The sky no longer appears to be falling in Oklahoma City.
The Oklahoma City Thunder had heard enough.
Following a 22-1 start in OKC, the Spurs had exposed the Thunder as vulnerable. They beat the Thunder on Christmas for a third time in a span of two weeks to drop Oklahoma City to 26-5 with their fourth loss in six games.
The mystique was completely stripped from the Thunder in a blowout loss at home to the Hornets on Jan. 5, and the narrative had shifted to what's wrong with the Thunder ahead of Tuesday's home game against the Spurs in their fourth matchup of the season.
The Thunder would like their narrative back.
Buoyed by an electric home crowd that's also certainly heard the noise, the Thunder cruised to a 119-98 win over the Thunder Tuesday night.
Victor Wembanyama attempted to set the tone with two dunks over personal rival Chet Holmgren in the game's opening minutes. The Thunder responded to take a 32-23 lead that the Spurs cut to 55-52 at halftime.
But the Thunder opened the floodgates with a 40-24 edge in the third quarter that they extended to a 102-80 lead in the fourth. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander resting in the fourth, the Spurs cut into the lead, But they never challenged again as the Thunder issued their best reminder since their slump started that they're the reigning champs for a reason.
Oklahoma City won playing its style of basketball — with swarming defense that flustered San Antonio shooters and limited the Spurs to an 40% shooting night from the field. The Thunder repeatedly challenged shots en route to a season-high 12 blocks that frequently led to easy buckets near the basket on the other end.
The result was a 52% shooting night for the Thunder as they improved to 34-7 on the season — not bad for a team with the sky supposedly falling around. And it's now good enough for a 6.5-game lead over the second-place Thunder in the West.
This story will be updated.
Category: General Sports
