After what has been a tough loss to begin the Thunder vs Spurs series, the Oklahoma City Thunder now searches for answers to get back into the chase. In what should have been a strong night after being awarded his second MVP in a row, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the defending champions catch a gut punch to begin the 2026 Western Conference Finals. By now, many Thunder fans are left in shock, disappointed, and are definitely reeling from a nightmarish finish for the first time in these playoffs.
With San Antonio stealing home-court advantage and taking a 1-0 series lead, it seems that a new challenge has finally dawned before OKC. There are a lot of tough issues to address, and a lot of adjustments to be made. However, as this is a seven-game series, one thing consistent about Oklahoma City is its ability to respond. Right now, they’re heading into that path. Can they actually find a way to beat the Spurs now more than ever?
How Can OKC Adjust In The Thunder vs Spurs Series?
Going 4-1 in the regular season isn’t a good omen, nor is it a great thing to see your MVP struggle on a night where he’s supposed to answer the call and step up. Now that the problem is at hand, Oklahoma City has to come up with answers heading into Game Two. If there’s going to be a long series, the Thunder has to win Game 2 and avoid getting into a tough 0-2 hole heading into San Antonio.
Getting The Killer Instinct Back
In the first two series, OKC has answers to the test — even before the question is hurled before them. They always responded with a killer instinct in these games, proving themselves well with huge performances down the stretch and sealing the deal. The defending champs easily handled runs from teams and took wins without much hassle. In this Thunder vs Spurs series, however, they’ve had multiple chances to seal the game for good but haven’t capitalized. We’ve seen them try, but they did not put Victor Wembanyama‘s presence into perspective.
San Antonio had a lot of key defensive plays that shut down the Thunder for good. However, if they executed well and played their brand of basketball, it’d be hard to say OKC would find a way to win. Heading into Game 2, however, the Spurs would be expecting Oklahoma City’s biggest punch, and now the defending champs have to make sure that they regain the same pace as they’ve had in the previous two games.
Just finished my rewatch and oddly don't feel as bad as I did. There were a few inexcusable things, but there's a pathway.
A lot of counters involve give-and-take. You have to throw out a variety of stuff.
Ask me anything from X's and O's and schematics, and I'll try to answer.
— Thunder Film Room (@ThunderFilmRoom) May 19, 2026
Despite the loss, a silver lining in this loss is that OKC hasn’t backed down from their previous series, where they lost Game 1. They dropped Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets last year, and it ended in a massive victory in seven games. The same result was seen in their NBA Finals clash against the Indiana Pacers. In fact, if you dig deeper, their Game 1 loss eerily had the same vibe as their loss against the Nuggets last year.
Both had a star center who also happened to be the runner-up for the MVP who posted a 40-point, 20-rebound game en route to the win. Now that’s a hard parallelism to ignore, and it may actually provide an insight into what fans should expect. After all, teams have a 702-203 record of coming back to win the series after losing Game 1 in the Playoffs, so the odds aren’t that bad.
The Big Three Have To Come Alive
OKC vs SAS features plenty of All-Stars and a promising crop of elite players on both sides. The Spurs, for what it is worth, had five players in double-figures. Wembanyama led the way with his 41-point night, while Dylan Harper shoned bright with his 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and seven steals. The Thunder, however, only had three players scoring more than 10 points. Alex Caruso arguably had one of the best games of his career with the 30-point night, while Jalen Williams‘ return proved to be quite good as he finished with 24 points.
However, perhaps SGA having a stinker on his MVP night and debut of yet another colorway of his signature shoe wasn’t in anyone’s bingo cards. The back-to-back MVP finished with 24 points on 7-of-23 shooting. He’s had his tough nights in these playoffs. Gilgeous-Alexander having some hiccups in the Western Conference Finals isn’t really an ideal thing for the Thunder, especially if they’re going to win in this series, let alone a single game.
Another disappointing thing about OKC is Chet Holmgren. After what has been a dominant stretch of games for the big man, Holmgren’s offense has taken a tough spot with his level of play somewhat limited by the presence of Wembanyama. If the Thunder are going to have a chance at winning it all, Holmgren must take this one personally as well and take the fight to the Spurs’ big man. After all, it’s going to be a long series full of dunks and blocks between the two, so he might as well make the most of it and prove his worth now more than ever.
If Chet Holmgren doesn’t embrace the Wemby matchup we are going to lose this series.
— 𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙖𝙖 (@arkaavs) May 19, 2026
Attacking The Paint
Speaking of going up against Wembanyama, the Thunder were clearly afraid of attacking the paint when they went up against the Spurs. Since the San Antonio center clogged the paint, OKC went to contested jump shots and had to force plenty of rotations just to get a chance to score in the paint. At this point, Oklahoma City will definitely drop the series in four games. Regardless of whether Wembanyama gets a lot of blocks, OKC should keep attacking the paint instead of settling for contested jump shots, as they will eventually wear out the center in the long run.
Pick a WCF big:
18.6 PPG 20.3 PPG
9.1 RPG 10.7 RPG
1.4 SPG 0.6 SPG
1.8 BPG 4.1 BPG
60/39/89% 54/34/85% pic.twitter.com/Q8mXnheuU6— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 18, 2026
So far, the Spurs have easily won the paint battle, outscoring the Thunder 52-38. This just says a lot about what fans should expect from the team as they seek to find a way to win big. It’s better to find quality shots in the paint and score the basket with ease, finding and hoping that they can pull Wemby away from the paint with impressive passing, as they’ve done a few times in the game.
The Double Big Needs to Play
Oklahoma City fields both Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein as double bigs in their usual lineups. However, Hartenstein has been limited to 12 minutes in the 2OT brawl, which just says a lot about the preference to play small, even using Jaylin Williams to front against Wembanyama. By now, it is clear that playing small won’t be effective whenever Wembanyama is on the floor, and if he plays for all 48 minutes, you’d expect that OKC would not stand a chance at winning at all.
MUST ADD ACTION
OKC “Double Iverson”
🔥🔥🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/ig6nVWr2oZ
— Dustin Aubert (@dustinaubert) May 19, 2026
Despite being slower, Hartenstein does actually stand a chance to find a way to corral or stop Wembanyama at best. His bulk is a huge win to begin with, and he’d be able to open up Holmgren for free safety rebounds. With Hartenstein sitting on the bench for most of Game 1, the Thunder were also outrebounded 61-40. The margins aren’t usually that big for OKC, considering that they do field the double big lineup most of the time. Now it seems that it is a bright idea to at least try to use the size as a massive factor in helping them gain an advantage over Wembanyama.
Can OKC Get Back Into The Series?
This isn’t the first time that OKC has found itself in a hole against formidable opponents in the playoffs. They’ve been down 0-1 against Denver last year in the West Semis, and managed to send it to seven games. They also went down against the Pacers in the Finals, only to win it in seven. By now, this shouldn’t really be a panic scenario for fans and players. In fact, this is the moment where the Thunder learns more about its identity as a defending champion and a villain in the league.
Now more than ever, the expectations are higher, and a trip to the NBA Finals is on the line. It is all about OKC finding ways to win. But if there’s one thing they’re good at over the years, it’s bouncing back from a loss and showing that they’re not going down without a fight.
Featured Image: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
