The San Antonio Spurs' comeback win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Saturday's NBA Cup semifinal had to be encouraging for contending teams that weren't in Las Vegas last weekend.
Beyond knocking the Thunder out of contention for an NBA Cup, which they could've added to the Finals trophy they claimed in June, the Spurs' victory also showed that Oklahoma City is beatable.
For a while, that was in question. The Thunder entered Saturday's game with a 16-game winning streak and a 24-1 record, which tied the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors for the best start in NBA history. And Oklahoma City accomplished that without its full complement of starters playing this season before Isaiah Hartenstein returned to the lineup Saturday.
Can we learn anything from San Antonio's 111-109 victory, and the Thunder's other 23 losses since the start of the 2024-25 season about how to beat Oklahoma City? Let's look at the five factors that have been most important in handing the Thunder a loss during that historic span:
Jump to a step:
No. 1: Keep them away from rim
No. 2: Take away second chances
No. 3: Get hot beyond the arc
No. 4: Limit turnovers
No. 5: Get Lucky
You must be logged in to post a comment.