Game 1 of the 2026 Western Conference Finals between the Spurs and Thunder will go down as one of the most epic playoff games for both the Spurs and NBA — something this rivalry has had a knack for generating over the last 15 years. The young Spurs led most of the time against the defending champions despite no De’Aaron Fox but still found themselves having to overcome their own mistakes to pull it out in double-overtime.
They were able to do so with a series of insanely clutch plays and historic
stat lines, all while reaching many milestones both in franchise and NBA Playoff history, and we’re about to go through all if them that I could find (many courtesy of Spurs stat guru Jordan Howenstine). But first, we’ll start with the one that may matter the most when looking at the long-term outlook of this series, courtesy of Michael C. Wright of ESPN:
The Spurs are the fifth team in NBA history to win five of their first six games against the team that owned the best record in the NBA that season. The previous four all won a playoff series against the team that had the best record.
In other words, no team has beaten an opponent in 5 of their first 6 match-ups in season and gone on to lose a playoff series to them. Of course, there is the added quirk of one of those five games being the NBA Cup Semi-finals, so it’s not like the Spurs swept the Thunder in the regular season or are up 2-0 to start the series, but history is still on their side.
Now we move on to stat milestones specific to Game 1. Without Fox, the Spurs trotted out the youngest starting lineup in Conference Finals history, averaging just under 23 years old. That beat out the Portland Trail Blazers 1977 championship team’s starting lineup by 279 days.
This was also the Spurs’ first road win in Game 1 of the Conference Finals since 2005, when they beat the Suns in Phoenix Game 1. (We all know how that turned out!)
Next up is Victor Wembanyama, who finished with 41 points on 14-25 shooting, 24 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks in a career-high 49 minutes of action. He had already become the first player since Chris Webber in 2002 to have double-double at halftime in his first ever conference Conference Finals game with 14 points and 10 rebounds (and the first Spur since Tim Duncan against OKC in 2012), and by the end he was the youngest player to post a 40/20 game in playoffs history, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as well as the second Spur after David Robinson.
But it didn’t end there. He’s also the first player since Dirk Nowitzki in 2003 to have 25+ points and 15+ rebounds in his first Conference Finals game (which was against the Spurs, and some may forget he missed most of that series). He was also only the second player 22 or younger to post 30+ and 20+ in playoff game since the 1976 merger, along with Moses Malone in 1977, and the first to do it in his first Conference Finals game since Wilt Chamberlain in 1960.
Then we have Dylan Harper, whose rookie star keeps shining brighter the deeper we get into the playoffs. He got the start with Fox out, posting 24 points on 8-20 shooting (albeit 0-7 from three), 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 7 steals. (And perhaps just as importantly, just 1 turnover to help mitigate Stephon Castle’s 11 on the night. If Fox sits again for Game 2 — which may be a strategic move since it’s no longer a must-win game, although I personally take every game extremely seriously — the ball needs to be in Harper’s hands more.)
His 7 steals beat out Dejounte Murray, who had 5 against the Warriors in Game 4 in 2017, for the Spurs rookie record for a playoff game. He also joined some elite Spurs company with Alvin Robertson, Avery Johnson, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard as the only Spurs with 6+ steals in a playoff game.
At the NBA level, he became just the second rookie to record 20/10/5/5 (steals) in a playoff game, with the other being Magic Johnson, and the first to post 20/10/5/7. But it wasn’t just a historic rookie stat line: since steals began being recorded in 1973-74, he joins Larry Bird and Julius Irving as the only players to post that stat line in the playoffs AT ALL!
The Spurs could hardly have asked for a better start to the series. Of course, nothing is set in stone, and they must remain focused and not get too high or confident while working for three more wins because it won’t be easy. Thunder fans will point to how Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could have been much better on offense, and they would be right. At the same time, the Spurs certainly could have been better themselves (especially from three, where they shot just 13-43), likely won’t be giving up 21 turnovers again (especially if Fox is back), and it would be a stretch to think the Thunder get 31 points and 8 threes from Alex Caruso again, who is a very erratic shooter.
Regardless, this is just the start of what should be an amazing series. Game 1 has already gone down in Spurs history as one of the best performances we’ve seen (which is saying a lot), but it will only carry so much weight into the future if the Spurs don’t take this series. We can all revel in it today, and then tomorrow, it’s back to work.
Make sure to add anymore milestones I may have missed in the comments below! (It’s quite the rabbit hole to go down and almost impossible catch them all.)
