Down 15-0 not even three minutes into Game 3 of the Western Conference finals on Friday night, Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault went to his bench for the first time.
And everything changed in an instant, a harbinger of what was to come.
The Oklahoma City bench keeps getting better in these Western Conference finals — and, with all respect to MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the backups are the reason the Thunder are two wins away from a return the NBA Finals.
The Thunder got 50 points from their reserves in Game 1, then 57 in Game 2 — and on Friday, the bench mob struck again, scoring 76 points and keying Oklahoma City’s 123-108 win over the San Antonio Spurs for a 2-1 series lead.
The 76 bench points were the most by a team in a conference finals game since the NBA went to the 16-team playoff format in 1984. The previous mark was 69 by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1985. Only two Thunder starters scored in double figures — Gilgeous-Alexander had 26 points and Chet Holmgren had 14.
The bench more than made up for that.
Jared McCain scored 24 points for the Thunder; that’s a playoff career best. Jaylin Williams — that’s the forward, with Thunder guard Jalen Williams out with hamstring issues again — hit five 3-pointers and scored 18; that was also a playoff career high. And Alex Caruso had 15 points, giving him 63 in this series; that’s the best three-game scoring span of his career.
Oklahoma City’s bench contributed 62% of the scoring for the Thunder in Game 3 — something no team had done in a winning effort during a conference finals game in the last four decades.
Caruso was the first sub for the Thunder after the Spurs scored the game’s first 15 points. He instantly settled things down and most of that San Antonio lead was gone by the end of the first quarter.
Oklahoma City controlled the majority of things the rest of the way. After being down 15 at the start, the Thunder won by 15 at the end.
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