The Oklahoma City Thunder had heard enough about Victor Wembanyama for one playoff series. They responded on Tuesday night with the kind of game that ends championship runs.
OKC beat the San Antonio Spurs 127-114 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals to take a 3-2 series lead. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points with 9 assists. Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein swallowed Wembanyama up inside. The Thunder shot the Spurs out of the building in the first half, scored 69 points before the break, and never let San Antonio get within single digits in the fourth quarter.
The Spurs face elimination on Thursday in Oklahoma City. If they lose Game 6, the Thunder are headed to the NBA Finals to face the Knicks.
SGA Carried His Best Game of the Series
Gilgeous-Alexander had been merely great in the conference finals. Tuesday night was different. He looked like a player ready to put his name on a championship. He overcame a turnover-heavy start, took over in the second quarter, and finished with the kind of stat line that wins playoff series.
SGA also got real help. Alex Caruso added 22 points and locked up De’Aaron Fox for most of the second half. Jared McCain, the rookie guard who was promoted into the starting lineup for Game 4, scored 20 points in his first career postseason start. McCain hit four three-pointers and looked like he had been doing this for years.
The Thunder bench outscored the Spurs bench by 18. Mark Daigneault’s rotation choices have been spotless in this series.
Wembanyama Got the Tough Treatment
Victor Wembanyama scored 33 points in Game 4 to even the series. On Tuesday, he was held to 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting and finished a series-worst minus-8. The Thunder swarmed him every time he caught the ball inside, sent doubles from the weak side, and dared the Spurs to make outside shots.
San Antonio could not make those outside shots. The Spurs shot 40.2% from the field and went 9 of 32 from three. Devin Vassell hit three threes. Stephon Castle had a quiet 11 points. Dylan Harper was held to 8 points on 3-of-9 shooting and looked like the rookie he is.
Holmgren had 16 points and 11 rebounds against Wembanyama. Hartenstein added 12 points and 15 rebounds. Together they made Wembanyama work for everything, contested every shot at the rim, and outrebounded San Antonio’s frontcourt by 14.
What Game 6 Looks Like
San Antonio has won one of two games in Oklahoma City this series. That win came in Game 3, when the Spurs played their most complete game of the playoffs. They will need that kind of effort again on Thursday or the series is over.
The Thunder are 35-6 at home this year. The crowd in OKC is going to be at full volume. The Spurs are also going to need Chris Paul off the bench, and the 41-year-old veteran has been a non-factor for most of the series. Gregg Popovich said after the game that he is “evaluating the rotation” before Game 6, which is Popovich-speak for “we may have a different starting five.”
Whoever wins Game 6 advances or forces a Game 7 in OKC on Sunday. The winner of the series gets the Knicks in the Finals starting June 4.
New York has been waiting. The Knicks finished off Cleveland on Monday and have had nearly a week to rest. If the Thunder finish the job on Thursday, the Finals could open with two of the most balanced rosters in the league against each other.
San Antonio still has Wembanyama, and Wembanyama is capable of one of those eruption games that changes a series. But the Thunder just played their best basketball at the most important time. That usually wins.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
