The Spurs defeat the Thunder, 103-82 in Game 4 of the West Finals; the series is now tied, 2-2.
SAN ANTONIO – From the opening tip of Game 4 between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, the Spurs were the aggressors.
All-NBA forward-center Victor Wembanyama opened the scoring with a 3-pointer – a harbinger of his offensive prowess in the game – and the Spurs’ defense hounded the Thunder, pressuring them into painful turnovers and dreadful 3-point shooting.
San Antonio played with more force and quickness – a much-improved disposition over the previous two games – and the byproduct was a 103-82 victory against the Thunder Sunday, tying the Western Conference Finals at 2-2.
It was Oklahoma City’s first road loss of the playoffs, and the Spurs’ victory ensured the series will come back to San Antonio for Game 6 with one team up 3-2 and an opportunity to reach the NBA Finals.
How important is Game 5 on Tuesday (8 ET, NBC/Peacock)? Teams that win Game 5 of a 2-2 best-of-7 series go on to win the series 81.8% of the time.
Here are four takeaways from Game 4:
1. Wembanyama responds with necessary performance
Wembanyama’s production dropped in Games 2 and 3 after a historic Game 1, and the Spurs needed more from him if they wanted to tie the series and avoid a 3-1 deficit.
He delivered what the Spurs needed, scoring a game-high 33 points, collecting eight rebounds, distributing five assists, blocking three shots and amassing two steals.
“I don’t know if I’m hard on myself, but we all have high standards, and I know I have a lot of responsibilities. But I’m here for it,” Wembanyama said.
Shortly after the game-opening 3, he blocked a Chet Holmgren shot, assisted on a Stephon Castle jumper and converted two alley-oop dunks. In the first five minutes, he had seven points and three assists and ended the quarter with 11 points.
Victor Wembanyama lights up Thunder for 33 points in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.
He had a bigger offensive presence at the rim with 14 points in the paint and three offensive rebounds. The Spurs established an early lead in the first half and continued to build on it, culminating with Wembanyama’s halfcourt buzzer-beater at the end of the second quarter for a 50-38 halftime lead.
“Our competitive response all year has been pretty good, and he’s been at the forefront of that more than not,” said Spurs coach Mitch Johnson. “And I think tonight he felt – not speaking for him – but from my perspective an obligation to set a tone for us in a variety of ways and I think the aggressiveness was a reflection of that.”
Because of the margin, Wembanyama didn’t play the final 8 minutes, 43 seconds.
“We’ll get anything we get – any advantage, any edge, so we’re going to use that,” he said. “We need to rest.”
2. Spurs’ defense stops Thunder’s offense
Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox came to his postgame news conference with an interesting stat gleaned from the coaching staff.
“It’s never just black and white and that simple, but we contested 91% of shots today,” Fox said. “That’s just a recipe to win the game. If they make the shot, like I said, tap them on the butt, they made a good shot, but we’re just trying to make it as difficult as possible for them to score, especially in the halfcourt. And I think we did a good job at that tonight.”
The Thunder shot 33% from the field and were 6-for-33 on 3-pointers. It was a season-low in points for OKlahoma City, who reached at least 108 points in their previous 11 playoff games and didn’t score fewer than 93 during the regular season.
San Antonio’s perimeter defenders were tremendous, especially Stephon Castle’s defense on Gilgeous-Alexander who had 19 points on 6-for-15 shooting and committed four turnovers.
The Thunder players who made shots in Game 3 – specifically Jaylin Williams and Jared McCain – did not make shots in Game 4. McCain was 1-for-10 from the field and Williams was 1-for-7.
“That’s what we hang our hat on, the defensive end,” said Spurs guard Devin Vassell. “We felt like those two games that they won, we just weren’t ourselves. We weren’t playing to the level that we could. We were leaving them open way too much. We were in a lot of great rotations, guarding the ball and that helped us especially making them miss to get out in transition.”
3. Injuries catch up with the Thunder in Game 4
Oklahoma City was without starter Jalen Williams (left hamstring soreness) and without Ajay Mitchell (right lower calf strain) who had moved into the starting lineup when Williams missed Game 3.
It had an impact on the Thunder’s depth which has been a huge part of this series. Coming into Game 4, the Thunder’s bench had outscored San Antonio’s bench 183-64.
In Game 4, it was a 34-30 edge for Oklahoma City, but McCain had just four points, Jaylin Williams just three and Alex Caruso zero.
Caruso has been one of the most impactful players for the Thunder in the playoffs and in this series. He averaged 21 points in the first three games but attempted just one shot and was not causing problems for the Spurs.
4. De’Aaron Fox provides backcourt stability
Forty-four turnovers were a major issue for the Spurs in the first two games against the Thunder, and Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox missed both with a sprained right ankle he re-aggravated in the conference semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“Every time you turn the ball over, those are just demoralizing possessions, especially with this team,” Fox said. “It feels like they pretty much score off of every turnover that you have and that fuels their offense.”
Since Fox was back in the starting lineup for Games 3 and 4, and the Spurs have limited their turnovers – just 12 Sunday. On the other side, the Thunder’s 20 turnovers led to 25 Spurs points.
Fox is playing with a bad ankle that likely would keep him out of a regular-season game. He had 12 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and no turnovers. Relieving Stephon Castle of some ball-handling duties, Fox facilitates better ball movement. San Antonio had 25 assists on 35 made field goals, and Castle had 13 points, six assists and one turnover.
“Again, just numbers, but they do reflect some substantial production that we need from those guys and clean basketball,” Johnson said.
A win, however, did not make Fox’s ankle feel better.
“No, no it doesn’t,” he said with a smile.
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Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at jzillgitt@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.
