OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — While this Western Conference finals showdown isn’t unprecedented, it certainly carries the weight and excitement typically reserved for championship games.
The stage is set for an extraordinary battle: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the title-defending Oklahoma City Thunder, who captured 64 victories during the regular season, against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, who secured 62 wins this season — including four victories over Oklahoma City. The Western Conference finals begin Monday night in Oklahoma City.
“Just the words — ‘conference finals’ — is crazy,” Wembanyama said. “It’s something I heard my whole life and now being in it is just special.”
NBA history shows this level of excellence rarely collides in playoff competition. Only six previous playoff series have featured teams with 62 or more wins (or equivalent .756 winning percentage during seasons with fewer than 82 games). The most recent occurrence was the Chicago vs. Utah matchup in the 1998 NBA Finals.
Previous elite matchups include: Chicago-Utah in 1997’s finals, Chicago-Seattle in 1996’s finals, Boston-Los Angeles Lakers in 1985’s finals, Boston-Philadelphia in 1981’s Eastern Conference finals, and Lakers-Milwaukee in 1972’s West finals.
While the initial four high-caliber matchups determined NBA champions since they occurred in the finals, the previous conference finals battles between similarly dominant teams also produced championship results, with Boston claiming the 1981 title and the Lakers capturing 1972’s crown.
“It’s fitting because both teams earned their way here,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Sunday. “I mean, that’s how it works. You’ve got to win four games to advance and then you’ve got to win four games again — and if you do that, you’re in the Western Conference finals. And that’s what makes it fitting. It is a team we have a ton of respect for. We know what they’re capable of. It’s an opponent that is incredibly worthy and that we’re going to need to be our best to beat and we understand that.”
These franchises haven’t met in postseason play since 2016, when Oklahoma City eliminated San Antonio in six games during the Western Conference semifinals. Just five players from that series — Kevin Durant, Steven Adams, Russell Westbrook, Kyle Anderson and Kawhi Leonard — continue playing in the NBA, though none remain with either franchise.
San Antonio dominated the season series 4-1, capturing three of those victories by double-digit margins. No other NBA teams combined managed more than six such decisive wins against Oklahoma City this season.
“You could take a bit from it,” Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox said. “But the playoffs is a different story, obviously.”
Oklahoma City holds a significant advantage in deep playoff experience.
San Antonio’s roster includes just five players with conference finals or NBA Finals scoring experience — yet only one of those five, Luke Kornet, averages double-digit minutes during this postseason. Harrison Barnes contributes 9.8 minutes per contest, while Kelly Olynyk, Mason Plumlee and Bismack Biyombo rarely see action in the regular rotation.
Conversely, Oklahoma City features 12 players who have scored during Rounds 3 or 4 of playoff competition, with most gaining that experience during last season’s championship run.
Dating back to Game 7 of last season’s playoffs, the Thunder have captured nine straight playoff victories — maintaining perfection at 8-0 this postseason.
Monday’s victory would place this Oklahoma City squad among just 11 NBA teams to achieve 10-game postseason winning streaks. The Thunder could also join eight teams that started playoff runs with 9-0 records.
“Everything that we’ve done so far is behind us,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We still haven’t reached our goal. We have two more series to win until we reach our ultimate goal and that’s what we’re focusing on.”
Oklahoma City’s presence was anticipated: defending champions returning their entire roster, heavy preseason favorites for this year’s title.
San Antonio’s arrival, however, was unexpected.
Preseason predictions placed the Spurs’ win total at 44.5 games. With 66-1 championship odds, San Antonio ranked 17th among 30 teams entering the season.
Now the Spurs stand among the NBA’s final four teams, suggesting they’ve exceeded expectations.
“Ahead of schedule what?” asked Spurs coach Mitch Johnson. “I understand the general expectations of what we were supposed to do in October aren’t necessarily aligned with where we’re at right now. So, if that’s your question, I would guess by general consensus then we’re ahead of that schedule. But we never talked about what we were going to be or what we were going to do. We just knew that we had a lot of potential and we were going to try to be the best team we can be.”
