Oklahoma City Thunder beat San Antonio Spurs 127-114 at home on Tuesday, May 26, never trailing at a quarter break.
How it unfolded
The Thunder led at every quarter break. The cushion peaked at 13 after the fourth quarter and the Spurs never got back in front at a break.
What decided it
The Thunder shot 56.6% on an effective basis to 46.7% for the Spurs and the Thunder cashed in 39.8 free throws for every 100 shots, the Spurs only 30.4. Shot quality is the biggest of the four factors, and it was the clearest gap.
The game played at about 104 possessions per team. The Thunder scored 122.2 points per 100 possessions and the Spurs scored 109.7, a difference of 12.5.
Who made the difference
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) posted the best line of the night by Game Score (23.5): 32 pts, 2 reb, 9 ast on 7-19 shooting. The team was +8 in the minutes Shai played.
For the Spurs, Stephon Castle was the best of the rest at 22.8: 24 pts, 5 reb, 6 ast, 3 stl on 7-11 shooting.
Chet Holmgren (16 pts, 11 reb, 1 ast) and Isaiah Hartenstein (12 pts, 15 reb, 4 ast) each 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
The pre-game Win Meter had it close to a coin flip, at about 63% for the Thunder.
Across the last 12 meetings in our records, San Antonio Spurs lead 7-5.
Written automatically by Tip Off Live software from box score data. Ratings and probabilities are our own model estimates.