During the NBA Cup on December 13, the San Antonio Spurs upset the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-109 in the semifinals as a 10 point underdog from T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada (part of the Las Vegas Strip). The Spurs win was noteworthy because it was only Oklahoma City’s second loss all season. The game was mighty close with Alex Caruso missing an eight foot layup as time expired.
Over the last week, the Spurs have beaten the Thunder twice. These two games were not even remotely close. On Tuesday, the Spurs won 130-110, and then on Christmas Day, the Spurs gave the Thunder their first loss of the season at home with a convincing 117-102 win.
All of a sudden, the Thunder look vulnerable. They also lost this month by a score of 112-107 to the Minnesota Timberwolves a week ago.
What the Thunder are experiencing at the moment is something what all professional sports teams go through at sometime during the regular season. That is a rut or a slump. When it happens to the league’s best team, and the league’s best team was recently compared to the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 1990s, every loss is simply magnified.
In Tuesday’s win, the Spurs bench dominated the Thunder’s bench 55-30. It does help when you have one of the game’s best young players in Victor Wembanyama coming off the bench, as he had 12 points in 23 minutes. Meanwhile, Spurs small forward Keldon Johnson of Chesterfield, Virginia had 25 points in a reserve role. Johnson’s 25 points matched a season high as he also had 25 points in a 135-126 Spurs win over the Atlanta Hawks on November 20.
Then on Christmas Day, the Spurs had a very effective first quarter offensively as they scored 41 points. De’Aaron Fox had 13 points and the Spurs were exceptional as a unit as they made 15 of 21 field goals for an outstanding team shooting percentage of .714.
Don’t look now, but the Spurs are only two and a half games back of the Thunder in the West. Meanwhile, the Detroit Pistons are only one and a half games back of OKC.
