Three takeaways from the Thunder’s 110-104 loss to the San Antonio Spurs

The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered their fourth loss of the season on Tuesday night at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs, dropping two straight games and dropping to second place in the Western Conference.

Without Victor Wembanyama or Chet Holmgren, the matchup was a bit of a shell for itself, though the dynamic of it being an NBA Cup matchup made up for it — and so did some of the Spurs role players. For the Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 104 points with 32 points and Jalen Williams’ 27 on the night, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a better shooting night from San Antonio.

Let’s take a look at three takeaways from the Thunder’s loss:

Thunder’s Fast Break and Takeaway Prowess aren’t enough

Oklahoma City’s adept ability to force turnovers and drive the break is essential to its style of play. On Tuesday night, they took advantage of a lackluster Spurs team, getting 16 steals and forcing 21 total turnovers.

The Thunder turned it into 24 points at halftime compared to the Spurs’ six, but a generally sluggish night from the field, 41%, and from three, 30.2%, saw them succumb to San Antonio.

The OKC Bench does not lighten the load

The Oklahoma City bench hasn’t done much for its starters in the past few games and subsequent losses. And it is clear. This team is used to Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams doing the heavy lifting, but with the offensive production the bench is providing right now, it most likely won’t be enough against a talented team.

The Thunder bench shot a combined 6-of-24 on the night and added just 15 points as well as four turnovers. Oklahoma City relied heavily on its young guns, but even Alex Caruso couldn’t get it going offensively, shooting 1-foot-7 from the field.

Keldon Johnson is not wrong

The Spurs’ Keldon Johnson was red-hot Tuesday in his team’s win — in front of a San Antonio crowd, he fed off it and could do no wrong.

In 29 minutes off the bench, Johnson added six threes to tally 22 points and a disrespectful poster appeared down the court, hyping up the crowd that would eventually lead to San Antonio grabbing the lead. Johnson had the highest for the Spurs with his 22 points, as Harrison Barnes also had 20 in the win.

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