By Oliver Carter
The San Antonio Spurs beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday to tie their Western Conference finals series at 2-2.
After a hard-fought defensive battle at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, the Spurs came out 103-82 victors.
The story of the game
Following the Spurs’ collapse in game three, a game they lost after jumping out to a 15-0 lead in the opening minutes, a bounce-back win was needed on their home court.
The Spurs duly completed the assignment perfectly.
Oklahoma City’s biggest lead of the game was a solitary point and came just one minute and 52 seconds into the game.
San Antonio then took the lead with the score at 11-8 and never looked back.
Led by Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs grew the lead all the way up to 15 points and led 28-19 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was mostly back and forth, with each team trading baskets before the Thunder went on a short run to cut the lead to five.
The Spurs responded with a run of their own, capped off by a half-court heave from Wembanyama to put the lead back into double digits as the half-time buzzer sounded with San Antonio leading 50-38.
After the break, the hosts continued to pile on the pressure and run up the score.
They dominated the third quarter as they reached a game-high 27-point lead midway through the period.
OKC subsequently pulled their starters in the fourth quarter, acknowledging the game was already lost and protecting their players from any possible injuries in so-called garbage time.
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Top performers in San Antonio
Wembanyama was the dominant force of this game and the only player to reach over 20 points.
The French Defensive Player of the Year ended with 33 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and three blocks alongside a +29 on/off rating.
The Spurs’ second leading scorers were Devin Vassell and Stephon Castle, both of whom managed 13 points, with Castle adding six assists, a steal and a block while Vassell offered six rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block.
Two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander struggled once again with just 19 points, four rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
SGA was the second leading scorer of the game, though, despite his poor performance.
In the end, every Thunder player massively underperformed, simply unable to overcome the Spurs’ dominant defence.
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Key to winning game five
With the series tied at 2-2, the two teams now travel back to Oklahoma City for game five.
The Thunder will need to find a way to create more consistent scoring opportunities for SGA and his supporting cast.
They will also hope that Jalen Williams has recovered enough to return from a left hamstring injury.
While the Spurs look for a huge road win, Wembanyama will have to continue playing at the level he has shown throughout the play-offs and hope his team-mates can help out.
Turnovers are proving a hugely important factor in this series, with games two, three and four all being won by the team with fewer turnovers committed.
In this, De’Aaron Fox’s return from injury has massively helped the Spurs.
Games one and two saw Castle take on the primary ball-handling responsibilities, ending up with 11 turnovers in game one and nine in game two.
Since Fox’s return, Castle has had just two turnovers – one in game three and one in game four.
Fox, meanwhile, managed zero turnovers in the last game, accompanied by five assists.
It’s all to play for then, with the victor of game five taking a big step towards the NBA finals, where they will face either the Cleveland Cavaliers or the New York Knicks.
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