The Thunder won 122-113 in a game where the Spurs turned the ball over 21 times. The Western Conference Finals are tied 1-1.
SAN ANTONIO — The MVP looked like the MVP again, and the Western Conference finals are knotted up.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander bounced back from a subpar series opener to score 30 points, Alex Caruso added 17 off the bench and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs 122-113 on Wednesday night in Game 2.
Chet Holmgren scored 13 points and reserves Jared McCain and Cason Wallace each had 12 for Oklahoma City. The Thunder finished with a 57-25 edge in bench scoring, plus a 27-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
“I thought we all played better,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I had a quiet confidence about that. I didn’t know if we’d win or lose the game, but I was pretty sure after watching Game 1 and knowing our team that we were going to come out and play better tonight.”
Stephon Castle scored 25 points for the Spurs, who got 22 points from Devin Vassell and a 21-point, 17-rebound, six-assist, four-block night from Victor Wembanyama.
Game 3 is Friday in San Antonio.
“The guys brought it tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Knowing what it would have meant if we lost this one, we brought the energy from the jump.”
Isaiah Hartenstein — who barely played in Game 1 — had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder, who improved to 14-5 after a loss this season — and beat the Spurs for just the second time in seven meetings.
The win was not without cost for the Thunder, who lost guard Jalen Williams — who had already missed six games in these playoffs with a left hamstring strain — in the first half with a recurrence of the hamstring issue. The Thunder said it was tightness, but even that would figure to put his availability for Friday into doubt.
And the Spurs got banged up as well. Already without All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox because of ankle soreness, San Antonio lost his replacement in the starting lineup — Dylan Harper — to a right leg injury after he took a couple of awkward falls in the third quarter.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson had no update on Harper after the game, though he noted that it puts “a ton” of pressure on others when his team is down two guards.
“Obviously this team is as good as anybody at turning you over, so when you’re down some of your primary creators and initiators it causes a little bit of an extra strain, whether that’s who to play, what to play, what to run, etc., etc.,” Johnson said. “We’ll just have to be sharper in that area because it’s tough fully loaded against these guys.”
San Antonio was down by 11 at the half and trailed by eight going into the fourth quarter, then got within 99-97 off a corner 3-pointer by Harrison Barnes with 9:06 left.
The next 2 1/2 minutes saved the Thunder. An 11-0 run by the defending champions — including a banked-in 3-pointer by McCain midway through the burst — pushed OKC’s lead to 13.
But the Spurs — on another night when turnovers plagued them and the stretch run was played without Fox and Harper — were far from done. Wembanyama scored down low to make it 118-113 with 1:25 remaining, but Gilgeous-Alexander got one last basket to settle things down and send the series to San Antonio tied.
“We’ve got to help our ballhandlers more and take care of the ball,” Wembanyama said.
Live updates from Game 2 below.
End of game: Spurs 113, Thunder 122
A few OKC buckets put them back up 9.
The Thunder win 122-113.
Shai dropped 30 points and 9 assists.
Wemby had 21 points, 17 rebounds and six assists.
Stephon Castle had 25 points and eight assists but nine turnovers. Devin Vassell had 22 points and six 3-pointers.
4Q: 1:01 remaining: Spurs 113, Thunder 118
The Thunder then hit two threes in a row to balloon the lead back to 8. Two free throws from Caruso gave OKC a 10-point lead again. They’re on an 10-0 run after two Hartenstein free throws.
Vassell stops the run with a 3-pointer followed by another 3 from Castle.
Keldon Johnson’s hustle paid off again as he puts back a shot, putting them down 6. He then hit a corner 3.
With 2 minutes left, the Thunder upped the lead to 10. Vassell responded with a 3 to trim it to 7. Wemby hit a layup to go down 5.
4Q: 9:05 remaining: Spurs 97, Thunder 99
Dylan Harper has been ruled out for the rest of the game.
Castle scored four straight to start the fourth, cutting the lead down to four.
Jared McCain then hit a huge 3-pointer over Wemby.
Harrison Barnes then hit a huge 3-pointer to trim the lead to two.
End of 3Q: Spurs 88, Thunder 96
An SGA and-one gives OKC an 80-73 lead. Shai now has 20.
After a Keldon Johnson hustle basket, Chet Holmgren converted an and-one of his own.
Holmgren then had an emphatic dunk to put OKC back up 10. He has 10. He dunked it home again to give him 12.
Jordan McLaughlin hit his second 3-pointer to stop the bleeding a bit.
Julian Champagnie and Devin Vassell helped trim the lead to three. However right before the end of the quarter the Thunder were able to inflate the lead to eight.
3Q: 4:50 remaining: Spurs 73, Thunder 77
Wemby tied the game with a long 3-pointer at 66. The Spurs are on an 11-0 run.
The run was disrupted by a Jaylin Williams 3-pointer, answered by a Vassell 3-pointer.
Caruso then hit his second 3-pointer. Wemby followed that with a ridiculous putback slam. He has 17, 10 in the quarter. On the other end he blocked a Caruso layup.
Caruso got his revenge by hitting a corner three to put the Thunder up four.
Dylan Harper is now heading to the locker room after a collision with Chet Holmgren.
The Spurs have four players in double figures (Castle: 18, Wemby: 17, Harper: 12, Vassell: 11).
3Q: 8:42 remaining: Spurs 63, Thunder 66
Jalen Williams is not in the game to start the half for the Thunder. Cason Wallace starts in his place.
OKC now have their largest lead after a Lu Dort midrange jumper. This was followed by a Wemby midrange shot. Harper was then able to bring the game back to single digits with a reverse layup.
Wemby hit a three-pointer to trim the lead to eight. Vassell then hit a three to trim it to five. Harper then hit a lay-up to go down three. The Spurs have outscored the Thunder 12-4 to start the third.
Halftime: Spurs 51, Thunder 62
The Spurs trail the Thunder 62-51. Steph Castle leads all scorers with 16 points. Dylan Harper has eight points. Wemby has seven points, five rebounds and three blocks.
For OKC, Shai has completely outplayed Game 1’s first half as he has 15 points and five assists.
Turnovers are a major problem for the Spurs, having 13 so far with the Thunder having 16 points off those turnovers.
2Q: 1:34 remaining: Spurs 49, Thunder 58
Cason Wallace drained a three to put the Thunder up eight. The Spurs have turned the ball over 11 times.
Following a Castle bucket, Chet Holmgren’s and-one puts OKC up nine.
Castle hits another shot to give him 16 points for the game.
SGA then hit another free throw line jumper to give him 13, a much better start then his Game 1.
2Q: 7:34 remaining: Spurs 41, Thunder 48
The Thunder’s leading scorer from Game 1 Alex Caruso hit his first 3-pointer of the game, putting the Thunder up 36-31.
An absurd putback from Wemby led to an and-one from SGA on the other end.
Caruso’s shot over Wemby put the Thunder up 43-35.
A nice layup from Castle followed by free throws from Devin Vassell helped trim the lead to four.
Stephon Castle absolutely posterized Hartenstein for one of the craziest dunks you’ll ever see. He leads all scorers with 12. He also has five turnovers.
End of 1Q: Spurs 31, Thunder 31
A Chet Holmgren 3-pointer tied the game at 25.
Jordan McLaughlin in his first minutes tied the game at 28 after the Thunder hit a three of their own. Julian Champagnie hit another 3-pointer to put the Spurs up 31-30.
A pair of Ajay Mitchell free throws tied the game at 31 as the first quarter came to a close.
1Q: 3:05 remaining: Spurs 23, Thunder 20
The Thunder started the game shooting 6-7 from the field, culminating in a Jaylin Williams 3-pointer to put Oklahoma City up 14-12.
A Stephon Castle midrange put the Spurs up 18-14. An Ajay Mitchell bucket and Lu Dort 3-pointer put Oklahoma City up 19-18 before a circus shot from Steph Castle, who leads all scorers with eight.
Keldon Johnson then hit a 3-pointer to put the Spurs up 3 going into another timeout.
1Q: 8:59 remaining: Spurs 10, Thunder 9
The Spurs hit back-to-back three-pointers (Vassell and Wembanyama) to take an 10-9 lead early in the first quarter.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander started the game with four quick points to pace the Thunder, already matching his scoring output from the first half of Game 1.
Pregame
De’Aaron Fox won’t suit up for a second straight game.
The Spurs made the announcement official a few hours after the All-Star was spotted at shootaround but not taking shots with teammates.
Historic ratings
The NBA announced that Game 1 of Spurs-Thunder was the most-watched Western Conference Finals opener ever, with 9.2 million fans tuning in on NBC and Peacock. During the game’s second OT period, viewership peaked at 12 million viewers.
That data makes the Game 1 battle the second-most-watched game of the NBA season to date, the league said, bested only by the Game 1 first-round matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics.
The ultimate diehard?
Spurs superfan Diana Munoz doesn’t just have some San Antonio-themed decorations around her house… it’s practically a museum dedicated to the history and culture of the Silver & Black.
KENS 5’s Vinnie Vinzetta got a firsthand look at the home where the undying Spurs passion is as apparent as anywhere else in the city.
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