By Mike Prada, Shakeia Taylor, Jared Weiss, James L. Edwards III and Nick Friedell<\/p>\n
Once might be a fluke. Twice could be coincidence. But three times? Unfortunately for the Oklahoma City Thunder, that\u2019s a pattern.<\/p>\n
In the marquee matchup of the NBA\u2019s five-game Christmas schedule, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Thunder 117-102, handing the Thunder their first home defeat of the season and their third loss to San Antonio in 12 days.<\/p>\n
The Spurs did it with relative ease. They took a double-digit lead with four and a half minutes left in the second quarter, and the Thunder never got closer than seven points the rest of the way. De\u2019Aaron Fox led the Spurs with 29 points, while Victor Wembanyama tallied 19 points and 11 rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench. The Spurs shot nearly 54 percent from the field, committed just 12 turnovers against the Thunder\u2019s ferocious defense and held Oklahoma City to just 38.6 percent shooting in the victory.<\/p>\n
Since opening their defense of last season\u2019s championship with 24 wins in their first 25 games, the Thunder have lost four of six, including three defeats to the Spurs. The first came by two points in the semifinals of the NBA Cup, a game that marked Wembanyama\u2019s return from a calf strain. Then, the Spurs rode their home crowd to a 20-point blowout win Tuesday. The Christmas matchup offered a chance for the Thunder to redeem themselves on their home court, where they had lost just six times this calendar year. Instead, they were on the back foot for the vast majority of the final three quarters.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Christmas slate opened with a classic matchup between the East\u2019s two preseason favorites that lived up to the hype. Led by superstar Jalen Brunson and standout performances from reserves Jordan Clarkson, Tyler Kolek and Mitchell Robinson, the New York Knicks rallied from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit to stun the Cleveland Cavaliers, 126-124, at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n
The Cavaliers led by 17 points with 10 minutes and 26 seconds left in the game and seemed on the verge of a pivotal victory to jumpstart their uneven season. Instead, Clarkson, Kolek and Robinson spurred a comeback reminiscent of the one that secured the Knicks\u2019 NBA Cup championship earlier this month.<\/p>\n
That opened the door for Brunson, last season\u2019s Clutch Player of the Year, to close things out. He scored 13 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter, including a pull-up 3 with a minute left that gave New York the lead for good.<\/p>\n
In the third matchup of the day, the Golden State Warriors overcame an off shooting afternoon from Steph Curry and a standout Christmas debut from Cooper Flagg to defeat the Dallas Mavericks 126-116.<\/p>\n
While Curry continued his custom of struggling on Christmas<\/a> with a 6-of-18 shooting performance, he led the team with 23 points. Six other Warriors scored in double figures, including Al Horford, who notched 14 points in his return from sciatic nerve irritation after missing 10 of the previous 11 games. Flagg led all scorers with 27 points while adding six rebounds and five assists. His running mate, Anthony Davis, scored just three points before leaving the game with a groin injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two more games remain. First, the Los Angeles Lakers host the Houston Rockets in LeBron James\u2019 20th Christmas appearance. Then, the Minnesota Timberwolves will visit the Denver Nuggets to close out the five-game slate.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what we learned from the action.<\/p>\n The Thunder have a big problem<\/p>\n It was all good just a week ago.<\/p>\n Many thought the Oklahoma City Thunder couldn\u2019t be beat and would cruise their way into another championship. But in less than a week\u2019s time, Victor Wembanyama \u2014 on limited minutes \u2014 and the San Antonio Spurs have dismantled the idea. Reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continued his 20-point game streak Thursday, but the Thunder got down early in the first quarter and San Antonio never relinquished the lead.<\/p>\n The Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets were already strong contenders to dethrone the Thunder out West, but the Spurs have shown other teams that OKC isn\u2019t invincible. It turns out Gilgeous-Alexander won\u2019t always sit out fourth quarters because the Thunder are up by 20.<\/p>\n In a game where the Thunder needed all of their starters to be as good as possible, shots just weren\u2019t falling. No one other than Gilgeous-Alexander scored more than 13 points.<\/p>\n The last couple of games should serve as a wake up call for the Thunder. They\u2019re going to need to figure out their very big San Antonio problem. \u2014Shakeia Taylor, NBA staff writer<\/p>\n Are the Spurs the new team to beat?<\/p>\n When was the last time the balance of power in the NBA was reconfigured so swiftly like this?<\/p>\n Usually, it takes a catastrophic injury to rewrite the league\u2019s story so suddenly. But after three consecutive wins over the Thunder in two weeks, the Spurs are unquestionably a title contender. It\u2019s a shocking revelation for a team that was aiming for somewhere around the Play-In entering the season. But the results at this point are undeniable.<\/p>\n The Spurs are making a case for the best team in the NBA now. They are designed for maximum depth and flexibility around Victor Wembanyama, to the point that he is no longer vital to their offense over the course of the game. Figuring out how he fits into their system is more of a luxury than a necessity at this point.<\/p>\n San Antonio was able to open up a lead in the first half Thursday because Wembanyama abandoned Alex Caruso in the corner as the Thunder guard missed his first nine 3s of the night. While Oklahoma City missed too many wide-open 3s to close the gap, it played well enough overall to show this would remain an even matchup over the course of a seven-game series. But in what has been effectively a playoff series simulation \u2014 something we rarely get to see with the way the NBA schedule works \u2014 the Spurs have pushed the Thunder to the brink of theoretical elimination with three straight wins.<\/p>\n San Antonio has beaten the defending champions with such consistency that you cannot ignore the fact that, right now, the Spurs are the better team. Considering the high esteem the world was holding the Thunder in just two weeks ago, that means the Spurs are arguably the best team in the NBA right now.<\/p>\n Somehow, they are only just beginning to figure things out.\u00a0\u2014 Jared Weiss, Spurs staff writer<\/p>\n These Knicks win with depth<\/p>\n The Knicks have too many weapons, as made evident in the Christmas Day comeback victory over the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n New York found itself down 18-3 to start the game. The Knicks were outscored by 15 in the first quarter. They followed that up by outscoring the Cavaliers by 17 in the second quarter behind 14 first-half points from Clarkson.<\/p>\n New York took a lead into halftime, but was equally as bad in the third quarter as it was to open the game. The Cavaliers outscored the Knicks by 14 in the third quarter.<\/p>\n However, behind a billion offensive rebounds from Robinson in the fourth quarter, all of which led to Knicks baskets, and the 3-point shooting of Kolek and Brunson, the Knicks were able to pull out the win when they looked dead in the water. The Knicks are 21-9 through Christmas Day, which is one game better than they were this time last year.<\/p>\n The contributions of bench players like Robinson, Clarkson, Kolek, Landry Shamet and Miles McBride have been a huge factor as to why New York finds itself with the No. 2 seed in the East. All of those players have won a game or two for the Knicks this season with big performances.<\/p>\n New York appears to be more than a top-heavy team. It has the depth to win multiple ways. \u2014 James L. Edwards III, Knicks senior writer<\/p>\n Warriors need that version of Al Horford<\/p>\n Al Horford came into Thursday\u2019s game against the Dallas Mavericks having played one game in a month. The 39-year-old\u2019s first season with the Warriors has not played out the way the proud veteran had hoped. He\u2019s been inconsistent. He\u2019s been hurt. Yet the toughest part for the proud veteran is that he just hasn\u2019t been very good in the 13 games he played before Thursday.<\/p>\n For one of the first times all season, that changed. Horford, who has been dealing with a sciatica issue, came off the bench in the first quarter in his first game since Dec. 14 and knocked down four 3s to spark the Warriors. He finished the game with 14 points, going 5-of-7 from the field for 14 points, four rebounds and two assists in 11 minutes.<\/p>\n It was a solid step back for Horford in what has otherwise been a forgettable first half of the season.\u00a0\u2014 Nick Friedell, Warriors senior writer<\/p>\n This story will be updated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Mike Prada, Shakeia Taylor, Jared Weiss, James L. 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