The Oklahoma City Thunder walked into the Frost Bank Center on Thursday night with a chance to close out the Western Conference Finals and punch their ticket to the NBA Finals. Instead, they walked into a buzzsaw.
Now the series is headed back to Oklahoma City tied 3-3 after the San Antonio Spurs dismantled the Thunder 118-91 in Game 6, and the most alarming part of the loss was not the final score. It was how quickly Oklahoma City mentally unraveled once adversity hit.
That is the real story of this series now.
Not Victor Wembanyama.
Not Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Not injuries.
Composure.
Championship teams absorb punches. Young teams panic when the momentum turns. On Thursday night, the Thunder looked far more like the second category.
Subscribe to get access
A subscription helps us to run the site and feed the writers. It’s just $6 for one year and it makes a huge difference. Plus, we think the subscription content is pretty good as well. Subscriptions reset every January 1st.