This was no ordinary game, not for the Thunder. There are still 81 regular-season games left and who knows how many playoff games, but there was too much history to take it with such calm and perspective. After many months feeling unbeatable, OKC faced the team that reminded them in December that they were human and that in May made them aware of their mortality, and there was far more at stake than a simple win to open the season. Accounts had to be settled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the Oklahomans did. With a 104-116 win in San Antonio, Mark Daigneault’s side has landed the first blow in a Western Conference that looks destined to be a showdown between two titans. But of the two, one came far better prepared for this first round, and it made that clear from the opening tip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OKC could hardly have found a better way to recall the level of dominance they showed the NBA not so long ago than a first half like the one they played. One in which they completely shut down the other major contender to win the conference and the player set to dominate the league. One in which they felt like a suffocating, oppressive defence again, one that doesn’t let the opponent operate and forces them to shoot any which way just to shake off the pressure. Elite, both physically and tactically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the Spurs in particular, and Victor Wembanyama in general, felt it firsthand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Texans ran into that wall which makes it nearly impossible to set foot in the paint, except this time it wasn’t so much a tangle of hands ready to steal as a group of soldiers willing to put their bodies between the rim and any man who wanted to reach it. Especially when that man was Wemby, who, with or without the ball, couldn’t find a way to carve out space to finish where he is unstoppable. Without that weapon, Mitch Johnson’s men stalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second quarter was the perfect example of this dynamic, as the Spurs managed a dismal 3\/21 from the field, a figure that perfectly reflects their powerlessness to create. And while some of the missed shots were of their own making, that powerlessness was, to a very large degree, created by Thunder players who had an answer for everything. And who, as usual, turned their defence into their primary offensive weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n