San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder live updates: Thunder execute in clutch, win 122-113, even series

It feels like we’re going to do this five more times.

In another hard-fought game, Oklahoma City executed down the stretch, while a shorthanded Spurs team asking a lot of Stephon Castle — who had nine turnovers in this game, including a few key ones late — did not.

The result is a 122-113 Oklahoma City win that ties the series 1-1.

Game 3 is in San Antonio on Friday night, a game you can watch on NBC or stream on Peacock.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looked like the MVP with 30 points and nine assists in a game that was must win for the Thunder. Alex Caruso had another strong game with 17 off the bench, including three 3-pointers.

Stephon Castle led the Spurs with 25 points but had nine turnovers, as too much ball handling responsibilities fell to him with De’Aaron Fox out again (ankle) and Dylan Harper leaving the game with a leg injury. Victor Wembanyama had 21 points and 17 rebounds.

It’s just five points with a minute left — the Spurs have a real chance here, but a lot falls on Stephon Castle with Fox and Harper now out injured.

Oklahoma City has made a fourth quarter run, San Antonio looks a little gassed, and it’s a nine-point Thunder lead, 112-103, with 5:32 left.

Do the Spurs have one more run in them?

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander rested to start the fourth, Wembanyama was on the court, and the Thunder lead is down to 2, 98-96, with 9:05 remaining in the game.

It’s going to be another wild finish.

Game 2 has a very different, much more offensive feel than Game 1, but it still looks like it is going down to the wire.

Oklahoma City leads 96-88 after three quarters.

The Thunder won the non-Wembanyama minutes by nine in Game 1. OKC has won those minutes by 10 so far this game.

Castle has 18 points and Wembanyama 17 for the Spurs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads all scorers with 24 for the Thunder.

The San Antonio Spurs are already without De’Aaron Fox, their starting point guard. Now his replacement, Dylan Harper, is out as well.

Harper is out for the remainder of the game with a right leg injury, the Spurs announced. He was grabbing his hamstring earlier and had returned to the locker room.

After a brilliant 24 points in Game 1, Harper had 12 points in Game 2.

Harper joins the Thunder’s Jalen Williams as key starters out for the remainder of the game.

Victor Wembanyama made just one 3-pointer in Game 1 (but you know the one).

He’s changed the tone of Game 2 by hitting three 3-pointers in the opening five minutes of the second half, erasing the Thunder lead and tying the game up.

The Thunder regained the lead thanks to — who else — Alex Caruso, and are up 77-73 with 4:50 left in the third quarter.

This feels like another game headed down to the wire.

One other thing to note, Dylan Harper walked back to the Spurs locker room after appearing to tweak his hamstring.

Jalen Williams, who returned in this series after missing the last six Thunder games with a hamstring strain, is now out for the remainder of Game 2 with left hamstring tightness, Oklahoma City has announced.

Williams played seven minutes in the first quarter but has not been back on the court since.

He scored 26 points and had seven rebounds in Game 1.

Here are the halftime betting odds, courtesy our partners at DraftKings:

Game Line: Thunder -10.5
Moneyline: Thunder -750, Spurs +470
Under/Over: 217.5

The Thunder never had a double-digit lead in Game 1 but have an 11-point lead in Game 2 at the half, 61-52

A few stats to tell you why that is:

• Victor Wembanyama has just 7 points on 2-of-4 shooting. The referees are letting them play in this one, and nowhere is that more obvious than Isaiah Hartenstein guarding Wembanyama. The Thunder big man is bodying him all over the court, and frankly holding him a lot, but Wembanyama is not getting comfortable. Hartenstein got played off the floor in Game 1 because the Thunder wanted to stretch the floor, but they came in with a new plan in Game 2 and the German big man is the only one with the combination of size and strength to bother Wemby.

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has 15 points.

• The Spurs have 13 turnovers (to just 8 assist), while the Thunder have turned it over just six times.

• Oklahoma City is shooting 43% from 3-point range to 31% for the Spurs.

The Thunder have created a little space for themselves in the second quarter and lead by nine, 56-47, with 2:56 left in the first half — but nothing feels safe.

The referees are letting them play in this game. It’s very physical.

Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals has been every bit as competitive as Monday’s opener, and San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle provided one of the highlights of the postseason.

His massive second-quarter dunk over Oklahoma City’s Isaiah Hartenstein left the PayCom Center crowd in a state of stunned silence.

Alex Caruso came in to start the second and did Caruso things, draining a corner 3 and getting a steal that led to a transition bucket.

The Thunder opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run and have held that, now leading 48-41 with 7:34 left in the first half.

Turnovers fuel the Thunder and Stephon Castle already has five of them, and as a team the Spurs have 11 to just eight assits (the Thunder just three turnovers).

Strap in, it looks like another wild ride.

The Spurs and Thunder are tied 31-31 after one quarter of play (and a perfect score for a game Reggie Miller is broadcasting).

Stephon Castle has eight points and Julian Champagnie has five to lead the Spurs, who have shot 5-of-10 from beyond the arc in the first.

Lu Dort’s six leads the Thunder, who are shooting 57.1% as a team in the first. The pace is up for both teams.

Odds after the first quarter (via Draft Kings):
Game odds: Thunder -4.5
Moneyline: Thunder -230, Spurs +175
Under/Over: 219.5

After Game 1 was defined by defense, Game 2 has started out with the Spurs and Thunder showing off their offensive firepower.

Case in point: Lu Dort is 2-of-2 from the floor with six early points — he has reached double figures just once all playoffs (and that was a 10 point game). Stephon Castle has 8 to lead the Spurs, and he got four of those at the free throw line.

It’s 23-20 Spurs with 3:05 left in the first quarter.

Unsurprisingly after an intense 2OT game two nights before, both coaches going deep into the benches early — the coaches combined to go 20 players deep in the first quarter.

Game 1 was a defensive struggle. To start Game 2 the defense has been good, but the offense has been better.

Oklahoma City is 4-of-4 from the field, with Gilgeous-Alexander hitting a couple of those.

San Antonio has started 3-of-5, but two of those makes are from 3, plus they have a couple of free throws to have and early 10-9 lead just more than three minutes into the game.

It was a thing while John Calipari was at Kentucky: He recruited unbelievably talented guards, then underutilized them because of his system, but after they left they would come into the NBA and thrive. Guys like Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, Tyrese Maxey, De’Aaron Fox...

And Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Calipari is in the building for Game 2 and SGA greeted him pregame.

Sometimes, the best adjustment a coach can make is to hit the “play better” button.

Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault needs to do exactly that with two key contributors: Chet Holmgren and Ajay Mitchell. They both struggled in Game 1.

Against the Lakers, Mitchell averaged 22.5 points and six assists a game, while Holmgren averaged 20 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks a game — when Los Angeles threw everything at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, this duo stepped up and got the Thunder the sweep.

However, in Game 1 against the solid defense of San Antonio, Holmgren had 8 points on 2-of-7 shooting, and while he made a couple of plays, the Thunder need him to look like an All-Star — and somebody who stands up to Victor Wembanyama (because Wemby gets up for Holmgren like few others).

Mitchell was worse, scoring 4 points on 2-of-5 from the field, with five fouls. The Thunder need him as a shooter and shot creator.

If those two put up similar numbers in Game 2, that is going to be a deep hole for OKC to climb out of.

The San Antonio Spurs will once again be down a starter, as De’Aaron Fox is out with a sprained right ankle.

Injured during the latter stages of the Spurs’ second-round series against Minnesota, Fox went through a pregame workout but is not in good enough health to play. Dylan Harper filled the void in Game 1 and will do so again on Wednesday night.

In San Antonio’s double-overtime victory on Monday, the rookie tallied 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, seven steals and one three-pointer.

The Thunder may have dropped Game 1 but it didn’t scare off bettors heading into Game 2. Here are the odds for the game, courtesy our partners at DraftKings.

Game odds: Thunder -7.5
Moneyline: Thunder -258, Spurs +210
Under/Over: 216.5

Game 1 was iconic. It took two overtimes before the San Antonio Spurs emerged victorious on the road, 122-115.

Most people will remember it as the Victor Wembanyama game, one where he made his case as the best player walking the face of the earth, outplaying two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — who got handed the trophy before the game by Commissioner Adam Silver — and scoring 41 points with 24 rebounds, incredible defense, and a shot that will always be one of his greatest, no matter what follows in his career.

However, what was this game was at its core was a legendary defensive showdown. Both teams played elite defense all game, with the Spurs winning, yet having a 108 offensive rating for the game, which would have been the worst offense in the league this past season and more than 12 points per 100 possessions off their regular season average. Every shot felt contested, there were no easy looks. Neither team rolls out a soft defender the other team can target.

Rookie Dylan Harper had a strong game, having to start for the injured De’Aaron Fox (ankle, but expected to play in Game 2) and scoring 24 points and having seven steals.

Alex Caruso led the Thunder with 31 points off the bench, including eight 3-pointers. Jalen Williams scored 26 in his return from injury and Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 but on 7-of-23 shooting.

It just wasn’t enough against Wembanyama.