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One of the greatest things about attending NBA games is the intensity of the home crowds, who live and die with every basket, especially in the final moments as the game can be decided with one clutch basket or a key defensive play. That’s been missing in the semifinals of the knockout rounds of the NBA Cup so far, as the games in Las Vegas have mostly been attended by Las Vegas tourists who aren’t necessarily fans of either team. Tonight’s game might be more of the same, with both semis being played back-to-back in the same arena in an almost Summer League like atmosphere. It’s hard for fans to pick up tickets and lodging in the the three days between the quarterfinals and semifinals, but I thought long and hard about it before I decided to watch them at home on Prime, which costs approximately 99.9% less. Anyway, the effect is that when you’re watching the game on TV, it seems kind of dead relative to the average NBA contest, with the crowd being more into their drinks than cheering on the teams. It might be different this year, due to the increased interest in the Cup and many fans of the teams in the semifinals might be willing to make the trip to Vegas, which is kind of a fun hang.
So, maybe you haven’t heard yet, but there’s some important news relating to player availability tonight for the Spurs. That’s right, Jordan McLaughlin is completely off the injury report, so he’s no longer under a minutes restriction. David Jones Garcia is also with the team, and available to play tonight. Also, there’s this guy, who hasn’t been available for the last month, who’s listed as probable tonight. While the team has played pretty well in his absence, logging a 9-3 record, it’s likely that Coach Mitch Johnson can find a few minutes for this Victor Wembenyama fellow to allow him a chance to re-integrate into the rotation. Word is, the guy is pretty good.
The Thunder has been a juggernaut this season so far, winning at a 96% rate (projects to 78 wins in the regular season) with their only loss to a Tiago Splitter coached Portland Trail Blazers team on November 5. But they haven’t played the Spurs yet, and the Spurs will have their full roster available tonight for the first time this season. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the reigning MVP of the league, and he’s playing well enough that he could easily win it again, with only the Joker in serious competition with him at the moment. There could be a guy on the Spurs that could make a run at that award later, as long as he plays the requisite 65 games, but maybe thinking too much about individual awards isn’t Spursy enough to consider, especially this early in the season.
Can the Spurs win tonight? It’s definitely possible. The Thunder has to be favored, but playing at a neutral site in front of a neutral crowd could be a unique situation that the Silver and Black can exploit. If they play well and Wembanyama does his usual spectacular things, along with good support from Castle and Fox, it could get the crowd behind the underdogs. If they can energize the jaded gamblers who wandered in off of the strip, it could be a very good night for the good guys, and we could see the Spurs in the finals on Tuesday, where the players can get themselves a big chunk of change and a nice little trophy. [Note: have you ever noticed that the NBA Cup trophy looks like the Larry O’Brien trophy cut in half? That couldn’t have been unintentional.] So let’s go Spurs!
In an unexpected move, Coach Mitch Johnson plays Jeremy Sochan 30 minutes as the primary defender on Shai, and gets 4 blocks and hold SGA to less than 20 points before fouling out with a minute left in the game.
Alternate Game Prediction:
Keldon Johnson’s llama is presented to him in the post-game, but ruins the vibe by spitting on the announcer during the interview.
San Antonio Spurs vs Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA Cup semifinals, Las Vegas)
December 13, 2025 | 8:00 PM CT
Streaming: Prime
TV: Amazon Prime
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