{"id":1553,"date":"2026-05-25T17:04:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1553"},"modified":"2026-05-25T17:04:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:04:49","slug":"in-the-western-conference-chess-finals-its-2-2-between-the-spurs-and-thunder-game-5-awaits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1553","title":{"rendered":"In the Western Conference (chess) finals, it’s 2-2 between the Spurs and Thunder. Game 5 awaits"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) dunks on Oklahoma City Thunder guard Kenrich Williams during the second half of Game 4 in the Western Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series in San Antonio, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo\/Darren Abate)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

It\u2019s like Victor Wembanyama<\/a> has been here before.<\/p>\n

Dec. 28, 2024, was a cold and drizzly morning in New York. Wembanyama had some spare time before the San Antonio Spurs\u2019 charter flight would leave for Minnesota that afternoon, so he posted a message on social media: Come meet me in Washington Square Park to play chess, he wrote.<\/p>

Read more IndyCar leader Alex Palou docked 5 championship points for an assembly error on Indianapolis 500 car<\/a><\/p>\n

He played four games that morning: two wins, two losses.<\/a><\/p>\n

Fast forward to now, where the Spurs and Oklahoma City are playing a different form of chess \u2014 the Western Conference finals, with Game 5 set for Tuesday night on the Thunder\u2019s home floor. The score to this point, just like that morning in New York: two wins, two losses.<\/a><\/p>\n

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson and Thunder coach Mark Daigneault have both likened the back-and-forth of this series to a chess match, where outthinking one\u2019s opponent is just as important as outplaying them. And Wembanyama, who often travels with his own chess set, appreciates that parallel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely similarities, as in any strategy game,\u201d Wembanyama said after San Antonio\u2019s series-tying 103-82 romp on Sunday night. \u201cIt\u2019s fun. It\u2019s 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\u2019s a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobody is in position to declare \u201ccheckmate\u201d quite yet: San Antonio took Game 1, Oklahoma City took Games 2 and 3, the Spurs won Game 4. The combined numbers to this point: the Spurs have outscored the Thunder 446-442, the Spurs are shooting 43%, the Thunder are shooting 42%. Not every game has been close \u2014 the Thunder won Game 3 by 15, the Spurs won Game 4 by 21 \u2014 but the series, as a whole, couldn\u2019t be too much closer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe series is 2-2 and basically zero-zero and it\u2019s first to two games now,\u201d Thunder guard and two-time reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s not at the front of our mind, but it is a fact and it is the reality of where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

These two franchises splitting the first four games in the West finals should have been expected. They also met in the 2012 and 2014 West title matchups \u2014 and both of those series also were tied at 2-2 through four games, with the Thunder eventually winning in 2012 and the Spurs eventually winning in 2014.<\/p>\n

This is also the seventh time teams that won at least 62 games in the regular season have gone head-to-head in the postseason. Of the previous six series, three of them were knotted at 2-2 going into Game 5.<\/p>\n

And in each of those \u2014 Chicago-Utah in the 1997 finals, Boston-Los Angeles Lakers in the 1985 finals and Lakers-Milwaukee in the 1972 West finals \u2014 the Game 5 winner also won Game 6 to take the series.<\/p>

Read more Wawrinka waves emotional goodbye to French Open after losing in first round<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNothing from (Sunday) will carry over in Game 5,\u201d Daigneault said. \u201cThat\u2019s a blank slate. We have the same exact opportunity that they do to go get that game. So, we\u2019ve got to win the gaps between the game right now. We\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

It should surprise nobody that Spurs president \u2014 and former coach \u2014 Gregg Popovich still knows his way to the locker room.<\/p>\n

When San Antonio lost Game 3, Popovich made a surprise appearance in the room after the game. All the Spurs players were there, all the coaches, general manager Brian Wright, athletic trainers and more.<\/p>\n

Popovich had to step down from coaching after a stroke in 2024. The actual volume of his voice isn\u2019t what it once was. But his messages, when he chooses to deliver them, still seem to resonate quite loudly within the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cPop\u2019s been around throughout the course of the season, but that was the first time he walked into the locker room and was like, \u2018Nah, that\u2019s BS. That\u2019s not how we play basketball,\u2019\u201d Spurs guard De\u2019Aaron Fox said in a televised postgame interview on NBC. \u201cAnd 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 that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spurs trailed by one point three different times early in Game 4, the last of those at 8-7. San Antonio scored the next 16 points to take control and keep it for good.<\/p>\n

Maybe Pop\u2019s a pretty good chess player, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get into these series, we spoke pregame about the chess match and you can get into a little bit of a whirlwind in terms of, \u2018Do I adjust and counter?\u2019 or \u2018Do I just want to do it better?\u2019\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAnd both answers are right.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Heat wave at French Open changes clay courts and has fans begging for water<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/nba<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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