San Antonio’s defense limited Oklahoma City to just 82 points in Game 4. Will they have an encore performance?
SAN ANTONIO — In NBA Playoffs history, the winner of Game 5 in a series that’s tied 2-2 goes on to advance more than 80% of the time.
Yes, the stakes are high as the Western Conference Finals return to Oklahoma City for Game 5 on Tuesday night. But the Spurs don’t need to be told that, nor did they appear to be rattled by them in the hours before tipoff—especially coming off a Game 4 win in which the San Antonio defense limited the Thunder to their lowest scoring output in over four years.
“This is the biggest game of the season, right here, tonight,” Keldon Johnson said at the team’s shootaround Tuesday afternoon. “It’s gonna be a dogfight, it’s gonna be tough. But I feel like we’re built for the moment.”
The Spurs have a clear injury report, although Dylan Harper and De’Aaron Fox will likely continue to be playing through their respective injuries suffered earlier in the series. The Thunder, however, will once again be without starter Ajay Mitchell, with starter Jalen Williams questionable. If those two are out, the responsibility will again be on reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to handle the offensive burden—and on the Spurs defense to stall him.
Whoever ends up winning in a series that will go at least six games, it’ll be the New York Knicks that await in the NBA Finals after they easily took care of business in a four-game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
It’s the first time the Knicks have returned to the Finals since 1999… and Spurs fans know perfectly well what happened then.
Follow along with live updates from the game when it tips off at 7:30 p.m. CT.
Pregame
With Game 5 on the road, thousands of fans again flocked to the Frost Bank Center in east San Antonio to soak in the playoff action with fellow fans.