The experience of Oklahoma City’s starting five, along with a 40-point 2nd Quarter, proved to be too much for the San Antonio Spurs to overcome Tuesday night. The Thunder countered a 1st Quarter surge by San Antonio to turn the tables and gain an all-important 3-2 series lead in the NBA Western Conference Finals.
League MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t at his sharpest, but still led OKC to a 127-114 victory — contributing 32 points on 7-of-19 shooting. The rest of the Thunder were on point, however. Oklahoma City was nearly 50% from the field (40-for-83), compared to the Spurs’ lukewarm 37-for-92 effort. The WCF now heads back to San Antonio for Game 6, where the Thunder can stamp their ticket into the 2025-26 NBA Finals.
San Antonio is favored to win Game 6, according to traders on the Kalshi prediction market exchange. If you’re a member, you can get a 58¢ per-contract price on a SAS victory Thursday to send the series to a decisive Game 7.
This is our pick, even though Spurs star Victor Wembanyama wasn’t nearly as effective Tuesday as he was in Game 1 and 3 of the Western Conference Finals. The Spurs Game 6 point spread line has dropped considerably in the last few hours, and is now available for just 50¢ if you’re willing to give up 3.5 points on the final score.
Expect the San Antonio fans to be equally as loud in the Frost Bank Center as the OKC home crowd is at the Paycom Center. If the Spurs win Thursday, Game 7 will be played in Oklahoma City on Saturday. If the Thunder prevail, they will head to their second straight NBA Finals, where they’ll tip-off against the New York Knicks next week.
Dylan Harper and De’Aaron Fox may not be on the official injury report, but their productivity has suffered. Harper’s adductor (thigh) injury seems to be the most impactful, as the Spurs scored only 5 points in 25 minutes of play in Game 5.
Fox’s ankle injury looked to be serious coming out of Game 2, but hasn’t impacted his minutes in the latter part of the series. With that said, the point guard was held to single-digit scoring in Game 5, but was able to accrue 8 assists.
Another question for the Spurs going into Thursday’s night’s showdown against the Thunder is whether a 7’4” center should be attempting so many 3-point shots. Wembanyama went 0-for-5 from beyond the arc Tuesday. When combined with the output from Fox and Harper, the trip shot just 1-for-12 from 3-point land.
As one would expect, the Kalshi trade for the Western Conference Finals MVP has moved since Tuesday night when Game 5 concluded. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has peaked at 75 cents for the accolade while Wembanyama has dropped all the way down to 23 percent.
Despite the clear inclination toward this year’s Most Valuable Player for the entire league, professional handicappers are likely to see an opportunity to select the French center, since the lead-up to Game 6 will represent the lowest possible price, barring some unforeseen injury, ejection, or career-worst performance.
The Spurs host the Thunder in Game 6 of the NBA WCF Thursday night (tonight). Tip-off is slated for 6:30pm local time.
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