IYou've seen enough: Give the San Antonio Spurs the keys to Santa's workshop. Put Stephon Castle in charge of assembling the toys. Let De'Aaron Fox throw gifts down chimneys from any distance he wants. Devin Wassell can personalize Christmas cookies. Harrison Barnes is covering the elf army. And of course, the size of Santa's sleigh needs to be immediately changed to accommodate a taller, thinner pilot so that the tall Victor Vembanyama can control it comfortably. Sensational Spurs defeat Oklahoma City Thunder three times in two weeksand thus livened up this NBA season. I now have more faith in the Spurs' ability to bring joy to the masses than any of the holiday legends of the past.
It looked terrible there for a while. The Thunder might have won the Larry O'Brien Trophy in June, but this season began in even more ominous shape. They recorded 24 wins in their first 25 games (the only loss was a fluke 20-point comeback). For most of them, Jalen Williams, their second-best player, was on the sidelines recovering from wrist surgery. Shai Gilgeous-Alexandertheir best players rarely had to play in the fourth quarters. The Thunder beat the Sacramento Kings by 31. The Los Angeles Lakers, who some expected to be a likely contender, lost by 29; their basketball savant Luka Doncic looked like he was playing against ten people. The Phoenix Suns' swashbuckling performance initially gave them a close defeat by just four points. When they met again 12 days later, the Thunder won by 49. In this game, all remaining leaves were torn from the trees, and winter began 10 days earlier than planned. Oklahoma City looked capable of destroying everything in its path, even the Golden State Warriors' legendary 73-9 regular season record in 2016.
The Thunder don't play a particularly attractive style of basketball. They cleverly exploit the referees' dilemma regarding which fouls should be called (constant whistles interrupt the flow of play, while no whistles allow players to get away with flagrant fouls), often leading to Gilgeous-Alexander duels. free throws after whistles that would have been better swallowed, while mosquito swarm personified Alex Caruso seems to have free rein to do whatever he likes defensively. Some have stated that they like or admire the way Gilgeous-Alexander contorts his body to receive easy hits from defenders; I can only assume that these people also enjoy getting kicked hard between the legs. Not to mention the man-mountain Luguentz Dort, who flies off his opponents' feet after many suspiciously light touches. This ploy allows haters to feed the fantasy that in a world with perfect officiating, the Thunder would be a mediocre team. True basketball fans know this is more of an annoyance than an integral part of the Thunder's success, but the overall irritation is enough to push some fans who might otherwise be neutral to root for Oklahoma City to fall.
Domination can be thrilling to watch, but a historically outstanding performance tends to be less awe-inspiring the more times it is repeated. How many times does anyone really want to see one team beat another by 35? Eventually you remember that it's all about the drama. The Thunder were wearing out the pressure of the season by outpacing other teams both in the standings and on the floor.
21 minutes into the Spurs' first game against the Thunder this season, San Antonio trailed by 16 points and appeared to be heading down the same path as every other team. Instead, they've given Thunder hell ever since.
The Thunder look lethal against the Spurs. Every member of their core deserves huge credit for that, but this is Victor Vembanyama's team and the Thunder know that. “They have a seven-foot-five guy on their team who takes up a lot of floor space,” Jalen Williams. saidwith some annoyance when asked what made Spurs so difficult. The Thunder's 7-foot-1 All-Pro Chet Holmgren is the tallest player on the court most games and is free to grab rebounds and deflect shots from opponents. Compared to Wemby, he is short, rude, and even timid. Vembanyama's contempt for Holmgren is evident in the way he cheers every time Chet misses a free kick as if he had won the lottery; how he injects a little extra poison into it; path he told reporters he doesn't consider Holmgren a rival. (There's really no debate about which player is better.) At this rate, Holmgren should expect Wemby to pop out of the closet and start talking nonsense when he reaches for a snack.
Wembanyama and Spurs made their biggest statement yet on Christmas Day by beating Thunder by 15 at home. San Antonio again took the inevitable early blow well, recovering to score 41 points on the league's best defense in the first quarter. Fox effortlessly found the smallest holes in this defense, scoring 29 points. The Spurs even held Gilgeous-Alexander to a season-low 22. He tried to compensate by passing to open teammates behind the arc, but they let him down by blocking almost every attempt.
A Thunder optimist would say that enough of those threes will come in next time to ensure victory or worse defeat, but I've found that misses are symptoms of deficiency. Gilgeous-Alexander's silky stepback makes him the most consistent scorer in the league. He is difficult to guard and impossible to stop. (LeBron James recently suggested some tips on how to slow him down: “You have to keep him away from the free throw line. It's difficult.”) But even he can't carry out the attack entirely alone. The Spurs put so much pressure on Gilgeous-Alexander that he had to delegate more than usual and his supporting parts cracked under the heavier burden. Caruso and Dort are good for the occasional three-pointer, but relying on on them to take a long shot is the last place the Thunder wants to be.
The Spurs' surge couldn't have come at a better time. Not only have they firmly established themselves as title contenders (some say they're too young, and inexperience has indeed ruined many great teams in the playoffs, but the 23-7 Spurs aren't contenders, and almost no one is), but they've allowed fans to see the Thunder in a higher definition that other teams couldn't come close to revealing. Oklahoma City, potentially the best team in history two weeks ago, is simply exceptional. If you take Gilgeous-Alexander's words on thisSpurs are better now. 74-8 is not discussed. With the Spurs trailing by just two and a half games, OKC has its hands full trying to maintain its lead in the Western Conference. Even if against the same team, the Thunder took on the unusual role of stalker, trying to deal with a squad that was tormenting them the same way they torment so many others. In their newfound vulnerability, Thunder is a little easier to enjoy and a little harder to hate. And any future victories over Spurs will be much more meaningful.
Perhaps they'll get a few (or perhaps, but it's thanks to the Spurs that the word is hard to find) this season. Thunder is too good to stay down for long. As they move up, the Spurs will eventually have to make their own adjustments. Why it's scary: Wemby is probably still a few years away from his prime. Christmas and NBA seasons can merge together, and years later only the most significant ones remain in memory. Whatever happens next, Spurs have given me plenty of reasons to look back and smile.
