The NBA Playoffs are now just one game away from determining who will face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. After the Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers, attention shifted to a pivotal Game 6 in the Western Conference Finals.

The Oklahoma City Thunder had an opportunity to close out the series on the road against the San Antonio Spurs. Not only did they fail to get the job done, but they were also thoroughly outplayed. The Spurs embraced a physical style from the opening tip and never backed down, setting the tone throughout the night.

MORE: Underdog refuses to back down amid Shai Gilgeous-Alexander controversy

Victor Wembanyama led San Antonio onto the floor with a clear mission: intimidate the defending champions. The Spurs delivered a relentless performance that repeatedly made Oklahoma City look overmatched.

Their physical approach paid off. San Antonio secured the victory while holding the Thunder to just 37% shooting from the field and 25% from three-point range. Oklahoma City never found an offensive rhythm.

Wembanyama anchored the effort with three blocks, 10 rebounds, and two steals. His performance embodied everything the Spurs wanted to accomplish defensively as they dismantled the defending champions.

The Spurs’ 27-point win was so dominant that even Skip Bayless took to X to react. Bayless sharply criticized the Thunder’s lack of competitiveness, writing, “I’m about to unleash a video on the all-time sorry and shameful performance the Oklahoma City Thunder just put on national display in Game 6.”

MORE: NBA ‘Super Teams’ are thing of the past & here’s why 

The play that may have best summarized the night wasn’t a basket at all. Instead, it was a hard foul by Carter Bryant on reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

While battling for a loose ball, Bryant crashed into Gilgeous-Alexander while pursuing an offensive rebound, sending him to the floor. After facing frequent criticism from fans and media for allegedly embellishing contact, Gilgeous-Alexander had little choice but to absorb the hit on this play.

The series now heads back to Oklahoma City for a decisive Game 7. The Spurs successfully fed off their home crowd and used that energy to fuel their aggressive, physical approach.

The question now is whether they can replicate that intensity on the road and send the defending champions home.

The NBA‘s Western Conference Finals resume tonight as the series heads back to San Antonio, where the Spurs will look to defend their home court and keep their season alive. The Oklahoma City Thunder have a chance at back-to-back Western Conference titles tonight, and an NBA Finals meeting with the New York Knicks. 

Game 5 of the WCF wasn’t the back-and-forth battle most expected; the Spurs’ stars all struggled, especially Victor Wembanyama, who has arguably been the best player on either side in this series. Wemby finished Game 5 with just 18 points, on 4/15 shooting from the field. 

MORE: Jalen Brunson can cement himself as the greatest Knick ever with NBA title

Meanwhile, the NBA MVP put up an MVP stat line, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander posted 32 points and nine assists on the night. Gilgeous-Alexander did that without having a particularly good offensive night, marked by inefficiency and turnovers.

The alarming part of Wemby’s Game 5 is that he had one field goal per quarter, and for some reason, he wasn’t establishing his presence in the paint. If the Spurs are going to force a Game 7, that has to change, and with the series returning to San Antonio, it feels like Wemby will come out angry. 

Victor Wembanyama will dominate inside in Game 6

A common thread in both of the Spurs’ wins of this series is that Victor Wembanyama wouldn’t take no for an answer as far as scoring in the paint. In Game 1 of the WCF, Wembanyama hit 14 field goals, 13 of them were in the paint. 

In Game 4, Wemby hit 11 shots, with seven of them coming from the paint. The Spurs are going to make a point of getting Wemby looks inside, whether it’s setting up pick-and-rolls for lobs at the rim or Wemby has to establish position and get fed the ball constantly. 

Victor Wembanyama hasn’t settled for two bad games in a row in this series, and that won’t continue tonight back at home.

Spurs defensive pressure rises to the occasion

Another common theme in the Spurs’ two wins in this series is the defensive pressure on the Thunder, particularly against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. San Antonio has used multiple looks at Shai, whether it’s sending multiple bodies at him when he gets into the lane or letting him take his shots while completely eliminating the others, which worked so well in Game 4.

San Antonio will force turnovers early and go on another big run to open this game, suffocate OKC in the paint, and keep pivotal role guys like Alex Caruso and Jared McCain from getting any early confidence. 

Final prediction

San Antonio will get out to an early lead, somewhere in the 14-17 point range, Oklahoma City will punch back at times, and won’t be as poor on offense as they were in Game 4. 

This series has Game 7 written all over it, and through Victor Wembanyama playing like he’s the best player in this series once again, dominating the offensive glass as he did in Game 1, the Thunder won’t have enough.

Spurs win 126-111, Victor Wembanyama posts 34 points and 15 rebounds, and the Thunder don’t leave Texas as Western Conference Champions. 

The season is on the line for the San Antonio Spurs tonight as they return home trailing the Oklahoma City Thunder 3-2 in the Western Conference Finals, with a trip to the NBA Finals hanging in the balance.

MORE:NBA Finals power rankings for remaining playoff teams

How to Watch Spurs vs Thunder

• When: Thursday, May 28, 2026
• Time: 8:30 PM ET
• TV Channel: NBC / Peacock
• Live Stream: Peacock (watch now)

Oklahoma City regained control of the series with a 127-114 win in Game 5 behind another dominant performance from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 32 points while continuing to dictate the pace offensively. The Thunder’s depth has become one of the defining storylines of the series, especially with reserves like Alex Caruso and Jared McCain providing major scoring bursts off the bench. OKC has massively outscored San Antonio’s second unit throughout the matchup, giving the defending champions a huge advantage late in games.

– Live Stream Spurs vs Thunder with Peacock –

For San Antonio, everything starts with Victor Wembanyama. The Spurs star struggled in Game 5, finishing with 20 points on 4-for-15 shooting, and head coach Mitch Johnson emphasized afterward that the team needs a far more aggressive version of Wembanyama in Game 6. When the Spurs won Game 4 in dominant fashion, Wembanyama controlled the paint defensively while the Spurs dictated tempo and physicality from the opening quarter.

Another major factor will be the young Spurs backcourt. Rookie Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle have shown flashes throughout the series, but Oklahoma City’s pressure defense has forced turnovers at critical moments. Meanwhile, San Antonio hopes home-court energy at Frost Bank Center can recreate the atmosphere that fueled their 103-82 Game 4 win.

Historically, Game 5 winners in a tied conference finals series go on to win the series more than 76% of the time, so the Thunder enter tonight with both momentum and history on their side. Still, this Spurs team has consistently responded under pressure throughout the postseason, setting up what could be the defining game of this young core’s rise.

This is a great NBA matchup that you will not want to miss; make sure to tune in and catch all the action.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder are on the cusp of their second straight NBA Finals appearance, with a young core all locked in for years to come.

But even after seeing the team dominate up close throughout the postseason, NBC’s Mike Tirico isn’t ready to call the team a dynasty.

In an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show on Thursday, the play-by-play announcer pumped the brakes on any dynasty talk for the Thunder, explaining that in the broader history of sports, very few teams come close to the dynastic runs that were more prevalent before free agency and player movement came into play.

“No. Not yet, no,” Tirico said when asked how close the Thunder were to becoming a dynasty. “We fast-forward this stuff so much. Let’s go back, like the whole dynasty conversation is almost impossible to hold up to the dynasties that we grew up with, Lakers, Celtics, Steelers, etc., Yankees. Because players move.”

“We’ve gotta slow down on this stuff.”

– @miketirico on the OKC Thunder “dynasty” conversation. pic.twitter.com/Rvx8DYNXLC

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) May 28, 2026

In fairness to Patrick, he did not suggest OKC is already a dynasty. The conversation is perfect for the downtime leading up to the NBA Finals, but few commentators or fans seem to believe the team is on the cusp of a dynasty yet.

However, Tirico believes the league’s new villain has the tools at its disposal to get there one day many years from now.

“We gotta slow down on this stuff. They’ve won one title, they’re trying to get to the Finals for a second time. If they win that, that’s an all-time good run,” Tirico said, but not a great run. “They’re a really, really good team. They have the potential, because of what Sam Presti has done to build this organization and the capital that they have in the draft and the moves they can make, which are different than everyone else.”

Tirico offered the Thunder’s trade for guard Jared McCain as an example of the type of move that will prolong their run of dominance. The team traded one first-round pick and a few second-round picks for McCain in February, only to see him develop into a player capable of starting in the conference finals and scoring 20-plus points multiple times in the series.

Even after the Kansas City Chiefs’ recent run, with five Super Bowl appearances and three championships across six seasons, fans and analysts were split on whether they were a dynasty. So it will take far more than two championships in two seasons for the Thunder to be raised into such hallowed territory.

The post Mike Tirico pumps brakes on OKC Thunder dynasty talk: ‘We gotta slow this stuff down’ appeared first on Awful Announcing.

Defense wins championships.

That saying has been proven in basketball across multiple eras by the likes of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Hakeem Olajuwon, Ben Wallace, Kevin Garnett, Kawhi Leonard, and James Harden; however, one of these examples is not like the others. 

James Harden’s Defense Fails Again

For the seventeenth time in his career, Harden is heading home without the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. This time, it was as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were swept in the 2026 NBA Eastern Conference Finals by the New York Knicks.

Heading into this matchup against New York, fans were concerned about Cleveland for numerous reasons, but none more than the lack of backcourt defense. 

Donovan Mitchell has failed to consistently make a difference on defense throughout his career. Many regard Harden as one of the most unaware off-ball defenders in NBA history. Pairing the two together was not going to work.

The Knicks exploited the lack of defense effortlessly throughout the four-game matchup, especially against the 2018 NBA MVP. Jalen Brunson used the mismatch to his advantage, targeting Harden in switches, isolations, and pick-and-rolls.

“They’ve got to figure different ways to guard Jalen, but we were-, there’s no secret we were attacking Harden,” said Knicks Head Coach Mike Brown after Game 1.

However, Harden’s lack of defensive efforts is just a small part of a big realization: defense really does win championships. 

Thunder and Spurs Considered Elite Defensive Units

The 2024-25 and 2025-26 OKC Thunder rosters have featured multiple All-Defensive-caliber players. This includes the likes of Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso. That defensive talent, combined with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the offensive engine, made their 2024-25 NBA Championship look easy. 

They’re doing it again, as the Thunder swept the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers in their first two matchups. However, their first real conflict began in the 2026 Western Conference Finals, against none other than Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. 

The 7-foot-4 center is widely considered one of the best defensive players the NBA has ever seen after just three seasons. 

Wembanyama was the frontrunner to win the Defensive Player of the Year award last season before suffering a major injury. Now, he’s done just that in 2025-26, becoming the youngest and only unanimous DPOY winner ever. 

Wembanyama’s insane 8-foot wingspan allows him to contest shots from all over the floor, including the perimeter. He regularly forces players to change their play styles, and led the NBA in blocks in the regular season. 

Pairing him with Stephon Castle and Julian Champagnie has made San Antonio’s starting five borderline unstoppable. That defensive identity has not only led to the Spurs making the Western Conference Finals, but also pushing the defensive champions all the way to a sixth, and possibly seventh, game.

Knicks Used Defensive Talent To Eliminate Cavs

Looking back at the Eastern Conference, the Knicks have also built a tough and versatile defensive core. The 2026 NBA Eastern Conference Champions are led by elite DPOY candidate OG Anunoby and supported by players such as Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart. 

This was visible in the Knicks vs Cavs matchup, as New York put heavy defensive pressure on Cleveland. The Cavs couldn’t reach 100 points in Games 2 and 4, and barely cracked triple digits in Games 1 and 3.

The Knicks, Thunder, and Spurs have all built some of the best defensive teams in the NBA today. Unfortunately, Harden and the Cavs cannot put themselves in that conversation. 

With the Knicks eliminating Harden and the Cavs in the 2026 NBA Playoffs, it’s fair to say that the saying ‘defense wins championships’ has been proven once again. 

The post James Harden Just Proved That Defense Wins Championships appeared first on The Lead.

The lawyers for Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander issued a cease-and-desist letter to Underdog Sports over a promotion from the fantasy sports company that mocked the reigning two-time NBA MVP’s effort to draw fouls, Jason Jones of The Athletic reported on Wednesday night.

Underdog Sports created a game called “Unethical Hoops” based on the popular battery-operated game Operation. In the game, a buzzer would go off for a foul whenever Gilgeous-Alexander was touched. Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks starred in a video for Underdog that showed off the game.

Unethical Hoops, coming soon… pic.twitter.com/ANdHV4JTjr

— Underdog (@Underdog) May 21, 2026

Additionally, Underdog held a contest giving away 100 copies of the game during Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals between the Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. The video and contest went viral.

Head to https://t.co/dSu9Ntz8H4 to sign up for the giveaway!

— Underdog (@Underdog) May 21, 2026

After the video and contest went viral, Gilgeous-Alexander’s lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to Underdog, as The Athletic explained:

“In a letter dated May 22 and obtained by The Athletic, Eric Fishman of law firm ArentFox Schiff LLP, representing Gilgeous-Alexander, asked Underdog to ‘permanently cease and desist from any and all use of Mr. Gilgeous-Alexander’s NIL in any and all media, including but not limited to your website (including the Unethical Hoops Website), apps, social media accounts, digital marketing and advertisements, promotional emails, push notifications, affiliate or influencer placements, and any physical goods including but not limited to the board game advertised on the Unethical Hoops Website.'”

“The letter also asks that all board games be destroyed and that Underdog not use Gilgeous-Alexander’s name, image or likeness without his permission,” according to The Athletic.

The NBA world has accused Gilgeous-Alexander of foul-baiting and flopping frequently over the last two seasons, and it’s been a huge narrative during the current playoffs as SGA and the Thunder try to repeat as NBA champions.

“Underdog did not immediately comment on the letter,” The Athletic added.

The post Underdog Sports receives cease-and-desist letter from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s lawyers appeared first on Awful Announcing.