NBA Regular Season: Spurs, Thunder & Knicks – Key Updates

Mathieu Warnier, Media365, published on Saturday January 3, 2026 at 8:20 a.m.

Deprived of Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio went for a second success in a row in Indiana. Oklahoma City reached the 30-win mark this season by crushing Golden State when New York fell at home to Atlanta.

The Spurs have restarted the machine well. After stopping a series of two defeats in a row by dominating the Knicks to end the year 2025, the Texan franchise launched 2026 by seeking a precious success on the floor of the Indiana Pacers. If Pascal Siakam’s teammates (23 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) started the match well with a first quarter led almost from start to finish, they were never able to take more than nine steps ahead. Even without Victor Wembanyama, the San Antonio players had some response at the start of the second to break away irreparably.

De’Aaron Fox (24 points, 7 rebounds) and Stephon Castle (19 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists) were respected to give the Spurs a fifteen-length advantage at the break. After a boost from the restart, the Texans slowed down. The Pacers took the opportunity to get back below ten points. But the hope of seeing the series of ten defeats in a row then born among their supporters did not resist the last twelve minutes of the match. With a 17-point lead five minutes from the buzzer, the Spurs finished the game coasting to win by ten points (113-123) against the worst team in the league. A success which allows them to keep pace with the Thunder.

Four in a row for the Thunder

Indeed, since their defeat against these same Spurs on Christmas Day, the leaders of the Western Conference have once again become untouchable and the Warriors have experienced this. On its floor at the Chase Center, a Californian team deprived of Stephen Curry and Draymond Green weighed too little. Indeed, if the Golden State players took the lead in the first seconds thanks to a long-distance shot from Will Richard (13 points, 5 rebounds), they then took the waves one after the other. The resistance of the Californians faded throughout the first quarter before disappearing midway through the second. A 19-0 led by the inevitable Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (30 points, 7 assists) allowed the Thunder to fly onto the scoreboard.

This gave them a margin of 19 lengths when they returned to the locker room. Pridefully, the Warriors tried to reverse the trend as soon as play resumed but it did not last very long. A sequence of ten points scored in quick succession allowed the OKC franchise to continue its march forward to pass the 30-point lead. An attitude that Chet Holmgren’s teammates (15 points, 15 rebounds) did not abandon at the end of the match. This allowed them to take up to 41 lengths of lead with two minutes still to play. The Thunder won in the end by 37 points (94-131) and signed a 30th victory in 35 games. The Warriors, for their part, relapsed after two consecutive successes.

The Knicks in failure again

While the Detroit Pistons are struggling, the Knicks are failing to take advantage. After the narrow defeat against the San Antonio Spurs, the Big Apple franchise stalled on its floor at Madison Square Garden during the reception of the Hawks. A meeting which saw the Knicks start strong under the leadership of Jalen Brunson (24 points, 5 assists) and Ariel Hukporti (8 points, 16 rebounds). Except that the Hawks of Zaccharie Risacher (12 points, 5 rebounds) had some response to take the lead by three points at the end of the first twelve minutes. The New Yorkers then stood up to a team looking for confidence after dominating the Timberwolves in front of their home crowd during their last outing in 2025.

However, the teammates of Guerschon Yabusele who spent fifteen minutes on the floor (8 points) lowered the flag at the end of the second quarter with the gap reaching fifteen units shortly before half-time. A gap which grew during a one-sided third quarter. Trailing by 24 points at the start of the last quarter, the Knicks tried to react. This materialized with an 11-0 bringing them back thirteen lengths. A return of flame that Luke Kennard (12 points) extinguished with two successful long-distance shots in the space of 30 seconds. If the Knicks were then able to fall below the ten-point deficit, it happened far too late. The Hawks won by twelve lengths (99-111) and remained in the qualifying places for the play-in. The Knicks, with this eleventh defeat in 34 games, fail to reduce the gap on the Pistons, leaders of the Eastern Conference.