It took just two minutes of Game 1 for Isaiah Hartenstein to get subbed out — having a non-shooting big man on the court allowed Victor Wembanyama to hang out in the paint and help off him, and that was blowing up the Thunder offense. For the rest of Game 1, Hartenstein only played when Wembanyama sat.
Then there was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He saw double-teams from the Lakers, however, he didn’t see them with defenders as big, physical, and just plain good as the Spurs threw at him in Game 1 — and if he got by them he saw Wembanyama lurking in the paint, waiting. The result was a 7-of-23 shooting night in which the two-time MVP was not the best player on the court, or even on his own team. The Thunder lost.
Two days later, the Western Conference Finals are tied 1-1 because SGA and Hartenstein had massive bounce-back games.
In Game 2, Gilgeous-Alexander looked like the two-time MVP: 30 points, nine assists, some solid defense all night and a late bucket when his team needed it most. He was getting downhill into the paint, floating shots over Wembanyama or drawing him in then passing out to an open shooter. When the doubles came, he quickly found the open man and created 4-on-3s for OKC.
Hartenstein not only got the start in Game 2 but he also drew the Wembanyama defensive assignment much of the night — and he thrived.
Nobody is going to stop Wembanyama, but Hartenstein was physical, never let him get comfortable, fouled him a few times and basically made Wembanyama work for every inch of the court. Wembanyama still scored 21, but he wasn’t the dominant force of Game 1. Also, Hartenstein added 10 points and 13 rebounds of his own to the Thunder.
“I thought we all played better,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, via the Associated Press. “I had a quiet confidence about that. I didn’t know if we’d win or lose the game, but I was pretty sure after watching Game 1 and knowing our team that we were going to come out and play better tonight.”
Part of what drove them was knowing that if they dropped Game 2 at home there would be no return to the NBA Finals. They would have dug too deep a hole against a very good team.
“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.”
If the Thunder are going to take a game in San Antonio, the guys are going to have to bring it on the road — starting with SGA and Hartenstein.
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