NBA Matchups: May 20

San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder

Team Totals: Spurs 105, Thunder 111.5

Injury Report: De’Aaron Fox (Q, ankle)

Spurs projected starters: De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Victor Wembanyama

Thunder projected starters: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren

Offensive Ranks: Spurs 3rd (4th halfcourt), Thunder 6th (3rd halfcourt)

Defensive Ranks: Spurs 3rd (4th halfcourt), Thunder 1st (1st halfcourt)

Season Series: 4-1 Spurs (+26)

Noteworthy Missed Games: Devin Vassell (1), Dylan Harper (1), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (1), Ajay Mitchell (3), Jalen Williams (1), Chet Holmgren (1), Lu Dort (2), Isaiah Hartenstein (2)

Mitch quotes: Said the fourth quarter “was a war of wills” and it felt like football in that they just played until the time ran out, said Wemby’s rebounding and execution were huge for them over 49 minutes, said Wemby has a rare desire to attack big moments like this one, said Harper was phenomenal and it was tough for him not to have some of the big stats that Cooper Flagg/Kon Knueppel/VJ Edgecombe had during the regular season (didn’t mention Flagg/Kon/Edgecombe by name), said maybe Wemby was motivated by SGA getting the MVP trophy today.

Daigneault quotes: Said it took them a while to get into rhythm, said they had a better feel in the second half after being out for so long, said it was a “learn as you go” thing against Wemby, said they need more of an all-around offensive attack, said they figured out pretty quickly that they had to play Caruso more and they felt that way going into it, said Caruso on Wemby works for them because he’s an intelligent defender, said their defense was solid, said J-Dub had a “soft” limit and they wanted him around 30 in regulation, said J-Dub had a game “all things considered,” said Dub was getting into a zone at the end of his rehab, said the Spurs loading up on SGA was expected and they’ll look at some film on it, said Harper came in with energy against them, said they were trying to keep Caruso fresh because he needs a lot of energy to guard Wemby (subbed out to start some halves).

Stats and notes:

*Just an insane Game 1 with the Spurs getting a 2-OT victory. The Spurs led for 81% of the game despite not leading by more than 10, and their biggest edge was on the boards. They had a 58.8 TRB%, keeping OKC to 41.2%, their lowest mark in these playoffs and their sixth-lowest mark in any game this year. OKC’s offense just wasn’t great with a 52.6 TS% in the loss. OKC went 1-8 during the regular season when they failed to reach a 52.6 TS% (two of those losses were to San Antonio). OKC’s transition frequency was fine at 15.2%, and they won the points-off-turnovers battle 28-17. The Thunder just really struggled in the paint in Game 1, which is nothing new against Victor Wembanyama. The Wemby minutes were insane as usual with a team-high +16, and it’s not that big a surprise when Wemby had a +18.5 net rating in his minutes against the Thunder this year (+50 led the NBA against OKC). OKC even shot the ball well from deep and still couldn’t get a win because the Spurs’ defense is so legit. On the other side of things, the Spurs couldn’t hit their jumpers and made just 30.2% of their threes. As expected, their transition frequency was cut way down to their lowest in any game this postseason. The Spurs dominated points in the paint 52-38, and their 15 offensive rebounds went a long way (nine for OKC). This should be another slugfest.