Thunder shut down Wembanyama, Spurs
Oklahoma City (4-0) looked just as ironclad against Victor Wembanyama (6 points, 4 TO) and the Spurs (1-3) as it has against much shorter competition this season, notching a sleepy 105-93 win at home. OKC had 18 steals (second-most in franchise history), giving Wemby and the hapless under-40* San Antonio playmakers constant trouble by collapsing, digging, clogging...defense can get weird to write about...and anticipating the clunky drives, post-ups, and passes from their opponent.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had an off night, going 2-10 from three and scoring his fewest points (18) in a game since April. Somehow Lu Dort was the only 20-point scorer, as Jalen Williams (12 pts, 8 ast, 7 rbs, 5 stocks) and Chet Holmgren (19/2/5/4) played less aggressively on that end (23 combined shots between them, 8.5 fewer than they've averaged). But the team's three-point shooting (17-41) continued to trend up and OKC enjoyed another comfortable win without much need for offense.
Here's the deal. The Spurs are bad. They weren't at the bottom of the league standings and analytics coming into this one, but are sinking closer to it thanks in part to the Thunder drubbing. Chris Paul is the caretaker of a plodding, ugly offense. Wemby is building a palace of bricks. Jeremy Sochan looks like this:
