What the Thunder’s Midseason Win Over the Spurs Really Meant

It would be overly dramatic to call a mid-January game a must-win for any team, much less the defending champs. Oklahoma City entered Tuesday’s game against San Antonio an NBA-best 33–7, a touchdown ahead of the closest competition in the Western Conference, with a top-five offense and the best defensive rating in the NBA. But they were 0–3 against the Spurs this season and were tattooed by a combined 35 points in back-to-back games in December. If a team beats you three times you have to say they are better than you, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander noted after a Christmas Day beating. So let’s say it: San Antonio was better.

“Nobody likes the feeling,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “And if you don’t like the feeling, you got to do something about it.”

Which is what makes the Thunder’s 119–98 win Tuesday kinda significant. Teams with a championship banner hanging from the rafters don’t need a confidence boost. But San Antonio has owned Oklahoma City this season. Jalen Williams averaged 15.3 points in the first three matchups. Gilgeous-Alexander shot 17.6% from three. Chet Holmgren is having an All-Star-worthy season. If you watched only the Spurs games, you might wonder why Brooks Barnhizer wasn’t getting his minutes.

On Tuesday, Oklahoma City flipped the script. This was a competitive game early. The Thunder led by six points after the first quarter. At halftime, San Antonio had whittled it to three. Gilgeous-Alexander (15 points) was filling it up for Oklahoma City. On the other side, Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle (10 points apiece) were keeping pace.

In the third quarter, the game turned. Gilgeous-Alexander racked up 15 more points in 12 minutes. Williams chipped in with 10. The Thunder shot nearly 70% in the quarter. On the other end, the defense locked in, holding the Spurs to 43% shooting, including 33.3% from three. A 22–7 run to end the third gave Oklahoma City a 19-point lead it wouldn’t give up.

“We did a good job of keeping them in front of us,” explained Gilgeous-Alexander. “Whether it would be in transition, whether it be in the half court, just keeping our body in between their body as they drive and make plays and try to create for each other. Then they have to score over top of us.”

Added Williams, “We just did a really good job of paying attention to detail throughout the whole entire game. When you play a team that good, it forces you to be on your P’s and Q’s the whole entire game. That’s something we’ve been really good at just throughout the years.”

Gilgeous-Alexander wouldn’t dwell on the significance of the win. “This wasn’t our Super Bowl,” he insisted. Privately, Thunder officials understood its importance. This wasn’t some Eastern Conference team that caught them on a hot streak. This was the Spurs, a rising rival with a superstar (Wembanyama) who visibly—and vocally—relished these matchups. In particular his against Holmgren, which is giving off some interesting Michael Jordan–Isiah Thomas vibes early ’90s vibes.

The Thunder needed to do something. It started with Wembanyama. Oklahoma City again mixed up the coverages on Wemby. Holmgren got some early minutes, followed by Williams, Alex Caruso and Kenrich Williams. They bumped him, slid under him, grabbed his jersey. Last game the Thunder were “a little jumpy” against Wembanyama, said coach Mark Daigneault, not trusting the team defense. Daigneault denied any extra effort to be more physical with Wembanyama—“Part of learning the league is learning the really good players,” said Daigneault—but the lanky 7' 4" center sure spent a lot of time on the floor.

This just looked like the old Oklahoma City. The NBA Cup semifinal loss to San Antonio kicked off a tough stretch for the Thunder. They are 10–6 since that game, not bad by any stretch but far from the dominant team that started 24–1 this season. The offense has malfunctioned, Williams, who is still recovering from multiple wrist surgeries, has looked off and the perimeter shooting has been shaky enough for some to wonder if OKC would dip into its war chest of draft picks and make a trade.

Spurs big Victor Wembanyama goes up for a basket against Thunder center Chet Holmgren. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

On Tuesday, the Thunder looked like the defending champs. The defense forced 12 turnovers, held the Spurs to 40% shooting and edged out the rebounding battle (43 to 42). Offensively, Oklahoma City shot a respectable 36.7% from three and a more than respectable 51.9% overall. They blitzed the Spurs for 56 points in the paint, handed out 26 assists and got to the free throw line 27 times.

“Tonight’s result tells us that when we play a certain way, with a certain sense of urgency, with a certain sense of force and aggressiveness and attention to detail, that it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “And I think we knew that about this group. It’s just about us kind of getting to that point without having to lose or be pushed there. And not to say we haven’t done it before, we’ve done it multiple times, but I think the more we can get ourselves to that mental frame, that mind frame, we’ll be better off.”

Look: A midseason slump for a defending champ isn’t newsworthy. It’s more surprising Oklahoma City took this long to hit it. But the Spurs’ dominance of the Thunder last month was notable, as was Wembanyama’s of Holmgren, who on Tuesday had another tough scoring night (eight points, 1 of 4 shooting). Oklahoma City needed to reassert itself, and it did. It will see the Spurs again in February, potentially in May and undoubtedly many times in meaningful games for the next decade. “The best tests are against the best teams,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. Consider this one passed.

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