San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder live updates: Thunder win 123-108, take 2-1 series lead

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may have scored 26 points and dished out 12 assists, but the story on Friday night was the Thunder bench.

Oklahoma City got a franchise-high 76 points from their bench, led by 24 points from trade deadline pickup Jared McCain, and behind that got as comfortable a win as we’re likely to see in this series, 123-108.

Oklahoma City leads the series 2-1, with Game 4 in San Antonio on Sunday. You can watch it at 8 p.m. ET on NBC or stream it on Peacock.

Jaylin Williams hit five 3-pointers and had his career playoff high with 18 points. Alex Caruso had 15. Cason Wallace had 11. The Thunder bench shot 53.2% on the night and knocked down 14 3-pointers.

Victor Wembanyama led the Spurs with 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting, but he had just four rebounds on the night. Devin Vassell had 20 for the Spurs.

However, the Spurs got 23 points total from their bench — less than McCain on his own — and that depth is the difference in this series.

Mark Daigneault’s last timeout worked, the Thunder quickly stretched their lead out to 15, so when the Spurs got on a little run and cut it to 10 again, we get another timeout (plus the Thunder had a use-it-or-lose it timeout they needed to use before the three minute mark).

The Spurs had a use-it-or-lose-it timeout, too, so we played 18 seconds then got another timeout.

You didn’t think one team was going to get a comfortable win in this series, did you?

The Spurs have cut a 15-point fourth quarter lead down to 9 with 6:58 left, forcing Mark Daigneault to call a timeout and settle his Thunder down. This has the feel of a game that is going to go down to the wire, like every game this series has.

Through the tedious parade to the free throw line — blame the officials for that one — the Oklahoma City Thunder extended their lead to 11 in the third quarter.

It is 95-84 Thunder entering the fourth.

UPDATE: Fox has checked back into the game.

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De’Aaron Fox didn’t look slowed at all by the sprained ankle that had him out the first two games of this series... until the third quarter.

First, he appeared to tweak it slightly landing after a lay-up, but he stayed in and kept playing. However, it was when he and Lu Dort went to the ground trying to get a loose ball that he really seemed to aggravate the injury.

Fox stayed down for a while, was clearly limping when he got up, then went to the bench and was clearly in pain.

There have been 26 free throws taken in the third quarter alone. Thrilling stuff.

Thunder lead 84-77 with 3:03 left in the third quarter.

What has been a physical series is now starting to see a little venom, some animosity. Which is only going to make it better.

This is what a rivalry feels like.

It started earlier in the third quarter when Alex Caruso ran down Stephon Castle and made a playoff foul in to block a transition bucket — it was a foul but it was on the arm and just a playoff foul, nothing dirty.

A could possessions later, it was Ajay Mitchell who fouled Castle, and that led to a dust-up and some pushing.

Mitchell was given a flagrant 1 for a pushing foul on an airborne, defenseless shooter. Both Mitchell and Devin Vassell were given offsetting technical fouls for the pushing afterwards.

69-64 Thunder with 7:18 left in the third quarter.

Wembanyama was +12 in the first half, but the Spurs trailed by seven at the break.

For the series to this point (including Game 3):
Spurs when Wembanyama on court: +29 in 104 minutes
Spurs when Wembanyama off court: -38 in 26 minutes

It’s an issue.

Ankle problem? What ankle problem?

De’Aaron Fox missed the first two games of this series with a sprained ankle, but you’d never know it watching Game 3. That started from the opening bucket of the night.

Fox is 5-of-8 with 11 points in the first half and does not look slowed at all by his ankle. That’s a very good sign for the Spurs.

In a game (and series) that is incredibly physical, the Spurs got a little too caught up in that, slowed down their pace, and the Thunder have caught up.

After an electric 15-0 Spurs run to open the game, the Thunder have walked them down and lead 58-51 at the half.

What is fueling the Thunder is that they are 9-of-17 from 3 (53%) and have 30 points off the bench, led by Jaylin Williams, who has four 3-pointers and a career playoff high 14 points, all in the first half. Playing through a lot of physicality, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has nine points on 4-of-9 shooting, but more importantly has six assists and zero turnovers.

The starting San Antonio backcourt of De’Aaron Fox and Devin Vassell each have 11 points, while Victor Wembanyama has 10 but also three personal fouls. As it has been all series, coach Mitch Johnson has to lean hard on his starters because the bench just isn’t as deep as OKC’s. The Spurs have 10 bench points so far.

Oklahoma City’s bench has outscored San Antonio’s 35-10 and that’s the difference in the ballgame so far.

He’s 7'4" (officially, we all know that’s low) and can make plays like a guard. There’s a reason the GMs of 29 other teams are thinking about how they are going to deal with him for the coming years.

Check this out.

And this.

This is what championship teams are made of — they do not get rattled.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was scoreless in the first but hit a 3-pointer early in the second quarter to give the Thunder their first lead, and they still hold it 43-42 with 6:49 remaining in the first half.

It’s been the kind of quarter for the Thunder where an SGA airball became a Wallace-to-Holmgren alley-oop bucket.

There have been entire games without nearly as much drama as the first quarter of this one.

San Antonio raced out to a 15-0 lead behind a frenzied crowd. Oklahoma City weathered the 15-0 Spurs start to the game because they got 21 of their 26 first-quarter points from their bench — the Thunder starters shot 2-of-9 from the floor, including Gilgeous-Alexander going 0-of-3 as the Spurs have been very physical with him.

De’Aaron Fox leads all scorers with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting, while Wembanyama has seven, including two 3-pointers, but he picked up two fouls in the final 30 seconds of the half.

The Spurs are +15 when Wembanyama is on the court, -10 when he is off the court.

San Antonio leads 24-19 when he returns.

Oklahoma City dug themselves a hold to open the game 0-of-6 from the floor with three turnovers, and it was 15-0 San Antonio and their crowd was going wild.

Then the Thunder settled down. The Thunder hit four 3-pointers, a couple by Alex Caruso, and it’s 19-10 Spurs with 6:14 left in the first quarter.

Fox and Vassell have six each to lead the Spurs.

You think the Spurs are hyped to be home?

San Antonio started Game 3 3-of-4 from the floor, including a step-back 3-pointer from Wembanyama, while the Thunder started 0-of-2 with a turnover and a bucket for Fox.

Devin Vassell also has a deep 3 for the Spurs in the opening two minutes.

If this is anything close to the first two games, we are in for a wild, entertaining night.

Three players about to take the court for Game 3 also got another honor — they were named to the NBA All-Defensive Teams.

San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama was named to the First Team. Of course. After becoming the first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, there was no doubt he would be a unanimous First Team defender (and he was the only one).

Chet Holmgren (First Team) and Cason Wallace (Second Team) made the teams for Oklahoma City. Holmgren, the runner-up in DPOY, was another lock for the First Team (but seven voters had him on the second team for some reason). Wallace has been critical to the Thunder’s league-best defense all season and got 14 First Team votes and 80 voters named him overall.

The last time two All-Defensive First Team selections faced off in a Conference Finals was 2017, when San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard went against Golden State’s Draymond Green.

The Spurs’ Stephon Castle just missed out on making the second team. He and Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels had the same number of voters put them on the ballot, but the Hawks wing had more first-team votes, and that decided it.

If you’re wondering why Alex Caruso didn’t make the cut, he didn’t play in enough games to qualify (56).

With Jalen Williams (hamstring) sidelined, Ajay Mitchell will start Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. He joins Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein.

In six prior starts this postseason, Williams averaged 21.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.5 three-pointers, shooting 48 percent from the field.

In what is great news for a Spurs team that needs more ball handlers against the Thunder’s pressure defense (and to take some of the load off Stephon Castle), both De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper are available for the Spurs in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

Fox has missed the first two games of this series with an ankle sprain he suffered in the last round against Minnesota. With him back, Harper will return to the bench. He broke out with 24 points filling in as a starter for Fox in Game 1.

What matters most is that the Spurs have their three-guard rotation back, and that gives coach Mitch Johnson a lot of options.

The Thunder will be down a starter for Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals, as Jalen Williams will sit due to a sore left hamstring. It’s the same hamstring that he injured during the first round of the playoffs, with the initial injury sidelining him for six games.

In Oklahoma City’s Game 2 victory, Isaiah Hartenstein logged 27 minutes, with reserve Isaiah Joe entering the rotation and playing 10 minutes. Given how well he defended Victor Wembanyama, look for Hartenstein’s playing time to hold, if not increase, in Game 3.

It’s going to be almost impossible to top this as the Dunk of the Playoffs.

Stephon Castle didn’t just put Isaiah Hartenstein in a poster, he did it with a viciousness, a ferocity, a violence that had everyone in awe. We really can’t watch this enough (sorry, Hartenstein).

Wembanyama’s reaction says it all.

Unsurprisingly after those first two games, the oddsmakers expect a very close Game 3.

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

Game line: San Antonio -1.5
Moneyline: San Antonio -105, Oklahoma City +1-5
Over/Under: 218.5

We’ve seen two games played with the urgency and intensity of teams who know they’ve met their match and do not like each other.

Game 1 was one of the greatest playoff games in recent memory, but it may be best remembered as Victor Wembanyama’s coming out party: He had 41 points, 24 rebounds, four blocks, hit a Curry-esque 3-pointer that forced a second overtime, and was the best player on the floor. He lifted the Spurs to a 122-115 double-overtime win.

Game 1 was also a physical, intense defensive struggle, with both teams struggling to score.

That changed some in Game 2, as the Thunder did a better job against the Spurs’ offense, particularly Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 30 and had nine assists. That earned the Thunder a 122-113 victory to even the series 1-1

In Game 2, the Thunder made Isaiah Hartenstein the primary defender on Wembanyama and the German big man was very physical (in a game the officials let be physical) and kept Wemby off balance, even though he still had 21 points and 17 rebounds.