SAN ANTONIO — In the final seconds of the first half, Victor Wembanyama punctuated a game where the final result was never really in doubt. The All-NBA member calmly pulled up from the midcourt logo and rattled in the halfcourt heave at the buzzer. Brutal. The knockout punch was delivered.
Nothing went right for the Oklahoma City Thunder in their 103-82 Game 4 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. The 2026 Western Conference Finals are now tied at 2-2.
Well, for anybody worried that Jalen Williams’ and Ajay Mitchell’s absence would be too much to overcome, they were begrudgingly proven correct — at least for this one game. Nothing OKC could’ve schemed up to make up for their scoring talent and ball-handling. Especially against one of the best two teams in the league fighting for their lives.
Relying on Isaiah Hartenstein’s floater to generate offense, it took nearly eight minutes for someone else on the Thunder to get on the scoring column. Not a great sign of how the rest of the game eventually played out. Without an alternative ball-handler, the Spurs had the Thunder stuck in the mud. Game 3’s sharpness was long gone. Game 4 had a lethargic feel to it.
The Thunder exited the first quarter in a 28-19 deficit. Not bad, but always starting games slowly will eventually bite you. Finally happened here. Jared McCain’s scoring magic was gone. Jaylin Williams was no longer a flamethrower. And OKC was left scrambling just to find even a smidge of quality halfcourt possessions.
The second quarter was much of the same story. The Thunder only had 19 points once again. Stephon Castle was in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s grill. And even when the reigning MVP found a sliver of space, his usually reliable mid-range jumper was shaky.
Entering halftime, the Thunder were in a 50-38 deficit. While down a dozen points is salvageable most nights, that 12-point lead might’ve as well have been doubled up. That’s how little faith I had in OKC’s offense turning things around. That gut feeling was quickly proven correct.
Putting this away, the Spurs went on a game-ending 20-4 run out of the break. Hoping for one of OKC’s third-stringers to come in and provide some juice, none could really do much in San Antonio. Chet Holmgren coughed the ball over. And then Castle caught a transition alley-oop. That put the Thunder in a 65-43 deficit with over seven minutes left in the third frame.
Forced to play the rest of the game out of necessity, the Thunder only had 22 points in the third quarter. They were in a 78-60 hole. Even for NBA playoff standards, those are putrid numbers. Gilgeous-Alexander couldn’t put on his Superman cape to carry OKC’s whole offensive load.
Eventually, both sides cleared their benches. The Thunder did very little to clean up the scoreboard in the final frame. They tallied 22 points in the fourth quarter. By the end, they trailed by as many as 25 points. This was one of those games where I started writing this midway through the second half. That’s how bad it got.
The Thunder shot 33% from the field and went 6-of-33 (18.2%) from 3. They shot 16-of-18 on free throws. They had 22 assists on 30 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points.
Gilgeous-Alexander had a quiet 19 points and seven assists. Holmgren had 10 points and nine rebounds. Hartenstein finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. Kenrich Williams tallied 10 points and five rebounds. Isaiah Joe scored 11 points.
Meanwhile, the Spurs shot 39% from the field and went 9-of-33 (27.3%) from 3. They shot 24-of-32 on free throws. They had 25 assists on 35 baskets. Four Spurs players scored double-digit points.
Wembanyama led the way with 33 points and eight assists. Castle had 13 points and six assists. De’Aaron Fox had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Vassell finished with 13 points and six rebounds.
This is about as bad as things could’ve gone for the Thunder. With a chance to deliver a knockout punch, they were hit in the mouth from the jump. Some of it was due to Gilgeous-Alexander’s subpar game. Some of it had to do with Williams’ and Mitchell’s absence. Regardless, only one of those variables was controllable. It continues to be an up-and-down series for the reigning MVP — not something you can afford with the current state of the roster.
With their backs against the wall, the Spurs tied this series up at two wins apiece. While the Thunder did their jobs, per se, by splitting these two road games, you can’t feel good about the rest of the series if they’re struggling to crack the century mark on the scoreboard. All eyes will be on Williams’ and Mitchell’s statuses the rest of the way. And back at home, you hope OKC’s role players can return to hitting their outside shots.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades:
Getting the ball knocked out of his possession, Gilgeous-Alexander’s ball security looked mortal. Fox stole it away as the reigning MVP’s nightmare continued. The scoreboard kept ballooning and the reigning MVP couldn’t do anything to stall San Antonio’s momentum.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting, seven assists and four rebounds. He shot 0-of-1 from 3 and went 7-of-7 on free throws. He also had two steals.
No real way to spin zone this — Gilgeous-Alexander was flat-out bad. Usually, you could justify a meh box score with a beautiful game-controlling tempo. Nope. The Thunder offense sank below the NBA level and he was at the top of it. Fair or not. The drives to the rim were there, but the jumper completely abandoned him.
When the Spurs ran up the scoreboard, Gilgeous-Alexander couldn’t provide timely answers. It might be an unfair burden to shoulder on one player, but he knew what the deal was once the Thunder ruled out Williams and Mitchell. OKC’s offense would go as far as he’d take him. Turns out, not far from the start line.
Let’s see if Gilgeous-Alexander can change the series narrative. So far, he’s played at an acceptable level. But this was the first time that he was completely invisible. The Thunder can’t afford that the rest of the way. The 30-point scorer needs to return to being an efficient walking 30 points.
With his hand completely busted open, Holmgren’s blood-covered digits encapsulated another off night. The Spurs continue to be in his nightmares. When it felt like it was taking baby steps towards being an impactful player, he joined the rest of the Thunder in being no-shows here.
Holmgren finished with 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting, nine rebounds and two assists. He shot 0-of-1 from 3 and went 4-of-6 on free throws. He also had one block.
At this point, you can’t really expect much out of Holmgren the rest of the way. It is what it is. Yes, an All-NBA player should stamp his presence louder than this. And yes, it’s frustrating that he can’t scale up as a scorer when needed the most. But that’s the reality of the situation. We have enough of a sample size against the Spurs to prove that.
Just another disastrous outing for Holmgren. His movie-star confidence from the first two rounds has completely dimmed. You can partially blame his ineffectiveness on OKC’s lack of ball-handlers to feed him the ball, but at the end of the day, he needs to be better and more assertive.
Heck, perhaps Holmgren’s best play was when he drove on Wembanyama for a dunk attempt in the first half. Sure, he got blocked. But you’d much rather see that than another OKC possession thrown to the garbage because nobody sans Gilgeous-Alexander can create their own look at this stage.
Used as an escape valve, Hartenstein’s floater was depended on from the jump. Knocking down one after the other, the Thunder dangerously became too dependent on his signature pushback to generate offense. The lack of creativity and quality-creating possessions got exposed quickly.
Hartenstein finished with 12 points on 6-of-11 shooting, seven rebounds and three assists.
Everything went great to start. Hartenstein had OKC’s first eight points in the first four minutes. But their glued-together offense fell apart. Once his floater touch was gone, the Thunder looked completely lost at how to create quality looks.
Being a hero earlier in this series, Hartenstein was demoted to a non-factor. The Thunder tried to run their second-unit offense through him. The results were ugly. Guys scrambled with the ball. There was a lot of movement, but not much coherence. And on the other end, Wembanyama returned to playing at an MVP-level after a so-so two games. The seven-footer’s bruising defensive style did very little to deter him.
Just a bad game for everybody involved with the Thunder. To show how grotesque this got, Hartenstein graded out the highest at a barely passable D. If this were an actual classroom, then the veteran teacher would’ve lectured their students at the top of the hour about their disappointment with their recent test scores.
Office hours with IHart 🕴️ pic.twitter.com/vlRAdfcVww
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) May 25, 2026
Sulking his head as he walked off the floor, McCain’s distress was easy to spot. After the final buzzer sounded, he went from a Game 3 hero to a Game 4 background character. Turns out, there is a limit as to how much of an offensive load he can carry.
McCain finished with four points on 1-of-10 shooting and two rebounds. He shot 0-of-5 from 3 and went 2-of-2 on free throws.
Going from a luxury to a necessity, McCain experienced what it was like to be near the top of the opposition’s scouting report. No sneaking up on the Spurs this time. Especially with Williams’ and Mitchell’s absences opening up some bandwidth for San Antonio’s bevvy of defenders.
The Thunder went to McCain early and often. Mostly out of requirement. Nobody else among their reserve group could really create their own shot. Usually, Williams or Mitchell manned the second-unit offense. With both out, the 22-year-old gladly took a brunt of the vacated scoring looks.
McCain just didn’t have the same shooter’s luck. His outside shot continues to be frozen. The finishing around the rim was suddenly gone after Game 3’s Houdini act. It’s pretty unfair for the 22-year-old to have this much responsibility. He was a mid-season addition flyer after all, but injuries have pushed him to the front of the line. Through one game, he hasn’t been able to help make up the talent difference.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Player grades: Nothing goes right for Thunder in 103-82 Game 4 loss to Spurs
