The Oklahoma City Thunder moved one win away from a return trip to the NBA Finals after outlasting the San Antonio Spurs 127-114 to lead the series 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 32 points, Alex Caruso added 22, while Jared McCain scored 20 in his first playoff start.
Chet Holmgren tallied 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Isaiah Hartenstein had 12 and 15 boards for Oklahoma City.
On the other hand, Stephon Castle dropped 24 points, Julian Champagnie had 22, and Victor Wembanyama added 20 for the Spurs, which was held to 4-of-15 shooting and missed 29 of its 41 triple tries.
The Thunder scored 40 points in the second to take control and kept the lead the rest of the way.
Both teams combined to make 29 free throws in the second quarter alone, the most in the second of any NBA game since the bubble playoffs nearly six years ago. The Spurs were 15 for 17 in the quarter, and the Thunder 14 for 14.
Oklahoma City went up by 20 in the third, before San Antonio closed within eight, and might have some chances to cut even further into the deficit.
Some controversial calls happened when Spurs’ Luke Kornet with about 56 seconds left was knocked off the rim by Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace and should have been goaltending.
Followed by next possession, an out-of-bounds call that should have gone their way and replays showed the ball went out of Holmgren — did not.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson tried to challenge the call, got ignored, then got a technical foul for arguing and the Thunder lead was 101-91 going into the fourth.
Game 6 is Thursday in San Antonio. If there’s a Game 7, it’ll be back in Oklahoma City on Saturday.
The Knicks will play the Thunder-Spurs winner in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 3, with that series starting in the Western Conference city.
