Box Grades: Spurs Even Series in Dominant Fashion

I must admit, my confidence was hanging by a thread as last night’s game started. After all, the Thunder are a genuinely great team, the Spurs had suffered consistently bad disadvantages in three straight games (e.g., turnover margin), and it felt like OKC’s plan of fouling Wemby continuously was going to end up being an effective method for mitigating his impact. I didn’t even feel good when San Antonio got up big in the first quarter because, well, look at Game 3. Even so, my spirits lifted as the second quarter progressed, soared with Victor’s halfcourt heave to go up 12 at halftime, and remained excellent throughout a dominant second half. Considering the environment and stakes, this may have been the Spurs best performance of the season to date, and fortunately it also produced a fascinating box score. Let’s review some highlights:

Note: Now that we’ve moved into the postseason, the reference period used for grading changes from the set of regular season games since 2012-2013 to the set of postseason games since 2012-2013. Unless otherwise noted below, this set DOES include play-in games. As of the end of May 24, 2026, this group include 1,197 games.

Factors that decided the game

This is a great game for showcasing why winning is determined by relative differences in performance (i.e., how the winner performed relative to the loser). In particular, the Spurs shot terribly in this game, yet still outscored OKC by 13 from the field because the Thunder’s shooting efficiency was DREADFUL.

I talk about this more below, but the Spurs achieved the rare feat of beating OKC in every basic box score battle that doesn’t directly relate to shooting volume or efficiency (more on that below). These margins were rarely huge (hence the grades are usually modest), but lots of little advantages often add up to a big victory.

San Antonio also won most margins having to do with shooting volume or efficiency, with the most notable victory being their FTA margin of +14. Interestingly, FT% is the only key area where they lost to the Thunder badly; even so, the Spurs outscored OKC by eight from the charity…

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Publish date : 2026-05-25 15:02:00

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