The last time Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren competed, the shot block heard around the world was captured and etched into the minds of basketball fanatics as an all-timer. Seeing two guys the size of Wemby and Chet face off in one-on-one situations and isolate each other is still startling, but makes for some amazing highlights.

As fun as it is to watch the two unicorns go head-to-head, the way they are measured against each other is inadequate. Although Holmgren is talented, he is not considered the best player on the Thunder’s roster – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander holds that title. Wemby, on the other hand, is the focal point of the Spurs’ offense, which makes him the focal point of the Thunder’s defensive game plan.

Wembanyama was talking about this one day when he highlighted the fact that he is usually forced to deal with constant double teams while Chet is allowed to play one-on-one because you can’t leave the other players behind on OKC, one of the top three-point scoring teams the league, open.

Last season, the Thunder had the highest three-point percentage in the league at 38.9%. This gives your team an incredible amount of space to work in the middle of the court, and that’s the NBA. The players are extremely talented and most will find ways to score more often if given the space.

San Antonio was on the other side of the spectrum last season. As the 28th team from deep, there was no reason for OKC to pay as much attention to players on the wing, so they were able to lean more heavily on Wemby, sending the main defender to help almost every time the reigning rookie of the year put the ball on the ground – highlighting the biggest key to today’s game.

When the Spurs played the Thunder for the first time last season, Wemby was ill-prepared for the intensity that OKC brought to the table. He was still adjusting to a different style of basketball than he had abroad, and it showed in his inconsistency. He finished the game with eight points, 14 rebounds and two blocks while shooting 27% from the field.

Throw that away. At this point, the season wasn’t even a month old and the team was still experimenting with Jeremy Sochan at point guard. A lot of things should be left out of this episode.

In their first rematch, Wemby appeared and dropped 24 points on 50% shooting while adding 12 boards, four assists and four blocks in a 140-114 loss. Chet also played well in this game, scoring 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks, but the alien was clearly superior to him.

It didn’t matter, though, because SGA was completely out of it – he scored 32 points on 15 shots – Jalen Williams was a problem, Aaron Wiggins dropped 22 points and even Josh Giddey, who had the worst year of his career last season, had 12 points for Added efficient shooting.

The only game San Antonio won was Game 3 on February 29th, and it was an absolute team effort. Wemby and Devin Vassell each scored 28 points, Jeremy Sochan dropped 21 and Tre Jones added 17. Even Zach Collins had an efficient night with 13 points after going 5-7 from the field.

Wembanyama is developing a reputation for playing great in the big games, and if the Spurs want to steal this game while being without Vassell, every single player that steps on the floor needs to be ready to play cleanly, be aggressive, and most importantly, take your shots.

OKC is too good to believe they can win a low-scoring affair. Unfortunately, they are also one of the best defensive teams in the league. The Thunder are the 12-point favorite for a reason, and if the Spurs want to prove the oddsmakers wrong, it’s better for every player to get involved.