SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Keldon Johnson had 25 points, Stephon Castle added 24 and the San Antonio Spurs stormed past Oklahoma City 130-110 on Tuesday night, winning their seventh straight game and beating the Thunder for the second time in 11 days.
Victor Wembanyama’s streak of consecutive games with at least one block ended at 101, but the Spurs were just happy to have him on the court after he was downgraded to questionable on Monday. Wembanyama finished with 12 points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 33 points for Oklahoma City. Jalen Williams added 17.
San Antonio has won 14 of 17 to move into second place in the Western Conference. Oklahoma City has lost three of five games since opening the season 24-1. The defending champions’ fourth loss this season was by far their worst, with the previous three coming by two, two and five points.
The Thunder’s second loss of the season was 111-109 against the Spurs in the NBA Cup semifinal on Dec. 13 in Las Vegas.
The rematch was another tense battle between the top two seeds in the West.
There were 15 lead changes and 13 ties before San Antonio pulled away late in the third quarter.
Wembanyama and Spurs rookie Dylan Harper led the second-half surge.
Harper was limited to four points but had season highs with five steals and 10 assists.
Wembanyama came off the bench for the sixth straight game after missing 12 straight with a strained left calf.
He drained a 26-foot 3-pointer over Alex Caruso three minutes into the final quarter to give the Spurs a 98-86 lead. San Antonio extended the lead to 101-88 two minutes later when Wembanyama assisted on Castle’s 3-pointer.
Up next
Spurs at Thunder on Thursday. Oklahoma City is 6-14 on Christmas Day and San Antonio is 5-7.
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This story has been corrected to show that the Spurs beat the Thunder for the second time in 11, not 10, days.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Raul Dominguez, The Associated Press
