LAS VEGAS — In the gambling capital of the country, the Thunder‘s hot streak finally came to an end.
OKC suffered a narrow 111-109 loss to Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday in the NBA Cup semifinals. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 29 points, five assists and four rebounds.
The Thunder’s 16-game winning streak, which was a franchise record, was snapped with the loss. It’s a rare feeling for OKC (24-2), which is on pace for a historically-great season.
“We can’t be spoiled,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We can’t think we’re above anything. Us along with every team in the league, if you show up on a night and don’t do the necessary things to win, you probably won’t win. No matter how talented (you are). No matter what your record looks like. And that was the case for us tonight.”
San Antonio will face New York in the NBA Cup’s championship game at 7:30 p.m. CST Tuesday.
Here are three takeaways from the loss:
Order new book on Thunder’s run to NBA title
Victor Wembanyama was limited in minutes but not impact
The game was going on with about four minutes left in the first quarter, but fans in Section 4 behind San Antonio’s bench weren’t watching it.
They were watching Wembanyama, who rose from his seat on the bench and walked over to the tunnel to stretch. The superstar big man hadn’t played since Nov. 14 due to a left calf strain, and his long-awaited return took even longer as he wasn’t named a starter Saturday for the first time in his three-year career.
It looked like that wait was about to end for Wembanyama, who calmly did some lunges. But when he finally walked toward the court, he didn’t check in. He returned to his seat on the bench, much to the dismay of the T-Mobile Arena crowd.
Wembanyama didn’t play for the entire first quarter, as he was limited in his first game back in nearly a month. But when he finally checked in, he didn’t disappoint.
Wembanyama was greeted by a round of applause when he first checked into the game to start the second quarter, and he quickly racked up a pair of offensive rebounds in his first 55 seconds of action. He sank a putback on one of those boards and found Dylan Harper for a 3-pointer on the other.
Wembanyama then checked out of the game after a stretch of 3:27, which was a common theme. He played in short spurts due to his minutes being limited, but his impact wasn’t.
Wembanyama racked up 22 points, nine rebounds and two blocks in just 21 minutes. He posted a team-high plus-minus of 21.
“Huge, obviously,” Daigneault said of Wembanyama’s impact. “He’s got great two-way impact. He’s obviously a rim deterrent. He’s a problem on the glass and certainly was early. And then he caught his rhythm offensively and made some really tough shots down the stretch. Credit to him and them.”
San Antonio forced Shai Gilgeous-Alexander into uncharacteristic mistakes
Gilgeous-Alexander spun off of his defender late in the third quarter, like he’d done so many times before.
He was in his comfort zone. A spot along the baseline that has produced countless points for the superstar guard throughout this season.
But something stopped Gilgeous-Alexander in his tracks this time. It was a 7-foot-4 road block by the name of Wembanyama, who stood underneath the rim with massive hands ready to swat any potential shot attempts.
Gilgeous-Alexander had no interest in trying out his luck, so he hastily swung the ball to the corner. It sailed out of bounds.
That marked one of five turnovers for Gilgeous-Alexander, who’d been taking care of the ball at a historically-great rate. He entered Saturday averaging just 1.8 turnovers per game, which is the lowest average in NBA history for a player averaging at least 30 points per game (32.6).
But Gilgeous-Alexander struggled Saturday against San Antonio, which boasts elite defenders both on the perimeter and at the rim. And it didn’t help that OKC’s entire team wasn’t as sharp offensively as it usually is.
“They played a really good game,” Daigneault said of the Spurs. “They played hard and competed. I thought fundamentally there were certainly some things that usually we do pretty well that put us at advantages, make the reads easier and give us more space. And when we don’t do those things, it makes everything harder. It makes decisions harder. It makes the shots more contested. It closes space on the floor.
“There’s a lot we can work with from that game from a process standpoint.”
Alex Caruso tried to will OKC to victory down the stretch
T-Mobile Arena was rocking for nearly all 12 minutes of a dramatic fourth quarter. But for a brief moment, everyone went silent.
It happened when Alex Caruso soared through the air, defying both gravity and expectations for an emphatic one-handed slam with 7:06 remaining. That sent both the crowd and OKC’s bench into a frenzy, although nobody was more hyped than Caruso himself.
The 31-year-old guard pounded his chest repeatedly as he got back on defense. And his face was bright red, reflecting the fire that burns inside the elite competitor.
Caruso’s love for the big moment was on full display down the stretch. He sprinted up the floor for transition buckets. He stood his ground when defending Wembanyama, using his active hands to poke the ball loose on multiple occasions. And he played like the two-time NBA champion that he is.
Caruso recorded seven points, three rebounds and two steals in eight fourth-quarter minutes. But his game-tying putback attempt off a missed free throw from Jalen Williams didn’t drop, sealing the Thunder’s first loss since Nov. 5.
Caruso finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals in 24 minutes. He went 5 for 9 from the field (1 for 3 from deep).
Tip-insShai Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 20 points in 97 consecutive games. That ranks second all-time, only trailing Wilt Chamberlain (126 games).OKC was without Isaiah Joe (left knee contusion), Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgery recovery) and Nikola Topić (surgery recovery).OKC will face San Antonio two more times in the next two weeks. It’ll face the Spurs on the road on Dec. 23 before hosting them on Dec. 25.
Justin Martinez covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Justin? He can be reached at jmartinez@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @Justintohoops. Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Support Justin’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
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