Spurs Continue Tanking Efforts With Loss Against Thunder

The San Antonio Spurs have now lost nine consecutive games following their latest shortcoming. This time, it was against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The San Antonio Spurs' tanking efforts continued on Wednesday when they lost 119-111 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. After beginning the season with a 5-2 record, they have somehow since gone 1-14. 

It isn't easy to envision the Spurs pulling off a better opening half than they managed to do in this game. They scored 77 points before halftime, with a staggering 42 coming in the second half alone, resulting in a 12-point lead. San Antonio scored just 34 total points for the remainder of the game. 

“Forty-eight minutes is a long time,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We’ve had a lot of good halves or 2 1/2 quarters and all that, but rarely have we put four quarters of fundamental, sound defense and basketball together. Part of it’s a young team. But they’re a young team too, and they did it. They deserve credit.”

In terms of what went right for the Thunder in the second half, the team attributes their success to an overall refocus on defense. Protecting the paint and finishing possessions with effective rebounding proved to be pivotal. 

“We just had way more of a care factor, and we were way tougher,” Daigneault said. “We shut the paint off, shut the glass off, contested everything. We were not as tough as we aspire to be at all in the first half.”

Despite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being sidelined, the Thunder managed to put up 119 points. Jalen Williams (27) and Luguentz Dort (23) combined for 50 points in his absence. 

“He strong, he’s tough, he’s smart and he’s got great length and size," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of Williams. "Once his fundamentals catch up to the rest of those ingredients, he’s going to be a really great defensive player, too.”

The Spurs received a strong performance from Devin Vassell, who finished with 25 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Without Jakob Poeltl or Jeremy Sochan in the lineup, still received four other double-figure scoring outings. 

The Spurs return to action on Friday when they take on the New Orleans Pelicans. 

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