At this point, it’s undeniable — the Oklahoma City Thunder have a San Antonio Spurs problem. With everybody watching from home, the reigning NBA champion stomached through a 117-102 loss to the same team for the third time in two weeks.
That’s never happened before with this group. It’s pretty unprecedented to see the Thunder lose three in a row against the same squad. For the first time since last season, OKC has gone from a win machine that’s unbeatable at home to a vulnerable team that’s looked a step slow.
No matter what happens for the rest of the regular season, the Thunder will have this stretch hover over their heads. Anytime you want to say they’ll go back-to-back, the Spurs will be most folks’ counterpoint. Much like OKC two seasons ago, San Antonio looks like a team ready to compete for a title right now.
After the signature win, Victor Wembanyama talked about how the Spurs have solved the Thunder. The 21-year-old is universally seen as a top-five player when healthy. What should scare OKC is that he’s played in a limited role off the bench. It’s been the rest of San Antonio that has stepped up. From De’Aaron Fox to Stephon Castle to Keldon Johnson.
“Definitely learned a lot. This is like a playoff series. We’ve played them three times in 12 days. We learned a lot on the tactical side,” Wembanyama said. “I don’t want to say too much about it. Keep something for us.”
Regardless of whatever basketball secrets Wembanyama is pocketing, the Spurs’ roster is perfectly built to counter OKC’s league-best defense. They have several ball-handlers who can slash through their defenders and get to the rim with ease. They have the perfect mix of speed, size and athleticism.
One possession, Castle is out-muscling Williams on his way to an and-one layup. Next possession, Wembanyama is forcing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to second-guess himself on his drives to the basket.
We’ll see what a potential NBA playoff series could look like. If you’ve followed the NBA long enough, you should know that what happens in December and in April/May are two completely different beasts. The Thunder have the track record to back up their basketball style results in rings. The Spurs aren’t there yet.
Until then, though, the Thunder have seen their first real challenger step up that could prevent them from going back-to-back. Don’t expect Wembanyama and the Spurs to go anywhere for the foreseeable future, either.