It went in, because of course it did. As the halftime buzzer sounded on Sunday night, Spurs center Victor Wembanyama swished a half-court shot that sent the Frost Bank Center into a frenzy. The jaw-dropping play capped a 22-point first half for Wembanyama. The superstar finished with 33 points in a wire-to-wire 103-82 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. San Antonio took the must-win Game 4 in comfortable fashion to tie the Western Conference finals at two games apiece.
The half-court heave represented an exclamation point at a pivotal moment as the Thunder fought back from San Antonio’s hot start. The Spurs jumped out to a 23-8 lead in the first quarter, but Oklahoma City cut the lead to five points with two minutes remaining in the first half.
Game 3 featured a Spurs collapse after an early lead, but on Sunday, San Antonio maintained composure in the face of a Thunder comeback. Wembanyama’s miracle shot put the Spurs up by 12 points going into the locker room and signalled that the Spurs were far from defeated in the series battle with Oklahoma City.
San Antonio used the momentum from the Steph Curry-esque 3-pointer to pull away from Oklahoma City in the third quarter, starting a 20-7 scoring run to put the game out of reach for the defending champions. The Spurs’ defensive acumen was on full display; the guards forced turnovers and created numerous fast-break opportunities that resulted in easy dunks. Wembanyama impressed with his performance in the must-win game, posting eight rebounds, five assists and three blocks to go with his 33 points.
Friday night’s Game 3 loss prompted retired coach-turned-advisor, Gregg Popovich, to enter the Spurs’ locker room and motivate his former players. The winningest NBA coach of all time mentored the team throughout the season, but guard De’Aaron Fox stated that Friday was the first instance of Popovich coaching the Spurs from the locker room. “El Jefe” had a simple message for his team: “Be better.” San Antonio’s defensive lockdown in the third quarter embodied Popovich’s legacy and showcased a resurgence that delighted the San Antonio crowd.
After committing 20 turnovers in his first two games of this series combined, Spurs guard Stephon Castle limited his giveaways to just one apiece in each of the last two games. Castle had a lot of fingers pointing at him after the Spurs’ Game 2 loss, but Sunday night the guard exhibited the maturity that has Spurs fans crowning him as Wembanyama’s tag-team partner for years to come. Castle finished with 13 points and six assists.
The Spurs benefitted from a poor shooting night from the opponents, as the Thunder made just 18% of its 3-point attempts and 33% of its overall field goals. Thunder guard and NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a measly 19 points, marking his second-worst performance of the season. The Thunder’s 82-point total on Sunday was its lowest-scoring team performance of 2025-26, regular season or playoffs, and Oklahoma City lost the turnover battle 20-13.
The two squads will travel to Oklahoma City for a tie-breaking Game 5 on Tuesday night, tipping off at 7:30 p.m. on NBC.
