San Antonio is up 1-0 in the Western Conference Finals after one of the wildest Game 1s in recent playoff memory. Victor Wembanyama dropped 41 points and 24 rebounds in 2OT, Dylan Harper added 24 points and a Spurs rookie playoff record 7 steals, and the Thunder watched their home crowd file out stunned. Game 2 tips at 7:35 PM in OKC and it's a referendum on whether the defending champs can hit back.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his second straight MVP trophy before Game 1 and then went 7-for-23 from the floor. He still finished with 24 and 12, but the Thunder cannot win this series with their best player shooting 30%. Alex Caruso bailed them out with 31 off the bench in Game 1 — banking on that again would be optimistic. Expect a much more aggressive SGA from the jump.
The other lingering issue is minutes. The 2OT war meant all five Spurs starters played 44-plus, Devin Vassell crossed 50, and SGA played over 50 himself. Jalen Williams logged near 40 while reportedly still working back into form. Whichever team handles the legs better in the third quarter has a real edge.
- Day-To-DayDe'Aaron Fox G — Fox (ankle) is listed as questionable for Wednesday's Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals against the Thunder.
- OutDavid Jones Garcia F — Jones Garcia underwent ankle surgery Wednesday and will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 season, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News reports.
- OutThomas Sorber C — The Thunder announced Friday that Sorber has sustained a torn ACL in his right knee during an offseason workout, NBA reporter Marc Stein reports.
De'Aaron Fox is listed as questionable with the ankle, which matters a lot for how San Antonio defends SGA in pick-and-roll. If Fox plays through it, the Spurs have the bigger, longer guard rotation to throw at OKC. If he sits, more Castle-Harper minutes and a thinner bench against a Thunder team that should be desperate.
Pinnacle has OKC -6.5 with a moneyline of -233, pricing in a heavy bounce-back. That's a fair number for a champion at home off a Game 1 loss, but it also assumes Wemby cools off and the Thunder figure out a defensive answer they didn't have on Monday. They had no answer for him on switches, no answer in drop, no answer at the rim. Until they do, laying nearly a touchdown feels rich.
The Spurs already got what they came for. Anything else here is gravy — and a 2-0 lead heading back to San Antonio basically ends it. The Thunder are who you'd expect to respond, but they have to actually do it. Tip-off 7:35 Central.