Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points and Alex Caruso added 22 off the bench as the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the San Antonio Spurs 127-114 on Tuesday night, moving within one victory of a return to the NBA Finals, News.Az reports, citing AP.

Jared McCain, starting in place of the injured Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell, scored 20 points in his first playoff start for the defending NBA champions, who now hold a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals.

Chet Holmgren finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds for Oklahoma City, while Isaiah Hartenstein contributed 12 points and 15 rebounds.

After being limited to 82 points in a Game 4 loss two days earlier, the Thunder matched that total just 3 1/2 minutes into the third quarter on Tuesday.

“We obviously played a lot better, in terms of our process and then also the outcome,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “It's a playoff series. If you look at any playoff series that goes to six games, at least, there's going to be some tough games. We had a tough game the other night. This team does a great job of just coming back in the next day in a very neutral way, taking whatever the lessons are, applying them forward and getting into the next opportunity.”

Stephon Castle led San Antonio with 24 points, while Julian Champagnie scored 22 and Victor Wembanyama added 20 despite shooting just 4-of-15 from the field.

Keldon Johnson chipped in 15 points off the bench for the Spurs, who struggled from beyond the arc, missing 29 of their 41 attempts from 3-point range.

“It just felt like it was a little bit of everything in terms of we did not put ourselves in position enough to be successful on each possession,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “And so, to beat a team of this caliber, in their building, with the stakes, we'll need to be a lot better to give yourself a chance.”

Game 6 will be played Thursday in San Antonio. If necessary, Game 7 will return to Oklahoma City on Saturday. Meanwhile, the New York Knicks await the winner of the series in the NBA Finals, which begin June 3.

The Thunder took control with a 40-point second quarter and maintained the lead for the remainder of the game.

“We just played to who we were tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

The game featured an unusually high number of free throws after a slow start. Nearly 10 minutes passed before the first foul shots were attempted, but the teams combined to make 29 free throws in the second quarter alone — the highest second-quarter total in an NBA game since the bubble playoffs nearly six years ago.

San Antonio made 15 of 17 free throws in the quarter, while Oklahoma City went a perfect 14-for-14.

The Thunder extended their lead to 20 points in the third quarter before the Spurs cut the deficit to eight. However, San Antonio became frustrated with a pair of disputed officiating decisions late in the quarter.

With 56 seconds remaining in the third, a tip-in attempt by Spurs center Luke Kornet appeared to be illegally knocked off the rim by Oklahoma City's Cason Wallace, though no goaltending was called. On the following possession, replays showed the ball went out of bounds off Holmgren, but possession was awarded to Oklahoma City.

Johnson attempted to challenge the decision but said officials ignored him before assessing him a technical foul for arguing.

“They just said they didn't see me,” Johnson said.

Oklahoma City carried a 101-91 lead into the fourth quarter and maintained a double-digit advantage for all but 25 seconds of the final period, bouncing back strongly from a 21-point defeat in San Antonio on Sunday.

“We definitely got better from the last game,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev