Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (26 points) leads the Thunder toward a third consecutive win over the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals.
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SAN ANTONIO – Operating on little sleep, befitting a coach seeking a second consecutive NBA championship, Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault met with reporters Saturday morning.
It was at the Thunder team hotel in a unique library room surrounded by a diverse collection of titles: Under the Texas Sun: Adventures of a Young Cowpuncher; Western Water Made Simple; The Ranch That Was Us; Handbook of Data on Organic Compounds; and Maps of Paradise.
It was about 12 hours after he left Frost Bank Center with his Thunder up 2-1 following Friday’s 123-108 victory against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.
He attended a postgame team dinner, met with his parents, and “then I watched the film last night,” Daigneault said. “I usually watch film the night of the game. I’m usually pretty wound up after the game anyways.”
The start of the game could’ve induced nightmares as the Spurs took a 15-0 lead. From that point on though, it was all Thunder – an unusual 123-93 run – and Daigneault could rest easier before waking up and getting ready for Game 4 Sunday.
“We had a great win last night, and you just know Game 4, you’re going to have to really earn it if you want to go get that game,” Daigneault said, “and so the gears just start turning on that.”
Here are three things to watch in Game 4 on Sunday in San Antonio (8 ET, NBC/Peacock).
1. What can Wembanyama deliver in Game 4?
The Thunder defeat the Spurs, 123-108, in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals to take a 2-1 series lead.
The Thunder won’t be so presumptuous as to think they’ve figured anything out against Victor Wembanyama. For starters, that would be foolhardy. Also in the series, the Spurs have a positive net rating when Wembanyama is on the court, scoring 114.2 points and allowing 108 points per 100 possessions.
Problem is, the Spurs can’t keep him on the court for the entire game, and the Thunder are crushing it in the non-Wembanyama minutes. In the nine minutes Wembanyama was on the bench in Game 3, the Thunder outscored the Spurs 35-16, including 15-5 in the first quarter and 9-0 in the second quarter.
“We can’t play him 48 minutes, so you can’t lose by 20 in those minutes,” said Spurs coach Mitch Johnson. “There’s a combination of who are we playing, what are we running, what’s the game plan during that time, and I’ve got to make sure I help that group, and the group when Victor’s in there has to be better, too.”
Wembanyama still had 26 points in Game 3, but there have been diminishing returns in certain areas of his production. Let’s start with rebounding. He had 24 rebounds in Game 1, 17 in Game 2 and four in Game 3, including nine offensive rebounds followed by five followed by zero. His paint points have decreased from 26 in the Spurs’ series-opening victory to 10 paint points in each of the two losses.
In other words, the Thunder are doing a decent job of making sure Wembanyama doesn’t dominate the paint especially with easy dunks.
Oklahoma City has found success defending him with multiple defenders, including Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holmgren (first-team All-Defensive selection this season) and Jaylin Williams. According to NBA data, a different Thunder player each game has spent the most time on Wembanyama.
It’s different players, different looks and different levels of physicality in attempt to wear down Wembanyama.
“Vic creates our advantages for us more than anybody else,” Johnson said. “That’s very easy to observe. The way we execute those advantages throughout the season has been with our three guards (De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper) mostly with the basketball in their hands. Just being blunt, those guys aren’t 100% right now.
“So we have to adjust while not changing how we play but understanding how we can continue to take advantage of those things. … We have to continue to evolve and that’s what goes into being in a chess match and they’ve done some good adjustments.”
2. Thunder enjoying road success
The Thunder remain unbeaten on the road in the playoffs (5-0) and are now 10-5 in playoff road games the past two seasons.
“It’s hard to win playoff games on the road,” Daigneault said. “As you saw last night, that took all of our best punch to win that game the way we did last night. And it still wasn’t easy despite the fact that it was a 15-point win. It’s challenging. You don’t graduate to it. It’s going to be just as hard (Sunday) night.”
In five road playoff games this season, the Thunder give up more points than at home but they also score more points on the road than at home, too.
A road win in Game 4 would put the Thunder up 3-1 in the series and send it back to Oklahoma City for a chance to close out. That would lock in a return to the NBA Finals for the second consecutive season.
“You’ve got to have a presence of mind, emotional regulation and the ability to cut through distractions and execute with poise and confidence,” Daigneault said. “And this team has that, and that does grow the more that you’re in the situations and this team’s done a great job of that.”
3. A deeper look at Thunder’s deep bench
Jared McCain (22 points) and Jaylin Williams (18 points) both score playoff career-highs as the Thunder bench propels them to win.
This bench stat is generating discussion: Oklahoma City’s bench has outscored San Antonio’s bench 183-64 in the series, including 76-23 in Game 3. The 76 points were the most a bench has scored in a conference finals game since the conference finals debuted in 1970-71.
Those are staggering numbers.
Of the Thunder’s 47 3-pointers through three games, the bench has made 37 of them and is shooting 48.5% from the field and 44% on 3s. Thunder reserves also have accounted for 24 of the team’s 35 steals.
Alex Caruso scored a playoff career-high 31 points in Game 1, four non-starters reached double-figures in points in Game 2 and Game 3, including 24 from Jared McCain and 18 from Jaylin Williams in Game 3. Williams is shooting 58.3% on 3s.
Cason Wallace was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive Second Team on Friday, and he opens the game on the bench. He’s averaging 10.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals and shooting 50% from the field.
“We have a lot of guys that we trust,” Daigneault said. “We also play in a way that demands a lot of energy. We play with a lot of pressure. We provide a lot of help, which puts us in longer closeouts. We want to be a great transition defense team. … We want to crash the offensive glass. Everything we want to do that gives you the best chance to win requires energy and there’s different ways to do that.
“You can try to condition eight guys to doing that, and that can be successful. But when you have a team as deep as we are, we choose to deploy those guys and keep fresh legs on the court.”
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Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at [email protected], find his archive here and follow him on X.
