Oklahoma City has ran into a rare rough patch. After starting 24-1 this season, tying the best start in NBA history through 25 games, the Thunder have fallen on hard times losing four of their last six games, three of which to the San Antonio Spurs.

The narrative just two weeks ago being paraded around the NBA as well as Bricktown was the chance of the OKC Thunder breaking the Golden State Warriors’ 73-9 win record. Now, the conversations have shifted to the chance that the Spurs are the Thunder’s kryptonite.

“you don’t lose to a team three times in a row in a short span without them being better than you,” OKC Thunder Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander explained following Thursday’s loss to San Antonio.

The Spurs are simply better than the Thunder right now. Part of it, is catching Oklahoma City at the right time. Gilgeous-Alexander’s co-stars Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren are playing some of the worst basketball of their careers likely due to ailments. The All-NBA swingman is still working his way back to form following offseason wrist surgery and the rising star big man has not been moving well on the court following being tabbed as dealing with back spasms and battling an illness earlier this week.

In all three games, the NBA world saw Williams and Holmgren falter which is not what this team is built on. They have to step up but the larger sample size of their career and flashes this season should give confidence that it will happen for each of them.

To make matters worse, for two of the three games the Oklahoma City Thunder lacked Ajay Mitchell as the back up point guard was in the NBA’s concussion protocol.

This was made into a bigger deal due to the Spurs elite defense over the course of these three games. Oklahoma City has always struggled to generate half court offense for two straight seasons and despite their hot start to the year this one is no different when they lack their compliment of ball handlers. Taking Mitchell out of the equation was a massive blow for the Bricktown Ballers as the second year guard is not only a table setter but a walking paint touch which the Thunder desperately needed this week.

Though, the Spurs elite defense really started on the offensive end. In the three games these past two weeks, San Antonio gave the ball away just 12 and nine times in there two blowout wins this week. The only time this number got out of hand? In the first meeting, where San Antonio had 19 giveaways and OKC only lost by two.

Protecting the ball against this Oklahoma City crew is a rare trait –- the Thunder are the best in the league at generating giveaways –– the Spurs pulled it off twice in a row to force Oklahoma City to play more in the half court offensively and stall out having to rely on streaky jump shooters who were through a cold spill this week.

Part of what made the half court offense worse was the amount of hounding point of attack defenders the Spurs have while also funneling drivers into arguably the best paint protector in the league, Victor Wembanyama. It was a great receipe for success just surrendering corner triples to shaky shooters.

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s defense did not show up to their standard in these games either partly due to the lack of turnovers generated but also how difficult the matchups are against the blend of size and athleticism across the Spurs back court with so much focus going to Wembanyama.

Oklahoma City struggled to protect the paint or bother jump shooters against San Antonio which has been an outlier this season but nothing that is expected to dramatically fall off for the Spurs outside of single game shot variants.

The Spurs pose an immediate threat, despite their experience level, to make life difficult on Oklahoma City. That is a problem.

Though, you can not get too carried away. While this stretch shows the Spurs are better right now they are also playing some of their best basketball while the Thunder are playing some of their worst. Things will even out over the course of the season and in a possible playoff series.

However the question becomes how much leveling off will there be? The bottom line is, heading into the season the only team that anyone gave a chance to knock off the Thunder come the postseason was the Denver Nuggets. Now, that short list must include the Spurs.