Spurs-Thunder: best basketball of all time?
Blur Ball meets Bully Ball
There are at most three games left in the 2026 Western conference finals–Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Savor them–this might be the highest level basketball that has ever been played.
DAVID: Back when it happened, I saw the Spurs beating the Heat in 2014 and felt it was the best NBA team in history.
I have watched this series very closely. We’re well past that. It’s remarkable. The Thunder and Spurs are so young. But this is the highest-level basketball of all time.
New York is built like a lot of old-school great teams, lots of experience, lots of skill. They’re playing at a very high level, defensively, physically, but to be able to withstand the pressure and the athleticism and speed on the depth of one of these two teams is a test they have nowhere nearly faced. The closest thing they have seen to this kind of team has been the Pacers teams they faced the last two postseasons, a team they went 5-8 combined despite home court advantage in both series. This Knicks team is much better than those teams—we will discuss that later.
HENRY: Last year Kenny Atkinson warned us about the league changing, so that intensity would win. The Pacers put on a masterclass and almost got a title out of it. And now it’s the Spurs who are teaching the lesson.
DAVID: Going into Game 4, I would have said it’s an intensity tie. OKC was playing incredibly hard. In Game 4 I did not see that. The low-level of urgency made me feel like the Thunder simply didn’t believe they could win. They just didn’t have enough gas. They ran out of gas, they just don’t have it.
Cleveland, by the way; talk about a team out of gas. Up 20 something in the fourth quarter in Game 1 and they never recovered. I heard from players that they simply didn’t have the legs. Every player is vulnerable to fatigue; the greatest players can be made mediocre.
It’s affecting the Thunder in a different way: these players are getting hurt on very intense plays. Ajay Mitchell was racing back full speed to prevent a dunk. Against a lot of opponents, he may have just given Castle the dunk. But it’s clear to them, every point can keep them from a second title, so he raced to potentially prevent the points and strained his soleus.
It’s extremely hard to do anything in this series: to bring the ball up, to get open, to get a rebound. It’s fight fight fight.
Devin Vassell is a huge part of that.
And De’Aaron Fox is already helping. I mean, he’s just fucking good.
The Thunder are missing their second- and third-best players, especially against that team, where Chet just won’t be as valuable as them largely because of Victor Wembanyama. It’s gonna be very hard to overcome because of the high level of physicality. It’s very hard for a player who hasn’t played much to step into that.
HENRY: I felt like that. Icing the kicker is calling a timeout to let that guy reflect, for 90 seconds, in the hopes that doubt might creep in and affect performance. What if you had scientists study that for years, and try to perfect the methods of introducing doubt? What would you do? How about a coach you love sits you for weeks? Arguably Isaiah Joe got iced for most of the playoffs by Mark Daigneault. He averaged 21 minutes and eight 3-point attempts per game in the regular season. He is at about half of that in these playoffs. In Game 1 against the Spurs, Mark Daigneault played Isaiah Joe for all of 16 seconds. He has taken ten 3s in the series, and missed seven.
DAVID: I thought the same thing. It’s unfair to expect him to make those shots. Mark did a great job of making Isaiah Joe what he is, but not in the playoffs, and I understand it. I always look at it this way: I could put together an elite relay race team. But if I have to sit two, or even just one of my world-class sprinters and just put in a fast guy, not an elite racer, I’m probably fine against Belgium. But if I’m up against Jamaica, I’m gonna get smoked.
HENRY: You’re already done.
DAVID: That’s what we saw in Game 4.
We also saw a bunch of conversations with Wemby and Mitch Johnson, where they’re all lovey-dovey. That’s so important! And it’s related to seeing Tim Duncan and Greg Popovich sitting together watching the game.
Let me explain why: The broadcast made a big deal about something that happened with Mitch Johnson coaching up Carter Bryant. But also all game Wemby is hugging the head coach. That means that when Coach Johnson gives Bryant instruction, and his star and his coach are in lockstep, Carter has no place to go but to listen. I’m gonna go into my listening mode, because I can’t fight this guy. And by the way, Bryant might love Coach Johnson.
This is really what Pop had, because he had Tim Duncan. He could scream and yell at Tony Parker all he wants. Meanwhile, they became a dynasty and he and Tony grew very close.
Did you hear that Steve Novak story, where Pop refused to trade Novak until the Knicks promised to play him? Then he did what was best for Steve and explained this is really good for you? It’s a beautiful thing to care about each other. And it’s absolutely part of how you get players playing this hard.
Mitch has learned a lot. And Wemby acts like he grew up in the NBA loving Mitch. I know for a fact that’s how Devin Vassell was in college, I saw it in person, putting his arms on his coaches, actually being coached. (Stephon Castle isn’t that way. At one point, Castle was throwing off his own security guy, but he plays with that rage and we need that too.)
If the Thunder get Jalen Williams or Ajay Mitchell back, it’ll be an incredible seven-game series. If not, the Spurs could win the next two.
When Wemby took that half-court shot at the end of the half, I watched it in my mind, basically in slow motion. As he got it, I thought, oh, he’s shooting this, and as it tracked I thought oh it’s going in. Great players, amazing players, world-class players tend to make plays like that.
When you have someone like Wemby anything’s possible. But that’s true of Shai, too.
I’m very impressed with Mike Brown. They can beat you in different ways. And look at how Mikal Bridges is playing now! It’s shocking when he misses. He has Landry Shamet playing so well, what a great story that is!
HENRY: Shamet started the year on a non-guaranteed contract.
DAVID: I didn’t realize that.
What’s happening in the NBA right now, we should all be very proud.
I watched the Euroleague finals yesterday. In my opinion, over the last few decades, there has never been a bigger divide between the NBA and the elite Euroleague teams. Those European teams would lose by 75 points. They’re big and slow and not as tactical as they used to be. Normally I love watching those teams, but I really struggled to watch. Compared to these NBA playoffs those overseas teams are just nothing. The Spurs, Thunder, Knicks, and a few others would blow them out. Last year’s Pacers would too. The rest of the league would beat them, nothing has changed here, but if the league continues this trend towards “Blur Ball marries Bully Ball…” then look out.
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I loved the look on Wemby's face when he demanded that ball for that half-time shot and took the shot. Amazing. There was a clip after the game where a reporter asked him about that shot and said "I never see you make those shots when you are messing around before games." Wemby simply replied "I wasn't messing around." What a great line!
Fun series to watch. Thanks as always for your insights!
Mike Brown is bland and boring - essentially a basketball nerd - and that leads people to underestimate him, but his ability to keep cool under pressure, his knowledge of the game, his collaborative approach and his willingness to make adjustments are what make him a really good coach.