The Oklahoma City Thunder were dominant for most of the season, posting the NBA’s best record for the second consecutive season.

But the Thunder struggled against the San Antonio Spurs, dropping four of the five meetings during the regular season.

On Monday, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder open the Western Conference finals against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs in Oklahoma City.

It’s the first NBA playoff series between teams with 60 or more wins since 2017 and the first between teams with 62 or more wins since the 1998 NBA Finals between Chicago and Utah.

“It’s fitting because both teams earned their way here,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “… It’s a team we have a ton of respect for. We know what they’re capable of. It’s an opponent that is incredibly worthy.”

Thunder reserve big man Jaylin Williams said the regular-season results don’t mean much now.

“The playoffs is such a different monster,” Williams said. “It’s a different game. You’re never playing a team this many times in a row in the regular season. The calls are different, guys play harder, the defense is different, offense is different, everything is different. So it’s a whole different game.”

Oklahoma City has had a week between games, finishing off a sweep of the Lakers on May 11. The Thunder are 8-0 in the playoffs, winning by an average of more than 16 points per game.

San Antonio is coming off a six-game series win over Minnesota after needing five games to dispatch Portland in the first round.

“Just the words ‘conference finals,’ it’s crazy,” Wembanyama said. “It’s like something I heard my whole life. Now being in it is just special.”

While Wembanyama played in the games against Oklahoma City in the regular season, he came off the bench for each of the three wins over the Thunder during a 13-day stretch in December.

Wembanyama was working his way back from a calf strain, and upon his return came off the bench for the first seven games before returning to the starting lineup.

In his first playoff run, Wembanyaa is averaging 20.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 4.1 blocks and 2.4 assists.

The Spurs have been pretty healthy during their run to the Western Conference finals.

Oklahoma City has been without All-Star guard Jalen Williams since he sustained a hamstring injury in Game 2 of the first round.

In an Instagram video posted Friday, Williams said he was ready to return.

“I’m about to go into another series healthy,” Williams said.

Williams wasn’t listed on the injury report ahead of Game 1.

San Antonio’s De’Aaron Fox (ankle) and Luke Kornet (foot) are listed as questionable.

While Gilgeous-Alexander, who was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season Sunday, has led the way for Oklahoma City, Chet Holmgren and Ajay Mitchell have been critical pieces for this playoff run.

Holmgren, in particular, figures to be key in this series as the Thunder try to slow Wembanyama. Wembanyama won NBA Defensive Player of the Year honors while Holmgren finished second. Holmgren is averaging 18.6 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 1.4 steals and 1.3 assists in the postseason.

San Antonio is in the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2017 and is looking for its first NBA Finals berth since winning the 2014 title.

Oklahoma City is looking to become the first back-to-back NBA champion since Golden State in 2017-18.

“It’s going to be a hard-fought series — very physical, two teams with high aspirations,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle said. “They’re playing really well right now. We’re playing really well right now. We’re in each other’s way of going to the finals, so I think it’ll be a good series.”

–Field Level Media

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Aaron Rai undersold the reaction to the mammoth putt that sealed his first major championship.

His tee shot at the par-3 17th landed clear on the other side of the green, 68 1/2 feet from the pin. His putt traveled up one ridge and down a second, aligning perfectly with the shadow of the flagstick as it tracked straight into the cup.

Rai’s facial expression barely changed. He shared one solitary hand-slap with his caddie, something less than a full high five. No one was going to catch him, but Rai waited till completing the 18th hole to finally exhale and celebrate winning the PGA Championship on Sunday at Aronimink Golf Club.

On a weekend where fans studied the leaderboard and wondered, “Who’s that?,” Rai showed exactly who he is.

Rai, 31, drained a series of increasingly long putts to write himself into the history books as the first Englishman to win the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes in 1919. Americans had claimed this major each of the last 10 years.

He made a 40-foot eagle putt at the par-5 ninth hole to cap an uneven first nine, then pulled away with four birdies on the back and converted his remarkable birdie at No. 17 to remove any doubt.

“The shadow of the pin gave a really nice line for probably the last 10 feet. So that definitely helped with the visual of the putt,” Rai said during the trophy presentation. “But it was so long that it was just trying to put good speed on it and make a good putt, and it just tracked extremely well on the last half. Yeah, amazing to see that one go in.”

Rai began the day in a five-way tie for second behind Alex Smalley. His 5-under-par 65 brought him to 9-under 271 for the week, three strokes ahead of Smalley (70) and Jon Rahm of Spain (68).

The first English major winner since Matt Fitzpatrick took the 2022 U.S. Open title, Rai was one of several less familiar names on the 54-hole leaderboard. But he was ranked No. 44 in the world entering the week, with one win on the PGA Tour and three more on the DP World Tour for his career.

He previously had not finished better than T19 at a major.

“It’s a really long journey to even get to compete at major championships at events like the PGA,” Rai said. “Yeah, to be stood here, it still hasn’t sunk in for sure.”

Justin Thomas (65), Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (69) and Germany’s Matti Schmid (69) tied for fourth at 5-under 275.

Thomas was the leader in the clubhouse at about 3:05 p.m. local time, and that held up for most of the afternoon as players battled Aronimink’s more demanding back nine. Thomas had improved on his Saturday 72 by seven shots.

“I vented and kind of got everything off my chest to my wife Jill last night,” Thomas said. “Credit to her, she gave great advice. She was like, ‘Well, use that tomorrow.’ She’s seen me play pissed off. I’ve done it in Ryder Cups a lot, and it’s like sometimes it brings a little different energy and different side out of it.

“So I’ve got to give her a lot of credit for that because I tried to use that out of my finish and round today to play today and shoot as low as I could.”

Smalley, Rahm, Rai and Schmid each held at least a share of the lead at 6 under at some point. Smalley — seeking his first professional win of any kind — harmed his chances with a messy double bogey at the par-4 sixth and a bogey at No. 8.

“I knew it was going to be a difficult round mentally and just because the golf course was drying out, it was warm, ball was bouncing a lot, rolling a lot,” said Smalley, who rallied in part because of an eagle at No. 16. “Hung in there. Kind of gave myself some stress on the first few holes again. Made a couple of back-to-back mistakes on No. 6 and paid for it.”

Schmid, playing in the final pairing with Smalley and also winless on the PGA Tour, took the lead from him at No. 6 when he got a 19 1/2-foot birdie to fall. But his bogey on No. 10 opened the door for Rai.

Rai’s putter was far from the only club working for him. He gave himself 4-foot birdies with tight approaches at Nos. 1 and 11, though he overshot the greens at Nos. 3 and 6 to lead to two of his three front-nine bogeys.

Everything turned when Rai lined up his eagle putt at No. 9. He left in the pin for the downhill, left-to-right putt and watched it turn straight toward the hole.

“I was just trying to focus on speed. Hit a great putt, great speed, and we were lucky it went in,” Rai said. “Definitely helped and provided a bit of a boost to the round.”

The birdie at No. 11 drew Rai even with Schmid, and he became the first player to touch 7 under all week at the short par-4 13th. Rai’s tee shot went in the front-right bunker, but he got his 39-yard sand shot to stop inside 7 feet to set up birdie.

Rai was one of the only players who managed to tame the back nine. Northern Ireland star Rory McIlroy could not muster a late rally, posting 69 and landing at 4 under. He tied for seventh with Australian Cameron Smith (68) and Xander Schauffele (69).

Kurt Kitayama played Sunday morning and fired a bogey-free, 7-under 63 to tie the record for lowest final round at a major championship. He tied for 10th at 3 under with Chris Gotterup (69), Patrick Reed (70) and England’s Justin Rose (69).

Reigning champion and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler had a ho-hum 69 and finished seven behind Rai at 2 under.

Rahm had the greatest chance to pressure the less experienced contenders when he hit fine approaches into Nos. 1 and 2 and collected birdies to reach 6 under. He could not keep that going and gave them back with bogeys at Nos. 3 and 7.

“I played really good golf. That’s the only way to look at it,” Rahm said after his best major finish since 2023. “Just wish I’d have done better with the speed of the greens. Just couldn’t seem to get it to the hole, and that’s the reason why I didn’t hole any more putts.

“As far as I’m concerned, to be in the mix again and hit it as good as I did and perform as well as I did this weekend, it’s been a great week.”

Then Rahm praised Rai, not only for his sharp play but also for the consensus around golf that “there’s very few people that are nicer and kinder human beings than” the Wolverhampton-area native.

A son of Indian immigrants, Rai is widely known as a mild-mannered, humble and respectful player. He is still in the habit of using iron covers, a rarity in the sport, because he came from a working-class family and it would be prohibitively expensive — and unfair to his parents — to replace damaged equipment.

“Golf is an amazing game,” Rai said at the trophy presentation. “It teaches you so many things, and it teaches you so much humility and discipline and absolute hard work because nothing is ever given in this game no matter what level you’re playing, no matter what course you’re playing on. So I think it just teaches so many amazing life skills.”

–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media

Gabriela Jaquez scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and the Chicago Sky held on for an 86-79 win over the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday night in Minneapolis.

Rachel Banham scored 13 points off the bench for Chicago (3-1), which bounced back from its first loss of the season on Friday against the Phoenix Mercury. Kamilla Cardoso notched a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Kayla McBride scored 20 points on 8-for-17 shooting for Minnesota (2-2). Courtney Williams and Natasha Howard finished with 17 points apiece.

The victory came at a cost for Chicago. The team’s top scorer, Rickea Jackson, went down as she drove toward the rim midway through the second quarter, and she did not return.

Jackson stepped awkwardly as she planted her left leg during the play in which she was injured. She appeared to favor her left knee as the team’s medical staff attended to her. Jackson, who was averaging 22 points per game, finished with six in 11 minutes of play.

Despite losing Jackson, the Sky maintained their lead throughout the second half.

An 8-0 run in the fourth quarter helped Chicago avoid a comeback attempt by the Lynx. Banham made a 3-pointer to punctuate the run and put the Sky ahead 76-66 with 5:46 remaining.

The Sky built a 63-56 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Sydney Taylor made a pair of free throws to put Chicago ahead by double digits with 1:59 left in the third quarter. The Lynx pulled within six points after a layup by Williams and a tip-in by McBride, and the Sky inched ahead by seven before the buzzer.

Chicago led 40-38 at the half.

McBride drove to the rim for a layup to give Minnesota a 38-37 advantage with 8.8 seconds remaining.

The Sky responded quickly to take the lead. Natasha Cloud fed a pass to Taylor, who drained a 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds to go to give Chicago a 40-38 lead heading into the half.

The Lynx led 22-18 at the end of the first quarter. Minnesota scored the final four points of the session on back-to-back layups by McBride and Anastasiia Olairi Kosu.

–Field Level Media