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Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jared McCain take down Spurs in Game 3
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- Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jared McCain take down Spurs in Game 3
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The Oklahoma City Thunder have found themselves in quite the dogfight against the San Antonio Spurs in the 2026 Western Conference Finals, as expected. These two teams emerged as the cream of the crop during the regular season, and it's translated to some heated action on the court. On Friday night, in Game 3, the Thunder came out on top despite Jalen Williams ' absence, taking a 123-108 victory on the road against a Spurs team that scored the first 15 points of the ballgame.
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It became evident rather quickly that the Thunder's starting lineup sans J-Dub wasn't up to snuff. Head coach Mark Daigneault then immediately went to his bench , relying on the likes of Jared McCain , Jaylin Williams , and Alex Caruso to provide a spark, and that's exactly what those three did.
McCain came off the bench to score 24 points, and he went 10-21 from the field. But while McCain will be drawing plenty of headlines for that performance, Williams might have been an even bigger hero — as he provided spacing from the frontcourt, tallying 18 points on 5-6 shooting from beyond the arc, including an and-one from beyond the arc that dashed any hope of a Spurs comeback.
At the end of the day, it was still Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who led the way for the Thunder. He took advantage of an officiating crew that got whistle-happy during the second half, and he finished with 26 points despite a rough 6-17 shooting night. The reigning back-to-back MVP also had 12 assists, as he was more than happy to take whatever the Spurs defense was giving him.
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The Thunder are now leading the series, 2-1, although everyone knows that this is far from over. Game 4 will be on the road once again for OKC, and there is a possibility that the production of the Thunder's role players taper off considering that this phenomenon usually happens on the road in the playoffs.
But the Thunder's bench has been rolling, doing more than enough to make up for J-Dub's injury and Ajay Mitchell 's struggles.
Related: 3 Spurs most to blame for Game 3 collapse vs. Thunder
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