Shai Gilgeous-Alexander bounces back in big way as Thunder top Spurs in Game 2 to even series
OKLAHOMA CITY — 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...