Nothing that happened early in the season gave any indication that we were headed for anything but an OKC Thunder repeat. In fact, it looked like the 73-9 record of the 2016 Warriors was in jeopardy, too. OKC was 24-1 to start the year. Then they met the San Antonio Spurs.
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San Antonio beat OKC three times in two weeks, and they did it everywhere. They beat them in Vegas in the NBA Cup semifinals. They beat them at home, by 20. They beat them at the Paycom Center, where the Thunder were previously undefeated.
Watching Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs repeatedly punch OKC in the face has been like watching the school bully get shoved in a locker. It’s shown the rest of the league that maybe they don’t have to be so afraid after all. Three other teams have beaten the Thunder since the Spurs first got them, and in total they’re only 6-6 in their last 12. The all-time wins record is out of reach, and suddenly a Thunder dynasty doesn’t feel like a fait accompli.
Despite their recent rough run, the Thunder are still the overwhelming favorite to win the title again. FanDuel has them at +105, which is admittedly higher odds than they had earlier in the year, but still well ahead of the closest team to them, the Nuggets, who are a distant +850. The Spurs, for reference, are +1400.
Appearing on The Dan Patrick Show yesterday, Reggie Miller said that the Spurs have shown the rest of the league the recipe to beat the Thunder. “To beat OKC, you’ve gotta have a number of things,” he said. “You’ve gotta have guards that are committed to pick up full. That’s exactly what the Spurs have in Castle, Vassell. De’Aaron Fox is one of those closers. And Wemby.”
Like most, Miller believes a Spurs-Thunder postseason series would be epic, but he’s still giving a slight edge to the defending champs.
“It is two young teams, and there’s a little bit of a crack now [in OKC], but in a seven-game series, I probably would still take OKC right now because of experience,” he said. “But the beauty of this is, the Spurs aren’t afraid of them. And a lot of teams are afraid of OKC.”
The best part of all of this is that both teams are so young, so barring something unforeseen happening, this could be the NBA’s defining rivalry of the next decade. Basketball fans are in for a treat, because it’s just getting started.
