Well, that was unpleasant. After a stellar Game 4 performance, the Silver and Black fell back to Earth in a messy Game 5 loss to OKC. San Antonio’s season now stands on the brink of oblivion, but on the bright side the box score did produce some compelling and quirky combinations.
Before jumping into the review, I want to emphasize that these graded box scores always focus on grading winner-loser differentials (literally the winner’s value minus the loser’s value for any given statistic) relative
to the distribution of winner-loser differentials during a defined reference period. In this sense, the grades are always from the winner’s perspective. I understand that this perspective may feel unusual when the Spurs are on the losing end, but the point of these grades is to underscore the box score values that drove winning in the game in question. I will be the first to admit that this is not the only possible perspective to examine, but I would like to explore this issue further in the offseason. With that note, let’s dive into the stats:
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 26, 2026, this group include 1,199 games.
Factors that decided the game
- In terms of basic box score stats, this game was pretty simple. San Antonio held small edges in turnovers (-2) and offensive boards (+1), whereas OKC had the advantage in defensive rebounds (+8). However, this latter edge emerged largely because the Spurs took more shots and missed a lot more.
- As I’m sure anyone who watched the game will know, the Thunder were charged with far fewer fouls (-7). This did translate to more attempts at the free throw line (+6), which allowed OKC to add five points to their margin of victory.
- In addition to this edge at the charity stripe, the Thunder leveraged strong advantages in FG% (+7.98 percentage points) and 3P% (+14.48 percentage points) to make three more total shots, including two more threes. Consequently, OKC outscored San Antonio by eight from the field.
Rare Box Score Stats
- The Thunder became the first postseason winner since 2012-2013 to make at least 33 free throws on no more than 38 attempts and still have a negative FT% differential.
- OKC’s FG%/3P%/FT% line was 48.19%/43.75%/86.84%. Only 13 other postseason winners since 2012-2013 (about 1-in-92) have achieved or beaten all three of those values and won by no more that 13 points.
- The Spurs’ performance marked just the 20th postseason game since 2012-2013 (about 1-in-60 games) in which a team lost by at least 13 points while making 28+ free throws.
- This marked the 36th occasion since 2012-2013 in which two teams combined for at least 70 free throws in a postseason game. Not a fun watch, but the highest total recorded during this 1,199-game period was 96, so it could have been worse!
- In the 4,856 playoff games (i.e., excluding play-in contests) completed since 1996-1997, San Antonio became just the sixth team to have four starters log 3+ steals (no team had achieved this more than once during the period).
- SGA recorded just the 13th playoff performance since the 1996-1997 postseason that included at least 16 made free throws and no more than 32 points. Interestingly, no player has done this twice.
What are Team Graded Box Scores?
Very briefly, these box scores grade winner-loser differentials for basic box score statistics, with the grade being based on the winning team’s differential relative to other NBA winners during a defined reference period. Think of it like a report card for understanding how a given winner performed relative to other winners. The reference period used runs from the start of the 2012-2013 season to the latest date of play, including only games in the same season category (i.e., regular season and playoff games are not compared to each other).
Data Source: The underlying data used to create these box scores was collected from Basketball Reference. In all cases, the data are collected the morning after the game is played. Although rare, postgame statistical revisions after data collection do occur and may affect the results after the fact.
