Oklahoma City lost Game 4 to San Antonio 103-82 on Sunday night in San Antonio, and Chet Holmgren finished with 10 points and nine rebounds in 26 minutes after being named to the All-NBA third team about 40 minutes before tipoff.
The defeat leveled the 2026 Western Conference finals and exposed how thin Oklahoma City’s margin for error has become: the Thunder scored a season-low 82 points, shot 33 percent from the field and hit just 18.2 percent from 3-point range in a game that rarely resembled the team that closed the regular season with momentum.
Holmgren’s box score in Game 4 — 10 points, nine rebounds, 3-for-8 shooting — added to an uneven series for the 24-year-old. He is averaging 11.3 points and six rebounds for the series, numbers that are career lows, and in Oklahoma City’s two losses he totaled 18 points on 5-of-15 shooting. Holmgren topped out at 14 points in Game 3, a modest high-water mark against a Spurs defense that has repeatedly made him work.
After the game Holmgren was blunt about his own standards. "No matter what I do out there, I always expect more from myself and expect better," he said, adding, "I can see a lot of opportunities in the game where I have to be better and take advantage. I'm going to do everything I can to do that." The praise of an All-NBA selection arrived hours before the matchup, but the series has not matched that honor with production.
The friction is clear on the court. San Antonio’s star has been outplaying Holmgren through four games — a dynamic that has tilted matchups and rotations toward the Spurs. Oklahoma City’s offensive plan failed to generate shots or rhythm: coach Mark Daigneault acknowledged, "We went to him a little bit at different times," then added, "But I just thought the global approach offensively tonight didn’t benefit anybody. It was more of a five-man issue and us holistically. And (it was) San Antonio playing really good defense. It was a combination of us not being as sharp as we could’ve been and San Antonio being really good." He later said, "I don’t know what I could’ve called tonight that would’ve changed it. It was more of like a global approach, slash San Antonio."
Teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander talked candidly about finding Holmgren better through the offense. "I mean, Chet’s an easy target to find," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "So, probably just, like, finding him more in the dunker (spot), and when he’s spacing. Just put him in better positions to use his strengths as an offensive talent. Um, I don’t know exactly what that looks like because I just got done playing. But watching film, we’ll find ways for sure."
Oklahoma City also played Game 4 without Jalen Williams because of left hamstring soreness and without Ajay Mitchell because of a right soleus strain, a pair of absences that narrowed play-calling options and strained depth. The Thunder’s struggles in this series — Holmgren’s 11.3 and six averages, both career lows — stand in contrast to his previous postseason form; in the prior round he averaged 20 points on 60.8 percent shooting, a reminder of what he can be when matchups and rhythm align.
The consequence heading into Game 5 is straightforward: Holmgren must translate his All-NBA recognition into sustained playoff production or the Spurs will continue to lean on the matchup advantage. For now, the headline is the dissonance between an individual honor and a team that now must regroup on the road. Holmgren’s answer came as plainly as he could give it: he sees the openings — and "I'm going to do everything I can to do that."
