Defending champs OKC win 122-113 as Gilgeous-Alexander scores 30 factors and supplies 9 assists, overshadowing Wembanyama.
Revealed On 21 Might 2026
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pulled the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder degree with the San Antonio Spurs within the Western Convention finals, because the defending NBA champions received their second heavyweight conflict 122-113.
Having been largely saved in examine of their Recreation 1 loss to the Spurs, the league’s back-to-back Most Invaluable Participant scored 30 factors and offered 9 assists to attract degree within the collection on Wednesday.
The Thunder’s residence win poises the collection at 1-1, with the groups subsequent headed to San Antonio for Video games Three and 4 on Friday and Saturday.
“The fellows introduced it tonight, figuring out what it might have meant if we misplaced this one,” mentioned Gilgeous-Alexander.
“We introduced the vitality from the leap.”
Two nights after it had taken a double-overtime traditional to separate them, the 2 groups with the most effective NBA regular-season data placed on one other intense show.
Following a tied first quarter, the Thunder roared forward for an 11-point half-time lead.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who had endured a sluggish begin within the earlier sport, led the cost from tip-off, usually scoring from mid-range.
His workforce hustled for 13 turnovers price 16 factors within the first half alone.
The Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama – having dazzled in Recreation One, with 41 factors and 24 rebounds – was stifled, incessantly wrestling with Isaiah Hartenstein and double-teamed by an aggressive Thunder defence.
However his teammate Stephon Fort responded in fashion, leaping for a sensational dunk over the pinnacle of seven-foot-tall Hartenstein that left the group and gamers gasping.
From 13 factors down, the Spurs – with out beginning guard De’Aaron Fox for a second consecutive contest on account of a proper ankle sprain – rallied to drag degree halfway via the third.
However San Antonio by no means fairly managed to retake the lead, with Oklahoma Metropolis absorbing the strain.
“The fellows have been able to play, [we] didn’t get discouraged by the runs they made,” mentioned Gilgeous-Alexander, after the sport.
“Clearly, they’re a very good workforce, they’re gonna make runs.”
On an evening of intense bodily play, Oklahoma Metropolis’s Jalen Williams and San Antonio’s Dylan Harper each left the courtroom with accidents and didn’t return.
The Thunder prolonged their benefit once more within the closing quarter.
Gilgeous-Alexander sank yet one more step-back leap shot earlier than an Alex Caruso lay-up prolonged the result in 9 with 20 seconds remaining.
“We acquired a W [win], it’s all you possibly can ask for. Now we acquired to go on the highway in opposition to a very good workforce and go get one,” mentioned Gilgeous-Alexander.
A downcast Wembanyama mentioned Gilgeous-Alexander had “made photographs, however nothing that he hasn’t made all season”.
“We labored on it, we simply didn’t apply as a lot,” mentioned the Frenchman.
Oklahoma Metropolis are attempting to grow to be the primary workforce to repeat as champions since Golden State in 2017 and 2018.
The Thunder racked up a league-best 64 regular-season wins, and swept the Phoenix Suns and LeBron James’s Los Angeles Lakers within the first two playoff rounds.
However they misplaced 4 of 5 regular-season contests in opposition to the Spurs, who received 62 regular-season video games to return to the playoffs for the primary time since 2019.
The winner of the collection will face both the New York Knicks or the Cleveland Cavaliers within the NBA Finals.
