{"id":1954494,"date":"2026-05-25T15:20:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T12:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1954494"},"modified":"2026-05-25T15:20:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T12:20:20","slug":"thunder-vs-spurs-series-odds-oklahoma-city-favored-after-spurs-even-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1954494","title":{"rendered":"Thunder vs. Spurs series odds: Oklahoma City favored after Spurs even series"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Article_ContentContainer__jBNW3 article-content-container bodytext1\">\n<p>After Game 3, we said it: Despite losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder two games in a row, the San Antonio Spurs were still <em>that<\/em> team \u2014 the one that has had the Thunder\u2019s number again and again. And San Antonio <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7306202\/2026\/05\/24\/spurs-thunder-game-4-result-western-conference-finals-nba\/\">made that proclamation real for us<\/a> in Game 4, cruising to a victory and equalizing the series 2-2.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid1\" data-position=\"mid1\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Now the Western Conference finals head back to the Thunder\u2019s home court, and OKC is favored to go up 3-2. What a series.<\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma City is a 5.5-point favorite for Game 5, and -198 on the moneyline, which implies a 66 percent likelihood of winning.<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder are also favored to win the entire series and advance to the NBA Finals, but by a much closer margin than before the Spurs won Game 4. OKC is -210 (about a 67 percent implied likelihood) to win the series, compared to -450 (over 80 percent) after Game 4.<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs\u2019 odds to advance to the finals are at +170.<\/p>\n<p>Historically, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7302348\/2026\/05\/23\/shai-gilgeous-alexander-thunder-spurs-game-3-western-conference-finals\/\">winner of Game 3<\/a> in a series tied 1-1 takes the series more than 70 percent of the time. Can the Spurs beat history and the odds?<\/p>\n<div data-ath-video-stream=\"JiRlvoVoypQztAR\"><\/div>\n<h2>Game 5: San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder<\/h2>\n<p><span data-tallysight-widget-type=\"tile\" data-tallysight-widget-id=\"6a083bbc5a2092d8ff93105e\" data-tallysight-widget-config-workspace=\"the-athletic\"><br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n<strong>TV:<\/strong> NBC\/Peacock<\/p>\n<p><strong>Time:<\/strong> Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n<p><strong>Series odds:<\/strong> Thunder -210, Spurs +170<\/p>\n<p><strong>Series tied 2-2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The key to the Spurs Game 4 victory was an activated Victor Wembanyama, who took 17 shots in just the first half, compared to 16 total in Game 2 and 15 in all of Game 3. He went off for 33 points, eight boards, five assists, three blocked shots and two steals.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, Game 4\u2019s win wasn\u2019t about a good shooting night (the Spurs had 38.9 percent shooting); it was about adjusting their defense to contain the league\u2019s MVP. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was held to 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting and 0-1 from 3. Of course, part of that was because the Thunder were missing Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell due to injury, which allowed the Spurs to focus on SGA.<\/p>\n<div id=\"inline-graphic\">\n<p>        a.showcase-link-container {<br \/>\n  display: flex;<br \/>\n  gap: 20px;<br \/>\n  flex-direction: column;<br \/>\n  align-items: center;<br \/>\n  padding: 20px 0px;<br \/>\n  border-top: 1px solid rgba(150, 150, 147, 0.4);<br \/>\n  border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(150, 150, 147, 0.4);<br \/>\n  text-decoration: none;<br \/>\n  color: #121212;<br \/>\n  cursor: pointer;<\/p>\n<p>  .showcase-link {<br \/>\n    font-family: nyt-franklin;<br \/>\n    font-size: 14px;<br \/>\n    font-style: normal;<br \/>\n    font-weight: 700;<br \/>\n    line-height: 13.8px;<br \/>\n    letter-spacing: 1.1px;<br \/>\n    text-transform: uppercase;<br \/>\n  }<\/p>\n<p>  .showcase-link-image {<br \/>\n    border-radius: 8px;<br \/>\n    object-fit: cover;<br \/>\n    width: 200px;<br \/>\n    height: 150px;<br \/>\n    margin: 0px;<br \/>\n    @media (max-width: 600px) {<br \/>\n      width: 120px;<br \/>\n      height: 120px;<br \/>\n    }<br \/>\n  }<\/p>\n<p>  .showcase-link-inner-content {<br \/>\n    display: flex;<br \/>\n    flex-direction: row;<br \/>\n    gap: 16px;<br \/>\n    width: 100%;<br \/>\n  }<\/p>\n<p>  .showcase-link-text-content {<br \/>\n    display: flex;<br \/>\n    flex-direction: column;<br \/>\n    gap: 20px;<br \/>\n    justify-content: center;<br \/>\n    @media (max-width: 600px) {<br \/>\n      gap: 8px;<br \/>\n    }<br \/>\n  }<\/p>\n<p>  .showcase-link-title {<br \/>\n    font-family: nyt-cheltenham;<br \/>\n    font-size: 24px;<br \/>\n    font-style: normal;<br \/>\n    font-weight: 500;<br \/>\n    line-height: 120%; \/* 24px *\/<br \/>\n    letter-spacing: 0.01px;<br \/>\n    text-overflow: ellipsis;<br \/>\n    overflow: hidden;<br \/>\n    display: -webkit-box;<br \/>\n    -webkit-box-orient: vertical;<br \/>\n    -webkit-line-clamp: 3;<br \/>\n    @media (max-width: 600px) {<br \/>\n      font-size: 16px;<br \/>\n    }<br \/>\n  }<\/p>\n<p>  .showcase-link-excerpt {<br \/>\n    font-family: nyt-imperial;<br \/>\n    font-size: 16px;<br \/>\n    font-style: normal;<br \/>\n    font-weight: 400;<br \/>\n    line-height: 139%; \/* 19.46px *\/<br \/>\n    color: #323232;<br \/>\n    text-overflow: ellipsis;<br \/>\n    overflow: hidden;<br \/>\n    display: -webkit-box;<br \/>\n    -webkit-box-orient: vertical;<br \/>\n    -webkit-line-clamp: 4;<br \/>\n    @media (max-width: 600px) {<br \/>\n      font-size: 12px;<br \/>\n      line-height: 121%;<br \/>\n    }<br \/>\n  }<br \/>\n}<\/p>\n<p>.showcase-link-inputs {<br \/>\n  .showcase-link-input {<br \/>\n    width: 100%;<br \/>\n    font-size: 1rem;<br \/>\n    background-color: white;<br \/>\n    margin-bottom: 12px;<br \/>\n  }<\/p>\n<p>  .showcase-link-indent {<br \/>\n    margin-left: 25px;<br \/>\n  }<\/p>\n<p>  option {<br \/>\n    width: 100%;<br \/>\n  }<br \/>\n}<\/p>\n<p>@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {<br \/>\n  .native-mobile a.showcase-link-container {<br \/>\n    background-color: #121212;<br \/>\n    color: #f0f0ee;<br \/>\n    .showcase-link-excerpt {<br \/>\n      color: #c4c4c0;<br \/>\n    }<br \/>\n  }<br \/>\n}<\/p>\n<p>            \/\/ Remove all onclicks on imgs for apps to prevent image zoom on click<br \/>\n            document.querySelectorAll(&#8216;.showcase-link-image&#8217;).forEach((img) =&gt; img.removeAttribute(&#8216;onclick&#8217;));<\/p>\n<p>        <a id=\"showcase-link-7306611\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7306611\/2026\/05\/25\/victor-wembanyama-spurs-thunder-game-4-nba-playoffs\/\" class=\"showcase-link-container in-content-module-link testbed-shortcode\" data-shortcode-id=\"101\" data-shortcode-string=\"showcase-link\" data-content-id=\"7306611\" data-content-post-type=\"article\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"showcase-link\">What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n<div class=\"showcase-link-inner-content\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/05\/25062254\/GettyImages-2278050028-1-scaled-e1779704631496-1024x683.jpg?width=400&amp;quality=70\" alt=\"Victor Wembanyama is ahead of schedule \u2014 and the Thunder are playing with fire again\" class=\"showcase-link-image\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"showcase-link-text-content\">\n<div class=\"showcase-link-title\">\n                  Victor Wembanyama is ahead of schedule \u2014 and the Thunder are playing with fire again\n              <\/div>\n<div class=\"showcase-link-excerpt\">\n                  After the Spurs&#8217; 103-82 win in Game 4, the series is tied 2-2 with Wembanyama seemingly a man on a mission.\n              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>        <\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Oklahoma City seemed to show cracks from the loss of Williams and Mitchell, and Jared McCain, the hero of Game 3, had a tough shooting night, going 1-for-10 and just four points.<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder\u2019s points total and field goal percentage (33 percent) marked their lowest outputs in any game this season, and they had more turnovers than the Spurs for the first time this series.<\/p>\n<p>If anyone can adjust, though, it\u2019s Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After Game 3, we said it: Despite losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder two games in a row, the San Antonio Spurs were still that team \u2014 the one that has had the Thunder\u2019s number again and again. And San Antonio made that proclamation real for us in Game 4, cruising to a victory and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1954494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1954494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1954494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1954494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1954494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}