For the first time in the Western Conference Finals, the San Antonio Spurs trail the Oklahoma City Thunder. After a wild Game One victory, the Spurs lost two straight, including a 123-108 loss at home in Game Three. It was a game defined by the Thunder’s dominance. San Antonio started the game on a 15-0 run, and managed to lose the game by 15, a 30-point swing for OKC.
If you want a stat that sums up a lot of the game, it’s this one: OKC’s bench outscored San Antonio’s bench by 53 points (76-23).
When Victor Wembanyama sat out, the Thunder went on huge runs. Even with him in the game, Oklahoma City’s bench was able to score from outside. Meanwhile, the Spurs couldn’t find any consistent offense as they continue to deal with injuries to key players like De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper.
The Spurs enter Game Four needing to win a game to prevent the Thunder from taking a 3-1 series lead. San Antonio is -126 favorites on FanDuel to defend home court and tie the series at 2-2 in Game Four. They’ll need to find a way to score against Oklahoma City’s swarming defense and get contributions from their bench to stay in the series.
Before looking ahead to Game Four, let’s grade the performances from Game Three. As a quick reminder, player grades are based on each player’s on-court performance, going beyond just the stat sheet. A “B” grade represents the average performance for an individual. If a player logs fewer than 5 minutes or plays only in garbage time, their grade will be incomplete.
Victor Wembanyama
39 minutes, 26 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 8-for-15 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, +4
Wembanyama continues to be the Spurs’ most consistent offensive threat in this series. However, since the Thunder decided to guard him with a big man, Wembanyama has struggled to reach the scoring heights we saw in Game One. He’s being forced to hurt the Thunder on the perimeter, where he isn’t nearly as effective. He keeps getting pushed further and further away from the hoop and is stuck taking some tough shots.
Defensively, Wembanyama has to stick to what makes him great. Too many times, he is being pulled onto the perimeter to contest Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s mid-range jumpers. While he’s away from the paint, the Thunder can find lanes for drives or kickout angles for threes. It’s also limiting Wemby’s impact on the boards, as he grabbed just four rebounds in the loss.
Grade: B
De’Aaron Fox
31 minutes, 15 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls, 7-for-14 shooting, 1-for-6 threes, +9
You have to hand it to Fox for playing through what appears to be a significant ankle injury. He went down in the third quarter, and it looked like it might be the last time we see him in the game. But he gutted it out and came back into the game, clearly hampered.
Fox is giving them some nice offensive juice off the dribble, getting into the paint with speed and creatively finishing around the Thunder’s defense. The problem is he didn’t make a lot of his outside shots, which OKC dared him to take, and he turned the ball over four times. If he can play smart with the ball, push the pace, and make some outside shots, the Spurs will have a better chance to win Game Four.
Grade: B
Stephon Castle
35 minutes, 14 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, 5 fouls, 1-for-8 shooting, 1-for-5 threes, -17
It looked like Castle struggled to adjust to Fox returning to the lineup. He corrected his turnover issue, but his offense was way off, making just one shot in the game. Defensively, he looks like he may be letting his emotions get the best of him. He is clearly frustrated with the officiating and is fed up with SGA’s ability to get to the free-throw line. He’s fouling too much and complaining about most of the foul calls. Castle is the Spurs’ most physical player, and he’s paying for it a bit with how he guards. He’ll have to play smarter defense if San Antonio wants a chance to win the series.
Grade: C+
Julian Champagnie
35 minutes, 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 fouls, 4-for-10 shooting, 2-for-8 threes, -4
Not only was Champagnie struggling to hit threes, but he missed several defensive rotations. Champagnie would often overhelp off a shooter to help Wembanyama in the paint (he’s the Defensive Player of the Year and doesn’t need help) or sell out to stop a Gilgeous-Alexander drive and leave a player wide open for a kickout. The Spurs need him to make open shots, and they can’t afford major defensive mistakes. The margins in this series are razor-thin and those miscues will snowball as they did in Game Three.
Grade: C
Devin Vassell
36 minutes, 20 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, 4 fouls, 6-for-12 shooting, 3-for-6 threes, -5
Vassell was arguably the most impactful Spur in Game Three. His shooting was always there when the Spurs needed it, and he was excellent defensively. He’s risen to the moment in this series in a way that makes him look like an untouchable part of the Spurs’ core moving forward.
I also appreciated Vassell sticking up for Castle when he got fouled hard in transition two times in a row. San Antonio has to fight back a bit against some of the physicality they are seeing from OKC.
Grade: A
Dylan Harper
17 minutes, 6 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 2-for-7 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, -13
Harper looks like he is really struggling through an injury, even more than Fox. He doesn’t have the same level of explosion that he had in the first game of the series. That led to a pretty meh night from the rookie, who was inefficient scoring the ball, and didn’t make a huge impact defensively. Harper’s strength and athleticism give the Spurs an advantage in the backcourt. If those attributes are severely hampered by his injury, it’s hard to see them winning this series.
Grade: C
Keldon Johnson
12 minutes, 5 points, 2 rebounds, 1 turnover, 5 fouls, 1-for-5 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, -23
Johnson was borderline unplayable in Game Three. He provided no offense, and he continues to be a liability defensively. It feels like we’ve been saying the same things about KJ all playoffs. San Antonio needs his fire and energy to emerge. In a “must-win” Game Four, maybe we see Johnson return to his Sixth Man of the Year form.
Grade: D
Luke Kornet
13 minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 2-for-3 shooting, -18
Kornet is in a tough position backing up Wembanyama. When he’s in the game without him, the Thunder are attacking the rim every chance they get. It’s not so much that Kornet is a bad rim defender; it’s just that Wembanyama is so good that it’s almost like a lid has been removed from the rim when he exits the game. That said, Kornet has to hold his ground better to give the Spurs a chance. Wembanyama is already playing more minutes in this series than he has in his entire career.
Grade: D
Harrison Barnes
3 minutes, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, +2
Barnes hasn’t gotten much run in this series, but I wonder if he may get an increase in minutes moving forward. The Spurs need another shooter and someone who can create some offense on the wing. Barnes has regressed quickly this season and hasn’t shown the ability to be a strong rotational piece in quite some time. But these are desperate times for San Antonio, and Barnes has shown some of the skill set that they need against OKC.
Grade: Incomplete
Carter Bryant
10 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 1-for-3 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, -10
Bryant isn’t quite ready for a series like this. He can’t put the ball on the deck in a meaningful way, and he fouls way too much to be impactful defensively. All the youthful energy in the world isn’t enough to make up for some of those shortcomings against a great OKC team.
Grade: C-
Jordan McLaughlin
2 minutes, 1 rebound, 1 assist, +/- 0
McLaughlin went from being in the rotation in Game Two to playing in garbage time in Game Three.
Grade: Incomplete
Lindy Waters III
2 minutes, +/- 0
Waters got some cardio in for two minutes at the end of the game, but didn’t make an impact.
Grade: Incomplete
Bismack Biyombo
2 minutes, +/- 0
Biyombo touched the floor against his former team, but didn’t do much.
Grade: Incomplete
Kelly Olynyk
2 minutes, 3 points, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 1-for-1 shooting, 1-for-1 threes, +/- 0
Olynyk was very involved in his two minutes. He knocked down a corner three.
Grade: Incomplete
Mason Plumlee
2 minutes, 2 points, 1 assist, 1 block, 1-for-1 shooting, +/- 0
Plumlee got a shot to go at the rim and a block in his limited playing time.
Grade: Incomplete
