Thunder Take Control of West Finals With Game 5 Win Over Spurs

Tuesday night marked an incredibly pivotal game in the Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. That was especially true given it was a 2-2 series, with the winner in those scenarios winning the series more than 80% of the time in history.

Now, just because the Thunder won and went up 3-2 on Tuesday does not mean they are locked to win the series. History is history, and it is meant to be broken. But while Oklahoma City is now the clear favorite to advance, given the Thunder only need to win one of the next two games while the Spurs have to win both, there is no question this result swung the odds drastically in OKC’s favor.

Game 6 will be in San Antonio, and Game 7, if necessary, will be back in Oklahoma City. So the Spurs should not be counted out. But the Thunder now have the advantage, the momentum, and two chances to finish the job.

And the stakes are even bigger now because the winner of this series, which will be decided by Saturday night at the latest, will take on the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.

That matters even beyond just who gets there. The opening two games of the NBA Finals will be hosted by whoever comes out of the West, since both Oklahoma City and San Antonio finished with better regular-season records than the Knicks. So there is a real reward attached to closing this out as quickly as possible.

If the Thunder can get the job done in Game 6 on Thursday, Oklahoma City will get nearly a full week of rest before the Finals begin. But if this thing goes seven, and the series is pushed all the way to Saturday night, whoever comes out on top would have only a few days to recover before stepping onto the biggest stage in basketball.