The Oklahoma City Thunder are two wins away from a second consecutive NBA Finals appearance. After dropping Game 1 in double overtime, 122-115, the defending champions have rattled off back-to-back victories, capped by a 123-108 blowout in San Antonio on Friday to take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals.
The win was all the more impressive given how it started, as the Spurs started the game on a 15-0 run, but then OKC responded with a 58-36 stretch to close the first half and never looked back.
Jared McCain and Jaylin Williams Carry OKC Past the Spurs in Game 3
The story of Game 3 wasn’t Shai Gilgeous-Alexander going off, but instead it was everyone around him making the Spurs pay for loading up on the two-time MVP. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 26 points and 12 assists on 6-of-17 shooting, but his willingness to distribute rather than force the issue opened the door for his supporting cast to take over.
Jared McCain led the charge with 24 points on 10-of-21 shooting, and Jaylin Williams was arguably the game’s most efficient player, knocking down five of his six three-point attempts en route to 18 points, five rebounds, and two steals.
Alex Caruso added 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting with three triples, two steals, and a block. OKC’s bench outscored San Antonio’s 76-23, a staggering 53-point gap that encapsulated the series’ defining problem for the Spurs. The NFL world on social media lauded the Thunder after their win and gave credit where it was due.
“We gotta keep it real, people. OKC is just a better team,” Robert Griffin III wrote on X. “More shooters. More depth. Back-to-back MVP in SGA. Their starters only scored 47 points in the whole game, and they still won by 15 points because 4 guys off THEIR BENCH scored in double figures.”
“Spurs letting frustration get the best of them,” Sharpe added in another post. “Spurs, you’re not getting any easy baskets,” he added. “That includes breakaways. Nothing cheap or malicious about the fouls Thunder are committing, play ball.”
Stephon Castle did NOT like that foul from Alex Caruso pic.twitter.com/YJXKe8Qrn6
— Bussin’ With The Boys (@BussinWTB) May 23, 2026
“Never forget that Daryl Morey traded Jared McCain to OKC and got absolutely no one in return,” Griffin wrote on X.
“The Oklahoma City Thunder are UNBELIEVABLY mentally tough,” Skip Bayless said. “That was impossibly impressive.”
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Gilgeous-Alexander made all 12 of his free-throw attempts, and the chatter about him going to the line this much continued on social media. However, Griffin praised the NBA MVP’s ability to force defenders to foul him.
“SGA’s signature move is the offensive foul push off into a pump fake that gets the defender in the air, that he then jumps into them and ends up at the free throw line,” Griffin said in another post. “He gets them every time.”
“The push off forces them to accelerate to close the distance, gets them out of position, and their senses tell them the only way to close the distance on the shot is to jump,” Griffin continued. “Now they are in the air saying, “Not this sh*t again,” and it’s too late.”
Victor Wembanyama finished with 26 points on efficient 8-of-15 shooting, but grabbed just four rebounds. For the Spurs to extend this series, the 22-year-old generational talent needs to consistently score more than 30 points and grab more than 10-12 rebounds. Moreover, his two blocks in Game 3 were not enough to deter OKC’s attack at the rim, as even McCain was able to score on him.
How about this finish by McCain? pic.twitter.com/j25Je8fWAX
— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) May 23, 2026
Wembanyama’s supporting cast has to match that urgency. Stephon Castle scored 14 points but went 1-of-8 from the field, relying almost entirely on free throws. De’Aaron Fox managed just 15 points, and Dylan Harper was limited to six on 2-of-7 shooting. Keldon Johnson contributed only five points on 1-of-5 shooting, as the Spurs’ bench failed to make any impact in the game.
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Until Castle, Fox, and Harper can consistently produce alongside Wembanyama, the Spurs’ bench deficit will remain insurmountable against a Thunder team that can go 10 deep, even without Jalen Williams, without losing production.
If the Thunder gets past San Antonio, the path to a repeat looks clear. The Knicks lead the Cavaliers 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals and appear poised to wrap up the series quickly, which would give New York valuable rest days before the Finals. The Thunder, on the other hand, are likely looking at at least five or six games against the Spurs, and that rest differential could matter in the Finals.
