Thunder Beat Spurs 122-113 in Game 2, Take 2-0 Lead in Western Conference Finals

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander bounced back from a subpar series opener to score 30 points, Alex Caruso added 17 off the bench and the host Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs 122-113 on Wednesday night in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals.

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,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who was recently named the league MVP for the second straight season. “Knowing what it would have meant if we lost this one, we brought the energy from the jump.”

The Thunder playbook in Game 2 was about making life as difficult as possible for Wembanyama, hoping to prevent outbursts like the 41-point, 24-rebound gem he put together in San Antonio’s 122-115 win in Game 1.

“Every good player, they have to feel the defense,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s tough. He’s very different to scout. You’ve got to try to mix things up, you’ve got try different things. And that’s just what we did. Coach tried something in the first game, didn’t like it, tried something else. That’s what it’s about.”

The win was not without cost for the Thunder, who lost guard Jalen Williams in the first half with a recurrence of a hamstring issue. He had already missed six games in these playoffs with a left hamstring strain. The Thunder said it was tightness, but even that would figure to put his availability for Friday into doubt.

The Spurs also got banged up. 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.”