Add The New York Post on Google OKLAHOMA CITY — The MVP looked like the MVP again, and the Western Conference finals are knotted up.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander bounced back from a subpar series opener to score 30 points, Alex Caruso added 17 off the bench and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs 122-113 on Wednesday night in Game 2.
Chet Holmgren scored 13 points and reserves Jared McCain and Cason Wallace each had 12 for Oklahoma City. The Thunder finished with a 57-25 edge in bench scoring, plus a 27-10 edge in points off turnovers.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looks to shoot as Stephon Castle (5) defends during the third quarter of the Thunder’s 122-113 win over the Spurs in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals on May 20, 2026 in Oklahoma City. Brett Rojo-Imagn Images Stephon Castle scored 25 points for the Spurs, who got 22 points from Devin Vassell and a 21-point, 17-rebound, six-assist, four-block night from Victor Wembanyama.
“The guys brought it tonight. Knowing what it would have meant if we lost this one, we brought the energy from the jump,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Isaiah Hartenstein — who barely played in Game 1 — had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder, who improved to 14-5 after a loss this season — and beat the Spurs for just the second time in seven meetings.
The win was not without cost for the Thunder, who lost guard Jalen Williams — who had already missed six games in these playoffs with a left hamstring strain — in the first half with a recurrence of the hamstring issue. The Thunder said it was tightness, but even that would figure to put his availability for Friday into doubt.
Victor Wembanyama (1) reacts to a play during the fourth quarter of the Spurs’ Game 2 road loss to the the Thunder. Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images And the Spurs got banged up as well. Already without All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox because of ankle soreness, San Antonio lost his replacement in the starting lineup — Dylan Harper — to a right leg injury after he took a couple of awkward falls in the third quarter.
San Antonio was down by 11 at the half and trailed by eight going into the fourth quarter, then got within 99-97 off a corner 3-pointer by Harrison Barnes with 9:06 left.
The next 2 1/2 minutes saved the Thunder. An 11-0 run by the defending champions — including a banked-in 3-pointer by Jared McCain midway through the burst — pushed OKC’s lead to 13.
But the Spurs were far from done. Wembanyama scored down low to make it 118-113 with 1:25 remaining, but Gilgeous-Alexander got one last basket to settle things down and send the series to San Antonio tied.
