OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — It is the year of Game 7.
For the fifth time in this year's playoffs, a series is coming down to the ultimate game. San Antonio will visit Oklahoma City on Saturday night in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.
The others this season: Philadelphia beat Boston on the road in Round 1, Cleveland beat Toronto in Round 1, Detroit beat Orlando in Round 1 and Cleveland beat Detroit on the road in Round 2.
The five Game 7s this season
tie the most in a single postseason. There also were that many in 1994, 2014 and 2016. And there have never been three instances of Game 7 road winners in the same season; the Spurs will aim to change that on Saturday.
Home teams have gone 117-42 in the previous 159 instances of Game 7s in the NBA playoffs.
A look at the histories in Game 7 for Oklahoma City and San Antonio, two franchises that have never before gone head-to-head in such a game:
— Thunder, since moving to Oklahoma City: 4-2 overall, 4-0 at home.
The four home wins — the last of which was Game 7 of last season's NBA Finals — were all by double digits and the margin averaged 17.5 points. The two losses were both on the “road,” though one of those was simply classified as a road game because Oklahoma City was lower seeded than Houston when those teams met in the bubble playoffs of 2020.
— Spurs: 4-7 overall, 1-5 on the road.
The lone road Game 7 win in franchise history was at New Orleans in 2008. The Spurs have never played a West finals Game 7 on the road — but played on the road in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals in 1979, losing to Washington.
Spurs forward Harrison Barnes turns 34 on Saturday. This could be a good sign for San Antonio.
No player has ever appeared in a Game 7 during the NBA playoffs on his birthday and lost. Paul George turned 36 on May 2 and Philadelphia beat Boston. And Barnes has been in this position once before; he turned 24 on May 30, 2016, and his Golden State team beat Oklahoma City.
The other birthday winners of Game 7s:
— Pablo Prigoni turned 35 on May 17, 2015; he and Houston beat the Los Angeles Clippers.
— Udonis Haslem turned 32 on June 9, 2012; he and Miami beat Boston.
— Kevin Garnett turned 28 on May 19, 2004; he and Minnesota beat Sacramento.
— Scott Hastings turned 30 on June 3, 1990; he and Detroit beat Chicago.
— Walt Hazzard turned 24 on April 15, 1966; he and the Los Angeles Lakers beat St. Louis.
Saturday night will be the 12th matchup between Oklahoma City and San Antonio this season. San Antonio went 7-4 in the first 11 games between the clubs.
Golden State and Houston played 12 times last season between four regular-season games, an additional game tacked on because of the NBA Cup, and then a seven-game playoff matchup in Round 1.
Other than that, the last time — before now — that two teams met 12 times in the same season was 1994-95, when San Antonio and Houston faced off on that many occasions.
The league has used a scheduling model for the last three decades that doesn't have any teams meeting more than four times in the regular season, which capped the total number of head-to-head meetings at 11 even if they went the distance in a seven-game playoff series. But the addition of NBA Cup now makes a 12-game season series possible.
And technically, teams could meet as many as 13 times.
It's theoretically possible for teams to play four regular-season games, plus a fifth time in NBA Cup, then meet in the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game in the play-in tournament, then play a seven-game playoff series.
Regardless, the record for head-to-head meetings will probably never be broken. In 1959-60, the Minneapolis Lakers and St. Louis Hawks played 20 times and in 1960-61, the Los Angeles Lakers played the Hawks 20 more times. The league had only eight teams then and played a 75-game schedule.
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