Thunder Roll Past Spurs 114-130 For Fourth Win in Five Games

In the last match of a seven-game homestand, the Oklahoma City Thunder faced off against Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, and the San Antonio Spurs. After a tightly contested game through three quarters, the Thunder’s offense broke free to scorch the Spurs’ defense, led by Gilgeous-Alexander’s 28 points. Oklahoma City’s bench contributed heavily, scoring 68 points.

Things were clicking on offense for the Thunder to kick off the first frame, jumping out to an 8-3 lead. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey quickly combined for 10 points in the first six minutes of action to lead the charge, but after an injury to Aleksej Pokusevski, the Spurs’ offense, led by Vassell, got things going to gain a 20-19 lead.

From there, the Thunder’s second unit, led by Gilgeous-Alexander, barely edged out the Spurs’ to gain a 38-33 lead to close out the quarter. Bench play from Isaiah Joe, Mike Muscala, and Darius Bazley provided a big boost, combining for 14 points, and knocking down 3-of-3 shots from downtown.

Back-to-back triples for the boys in blue 👌 pic.twitter.com/ydcrvKcRrC
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 28, 2022

Early in the second frame, Spurs’ Head Coach Greg Popovich picked up two consecutive technicals after barking at officials and was subsequently ejected. And after Mann knocked down both free throws as a result of the technicals, he drained a 30-foot 3-point shot to give the Thunder a 45-37 cushion.

From there, Aaron Wiggins kept the offense going, earning a quick five points on the inside before Kenrich Williams buried a corner 3-pointer to put the Thunder up 54-43. But the Spurs, thanks to Tre Jones, answered with a 7-0 run to put Oklahoma City on their heels.

Oklahoma City stood strong for the rest of the half, closing out the frame up 70-60 thanks to Muscala’s nine points and a pair of 3-pointers from Joe and Luguentz Dort. Muscala out-scored Gilgeous-Alexander to be the Thunder’s leading scorer in the first half, 14-12.

Coming out of halftime, the Thunder matched each Spurs’ bucket with their own, leading to a 79-69 score with eight minutes remaining. Gilgeous-Alexander came out of the break firing, dropping in two mid-range jumpers to ignite the offense before Giddey found Muscala for another 3-pointer.

Following a timeout by San Antonio, Johnson and rookie Jeremy Sochan helped push the Spurs back into the game, scoring eight quick points to cut the Thunder’s lead to four with about five minutes remaining in the frame.

Gilgeous-Alexander responded by taking over the Thunder’s offense and finding his 24th point of the night, but the Spurs wouldn’t go away as Zach Collins and Josh Richardson provided a spark to cut the lead to two headed into the fourth quarter.

The final frame opened up with Giddey scoring just his seventh point of the game on a tough drive to the basket before a Tre Mann stepback triple pushed the score to 100-93. Both Jalen and Kenrich Williams would proceed to score the Thunder’s next six points and Mann would convert a pair of free throws to cap off a 14-3 run.

Moving without the ball and running the floor 💪@OGandE Power Play of the Game pic.twitter.com/xdVlePQ7wd
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) December 28, 2022

San Antonio would find their way to 102 points behind a pair of Johnson free throws and a Poeltl layup, but a Wiggins’ 3-pointer and a Spurs shot clock violation would keep Oklahoma City comfortably ahead, 114-102, with just five minutes to go.

The Spurs’ Johnson would find another layup, but two inside finishes by Jalen Williams and a trip to the line for Muscala would extend the lead to 120 over 104. One Mann layup and a couple of Gilgeous-Alexander free throws later, and the Thunder found themselves on top 126-106 with just two and a half minutes to go, effectively sealing their fourth win in five games.

After a seven-game home stretch, Oklahoma City will hit the road to play LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. CST.

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