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OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points and Alex Caruso added 22 as the Oklahoma City Thunder bounced back from Sunday’s blowout loss with a 127-114 victory over the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday night at Paycom Center to take a 3-2 series lead in the Western Conference Finals.
The Thunder dominated the second quarter, outscoring San Antonio 40-31 to take a commanding halftime lead and built their advantage to as many as 20 points in the second half. OKC shot 48.2 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from three, while generating 20 points off 17 San Antonio turnovers.
Gilgeous-Alexander was efficient despite shooting struggles from the field — going 7-of-19 — but made all 16 of his 17 free throw attempts and dished nine assists. Caruso was brilliant off the bench, shooting 50 percent from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from three with eight assists and three steals. Isaiah Hartenstein was a double-double machine with 12 points and 15 rebounds, while Chet Holmgren added 16 points and 11 rebounds for his own double-double.
OKC’s bench outscored San Antonio’s reserves 40-33, with Jared McCain bouncing back from his Game 4 disappearance with 20 points on seven made field goals.
For the Spurs, Stephon Castle led the way with 24 points on 63.6 percent shooting and Julian Champagnie added 22. Victor Wembanyama had an uncharacteristically quiet night, finishing with 20 points but shooting just 4-of-15 from the field — going to the free throw line 12 times and making all of them to pad his total. De’Aaron Fox struggled with nine points on 4-of-15 shooting.
San Antonio committed 15 turnovers and shot just 40.2 percent from the field and 29.3 percent from three.
Game 6 is Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio on NBC. The Spurs are slight favorites at 58.2 percent win probability. A San Antonio win forces Game 7 back in Oklahoma City.
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