The San Antonio Spurs were one of the few remaining NBA teams that have yet to win an NBA Cup game. They broke that streak on Tuesday night with a 110-104 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Without their top three scorers, Victor Wembanyama, Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan, an entire Spurs cast cruised to victory.

Chris Paul came up big in the clutch with a 14-point, 11-assist performance. He controlled the Spurs offense and hit big shots down the stretch. The turning point in the game probably came late in the second and third quarters when Keldon Johnson went on a big scoring run. Johnson led the Spurs in scoring with 22 points off the bench.

The Thunder came back from 21 down in the fourth quarter to cut the Spurs lead to 6 late in the game. They just couldn’t shoot the ball well enough to take the lead. OKC shot just 41% from the field and 30.2% from deep. Despite the team’s problems, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played a good game, scoring 32 points and adding 7 assists.

San Antonio had a hot shooting night, going 46.4% from the field and hitting 19 of their 46 threes (41.3%). The win ties the West Group B, with OKC, San Antonio, the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns all tied at 1-1. The Spurs’ next NBA Cup game is next Tuesday against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. They host the Jazz for their next game on Thursday.

Observations

• Charles Bassey was brilliant off the bench for Spurs. His energy was infectious and he made big play after big play in his 21 minutes. His rebounding, rim defense and lob finishing were the main reasons why the Spurs won the game. He finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks
• The Dallas Mavericks previously dominated the Spurs inside. The undermanned and underpowered Thunder struggled to keep the Spurs out of the paint. San Antonio scored 36 points in the paint and got to the line 19 times, hitting 13 free throws.
• San Antonio had 13 turnovers in the first half, but only 1 in the third quarter as they built a lead. Their six turnovers in the fourth quarter allowed the Thunder to get back into the game. Stephon Castle led the team with six turnovers, including some costly ones.
• It was a rollercoaster of a game for Castle. He had 10 points and 8 assists in the win. He shot 3-13 from the field and had 6 turnovers. He fought through some late mistakes, hit a clutch three and got a huge block on SGA in the final 30 seconds.