Oklahoma City Thunder finally get best of San Antonio Spurs - ESPN

OKLAHOMA CITY — On Christmas Day, after losing to the same foe three times in a span of 12 days, reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander flatly stated that the San Antonio Spurs had proved to be better than the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The defending champions responded with a 119-98 home win Tuesday night in the latest rematch between the top two teams in the Western Conference standings.

That rout prompted Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored a game-high 34 points, to reach another simple conclusion.

«Tonight's result tells us that when we play a certain way, with a certain sense of urgency, with a certain sense of force, aggressiveness, and attention to detail, it doesn't matter who is on the other side,» Gilgeous-Alexander said. «Nothing that I didn't expect. I knew that if we played a certain way, we'd be able to beat anybody in the world.»

The Thunder acknowledged that the atmosphere at Paycom Center had a heightened sense of intensity because of the upstart Spurs' success against them this season.

San Antonio snapped Oklahoma City's 16-game winning streak with a 111-109 win in the NBA Cup semifinal on Dec. 13, which was only the Thunder's second loss after a record-tying 24-1 start.

The Spurs followed that with a pair of convincing victories in a three-day span: a 30-point rout in San Antonio on Dec. 23 and the 15-point win in Oklahoma City on Christmas. That prompted widespread discussion about Victor Wembanyama's Spurs emerging as rivals to Oklahoma City's potential dynasty.

But Tuesday night's game was a much more typical outing for the Thunder (34-7), who have an average margin of plus-13.2 points, putting them on pace to break the NBA record for point differential Oklahoma City set during its 68-win campaign last season.