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Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs open the Western Conference Finals tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Paycom Center, a matchup many expected when the playoffs began.
Both teams handled their first two rounds with relative ease. OKC is undefeated in the playoffs, sweeping Phoenix in the first round and dispatching the Lakers 4-0 in the second. San Antonio has gone 4-1 on the road in the postseason and has been playing its best basketball since February.
The Spurs were 4-1 against the Thunder in the regular season, though those results carry limited weight — most of those games were played without full rosters, and both teams have improved considerably since.
What to watch
Turnovers will be a key factor. OKC’s defense thrives on forcing mistakes, averaging 16.7 forced turnovers per game in the regular season. The Thunder prefer to get easy looks in transition rather than grinding through the half court, where Victor Wembanyama makes scoring extremely difficult. The Spurs — particularly Wembanyama and Stephon Castle — can turn the ball over when facing physical perimeter pressure. When San Antonio beat OKC this year, they protected the ball. That will need to continue.
Three-point shooting cuts both ways. The Spurs will want to make OKC’s perimeter role players — Alex Caruso and Luguentz Dort chief among them — beat them from deep. If those players are hitting threes, San Antonio’s defense gets stretched thin. On the other end, Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie will need to knock down open looks when defenses collapse on Wembanyama.
The Wembanyama-Chet Holmgren matchup is the one everyone is watching. Wembanyama has a well-documented competitive edge against Holmgren dating to international play, and this is the highest-stakes stage they’ve shared. How that dynamic plays out across a seven-game series could define the whole matchup.
Injuries
De’Aaron Fox (ankle) and Luke Kornet (foot) are questionable for San Antonio. Thomas Sorber is out for OKC with a knee injury.
Series schedule
- Game 1 — Tonight, May 18, 7:30 p.m., Oklahoma City (NBC/Peacock)
- Game 2 — Wednesday, May 20, 7:30 p.m., Oklahoma City
- Game 3 — Friday, May 22, 7:30 p.m., San Antonio
- Game 4 — Sunday, May 24, 7 p.m., San Antonio
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