The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder will meet for Game 5 of the NBA Western Conference finals on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City, with the series tied 2-2.
The Spurs forced the deadlock with a 103-82 victory on Sunday, May 24, 2026, leveling the best-of-seven matchup.
Statistical data highlights the extreme closeness of the postseason series.
San Antonio has outscored Oklahoma City by just four points (446-442) over four games, with the Spurs shooting 43% from the field compared to 42% for the Thunder.
Chess Match Mentality
Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama compared the strategic demands of the prolonged series to a game of chess.
“There’s definitely similarities, as in any strategy game,” Wembanyama said. “It’s fun.
It’s very fun.
In the playoffs at some point, especially when a series drags on, everybody knows the other team almost by heart.
...
I would say the coaches hold a lot of this load of the chess match, the coaching staff, all the strategy, it’s a lot.”
The current 2-2 tie mirrors historical Western Conference finals matchups between these teams in 2012 and 2014, which were also tied after four games.
Historical league trends show that in three prior instances where 62-win teams tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner secured the series in Game 6.
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander acknowledged the high stakes, recognizing the series has effectively reset to a best-of-three format.
“The series is 2-2 and basically zero-zero and it’s first to two games now,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
“I mean, it’s not at the front of our mind, but it is a fact and it is the reality of where we are.”
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault dismissed the relevance of past game outcomes, emphasizing the need for his team to reset mentally.
“Nothing from (Sunday) will carry over in Game 5,” Daigneault said. “That’s a blank slate.
We have the same exact opportunity that they do to go get that game. So, we’ve got to win the gaps between the game right now.
We’ve got to get recovered, get ourselves mentally back to zero, learn the lessons from (Game 5) that we can apply forward and get ourselves ready to go.”
The Spurs also received motivation from team president Gregg Popovich, who made a rare postgame locker room appearance following the team's Game 3 defeat.
“Pop’s been around throughout the course of the season, but that was the first time he walked into the locker room and was like, ‘Nah, that’s BS.
That’s not how we play basketball,’” said Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox.
“And obviously, he had some choice words for it, but that was the first time all season that he came into the locker room right after a game and told us how he felt.
And everybody felt it.”
