Oklahoma City climbed out of a 15-0 hole inside a hostile AT&T Center to beat the San Antonio Spurs 123-108 in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals on Friday night, with Jared McCain's 24 points off the bench leading a franchise-playoff-record 76-point reserve effort.
The Spurs' opening 15-0 burst was their longest start to a playoff game in five years. By the final buzzer, the Thunder had outscored San Antonio by 30 from that point on and held them to 31 percent shooting from three. OKC's bench finished plus-53 against the Spurs' bench, which mustered just 23 points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning back-to-back MVP, finished with 26 points and 12 assists. Asked by ESPN's George Sedano what was said in the first huddle after the early avalanche, the OKC star kept the answer flat.
"We just got to go out there and compete," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "Like they're on their home floor, back at their house, their regular routine. They were going to come out ready to play. We just got to compete and give ourselves a chance. That's the only thing that we could have did, and we did a hell of a job of it once we got the car back on the road."
McCain, acquired from Philadelphia in February, has slotted straight into the Thunder rotation in his first deep playoff run. The 21-year-old guard explained how the road environment shaped the response.
"It's going to be loud for them. So being able to weather the storm, AC talks about it a lot, Kidge talks about it a lot," McCain said. "When we came to the timeout, nobody was down, everybody was just like ready to keep going and throw another punch."
On ESPN's coverage, Stephen A. Smith credited the OKC composure that has defined the Thunder all postseason. "They were down 15 to nothing to start the game and they ended the game winning by 15. So from the point of being down 15 nothing, they outscored San Antonio by 30," Smith said. "Just everywhere you turn, no matter what it is, they have something to answer whatever challenge that you throw in their direction."
Alex Caruso's plus-28 was a focal point of the analysis from former NBA champion Iman Shumpert. "I look more at the plus-minus from Alex Caruso tonight because the amount of extra possessions he provided OKC with was enough to be another 20 points if it was just given to one player," Shumpert said. "They play within a team offense. It's just a well-oiled machine. Next-guy-up type of system."
Head coach Mark Daigneault said the depth advantage is a product of identity rather than match-up. "We're not looking at anything relative to the opponent," Daigneault said. "We assume the opponent's always at their best and we need to be at ours. Depth is a part of that. It just needs to be one of our strengths that we rely on regardless of circumstance."
The Thunder reclaimed home-court advantage with road wins now totalling more than any other team produced in the regular season. Game 4 in San Antonio is on Sunday.
