Tonight, the Thunder used their superior skill and aggressiveness to dissect the Spurs’ offense and defense. The game was marketed as a marquee matchup between the rookie bigs, but Wembanyama and Holmgren were almost beside the point as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander initiated the offense with steals and finished it with snaky drives to the basket. Josh Giddey also did a lot of damage to the Spurs with his length and ball handling skill. The Spurs simply had no answer for the Thunder defense, which had the Silver and Black completely discombobulated for most of the game.
The Spurs kept it close for about 20 minutes in the first half, but the Thunder pressure broke them after that, and it became clear that despite both teams being among the youngest in the league, the talent and experience disparity between the teams was enormous as OKC took it to San Antonio.