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Spurs defeat Thunder again and confirm their dominance over the NBA champion
SAN ANTONIO.– The San Antonio Spurs once again proved to be a thorn in the side of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the current NBA champion, by defeating them this Thursday 117-102 on the special Christmas Day, thus extending their recent dominance over the best team of the season.
De’Aaron Fox led the Texan offense with 29 points, the highest figure of the match, while Frenchman Victor Wembanyama contributed 19 points and 11 rebounds in just 26 minutes coming off the bench. Stephon Castle also shone with 19 units for a Spurs team that controlled the game after an intense start by the home team.
Oklahoma City, which started the campaign with an impressive 24-1 record, is going through a rough patch, losing four of its last six games, three of them against San Antonio. This defeat also represented the Thunder’s first home loss after 15 undefeated games this season, despite the 22 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, NBA Most Valuable Player.
The Thunder started strong and made their first seven shots to go up 18-12, but the Spurs responded with an 11-0 run that allowed them to close the first quarter ahead 41-36. From then on, San Antonio never lost control of the scoreboard.
The advantage widened to 69-60 at halftime and reached 95-79 at the end of the third period. Oklahoma City tried to react with a 9-2 run at the start of the last quarter, but never managed to seriously threaten a solid Spurs on both sides of the court.
With the victory, San Antonio improved its record to 23-7 and remains in second place in the Western Conference, only behind the Thunder (26-5). The Texan team seeks to break a drought that has kept it out of the playoffs since 2019 and without winning a postseason series since 2017.
By Oklahoma City, Isaiah Hartenstein recorded 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Chet Holmgren contributed 10 units and 12 captures in the paint.
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