast following the final buzzer on Tuesday.

He is right. While this can't be thrown in Oklahoma City's face of the reigning NBA champions treating a January game as the Super Bowl, they certainly had no choice to respond after not just dropping the first three games but the latter two in blowout fashion.

This is an important sigh of relief for the Bricktown Ballers, sure the Spurs are still absolutely contenders come playoff time and should be looked upon as no lower than the third biggest threat in the West, but avoiding going down 0-4 with two home losses at least pushes back on some of the narratives that only grew around Oklahoma City –– Nationally and Locally –– over the last three and a half weeks.

The biggest reason for optimism around OKC after this win has to be the Thunder's ability to get back to their norm on the offensive end. The Thunder scored a season-high points in the paint against San Antonio Thursday with 56, a plus 16 in the category.

Oklahoma City shot 51.9% from the floor while limiting the Spurs to just 40% shooting on their night. Between their sharpened defense and ability to get to the rim, it is no wonder this game turn around for the defending champions in such a big way.

These two sides will match up one more time during the regular season, a fifth installment of what the NBA is hoping becomes a rivalry on Feb.4 in San Antonio.