Monday night’s Game 1 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs had what felt like the entire internet reposting memes of Martin Scorsese’s hands up for “absolute cinema.” The double-overtime barnburner saw the Spurs upset the Thunder for OKC’s first loss of the postseason, riding a stat line from Victor Wembanyama that looks absolutely hyperbolic.
When the NBA playoffs began, this was the series everyone circled, if it were to materialize: the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, with the league’s best regular-season record (64-18), facing the up-and-coming San Antonio Spurs, with the league’s second-best regular-season record (62-20).
While this year’s playoffs have featured some upsets and four Game 7s, there haven’t been a ton of truly memorable moments.
Until this.
Oklahoma City is still favored to advance past San Antonio at -115 odds on BetMGM, implying a 53.5 percent likelihood of winning. But that’s down from 70 percent before Game 1. And now the Spurs are breathing down their necks at -105 odds.
The Thunder are also still the favorites to win the NBA title, but not at minus-odds anymore (+125 compared to the Spurs +155).
Game 2: San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder
TV: NBC/Peacock
Time: Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. ET
Series odds: Thunder -115, Spurs -105
We may not survive this series if the rest of it looks anything like Game 1. We may ascend to basketball heaven. The underdog Spurs held on through two overtimes to win it 122-115, and the recently-crowned league MVP had just the (arguably) third- or fourth-best stat line of the game.
On just two days of rest, compared to OKC’s six, Wemby went bonkers for 49 minutes, scoring 41 points, grabbing 24 rebounds and adding three assists, three blocks and just three turnovers. The next-most points in the game went to the Thunder’s Alex Caruso, with MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander clocking 24 on 7-of-23 shooting. SGA added 12 assists.
The hard-fought win also handed the title favorites their first L of the postseason.
But San Antonio can’t bask in the glow of their Game 1 steal too long: The Thunder are again favored by 6.5 points in Game 2. That’s a mid-sized margin, and the exact same point spread from Game 1 — though much smaller than the regular double-digit spreads the Thunder have been giving throughout the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Despite the win, San Antonio has a lot to lock up for Game 2. They had 21 turnovers in a game that was at times sloppy — but exciting — on both sides. Stephon Castle had 11 assists, but the same number of turnovers.
A key will be whether they can get De’Aaron Fox back for Game 2. The 28-year-old Fox is a veteran in this young squad, and has averaged 18.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists this postseason, playing injured over the last three games of the conference semifinals against Minnesota.
OKC, meanwhile, needs another major night from Caruso, who did nearly everything possible to do against a force like Wembanyama, and they will need more from Gilgeous-Alexander. He looked unusually uncomfortable in Game 1 with the Spurs throwing everything in the playbook at him.
Will the Thunder even it up in Game 2?