Thunder strike twice vs Spurs

SAN ANTONIO, Philippines — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 26 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder survived an early onslaught to score a 123-108 victory over the San Antonio Spurs and take a 2-1 lead in their NBA Western Conference Finals series on Friday.

Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander led another dominant all-round offensive performance by the reigning NBA champions, who saw four members of their bench finish in double figures to set up the precious road win.

Jared McCain led the Thunder bench scorers with 24 points while Jaylin Williams drained five three-pointers in an 18-point contribution.

French star Victor Wembanyama led the San Antonio scoring with 26 points, while Devin Vassell added 20.

“It’s my first playoffs,” Wembanyama said. “It’s the first playoffs for many of us. Of course, there was going to be hard trials. It’s to be expected, but now we’re going to see what we’re made of.”

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault praised his team’s “poise” after climbing out of an early 15-point deficit to eventually close out a convincing win by the same margin.

“It was a punch – credit to them,” Daigneault said of San Antonio’s fast start. “They were ready to play and they got us early. But I thought we showed great poise to understand the 48-minute nature of the game.”

Another pulsating clash between the Western Conference rivals got off to a breathless start, with the Spurs roaring into a 15-0 lead within minutes of tip-off.