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San Antonio Spurs vs. Thunder preview (Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals)

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  • #2 San Antonio Spurs (8-3) vs. #1 Oklahoma City Thunder (8-0)
  • When: Monday, 18 May 2026 at 7:30pm CST
  • Where: Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, OK
  • TV: NBC/Peacock
  • Playoff Offensive Rating (of the remaining playoff teams): SAS: 117.3 (3rd) / OKC: 126.3 (1st)
  • Playoff Defensive Rating (of the remaining playoff teams): SAS: 102.2 (1st) / OKC: 109.3 (3rd)
  • Playoff Net Rating (of the remaining playoff teams): SAS: 15.2 (3rd) / OKC: 17.0 (2nd)
  • Series Record: 0-0

The Tip-Off

Inevitabilities in life: taxes, death, and the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs meeting in the 2026 Western Conference Finals. These two freight trains have been on a collision course since it became evident that San Antonio had jumped into a Mario warp pipe and skipped from level 2 to level 8 on the development curve. Having a generational talent like Victor Wembanyama will allow you to do that. Then came the five meetings this year between these two teams and the narrative that San Antonio is probably the best equipped team to knock off the champs in the playoff series, and you get to where we are now. First to four for Western Conference supremacy and a trip to the NBA Finals. ANNNNDDD….it’s on NBC. Cue the music, John Tesh.

Season Series

Game 1 – Dec. 13th (San Antonio won 111-109) – This was the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas, NV. A back and forth affair in the 4th quarter. San Antonio hit just enough more shots late in the game to keep OKC at bay and hold on to a 2-point victory. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 29 points and 5 assists, but also had 5 turnovers and shot 1-7 from deep. San Antonio, on the over hand, had four players with at least 22 points, led by Devin Vessell.

Game 2 – Dec. 23rd (San Antonio won 130-110) – OKC held a 2-point lead at halftime and then proceeded to get blown out 72-50 in the 2nd half. The Spurs were the aggressors, as evidenced by the disparity in free throw attempts (24-7), forced turnovers (15-9), and points in the paint (60-48). SGA led the way again with 33 points, with Jalen Williams chipping in with 17 points. San Antonio was led by Keldon Johnson (25 points) and Steph Castle (24 points).

Game 3 – Dec. 25th (San Antonio won 117-102) – Definitely, the “oh shit” moment for the Thunder. OKC finally got a Christmas game at home and came out and laid an egg against the Spurs. OKC shot 39% from the field and struggled to consistently get stops on the defensive end. The flashpoint in this game was Alex Caruso shooting 2-12 from deep (but starting off 0-9 before finally seeing one go through late in the 3rd quarter). De’Aaron Fox led the way for San Antonio with 29 points with Wembanyama contributing with 19 points and 11 rebounds. SGA scored 22 points on 7/19 shooting, while Isaiah Hartenstein had 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Game 4 – Jan. 13th (OKC won 119-98) – The “get back” game for the Thunder. Were more the aggressors in this one, holding San Antonio to 40% shooting from the field and winning the points in the paint battle, 56-40. OKC used a huge third quarter that saw them turn a 3-point halftime lead into a 19-point lead heading into the fourth. OKC was led by SGA with 34 points and Dub with 20 points. Steph Castle had 20 points and Wemby had 17 and 7 for the Spurs.

Game 5 – Feb. 4th (San Antonio won 116-106) – The “scheduled loss” game for OKC. Second night of a back to back. Third game in four nights. And, with four previous games against the Spurs, the team probably saw this as an opportunity to see if there was something unconventional that could be discovered in this game. What many thought would be a blow-out going away turned into a very competitive game that saw the Spurs starters play until the last minute of the game. OKC was led by Kenrich Williams (25 points and 9 rebounds), Jaylin Williams (24 points and 12 rebounds), and Aaron Wiggins (20 points). The Spurs were led by Keldon Johnson (25 points) and Wembanyama (22 points and 14 rebounds).

Betting Info, presented by FanDuel

  • Line: OKC -6.5
  • O/U: 221.5

Injury Report

OKC

  • Thomas Sorber – OFS (knee/ACL)

SAS

  • De’Aaron Fox – Questionable (ankle)
  • Luke Kornet – Questionable (foot)

Five Big Things

  1. Healthy J-Dub – One of the biggest X-factors for OKC is whether they’ll get a healthy Jalen Williams for the series. In the regular season games, Williams played in the four consequential games for OKC but was never fully healthy. He was still recovering from his offseason wrist surgery and was working his way back during all four of those Spurs games. In that quartet of games, Dub averaged 16.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.3 turnovers, and 2.5 steals with 44/36/67 shooting splits. While those numbers look okay, they pale in comparison to what an healthy, efficient Dub stat-line would look like. If San Antonio is going to put full effort into stopping SGA, having a healthy Dub is necessary for OKC to continuously pressure the Spurs defense.
  2. Chet’s mindset – For a player that was an All-Star and will likely be on one of the All-NBA teams, Holmgren’s four games against San Antonio were as forgettable as they come. The Thunder big man averaged 10.5 points and 8 rebounds on 39/20/80 shooting splits. For OKC to be successful in this series, they need Holmgren to be effective out there. Someone that makes San Antonio pay as a release valve and someone the Spurs needs to pay attention to. Too many times in those four San Antonio games, Holmgren was just a body out there, allowing the Spurs to load up in the paint and forcing OKC to be primarily a jump-shooting team. He doesn’t necessarily need to win every battle against Wembanyama, but he does need leave his imprint on every game.
  3. Ajay Mitchell – Mitchell played in only one of the five games against San Antonio this season. Ironically, it was the game where OKC won. As Mitchell’s star has grown throughout these playoffs, he becomes the unknown factor in this series against the Spurs. Being that secondary/tertiary ball-handler is something OKC did not have in most of the games against San Antonio this season and something the Spurs haven’t seen a ton of in these playoffs. Portland plays similarly to OKC with Deni Avdija being the offensive engine, but Scoot Henderson and Jrue Holiday aren’t necessarily on the level of Dub and Ajay Mitchell. Minnesota had an Anthony Edwards at about 80% and Ayo Dosunmu and Julius Randle, two players who are primarily attackers and not play-makers.
  4. Jared McCain – Can McCain play in this series? He’d definitely be a weapon as a floor spacer, but can he hang defensively with San Antonio’s guard attack. Is it a short leash situation where if the shot is falling, you take the defensive liability? McCain was obtained on February 3rd and didn’t play in the final meeting of the season between OKC and the Spurs. Like Mitchell, could McCain’s addition into the rotation provide a look the Spurs haven’t seen before from OKC?
  5. Turning Castle over – If there is a guard the Thunder could target with defensive pressure, it could be Steph Castle. The 2nd-year guard is averaging 3.1 turnovers per game in the playoffs, which is most on the team. His physicality lends itself to committing offensive fouls and being a bit careless with the ball at times. If the Thunder want to infuse any of their DNA into this series, it’s going to start on the defensive end with turning turnovers into points. They are first in the league this postseason in that category, scoring 22.9 points per game off turnovers.

The Day After: HOU vs. OKC – Game 1 of 82 Recap

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Ring night. Banner night. And boy, was it a banner night. Not just for the Oklahoma City Thunder. But also for the NBA on NBC. Talk about an opening game to restart their new media relationship with their old friend, the NBA. The intro, the song, Michael Jordan. It’s like we never left 90’s.

Then the game tipped off and became an instant hardwood classic. In the end, the Thunder held on to win 125-124 in double overtime. With that said, here are some notes from the game.

  1. SGA is still him – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got off to an unusually slow start on Tuesday. The reigning MVP started off 2/5 in the first half and went into halftime with only 5 points. Despite this, it truly felt like a game where SGA was okay with taking what the defense gave him and trusting his teammates. Houston was using their length to crowd the paint and doubling SGA for the majority of the game. He only registered one assist in the first half, but his gravity allowed his teammates to get good looks, especially Chet Holmgren (we’ll get to him soon). The second half, though, was a different story. It started off the same, but SGA was able to shake loose on consecutive 12-foot jumpers, which seemed to open up the defense and gave SGA some rhythm offensively. After that, he was MVP Shai, and seemingly hit every big shot he had to in order to will OKC to a victory. Late in the 4th and during the OT’s, SGA hit shot after shot to either tie the game or put the Thunder up. His two free throws in double-OT were the game-winners, and fouled Kevin Durant out, which prevented him from being on the floor on Houston’s final possession. In total, SGA finished with his customary 35 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Just another Tuesday on the basketball court.
  2. Y’all must’ve forgot – Before going down with a broken hip in the 10th game of the year last season, Chet Holmgren was well on his way to a possible All-NBA, All-Star, DPOY, etc. type season. In those nine games to start last season, Holmgren was averaging 18.2 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 0.9 steals, and 2.9 blocks, while shooting 40% from deep on nearly four attempts per game. He was even garnering early MVP buzz. The Holmgren we saw late in the season and into the playoffs was still good, but you could tell that he didn’t have the ramp-up runway to shake off the rust from that type of injury. In the first half of this game, Holmgren’s offensive aggressiveness, especially against the zone, is what kept OKC in the game, despite SGA getting off to a slow start. His ability to get into the teeth of the zone (from the nail) and maneuver from there was huge for OKC staying resolute despite Houston’s length being very disruptive. When it was all said and done, Holmgren finished with 28 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists, while shooting 40% from deep.
  3. Alperen Sengun – Thank God the Thunder have won a championship and have Holmgren in tow. Because if they were to be currently title-less, Sengun would be wrestling James Harden for the title of “the one who got away”. It’s always frickin’ Houston. Alpie was amazing in this game. Despite being on the floor with the current and a former MVP, Alpie, many times, looked like the best player on the court. If that 3-point shot is real, the league may have another Jokic-type monster on their hands. Sengun does a great job of noticing mismatches and taking advantage of them quickly. When the Thunder had Alex Caruso on Sengun, he would either take the three when the close-out was soft or try to back Caruso down when the close-out was aggressive. When Chet was on him, Sengun used his size advantage to back Holmgren to the basket. Sengun was also their go-to player in clutch situations. A great game in a losing effort for Sengun, who finished with 39 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and a block, while shooting 5-8 from deep and 10-11 from the line.
  4. Cason Wallace – That third year leap may be showing up for the Thunder once again. Wallace, like SGA, got off to an extremely slow start in this game. He was 0-1 in the first half and not overly aggressive. But in the 2nd half, Wallace transformed defensive energy into offensive rhythm, and started becoming a problem for Houston. (See what I did there!) Wallace registered all four of his steals in the 3rd and 4th quarters and helped keep the Thunder at arm’s length throughout the 2nd half. But it was his shot-making that was key to OKC winning. With 2:01 left in the 4th, Wallace hit a three that brought OKC to within one of the Rockets. Then in double OT, Wallace hit a three from the same spot as the one in the 4th with 1:32 left to give OKC a one point lead at the time. If Wallace can consistently put the “3” in “3&D”, the NBA may be in trouble.
  5. Western Conference – Once again, the Western Conference is going to be a bloodbath. Due to the age of many of the rosters, injuries (nothing major, just the nagging kind) may have a say in where teams finish. But if everyone remains relatively healthy, conference play is going to be a chore. Tuesday night showed us why the NBA opened up with four teams from the West. Cleveland and New York will get their shine tonight, but the class of the NBA resides west of the Mississippi.
  6. Ajay Mitchell – Remember the name. Chet Holmgren wasn’t the only player keeping the Thunder afloat in the first half. Mitchell provided some sauce off the bench for OKC. In 15 minutes, Mitchell had 16 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block on 3-6 shooting from deep. His 4-point play at the halftime buzzer may have been the play of the game and may have provided OKC with the momentum they needed in the 2nd half. With Jalen Williams and Nikola Topic out for the foreseeable future, Mitchell’s ability to handle the ball and play-make may be extremely important to OKC success early in the season.