Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander seems to have shaken off his now-traditional Game 1 blahs. San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama is putting up numbers the likes of which haven't been seen in a conference finals for about a half-century.
The stars in these Western Conference finals, they're being stars.
It's the supporting casts that are of major concern — for both teams.
Game 3 of the West title series is on Friday night, things having shifted to San
Antonio tied at a game apiece. The Spurs took Game 1 behind 41 points and 24 rebounds from Wembanyama, and the defending champion Thunder got 30 points from Gilgeous-Alexander on the way to getting a victory in Game 2.
“We’re probably most comfortable playing in front of our fans,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle said after the Game 2 loss in Oklahoma City. “I don’t think we’ll have any problem doing that. Mentally, I think we’re all in a good head space. We came here, won a game on the road and they’re a good team and they responded. So, now we have a chance to play in front of our fans.”
It's not the mental side that either the Spurs or the Thunder should be worried about. It's the physical.
There's a bad ankle. A pair of aching hamstrings. A shot to the thigh. And those are only the injuries that the world seems to know about, not even taking into account the aches and pains that have accumulated over the last seven or eight months.
As expected, the West finals are shaping up to be quite the battle. Two battles, really. There's the obvious one, Thunder vs. Spurs, the two best teams in the league this season vying for a spot in the NBA Finals. The other is those teams vs. attrition, and right now, attrition might be winning.
"It feels like that’s always at this time of the season in every sport, right? You have to get to the end to give yourself a chance," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “And I think that’s why we have to continue to trust our depth and guys have to step up when their name’s called — answer the bell and be able to give us some quality minutes.”
Spurs All-Star guard De'Aaron Fox has an ankle issue that's not going away until after the season ends. His replacement, Dylan Harper, seemed to tweak a hamstring in Game 2 and departed early. Thunder guard Jalen Williams aggravated his problematic left hamstring in Game 2 and his replacement, Ajay Mitchell, was shaken up by a thigh issue in the final moments.
The Spurs won Game 1 largely because Harper stepped up. The Thunder won Game 2 largely because Isaiah Hartenstein was a huge factor, both in terms of physicality and production. For as out-of-this-world great as Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama are, there will be X-factors that decide games and perhaps the series.
“I think it’s a privilege," said Hartenstein, who had 10 points and 13 rebounds in Game 2. "You dream of playing in games like this and playing a game against another great team is always something really special. Again, I heard somewhere that pressure is a privilege and so I think just being in this series where the pressure is so high, just trying to go out there and enjoy competing is always something really important.”
Gilgeous-Alexander struggled big-time in Game 1, shooting only 7 for 23 — the sixth time in his last seven Game 1s in which he's failed to make half his shots. But his rhythm was clearly back in Game 2, which is what he expected.
“I just have sucked when I get too long of a break," Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I don’t think it’s anything other than that.”
Wembanyama has 62 points and 41 rebounds so far in the series. Others have had more points in the first two games of a conference finals, but nobody since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1974 have had at least 60 points and 40 rebounds through two games in this round.
“I can think of a few down moments for myself, especially in the fourth quarter,” Wembanyama said after Game 2.
The series, to this point, couldn't be closer — besides the obvious 1-1 tie in games.
The winning team in both games has finished with exactly 122 points. Total points for the series: Thunder 237, Spurs 235. Both teams had an 8-0 run in Game 1, both teams had an 11-0 run in Game 2. The Thunder have made 30 3-pointers, the Spurs 29. The Spurs are shooting 46%, the Thunder 44%.
Here are the big differences: The Spurs have 25 more rebounds — but 19 more turnovers. Castle had a highlight-reel dunk over Hartenstein in Game 2 but has been plagued by 20 turnovers in the two games. And if the Spurs' backcourt remains thin, the pressure on Castle will only ramp up this weekend.
“You've got be aggressive against us," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "But if you’re overaggressive, we’ll make you pay.”
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