The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the San Antonio Spurs 123-108 on Friday night, climbing out of a 15-point deficit to take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 26 points and 12 assists for Oklahoma City.
Victor Wembanyama scored 26 points for San Antonio. The Spurs are now trailing in a playoff series for the first time since Wembanyama joined the team.
Thunder’s Bench Proves Decisive
Oklahoma City’s bench outscored San Antonio’s by a margin of 76-23. Alex Caruso contributed 15 points off the bench for the Thunder. Jared McCain added 24 points, and Jaylin Williams had 18 for Oklahoma City. Jalen Williams was absent for the Thunder due to left hamstring soreness.
Spurs’ Early Lead Evaporates
The Spurs started strong, racing to a 15-0 lead. This was the longest run to open a game in the conference finals since the play-by-play era began in 1997. However, they were then outscored by 30 for the remainder of the game.
Wembanyama Reflects on Performance
Wembanyama played 39 minutes, during which the Spurs outscored the Thunder by four points. However, the Thunder outscored the Spurs by 19 in the other nine minutes. Wembanyama acknowledged areas for improvement in his own game, despite scoring 26 points.
“I have trouble making my teammates better right now,” Wembanyama said. “I should do better. My shooting splits aren’t terrible. I need to be more of a team player.” He also stated, “Facilitate better, rebound the ball better. Push their defense a little bit more, to fight further and see how much they’re willing to help off of my teammates and feed them.”
Tensions Rise on the Court
The series continued to be chippy. Emotions flared early in the second half. Stephon Castle hit the court on back-to-back dunk attempts. The second resulted in a flagrant 1 foul against Ajay Mitchell and technical fouls on Mitchell and Devin Vassell after an exchange of words.
“We just went out there and competed,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They obviously jumped on us early. First game in their building, their crowd behind them, they were excited to play. We just wanted to make sure we competed from that point on. We obviously didn’t give our best effort to start that game, but can’t do nothing about it. It’s behind us. All we can do is focus on the next possession, and we did that.”
Wembanyama said, “It’s my first playoffs. It was the first playoffs for many of us. Of course, there was going to be hard trials. It is to be expected. But now, we’re going to see what we’re made of.”