Thunder Trio Not Enough to Outlast Wembanyama's Terrific Night, Snaps Winning Streak

Ever since Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama entered the NBA, all of the attention has been on the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs each time they've faced off.

Tonight, Wembanyama and the Spurs won the battle, leading them to a 132-118 win behind a 28 point, 12 rebound, seven assist and five block night.

Holmgren didn't have himself a bad game — recording 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists — but it wasn't enough to win the matchup against his Rookie of the Year award rival. 

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams also gave solid performances, scoring 31 and 26 points respectively. The trio did what they have all season long, which has led Oklahoma City to its massive success, but couldn't keep up with an energetic Spurs offense that erupted down the stretch.

The Thunder hurt itself mainly from behind the arc, shooting just 9-of-31 on 3-pointers. It's been a driving force for it this season, but struggled especially in the fourth quarter to convert those shots.

Holmgren asserted himself at the start of the first quarter, scoring 11 points on perfect shooting in the first seven minutes. Both teams had a hot start offensively though, hitting shots back and forth to make for a combined 74 points. 

The Thunder began to experiment with a lineup in the second quarter consisting of Josh Giddey, Luguentz Dort, Gordon Hayward, Aaron Wiggins and Jaylin Williams, which started to slow down its momentum. The spacing started to take a hit, which brought Oklahoma City down by six points with 3:42 to go. 

Head coach Mark Daigneault decided to bring back out Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren quickly after to cushion the blow, but it still remained down by halftime, 69-64. 

That lead only stretched out larger in the third quarter. Although it wasn't all bad for the Thunder — the highlight play of the night arguably came with a poster on Julian Champagnie by Gilgeous-Alexander — it struggled to keep the basketball in its hands. By the end of the quarter, it had a whopping 24 turnovers. 

Luckily for Oklahoma City, it closed out the third with a 7-0 run, closing the gap to a 98-96 score. 

The man who has been coined the Thunder's fourth quarter player — Jalen Williams — immediately began the quarter with a dunk and a layup to give his team its first lead since the first quarter. A technical foul by Tre Jones also swayed some momentum in Oklahoma City's favor as tensions began to rise. 

The game truly started to turn into an aggressive, fast-paced battle between two teams searching for a win. It stayed pretty back and forth, but a few missed threes in a row from Dort started to halt the Thunder's offense. 

Meanwhile, San Antonio didn't pull any punches. It went on a 6-0 run, ending with Wembanyama hitting a deep 3-pointer to make it a nine-point game with 3:23 left in the fourth.

Another huge run 8-0 run, which included a stuffed Holmgren jumper by Wembanyama, had the Spurs completely running away with the win in the final couple minutes, ending Oklahoma City's six-game winning streak in dramatic fashion. 

The Thunder will rest until Sunday when they play the Phoenix Suns (34-24) on Sunday, March 3 at 8:30 p.m. CT on the road.

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