The San Antonio Spurs are playing like a championship team, even though their roster is young and short on finals experience. Across the same playoff bracket, the Oklahoma City Thunder have run into a different kind of problem: Chet Holmgren’s reluctance to shoot the ball.
Why the Spurs defy the norm
Teams with little playoff history and a young core usually struggle to keep up with more seasoned opponents. But the Spurs have flipped that expectation. They’re performing at a level typically reserved for veteran contenders, stringing together wins that would be surprising for any club, let alone one with so few players who have been deep in the postseason.
Their success so far suggests something unusual is happening within the locker room. Coaches have found a system that lets their youth become an advantage rather than a liability. The energy is high, the rotations are crisp, and the team hasn’t shown the kind of jitters that often sink inexperienced squads.
Holmgren’s missing shots
The same cannot be said for the Thunder. Chet Holmgren, a key piece of Oklahoma City’s lineup, has been passing up open looks when the team needs him to score. That hesitation has hurt the offense at critical junctures. In a league where every possession matters, a player who won’t pull the trigger can stall an entire attack.
The Thunder have lost games they might have won if Holmgren had taken—and made—those shots. His reluctance has become a talking point among fans and analysts, but the numbers back it up: when he hesitates, the offense sputters. The team is now searching for ways to get him more comfortable or to adjust the game plan around his current mindset.
Strategic shifts that can change a series
What’s happening with both teams highlights a bigger truth about playoff basketball. Small strategic adjustments—like how the Spurs use their youth or how the Thunder try to free up Holmgren—can swing a series. A coach’s decision to switch defensive schemes or to stagger minutes a certain way can turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
For the Spurs, maintaining their championship-level play will require sustaining that early momentum and not letting the pressure of the moment creep in. For the Thunder, the fix is more straightforward but harder to execute: they need Holmgren to shoot when he’s open, or they need to find someone else who will. The next game will show whether Oklahoma City can make that adjustment.
