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OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA - MAY 18: Keldon Johnson #3 of the San Antonio Spurs reacts before Game One of the NBA Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center on May 18, 2026 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The San Antonio Spurs are tied 2-2 in their Western Conference Finals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Game 5 on Tuesday night could be the team’s biggest matchup of the season as they hope to regain a series lead.
Regardless of the series, Game 5s in the NBA Playoffs tend to paint a clear picture of who will advance, according to a recent league announcement.
Now, heading into Game 5 for the Spurs, Keldon Johnson, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, sent a blunt message about how San Antonio is feeling as the series shifts back to Oklahoma City.
At team shootaround ahead of Game 5, Johnson spoke to Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News about the importance of the upcoming contest with the series tied two games apiece.
Game 5s are huge, Keldon reminds us this morning: “This is the biggest game of the season right here tonight…It’s going to be a dog fight. It’s going to be tough, but I feel like we are built for the moment and we are built for these times and I feel like we’ll show it tonight.”
“This is the biggest game of the season right here tonight,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be a dog fight. It’s going to be tough, but I feel like we are built for the moment and we are built for these times and I feel like we’ll show it tonight.”
Throughout the year, and even in this playoff series, the Spurs have been the biggest threat to the Thunder’s chances of winning a second straight championship. They went 4-1 against Oklahoma City during the regular season, and handed them their first two losses of the postseason in Games 1 and 4.
While it’s evident Game 5 is massive for both sides, as he said, Johnson believes it’s the most important game of the year for the Spurs, but he feels they are prepared for a contest that, according to the NBA, could easily decide the series and who advances to the 2026 Finals.
GettyVictor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs is congratulated by Dylan Harper #2 and Stephon Castle #5 after scoring a basket against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter in Game Four of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Frost Bank Center on May 24, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas.
If Johnson’s comments weren’t enough to show the importance of Game 5, the NBA attempted to make that clear as well with a social media post hours before the crucial Spurs-Thunder matchup.
On X, the league revealed that in playoff series that are tied 2-2, the team that ends up winning Game 5, regardless of home court advantage, goes on to advance at a staggering 76.4% of the time.
“When the Conference Finals are tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner takes the series 76.4% (42-13) of the time!” the NBA wrote.
With the winner of Game 5 ending up advancing more than three-fourths of the time, it turns the Tuesday night contest into all but a must-win for both the Spurs and the Thunder.
In their previous games in this series and in the regular season, San Antonio has won in three of their six trips to Oklahoma City, which doesn’t signal they have a major advantage or disadvantage for Game 3.
However, the Spurs don’t have any players on their injury report, while the Thunder will be without Ajay Mitchell and potentially Jalen Williams. In Game 4, without Mitchell and Williams, the Spurs dominated, so while they are .500 when playing in Oklahoma City this season, the injuries could also have a major impact on who will win.
Regardless, Game 5 is massive for both sides, but San Antonio appears to know the weight on their shoulders as they hope to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014.
Spurs vs Thunder Game 5 tips off at 7:30 pm CST on Tuesday, May 26, and will be live on NBC and Peacock.
Eli Gregorski is a sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy Sports. He has years of sports writing experience covering the NBA, NFL, college football and basketball, international soccer, and Formula One. He graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was the assistant sports editor for the award-winning CU Independent student publication. More about Eli Gregorski
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