Following their Game 2 victory to level the Western Conference Finals at 1-1, the Oklahoma City Thunder locker room was all about mindset and identity; Yankee Scores reports…

The Thunder pulled out a 122-113 victory over San Antonio Spurs to level the Western Conference Finals at 1-1 on Wednesday.

The two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander believes they must always strive to do better than their opponents.

SGA dwells on Identity

“This late in the season, there’s nothing special that you can do,” said two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led Oklahoma City with 30 points and nine assists while committing only one turnover. “Every team has their identity, and when they impose their identity more than the other team does, they usually win no matter what level or what stakes are in the game. Tonight we just did a better job of that than we did in the first game.”

The Oklahoma City Thunder play like an unflappable, smart, and physical team that thrives by being disruptive defensively and taxing physically.

“There’s no panic,” said forward Alex Caruso, who scored 17 points, one of four Thunder reserves to score in double figures.

Hartenstein’s Tactical Impact

Thunder coach Daigneault wished that he had played more Hartenstein in the opener, whose minutes were mostly in line with the backup center for San Antonio, Luke Kornet. During Game 2, Hartenstein played 27 minutes, which involved almost the entire time of the fourth quarter except around 20 seconds. He contributed 10 points, along with 13 rebounds (with eight of those rebounds coming offensively) and three assists, as he set screens for opening passes.

On the defensive end, Hartenstein managed to contain the efforts of Wembanyama. The 7-foot-4 defensive player of the year scored 21 points and collected 17 rebounds but Hartenstein was last man standing for defending Wembanyama during 47 of his plays in Game 2, whereas he was the last defender on only three occasions during the opener against Wembanyama when Oklahoma City used wing players to guard him.

“That’s kind of my game, just being physical,” Hartenstein said. “I think last game they were more physical than us, and so I just wanted to establish that earlier. [Wembanyama is] a great player. He’s going to get to certain things, but you just have to make it as hard as possible.”

SGA Urges Better Performance

The Thunder seemed to be more effective offensively in Game 2 due to the performance put forth by Gilgeous-Alexander. While Gilgeous-Alexander struggled in Game 1 scoring 24 points with an overall shooting percentage of 7 for 23, he stated that when the Defensive Player of the Year Wembanyama played under the basket, it dampened some of his enthusiasm. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 12 points out of 24 shots taken without hitting any of the shots beyond the 3-point line.

“I guess we just got a little bit more comfortable with that type of defense,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Obviously it’s very unique and different from literally every other defense in the league, so it takes some games. We’re still going to have to keep getting better throughout this series if we want a chance to win a series. They’re a good team, a good defensive team — really good. They check all the boxes. We’re going to have to communicate better. Tonight wasn’t good enough to win the series, and we know that.”