The Spurs Committed 21 Turnovers In A 122 To 113 Game 2 Loss As The Thunder Evened The Western Conference Finals
Turnovers, turnovers,….TURNOVERS.
The Spurs once again showed no value in possessing the basketball, committing 21 turnovers enroute to a 122-113 Game 2 loss to the Thunder.
The home team Thunder found themselves in an early must win situation heading into Game 2 as falling behind 0-2 to the Spurs would pose a daunting task.
They found help in the form of 27 points off of the plethora of giveaways by the Silver and Black.
The Spurs have now committed 42 turnovers in their two Western Conference Finals games.
Stephon Castle led the Silver and Black with 25 points with eight assists. He was one turnover shy however of being on the bad end of a triple-double finishing with nine turnovers.
Last year’s ROY now has 20 turnovers in just two games after committing 11 in the series opener.
V-Dub, coming off a monster 40/20 opening game, was unable to replicate his Game One performance.
While not quite as impressive he finished the game with 21 points, 17 rebounds, six assists, and four blocks. The big Frenchman also contributed four turnovers. “We’ve got to help our ballhandlers more and take care of the ball,” Wembanyama said.
“Obviously this team [Thunder] is as good as anybody at turning you over, so when you’re down some of your primary creators and initiators it causes a little bit of an extra strain, whether that’s who to play, what to play, what to run, etc., etc.,” Johnson said. “We’ll just have to be sharper in that area because it’s tough fully loaded against these guys.”
One point of concern for the Spurs is the status of Rookie point guard Dylan Harper. Harper, who started the series in place of veteran De’Aaron Fox who’s out with ankle soreness, left the game early due to a right leg injury after he took a couple of awkward falls in the third quarter.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looked every bit the part of the League MVP in Game 2, rebounding from a dismal 24 point performance on 7-23 fg shooting. He finished with a game high 30 points with a more Shai like 12-24 from the field. The MVP also dished out nine dimes in the game.
“The guys brought it tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Knowing what it would have meant if we lost this one, we brought the energy from the jump.”
Alex Caruso followed up his 31 point Game One explosion with 17 points; including 3-of 4 from three, off the bench for the defending champs.
Chet Holmgren added 13 points and Jared McCain and Cason Wallace each had 12 points off the bench for Oklahoma City. The Thunder reserves outscored the Spurs bench 57-25.
With the series now tied at a game a piece the Spurs will have a little less than 48 hours to recover. The Series now moves back to the Alamo City for games 3 & 4 with the Spurs now holding home court advantage after stealing Game One.
Up Next:
Game 3 @ San Antonio
Friday, 5/22 @ 730pm
NBC/Peacock
Series tied 1-1
