One win away? With J-Will and Mitchell injured, trade deadline hero Jared McCain stepped into his first playoff start and went completely crazy for Thunder, Yankee Scores has the details…
Though he had a slow start, MVP-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points, 9 assists and 2 steals on Tuesday night’s crucial Game 5 of the Western Conference finals to lead the series 3-2.
Overcoming Early Slump
After turning the ball over on three consecutive possessions and missing his first four attempts, he described the game 5 as one of the toughest of his career.
Unlike the last two outings, Oklahoma City Thunder did not enter Tuesday’s contest in a deficit against the San Antonio Spurs, with the Thunder scoring the final points of the quarter via Gilgeous-Alexander’s first field goal of the night—a catch-and-release triple that cut the deficit to zero.
The rest is history, with OKC getting a solid team effort in taking home the decisive win, 127-114.
“I always say we’re a team out there,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished with 32 points and nine assists but was only 7-of-19 from the floor and committed six turnovers. “We don’t get this far, I don’t have this individual success, this team doesn’t have the success without all 15 guys in the locker room. We proved it tonight.
“If it was four or five me’s out there, we would’ve been down 20 after the first quarter. But the guys were great to start the game. I probably should never start like that again and give us a better chance to win a ballgame, but the guys held it down.”
Chet Holmgren played his best game of the series, scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. He was productive at the beginning of the game, particularly since Gilgeous-Alexander had struggled out of the gates. Indeed, Holmgren scored half of his total through the first quarter as he made all four of his field goal attempts.
McCain’s Historic Moment
Jared McCain, getting the start in the playoffs due to changes by coach Mark Daigneault, who needed to make substitutions due to injury to both Jalen Williams (hamstring) and Ajay Mitchell (calf), scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half.
However, despite trying to exploit McCain defensively, the Spurs scored just 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting when he guarded either Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox, or Devin Vassell.
“One thing with him, you don’t have to tell him to be confident, to be aggressive,” Thunder veteran forward Alex Caruso said of McCain. “That’s who he is as a person and as a player.”
All To Play for in Game 6
The defending champion Thunder are 11-2 this postseason and one win away from earning a return trip to the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.
Except Spurs level the series again in game 6, the defending champions Thunder are just one win away from earning a return trip to the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.
