Thunder (11-3) vs Spurs (6-8) recap and reaction

Thunder vs Spurs

The thunder have been one of the best teams in the NBA with their terrific start to the season. They're led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, who are both off to really good starts to this season. The Thunder have been the best in the league on the defensive side, leading in a ton of categories to start the year so far. They're looking to take control of the top spot in the Western Conference and their NBA Cup group. The Spurs on the other hand are kind of floating right now. At times they look cohesive as a team, but some turnover and shooting woes have forced them to drop a couple of games to start the season. Victor Wembanyama is off to a great start so far this year. The Spurs will look to try and get a win off the Thunder, let's dive into the recap. 

Recap 

This one would be missing a lot of high-powered names. Victor Wembanyama did not suit up due to a bone bruise in his knee and Devin Vassell did not play either due to a foot injury. The Thunder would be without Chet Holmgren due to a hip injury and Isaiah Joe. The starters for the Thunder were Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, and Aaron Wiggins. They would matchup against Julian Champangie, Chris Paul, Stephon Castle, Zach Collins, and Harrison Barnes. The Thunder have been playing mini ball since the injury to Chet Holmgren a about a week ago. They've consistently put lineup where the biggest guy is Jalen Williams. The versatility with everyone in the lineup being a good defender has helped weather the storm until Holmgren is healthy and when Hartenstein is able to come back, which should be relatively soon. The Spurs noticed this and really emphasized getting the ball inside early. Chris Paul, and Harrison Barnes has really helped this team a lot so far this season. The veteran presence has showed a lot of the younger guys how to win games and whether the course of an NBA season. A fun matchup to watch in this one was Shai vs Stephon Castle. Castle has been one of the best defenders for rookies so far this season and he took on the toughest matchup in the league vs Shai. Early on OKC's pressure got to the Spurs, they made them settle for contested threes and were able to get out in transition. They also forced some turnovers and got some easy baskets out of it as well. The Thunder have been one of the best at forcing turnovers and converting in transition, while the Spurs have really struggled to take care of the ball early in the season. The Thunder also ran some 5 out which put Collins in some rotations. The spurs were able to jump back into the game through some shooting from Champangie and Johnson. Champangie has really played well with Vassell out of the lineup this year. The Thunder would close the quarter leading 35-32. The Thunder in the small ball lineup have really asked a lot from Jalen Williams. He's guarded everyone 1-5 and has really played well on defense. Even when Ousmane Dieng was in the game, they had him roam off a non-shooter while Williams guarded Charles Bassey or Zach Collins. The second quarter saw the Thunder jump out to lead. A noticeable stat from Shai this season has been he's taking more threes. His efficiency is a little down this year, but I think this because of him taking more threes and the rest of his team playing well. He's still able to go and get his when needed, but I like the commitment of him shooting more threes, he has to be able to make them though. The Thunder played really hard in the second quarter, but the Spurs were able to hang tough. Keldon Johnson really shot the ball well for the Spurs and it seemed to give the rest of the team confident. Charles Bassey checked in the game and played really well in his minutes. He gave the Spurs a ton of extra opportunities and had some good rim protection in the second quarter. The Thunder were able capitalize off some turnovers, but the Spurs took a 60-57 lead heading into the break. Johnson's 2nd quarter was highlighted by dropping Aaron Wiggins and then dunking on Shai and Jalen Williams. He lead the Spurs with 17 while Barnes had 13. The Thunder were lead by Shai and Williams having 14 points each and Wiggins chipped in 11 as well. The Spurs were able to get past the 13 turnovers and still hold the lead. To start the third quarter the Spurs jumped out to a 8-0 run. The Thunder had some poor help side defense, gave up some extra possessions from offensive rebounds, and got away from made them successful in the first half. Shai tried to get the Thunder back into it, but the Spurs played really well and defended the three point line well. They moved the ball really well on offense too. The small OKC lineup put them in a some weird rotations and the Spurs shot the ball well. You could see the confidence of the Spurs really start to pickup and give themselves a sense belonging versus the Thunder. The shot selection of the Thunder really did not help either. It felt like they were letting the Spurs off the hook and the Spurs took advantage of this. Shai really got after Castle in the third quarter and had 13 of the Thunder's 20 points in the quarter. The Spurs would head into the 4th leading 93-77 and outscoring OKC 33-20 in the 3rd. To open the 4th quarter the Spurs opened on a 5-0 run and were able to take control of the game. The Spurs really moved the ball well and made a lot of smart decisions. Chris Paul really controlled a lot of the second half and set up a lot of his teammates for some easy catch and shoot threes. The Thunder also settled for a lot of average shots and I think the shot selection really suffered in the second half. However, the Thunder when then go on a 21-6 run behind Jalen Williams and some suffocating defense. The Spurs a got a little sloppy with the ball and allowed the Thunder to get back in the game. A Chris Paul three put the Spurs up 107-98 with about a minute left. Shai countered back with a three of his own and that was answered by a Zach Collins three. Lu Dort then hit a three to make the score 110-104. Castle got a huge block on Shai and the Spurs were able to get a stop and close to the game out. The Spurs won 110-104. Keldon Johnson had 22 points and Chris Paul had 14 points and 11 assists. The Spurs had 7 players of double figures. Jalen Williams had 27 points and Shai had 32 to lead the Thunder. The upset for the Spurs moves them 7-8 and 1-1 in NBA cup play, while Thunder drop to 11-4 and 1-1 in the NBA cup. 

Reaction 

Wow HUGE win for the Spurs without Wembanyama, these types of games are the ones that really stick out. You can tell Chris Paul has really had an effect on this team. They are shooting the ball well and the defense is coming along. Hopefully Wembanyama and Vassell join the team soon and we can see the Spurs at full strength. I think the development of Stephon Castle will help the ceiling of the Spurs. He's not shooting it well and didn't play well on offense in this game, but it's clear the talent level is there. He is definitely right for the Spurs and I think the little rookie mistakes of taking bad shots and some passes is just part of the process with guards and particularly point guards. A ton to like though. 

The Thunder are going to be fine. Obviously losing this game sucks, but I am a little worried about Alex Caruso. His shooting to start the season has been beyond horrible and the main reason they got him was to space out the perimeter and get off of Josh Giddey. While the defense has been great, the shooting has been really bad. He'll need to find his stroke if the Thunder want to continue to win without Holmgren and Hartenstein.