San Antonio vs. Oklahoma City Final Score: Thunder take the Spurs by Storm, 130-114

The San Antonio Spurs headed to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder after coming off of a win against the Utah Jazz on Monday evening. The Spurs had an eventful game against the Jazz, starting off with a 40-minute delay due to a potential security threat that was able to be cleared. After winning the game, they traveled immediately to Oklahoma in an attempt to capitalize off of last night’s win.

Observations:

• Tre Jones finished off the first half strong with 13 points and tied his career high 4 steals in the third quarter. He moves so quickly in transition and open court and reminds me of Sonic the Hedgehog. His growth and development throughout the season is becoming more obvious as each game passes.
• Zach Collins has been playing good defense in tonight’s game. He had two offensive rebounds leading to a loose ball foul and has been doing a great job setting up screens.
• Beautiful Zach Collins block.

• Jeremy Sochan has been playing with great energy this evening, creating blocks, and doing great with his one-handed free throws this evening.
• Is it just me, or is there a huge mismatch on the fouls being called on the Spurs vs. the fouls being called on the Thunder? Thunder have had 17 free throws and the Spurs have had 2. Such a vast difference. I wouldn’t necessarily blame this on the Spurs looking undisciplined. This seems like the refs are making blatant no-calls.
• Pop got ejected, sigh.
• Jakob had a nice put back in the first half.
• Spurs have had difficulty holding on to the ball in the first half. They’ve created multiple turnovers. Luckily, the Thunder have been creating just as much, so there’s not too much of a difference in those numbers, however, the Thunder have been beating the Spurs in obtaining rebounds and capitalizing off of those boards.
• Keldon Johnson knocked down a huge 3-pointer, giving them an opportunity to hang in the game, 81-75.
• The Thunder have been doing a really good job on drawing fouls on screen actions and being able to get points off of those fouls.
• The Spurs kept it close in the 3rd, but really blew the lead leading up in the 4th quarter. OKC leads the league in forcing turnovers, and the turnovers created in the 4th quarter really made a huge difference tonight.
• Poeltl had a nice 2-pointer in the paint bringing the Spurs back to a single-digit deficit in the 4th. However, the OKC followed up with a missed shot, offensive rebound, and a 3. Two steps forward, three steps back. Offensive rebounds and turnovers are killing the Spurs tonight.
• The Thunder have been great at being able to have multiple players inside the paint after Spurs shot attempts to get the rebounds. They’ve been attacking the ball immediately and being able to hold on to a longer possession.
• OKC’s bench was extremely productive once SGA sat down in the 4th quarter. The Spurs had potential to win throughout the game, but the deep bench performance has simply been too much to handle.
• The Spurs were outscored in the fourth quarter, 21-35 and ultimately lost 130-114.

For Oklahoma City Thunder’s perspective on tonight’s game, visit Welcome to Loud City.

The Spurs head back home to San Antonio to face the New York Knicks this Thursday.