Spurs Set To Battle The Thunder For A Spot In The 2026 NBA Finals

San Antonio and Oklahoma City faced off five times in the regular season. The Spurs won four of the five matchups, including a matchup in the NBA In-Season Tournament. In those five matchups, they dominated all the major statistical categories.

San Antonio averaged 114.4 points per game on 36.02% from deep and 47.07% shooting overall. The Thunder averaged 109.20 points per game on 32.98% from three and 44.84% on the floor overall. The Spurs were able to find success against Oklahoma City not only offensively, but defensively.

On the season, the Thunder averaged 119.02 points per game and shot nearly 50% from the floor. Those numbers dipped tremendously against Victor Wembanyama and company. Shai Gilegous-Alexander was still productive, as he averaged 29.5 points on 50.57% shooting, but only shot 19% from three.

That means the Spurs are making the MVP work hard to generate buckets. Not only that, but it seems like the game plan for them is to play Gilegous-Alexander straight up and not let the Oklahoma City role players get going.

The most intriguing stat about San Antonio’s dominance over the defending champs is that Wembanyama is not the catalyst. In the regular-season games, he has averaged just 18.4 points and 9.2 rebounds in 25 minutes per game while nursing an injury. He, though, was much more efficient than Gilegous-Alexander as he shot 52.38% overall and 62.5% from three.

It will be interesting to see how Wembanyama fares while playing more minutes.

The Playoff History

Oklahoma City and San Antonio have a rich history of playoff battles. Since the Seattle Supersonics were relocated and renamed to the Thunder, the two teams have faced off in three playoff series.

The first one was in 2012. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook led Oklahoma City, with James Harden being the punch of the bench. San Antonio, of course, had Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili as their punch of the bench. The Thunder won in six games in the WCF.

Their next matchup was in the conference finals again in 2014. This was a Spurs team that lost due to the famous Ray Allen shot a year prior, so they were out for redemption. This time, they won in six games to go to the finals, where they won in five games against the Miami Heat.

Finally, their most recent playoff match before the upcoming one was in the 2016 Western Conference Semifinals. This was a 67-win San Antonio team that had an up-and-coming Kawhi Leonard to add to the arsenal. They had only lost one game all year at home.

The combination of Durant, Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka, however, stunned the NBA and won the series in six games. This was the Oklahoma City team that infamously blew the 3-1 lead to the Golden State Warriors the very next round.

End Of My San Antonio Spurs And Oklahoma City Thunder Rant

This is how a conference finals should be. Fans have a matchup between two of the best teams in the conference, with a chance to represent their conference on the biggest stage in a few weeks.

Oklahoma City is looking to be the first back-to-back champion since the Warriors in 2017-2018, while San Antonio aims to be part of the seven-year chain of a different champion being crowned since 2018.

Will the Thunder build towards a dynasty, or will the Spurs keep the parity going?