Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder down Spurs to take 3-2 series lead

Oklahoma City will head to San Antonio for Thursday's game six with a chance to clinch the series

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Published May 27, 2026  •  2 minute read

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shoots against Luke Kornet in Oklahoma City's victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Photo by Christian Petersen /GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the San Antonio Spurs 127-114 to move within one win of a return to the NBA Finals on Tuesday.

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Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder punished an error-strewn performance by San Antonio to claim a victory which leaves the reigning NBA champions 3-2 up with two games remaining in the Western Conference finals.

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San Antonio had levelled the series at 2-2 with a battling performance on Sunday but never got going in a lacklustre game five display at Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center.

Spurs star Victor Wembanyama had a miserable shooting night, scoring 20 points but making just 4-of-15 attempts from the field while grabbing only six rebounds.

Spurs forward Devin Vassell also had a night to forget, scoring just six points from 2-of-11 shooting after averaging 17 points in the opening four games of the series.

Oklahoma City will head to San Antonio for Thursday’s game six with a chance to clinch the series after a typically clinical performance, recovering from a slow start to seal a deserved win.

Gilgeous-Alexander was one of five Thunder players to finish in double figures, with Alex Caruso scoring 22 from the bench including four three-pointers and Jared McCain impressing with 20 points.

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Chet Holmgren had 16 points with 11 rebounds, while Isaiah Hartenstein had 12 points with 15 rebounds.

“I might have had the worst start to a basketball game in my career, but the group held it down and kept us in the game,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of a sluggish first quarter by the Thunder that saw San Antonio jump into an early eight-point lead.

“Somehow we still won the first quarter but that’s a testament to the guys in the locker room.

“I’ve been saying it all year — we’re a group of one through 15, and we wouldn’t be this deep in the season without everybody on the team, and it showed again tonight,” the two-time NBA Most Valuable Player added.

“We made adjustments after the last game and applied what we learned.

“Against a really good team you’ve just got to try to be better each and every game, and we definitely got better from the last game.”

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