Sometimes, experience matters.<\/p>\n
The San Antonio Spurs hit the floor at the Frost Bank Center looking like an absolute buzzsaw, as the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> found themselves down 15-0 less than three minutes into Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n However, the defending champions weathered San Antonio<\/a>\u2019s early barrage and clawed back to clinch a 123-108 win.<\/p>\n San Antonio Spurs Suffer Game 3 Collapse Against Oklahoma City Thunder Despite Aggressive Start<\/p>\n Basketball is built on momentum swings, something the fans inside the Frost Bank Center witnessed firsthand on Friday night.<\/p>\n After going down 10-0, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault called a timeout, with Oklahoma City<\/a> then going on to cut down the 15-0 lead to a 31-26 deficit when the first quarter ended.<\/p>\n Despite a resurgence from Thunder, it still felt like San Antonio would eventually walk away with a crucial 2-1 series lead.<\/p>\n However, by the time the final buzzer sounded, it was a record-breaking production from Oklahoma City\u2019s reserves that helped the defending champions clinch an unlikely win.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The Thunder bench poured in an impressive 76 points, completely changing the course of the game. San Antonio\u2019s second unit paled in comparison, managing a meager 23.<\/p>\n As a result, Victor Wembanyama<\/a>\u2019s San Antonio had become just the second team in this century to start a playoff game on a 15-0 run or better and still end up on the losing side.<\/p>\n The reaction from the NBA community was swift and unforgiving, as the Spurs\u2019 early dominance had culminated in a historic collapse.<\/a><\/p>\n One San Antonio fan promptly admitted defeat,<\/a> writing, \u201cWemby sold us dreams. Its a wrap \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy goodness\u2026.\u201d Chris Russell wrote<\/a>, expressing disbelief.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cIf only there was a suitable adjective for this kind of thing,\u201d Damian McBride posted.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cDidn\u2019t the mavs<\/a> do something similar against the clippers<\/a> in 21,\u201d one user asked.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cLost the game once coach subbed out Wemby and Fox on that 15-0 run. You gotta run that score up,\u201d another observed.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cOne thing about Shai is that he never gets rattled. He very often starts the game bricking all his shots and playing like sh*t\u2026 he just keeps playing like normal\u2026 Wemby has dominant stretches, but looks lost a few possessions, and then it stretches into quarters where he doesn\u2019t put up shots\u2026\u201d one user claimed.<\/a><\/p>\n Wembanyama finished with a team-high 26 points on an efficient 8-of-15 shooting performance. Despite a solid scoring production, he secured just 4 rebounds in 39 minutes of action.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n