Thunder rumbles back thanks to SGA

OKLAHOMA CITY — The MVP looked like the MVP again, and the Western Conference finals are tied 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, that also 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 San Antonio for just the second time in seven meetings.

From 13 points down, the Spurs — without starting guard De'Aaron Fox for a second consecutive game due to a right ankle sprain — rallied to pull level midway through the third.

But San Antonio never quite managed to retake the lead, with Oklahoma City soaking up the pressure.

"The guys were ready to play, (we) didn't get discouraged by the runs they made," said Gilgeous-Alexander, after the game.

"Obviously, they're a good team, they are gonna make runs."

On a night of intense physicality, Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams and San Antonio's Dylan Harper both left the court with injuries, and did not return.

The Thunder extended its advantage again in the final quarter.

Gilgeous-Alexander sank yet another step-back jump shot, before a Caruso lay-up extended the lead to nine with 20 seconds remaining.

"We got a 'W', it's all you can ask for. Now we've got to go on the road against a really good team and go get one," said Gilgeous-Alexander.

A downcast Wembanyama said Gilgeous-Alexander had "made shots, but nothing that he hasn't made all season".

"We worked on it, we just didn't apply as much," said the French star.

Oklahoma City is trying to become the first team to repeat as champion since Golden State in 2017 and 2018.

The Thunder racked up a league-best 64 regular-season wins, and swept the Phoenix Suns and LeBron James' Los Angeles Lakers in the first two playoff rounds.

But it lost four of five regular-season contests against the Spurs, who won 62 regular-season games to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2019.

And the Spurs got banged up as well. Already without All-Star guard Fox, they lost his replacement in the starting lineup — 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.," Johnson said.

"We'll just have to be sharper in that area because it's tough (even when you're) 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 two-and-a-half minutes saved the Thunder. An 11-0 run by the defending champion — 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 ball handlers more and take care of the ball," Wembanyama said.

The winner of the series will face either the New York Knicks or Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.