Bench mob, Wemby off-night fuel Thunder triumph
OKLAHOMA CITY—Alex Caruso sparked another big effort from the bench on Tuesday night. And he’s a big reason the Thunder are on the verge of returning to the NBA Finals.
Him and the fact that Victor Wembanyama could not get anything going in Game 5.
Caruso scored 22 points and was 4 of 8 on three-pointers to help Oklahoma City—down two starters—to a 127-114 victory over San Antonio in the tie-breaking match of the Western Conference finals.
“We have good players on our bench. They’ve got good players on their bench,” Caruso said. “So, we know that’s an area of the game where you can try to find some positive plus-minus time for that group.”
The bench rotation wasn’t the same for the Thunder in Game 5; Jared McCain moved into the starting lineup and scored 20 points. McCain scored 24 of Oklahoma City’s 76 bench points in a 123-108 win in Game 3 at San Antonio.
Instead, Oklahoma City got eight points off the bench from Kenrich Williams, who made both threes he attempted, and seven points from Cason Wallace. The Thunder outscored the Spurs by 29 points in Wallace’s 31 minutes.
“I think we’ve just gone a good job, whoever it’s been—and it’s been a lot of different people during the series, a couple of guys that have been consistently there,” said Caruso, who added six assists. “That group, I think … has just done a great job of competing through those minutes.”
After five games, the Thunder bench is outscoring San Antonio’s reserves 257-127.
And it certainly was of no help to the Spurs that their star had an off-night.
It’s been a very simple formula for San Antonio in the series. When Wembanyama has been the best player on the floor, they win. When he isn’t, they lose.
He wasn’t the best player on the floor on Tuesday night.
Wembanyama, who has had 41-point and 33-point outings in winning efforts during the series, never seemed to get fully rolling during the game.
Now down 3-2 in the series, the Spurs try to extend the matchup—and save their season—in Game 6 at San Antonio on Thursday night.
Wembanyama scored 20 points, his lowest of the series, and only a 12-for-12 effort from the foul line helped him get there in Game 5. He was 4 for 15 from the floor, missing all five of his three-point tries, never seeming to get into any sort of rhythm.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 32 points to lead Oklahoma, which lost starters Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell to injuries.
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