{"id":19390,"date":"2026-05-27T04:08:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T04:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/sga-thunder-strike-to-overpower-spurs-in-game-5-win-live-updates-reaction-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T04:08:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T04:08:03","slug":"sga-thunder-strike-to-overpower-spurs-in-game-5-win-live-updates-reaction-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/sga-thunder-strike-to-overpower-spurs-in-game-5-win-live-updates-reaction-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"SGA, Thunder strike to overpower Spurs in Game 5 win: Live updates, reaction – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Tracy McGrady did not sugarcoat anything when asked about Victor Wembanyama<\/strong>\u2019s quiet game.
\ud83d\udcac \u201cWe talk about how amazing Wemby is on the basketball court, on both ends. We didn\u2019t see that tonight.<\/em><\/strong>
\u201cIt\u2019s shocking because Games 1 and 4, he was all of that. When you\u2019re coming into a game, with what\u2019s at stake, I expected a legendary performance, a historic performance. In the first quarter, it just seemed like he was tired, lethargic, didn't have the energy (the Thunder) possessed that he should have come out with in a Game 5. <\/em><\/strong>
\u201cI don\u2019t know what it was. But Game 6 has to be a different Wembanyama … Tonight, really? Four for 15? There should never be a time where he has 15 shots in this type of game.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
Carmelo Anthony said he thought Wembanyama looked \u201ctired\u201d and \u201cstressed,\u201d although he added he expects Wembanyama to bounce back in Game 6.
\ud83d\udcac \u201cWemby, from the beginning of the game, warmups, looked to me like he was going through the motions. He didn\u2019t have his same pop that he usually has before the game.<\/em><\/strong>
\u201cTonight, I saw a young, tired Wemby who couldn\u2019t figure it out.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
Thunder outscored Spurs 26-15 on second-chance points in Game 5 of the 2026 Western Conference finals.
That\u2019s the most second chance points the Thunder have scored in any playoff game under Mark Daigneault.
It wasn\u2019t pretty but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/strong> claimed the upper hand in his Game 5 duel against Victor Wembanyama<\/strong>.
Gilgeous-Alexander admitted as much in the NBC postgame interview, citing his slow offensive start, but he finished the game with 32 points and scored exactly half of those on free throws: 16 of 17 from the stripe.
While he turned the ball over six times, he recorded nine assists and recorded two steals in 37 minutes.
Wembanyama also found success in getting to the line but was much less efficient offensively.
Now the reigning NBA Finals MVP is on the verge of returning to the sport\u2019s biggest stage.
SGA DELIVERED IN GAME 5!<\/p>\n

\u26c8\ufe0f 32 PTS
\u26c8\ufe0f 9 AST
\u26c8\ufe0f 2 STL<\/p>\n

Thunder win Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead in the West Finals \ud83c\udf7f pic.twitter.com\/D0bfspcvGu<\/a>
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander <\/strong>didn\u2019t mince words when he described his start to Game 5.
But postgame, the NBA MVP credited his teammates for stepping up in this pivotal contest.
\ud83d\udcac \u201cI might have had the worst start to a basketball game in my career.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
Jared McCain<\/strong> wasn\u2019t especially efficient but he\u2019s such a willing 3-point shooter, pull-up threat in the midrange and fearless paint driver that he is an effective panacea to the Spurs defense in the way Ajay Mitchell<\/strong> was against whatever you want to call the Lakers defense in the semifinals.
It\u2019s not a great sign that McCain is starting overall, as Jalen Williams<\/strong> shouldn\u2019t be expected back this week. But Mitchell was eating against a Lakers defense that was chewable inside.
The way to beat the Spurs is with shots outside of the paint, and McCain has been a willing and able complement for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/strong> in that regard.
Jared McCain starred in his first start with the Thunder!<\/p>\n

20 PTS (18 in 2H)
3 REB
3 3PM <\/p>\n

Thunder win Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead in the West Finals \ud83c\udf7f pic.twitter.com\/TWTThyd4xC<\/a>
Jared McCain<\/strong> received the starting nod from coach Mark Daigneault, and he made the vote of confidence worth it with one of his finest performances of the postseason.
After scoring two points on 1-of-5 shooting from the field in the first half, McCain tallied 18 in the second half and sank three 3-pointers. The treys helped squash San Antonio\u2019s late-game momentum and fired up the home crowd.
The last time McCain scored 20 or more points? March 18.
His promotion to the starting lineup and 33-minute outing signal an elevated role for the midseason trade acquisition, and he proved he deserved it in Game 5.
Mitch Johnson <\/strong>to reporters in Oklahoma City when asked if they need to find a way to get more from Victor Wembanyama offensively:
\ud83d\udcac \u201cWe\u2019re gonna need to. He\u2019s gotta take more than 15 shots, even with the free throws. He\u2019s gonna need to score more than 20 points, for sure.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitch Johnson on the explanation he got for not getting that challenge call at the end of the third quarter:
\ud83d\udcac \u201cThey just said they didn\u2019t see me.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
I\u2019m really curious to see what the Spurs\u2019 response looks like in Game 6.
Feels like the most desperate team has won each game this series.
That will be San Antonio on Thursday. Will they have the answer and force a Game 7?
The two games Spurs have won in this series:
I can\u2019t wait to see the first Wemby-facing-elimination game.
When the Thunder\u2019s defense was allowed to contest Victor Wembanyama<\/strong>\u2019s shots, they succeeded in throwing him off his game.
Wembanyama was 12 of 12 at the free-throw line, but made just four of his 15 field-goal attempts in 38 minutes and did not score more than one field goal in any quarter.
Without Wembanyama as effective offensively, the Spurs struggled to rally in the second half and allowed their deficit to balloon to 20 points late in the game.
The four field goals was half of his previous low in the Western Conference finals, and his 0-of-5 showing from 3 was his first game of the series without a 3-point make.
The Spurs will need him to return to MVP form when the series returns to San Antonio for Game 6.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander:
\ud83d\udcac \u201cWe just played to who we were tonight.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
Fitting way to describe that one.
Zora Stephenson with a funny question:
\ud83d\udcac \u201cWhen are you going to think you have a good game?\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/strong> seemed to be amused by the question, but didn\u2019t break character:
\ud83d\udcac \u201cWhen I have a good game.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>
"I might have had the worst start to a basketball game in my career, but the group held it down."<\/p>\n

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander speaks with Zora Stephenson after the Thunder's big Game 5 win! pic.twitter.com\/8FA49L0yfU<\/a>
Spurs only allowed BlazerWolves to score 110+ points once in 11 playoff games, and none reached 120.
Thunder have now tagged the Spurs three times for 120 points in Western Conference finals.
All of them OKC wins.<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NBANBA PlayoffsAdvertisementliveUpdated 57s agoThe Thunder are one win away from back-to-back NBA Finals, after running over the Spurs at Paycom Center tonight. OKC proved too powerful on the night, coming through 127-114 and led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 32 points and 9 assists. Alex Caruso (22 points) and Jared McCain with 20 points on his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}