SHAI Gilgeous-Alexander might not have liked the way he started on Tuesday night.
But the Oklahoma City Thunder star came up big in the second and third quarters — getting plenty of help from the cast around him — as the Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs 127-114 at home to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals.
“I thought we were first to the fight tonight on both ends and I thought we weren’t the other night,” Thunder Coach Mark Daigneault said. “I just loved the way we tonight on both ends of the floor.”
Oklahoma City will have a chance to close out the series in Game Six Thursday in San Antonio.
It was a rough start for Gilgeous-Alexander, who missed his first four shots and had three first-quarter turnovers.
“If it was four or five me’s out there, we would’ve been down 20 after the first quarter,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Probably should never start like that again.”
But even with the back-to-back Most Valuable Player’s struggles, the Thunder led after a quarter thanks in part to Gilgeous-Alexander’s seven points in the final two minutes.
In Sunday’s 103-82 loss, Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso and Jared McCain combined for just 14 points on 4-of-19 shooting.
In Game Five, the trio all came up big.
McCain was inserted into the starting lineup for ⁠his first playoff start, as Daigneault went with McCain over Cason Wallace with the Thunder playing without both Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell for the second consecutive game.
McCain didn’t make much of an impact on the stat sheet early, with just two points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half, but Diagneault said McCain still made a big impact on both ends of the floor from the start.
In Tuesday’s game, the trio combined for 58 points, going 18 of 38 from the floor.
McCain scored 18 of his 20 points after the break and didn’t have a turnover in the second half.
Holmgren finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Caruso, who averaged 21 points off the bench over the first three games of the series before being held scoreless on just one shot Sunday, got going early and finished with 22 points, six assists and three steals.
Gilgeous-Alexander eventually got going, scoring 12 points in Oklahoma City’s 40-point second quarter and 11 more in the third, finishing with 32 points on 7-of-19 shooting and handing out nine assists.
Oklahoma City was 48.2 per cent from the floor after shooting just 33 per cent in Game Four.
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama finished with 20 points on 4-of-15 shooting to go with six rebounds. (Reuters)