The San Antonio Spurs passed the Oklahoma City Thunder for the top spot in the NBA's latest Power Rankings.
The Spurs jumped five spots to No. 1, while the Thunder fell one spot to second.
"The Spurs are now the only team that ranks in the top five on both ends of the floor," NBA.com's John Schuhmann said. "They knocked the Thunder out of the top five on offense by holding them to just 107.0 points per 100 possessions over three meetings in the last 16 days."
San Antonio beat the Thunder twice last week in dominating fashion. The Spurs cruised to a 130-110 victory against Oklahoma City on Dec. 23. Two days later, the Spurs traveled to OKC and handed the Thunder a 117-102 defeat on Christmas Day.
"The defense is aided by the Spurs’ lack of turnovers against the Thunder," Schuhmann said. "Their two wins last week were two of the seven times that the Thunder have forced fewer than 14 turnovers per 100 possessions."
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De'Aaron Fox led the way for the Spurs on Christmas, scoring 29 points on 12/19 shooting. Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle both added 19 points.
But the biggest factor in the win for San Antonio was its defense. The Spurs held OKC to 37/95 (39%) shooting from the field, including an 11/44 (25%) day from three.
San Antonio (23-7) has tightened the race with the Thunder (27-5) for the league's best record. The Spurs are 3.5 games behind OKC in the Western Conference. They are now 3-0 against the Thunder this season, including a 111-109 win in the NBA Cup Semifinals.
The Spurs and Thunder will meet again on Jan. 13 in Oklahoma City.
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