Thunder beat Spurs, 123-108

Oklahoma City Thunder beat San Antonio Spurs 123-108 on the road on Friday, May 22.

How it unfolded

The Thunder led by 7 at halftime and by 11 through three quarters, finishing with a 15-point win.

What decided it

The Thunder gave the ball away on 10.2% of their possessions while the Spurs did so 14.9% of the time and the Thunder shot 58.6% on an effective basis to 50.6% for the Spurs. Protecting the ball is an easy edge to overlook, but each turnover costs a shot.

The game played at about 100 possessions per team. The Thunder scored 123.6 points per 100 possessions and the Spurs scored 108.5, a difference of 15.1.

Who made the difference

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) posted the best line of the night by Game Score (23.4): 26 pts, 2 reb, 12 ast on 6-17 shooting. The team was +11 in the minutes Shai played.

For the Spurs, Devin Vassell was the best of the rest at 20.7: 20 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl on 6-12 shooting.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (26 pts, 2 reb, 12 ast) recorded a double-double.

Game Score is a single number that weighs points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, shooting efficiency, fouls and turnovers. It is not an official stat, just a quick way to rank lines.

What it means

By our Win Meter this was an upset: The Thunder entered with about a 33% chance.

Across the last 10 meetings in our records, San Antonio Spurs lead 6-4.

Written automatically by Tip Off Live software from box score data. Ratings and probabilities are our own model estimates.

Scoring by quarter

Team	1	2	3	4	T
Oklahoma City Thunder	26	32	37	28	123
San Antonio Spurs	31	20	33	24	108

Game flow

Margin after each period. Above the line the home team leads; below it the visitors lead. Tap a point to see the score.

Q4: Oklahoma City Thunder 123, San Antonio Spurs 108 · Thunder by 15

The lead changed hands 1 time between periods. Biggest gap at a period break: 15 for Thunder after Q4.

The four factors

Four numbers explain most basketball games: shooting, turnovers, rebounding and free throws. The highlighted side had the edge. Tap a row to see what it measures.

ThunderSpurs

Pace: about 100 possessions per team. Points per 100 possessions: Thunder 123.6, Spurs 108.5.

Players of the game

Ranked by Game Score, a single number that rolls up points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, shooting efficiency, fouls and turnovers.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander OKC26 pts, 2 reb, 12 ast on 6-17 shooting

23.4

Devin Vassell SAS20 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl on 6-12 shooting

20.7

Victor Wembanyama SAS26 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast on 8-15 shooting

20.4

Jaylin Williams OKC18 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast on 5-7 shooting

18.1

Oklahoma City Thunder

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	FG	3PT	FT	+/−
Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderG	36	26	2	12	0	1	2	2	6-17	2-4	12-12	+11
Chet HolmgrenC-F	28	14	3	1	0	0	0	4	5-7	1-2	3-4	-2
Cason WallaceG	28	11	5	4	3	0	0	3	3-8	2-6	3-4	+8
Jared McCainG	27	24	4	1	0	0	1	2	10-21	2-10	2-2	+28
Alex CarusoG	24	15	3	1	2	1	1	3	4-7	3-5	4-6	+28
Luguentz DortG	23	0	5	3	0	0	1	2	0-1	0-1	0-0	-9
Jaylin WilliamsF	22	18	5	1	2	0	0	3	5-7	5-6	3-3	+22
Isaiah HartensteinF-C	21	5	8	4	0	0	2	5	2-4	0-1	1-2	-6
Ajay MitchellG	17	2	5	1	0	0	3	1	1-5	0-1	0-0	-3
Isaiah JoeG	09	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	1-1	1-1	0-0	-2
Aaron WigginsG	02	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0
Kenrich WilliamsG-F	02	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	2-2	1-1	0-0	0
Nikola TopicG	01	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-1	0-0	0-0	0
Thomas SorberC	00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0
Jalen WilliamsG-F	00	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0
Team		123	41	29	7	2	10	25	39-81	17-38	28-33

San Antonio Spurs

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	FG	3PT	FT	+/−
Victor WembanyamaF-C	39	26	4	3	1	2	2	3	8-15	2-5	8-10	+4
Devin VassellG-F	36	20	7	2	4	0	0	4	6-12	3-6	5-5	-5
Julian ChampagnieF	35	10	5	2	1	1	0	2	4-10	2-8	0-0	-4
Stephon CastleG	35	14	5	7	1	2	1	5	1-8	1-5	11-14	-17
De'Aaron FoxG	31	15	7	6	1	0	4	2	7-14	1-6	0-0	+9
Dylan HarperG	17	6	3	2	0	0	2	2	2-7	1-3	1-2	-13
Keldon JohnsonF	12	5	2	0	0	0	1	5	1-5	1-4	2-2	-23
Luke KornetF-C	12	4	2	1	0	0	2	1	2-3	0-0	0-0	-18
Carter BryantF	10	3	1	1	0	0	1	3	1-3	1-2	0-0	-10
Harrison BarnesF	03	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-1	0-1	0-0	+2
Bismack BiyomboC	02	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0
Jordan McLaughlinG	02	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0
Kelly OlynykF	02	3	0	0	0	0	2	1	1-1	1-1	0-0	0
Mason PlumleeF-C	02	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	1-1	0-0	0-0	0
Lindy Waters IIIF	02	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0
Team		108	37	26	8	6	15	28	34-80	13-41	27-33

Team comparison

OKCSAS

Field goal %48.1%

42.5%

Three-point %44.7%

31.7%

Free throw %84.8%

81.8%

Rebounds41

Assists29

Steals7

Blocks2

Turnovers10

Bench points33

Recent meetings

May 20: SAS 113, OKC 122 (playoffs)
May 18: SAS 122, OKC 115 (playoffs)
Feb 4: OKC 106, SAS 116
Jan 13: SAS 98, OKC 119
Dec 25: SAS 117, OKC 102