Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs 122-113 in Game 2 on Wednesday night to tie the Western Conference finals series. Alex Caruso added 17 off the bench, while Chet Holmgren scored 13 and reserves Ja
OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looked like the MVP again, and the Thunder felt that shift in their bones from the opening moments of Game 2.
After a subpar series opener, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points as Oklahoma City bounced back to beat the San Antonio Spurs 122-113 on Wednesday night. The result knotted the Western Conference finals up, setting up Game 3 on Friday in San Antonio.
Alex Caruso provided a spark off the bench with 17 points. Chet Holmgren finished with 13, while reserves Jared McCain and Cason Wallace each scored 12. Oklahoma City controlled the game in the small. decisive ways: it finished with a 57-25 edge in bench scoring and 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.”
For San Antonio, Stephon Castle scored 25 points. Devin Vassell added 22, and Victor Wembanyama produced another towering line with 21 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and four blocks.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who talked openly about the stakes of losing this one, said the message was simple when the Thunder stepped onto the floor.
“The guys brought it tonight,” he said. “Knowing what it would have meant if we lost this one, we brought the energy from the jump.”
That energy mattered most down the stretch, especially after Oklahoma City started to wobble when the Spurs closed. San Antonio found a lift after Harrison Barnes hit a corner 3-pointer to pull the Spurs within 99-97 with 9:06 left. From there, the next 2 1/2 minutes belonged to Oklahoma City. An 11-0 run by the defending champions — which included a banked-in 3-pointer by McCain midway through the burst — pushed the Thunder’s lead to 13.
But the Spurs never stopped swinging.
Wembanyama scored down low to make it 118-113 with 1:25 remaining. Gilgeous-Alexander answered with one last basket to settle things down and send the series back to San Antonio tied.
For the Thunder, the win carried another kind of gravity: it came with a potentially significant loss. Jalen Williams. a guard who had already missed six games in these playoffs with a left hamstring strain. left the game in the first half with a recurrence of the hamstring issue. The Thunder said it was tightness, but even that would likely put his availability for Friday into doubt.
San Antonio also walked into Game 2 already dealing with its own injuries.
De’Aaron Fox was out because of ankle soreness. and the Spurs lost their 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 said he had no update on Harper after the game. but the absence of two guards forced others into heavier roles.
“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.”.
The Spurs showed they could strike even with their rotation shortened. They were down by 11 at the half and trailed by eight going into the fourth quarter before tightening the game late. Wembanyama’s all-around effort helped keep them in it when turnovers and injuries threatened to leave them scrambling for answers.
After a loss in these playoffs in Game 1, Oklahoma City’s bounce-back was also measured by the numbers. Isaiah Hartenstein — who barely played in Game 1 — finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder.
The Thunder improved to 14-5 after a loss this season, and they beat the Spurs for just the second time in seven meetings.
Now, with the series tied and both teams carrying injury concerns into Game 3, the only certainty is that the next game in San Antonio will demand answers quickly — especially around the health of the guards who can control each possession.
Thunder vs Spurs Game 2 Western Conference finals Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Alex Caruso Victor Wembanyama Jalen Williams De'Aaron Fox Dylan Harper Jared McCain Cason Wallace Chet Holmgren Stephon Castle Devin Vassell Game 3 Friday San Antonio