The Spurs make it clear as can be: They already are legit contenders

OKLAHOMA CITY — The final Spurs timeout of an emphatic 117-102 Christmas Day win, with a little over a minute left to play and the game already decided, was the most prominent.

Thirty seconds earlier, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault had recalled his starters, resigned to the reality Oklahoma City was mere moments away from their third defeat to San Antonio in less than a fortnight.

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So as Spurs two-way forward David Jones García strolled on the floor with 72 seconds remaining, emphatically waving a white towel in the direction of the downtrodden Thunder bench and thrusting it side-to-side as if he was disciplining them, the significance was clear. And it didn’t matter that the courier in one of the season’s most important games was a player with more minutes spent at baggage claim than on the floor. There was no more escaping or denying not only the presence of a rivalry, but a forced entry into the contender’s lair.

Belt to ass. A lesson. A reminder. A message.

“You don’t lose to a team three times in a row in a short span without them being better than you,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said following the game. “We have to get better, look in the mirror, and that’s everybody from top to bottom.”

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For all the glitz, grit and glamor the Thunder possess — reigning champions, home to the MVP, owners of the best record in the NBA — they have been reminded on multiple occasions by the Spurs the distance that separates them is closing, not widening.

Just a few weeks ago, Oklahoma City was 24-1, revered and feared from coast to coast. The Thunder’s path to June and a repeat seemed as clear as the water that flows in the Great Barrier Reef. Heading into the new year, as asinine as it would be to have the Thunder as anything other than the clear-cut favorites, the rapid emergence of San Antonio has forced a recalibration of sorts.

It won’t be so easy.

That’s what made Thursday afternoon so poignant. From the opening tip, this wasn’t just a regular December game. On a day that could have been billed as a conference final opener, the grappling match between ethics and…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/the-spurs-make-it-clear-as-can-be-they-already-are-legit-contenders-033123779.html

Author : Kelly Iko

Publish date : 2025-12-26 03:31:00

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