The San Antonio Spurs have gotten off to big starts in each of the last two games of the Western Conference finals.
Heading into Game 5 on Tuesday with the seven-game series deadlocked at 2, the host Oklahoma City Thunder are looking to reverse that trend.
“They just punched us in our face early,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said after Sunday’s 103-82 loss in San Antonio. “It’s two games in a row they’ve all come out the aggressors. Last game, we were able to course-correct. Tonight, we just didn’t do so. We’ve just gotta do a better job of starting the games.”
In Sunday’s game, the Spurs jumped out to a 23-8 lead. In Friday’s Game 3, San Antonio scored the game’s first 15 points before Oklahoma City came back to win 123-108.
The series has been physical throughout, with the Thunder throwing several different looks at San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs doing the same against Gilgeous-Alexander.
“They have multiple guys that are tenacious, they get into the ball, and then they have Wemby behind them, and they know that, and they do that to their strength,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So obviously a really good defense. … To score on them, it’s gonna take quick decisions, the right decisions, you gotta be really good offensively and really sound.”
The Spurs changed the way they guarded the Thunder in Game 4, using more one-on-one looks against Gilgeous-Alexander and preventing Oklahoma City from getting as many open looks from beyond the arc.
The Thunder were just 6 of 33 on 3-point attempts in Game 4 after shooting nearly 40% from distance in the first three games.
“I don’t want to say what it was,” San Antonio’s Devin Vassell said. “I think we made a great defensive adjustment. … I feel like they had so many wide-open 3s over the past couple games, and you’ve got to respect them, especially if they’re making them. So we were trying to cut them out with that.”
While the adjustment sometimes gave Gilgeous-Alexander more room to work, it also helped San Antonio keep Oklahoma City’s bench largely in check.
The Thunder bench still outscored the Spurs’ 34-30, though more than half of Oklahoma City’s bench points came in the fourth quarter, when the team sat Gilgeous-Alexander and used three of its other starters for 3:17 or less with San Antonio in control of the game.
Oklahoma City is also navigating without two of its primary ballhandlers in Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell.
Williams has missed the last two games after aggravating a hamstring injury. Mitchell is dealing with a right calf strain that knocked him out of Game 3. ESPN reported Monday that both are considered day-to-day.
Mitchell averaged nearly 19 points per game in the first two rounds, starting six of the eight games in place of Williams.
Before being knocked out of Game 3, Mitchell was averaging just 5.3 points per game in the series. While Oklahoma City has struggled with guard play outside of Gilgeous-Alexander and sans Williams and Mitchell, San Antonio is hoping to continue its trajectory among its backcourt.
Guards Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox had just one turnover between them Sunday and combined for 25 points and 11 assists.
