J-Will wows with the 4-point play.
J-Dub loves the dagger, and a 2-1 Thunder lead.
5 STORIES IN TODAY’S EDITION 🏀
May 23, 2026
Storm Then Thunder: Shai and OKC outlast Spurs’ hot start to take 2-1 series lead
Bench Boom: 76 points from Thunder reserves overpower San Antonio in Game 3
Numbers For Nine: Inside the Playoff-leading offensive & defensive stats fueling NY’s win streak
Spida’s Dream: Down 0-2 again, Shaun Powell writes that Mitchell must lead Cavs back to the arena he idolized: MSG
All-Defense: Unanimous First Team pick Wemby leads 2025-26 Kia All-Defensive Teams
BUT FIRST … ⏰
Saturday’s Playoff stop in The Land…
The Eastern Conference Finals shift to Cleveland, with the Knicks up 2-0 and the Cavs facing a familiar challenge in Game 3 (8 ET, ABC | Tap To Watch).
Heat center Bam Adebayo was named the 2025-26 NBA Social Justice Champion on Friday, receiving the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trophy for his work empowering equality for under-resourced communities.
“It just means all the people that I’ve helped got a voice.” Adebayo told the NBA Showtime crew upon winning.
Read on to Section 5 ⬇️ for the All-Defensive First & Second Team selections also announced Friday.
Up Next: 2025-26 All-NBA Teams will be unveiled Sunday (7 ET, NBC/Peacock) prior to Thunder-Spurs, Game 4. The 2025-26 Kia NBA Coach of the Year will be announced Tuesday.
1. SHAI, THUNDER WEATHER SPURS’ EARLY STORM FOR 2-1 LEAD
Less than 3 minutes into the game, it was 15-0 San Antonio.
But less than 3 minutes into the 4th quarter, and again at the final horn, it was OKC with a 15-point edge – and control of the West Finals.
Thunder 123, Spurs 108: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put up 26 points while matching his Playoff career-high with 12 assists, and Jared McCain’s 24 points led a 76-point bench onslaught, as the Thunder took a 2-1 series lead.
Victor Wembanyama led the Spurs, matching Shai’s 26, with all five starters in double figures for 85 combined points. Devin Vassell reached 20 points for a second straight game, while De’Aaron Fox (7 reb, 6 ast) had 15 points in his series debut. | Recap
- Settling In: After San Antonio’s 15-0 opening blitz, Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso got OKC on the board. 5 minutes in, up 19-4, Wemby went to the bench
- What happened next would be a running theme: Cason Wallace, Caruso and Jaylin Williams (2x) hit triples in a 15-5 OKC burst during Wemby’s 3:17 of rest
- Score Reset: OKC finished the 1st down only 5, which it quickly overcame with three straight 3s to open the 2nd. The quarter played out with all nine of the game’s lead changes, before another Wemby break
- Another Run: Down 45-43 with 5:22 before half, OKC launched a 9-0 run, forcing Wemby right back in at 3:11. The Thunder carried that 7-point lead to halftime, on the strength of four Jaylin Williams triples and nine 2nd-quarter points from SGA
- “We just wanted to compete. Down 15-0, nothing’s gonna happen in the snap of the fingers to get back into the game,” Shai said… “They really challenge you, and we like to think of ourselves as one of those teams that really challenges you too.”
- “It takes maturity,” Jared McCain said of the champs’ poise. “Not getting too high or too low. [San Antonio’s] gonna go on runs, but being able to throw a punch back is huge for us.”
“We have a lot of confident players,” coach Mark Daigneault said. “When you have a team as connected as this team is, then that confidence becomes contagious.
When there’s tough portions of the game… I think that has power, too.”
After halftime, SGA (17 pts second-half pts) and McCain (16) combined for 33 and OKC never gave the lead back. Shai outdueled Wemby 12-9 in the 3rd to keep OKC ahead by at least two possessions.
- Four-Point Dagger: Midway through the 4th, Williams drilled his fifth 3 through contact, adding a free throw to put the Thunder up 111-96. They lead by double digits for the final 6:39
- Night & Day: After San Antonio’s 15-0 start, OKC outscored their hosts 123-93 to win by 15. The Thunder were +19 when Wemby was off the floor
- Range & Rebounds: OKC held the Spurs to 42.5% shooting and just 37 total boards, their lowest marks of these Playoffs
The defending champs have now started the Playoffs 10-1, becoming the first team since the 2020 Heat to start a Playoff run 10-1 or better.
San Antonio will try to get the series back to even Sunday night in Game 4 (8 ET, NBC/Peacock).
“Of course there were gonna be hard trials. It’s to be expected. But now we’re gonna see what we’re made of,” Wembanyama said.
2. OKC’S SCORING DEPTH SURGES IN SAN ANTONIO
Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images
Seventy-six points.
Of 123.
Put in context, the Thunder bench’s 76 points on Friday came within a possession of two teams’ scores across an entire game this postseason.
- OKC’s 76-point bench boom is the highest bench production in any Conference Finals game since the Conference Finals’ first year, in 1970-71
- Four OKC bench players finished in double figures, with Playoff career-highs from Jared McCain (24 pts) and Jaylin Williams (18 pts) leading Alex Caruso (15) and Cason Wallace (11)
- Not Just Offense: The Thunder also put the clamps on the Spurs’ reserves, with OKC winning the bench battle by 53 points, 76-23
“We talk about our team identity being a ‘compete-together’ team,” coach Daigneault said. “Even if you don’t know anything about basketball… we want you to say: ‘This team competes together.’”
- OKC’s only new face since last year’s title run, McCain’s 24-spot puts him with James Harden as the only Thunder players to drop 20+ points off the bench in a Playoff game before turning 23 years old
- “He just oozes confidence,” Shai said of McCain. “Whether the ball goes in or out, he makes the next play – he makes the best play, for himself and for the guys out there… We needed it tonight.”
- “My family, they gave me that confidence,” McCain said. “I feel like I’ve played in big games… not the Western Conference Finals, but being able to just take that confidence and be fearless… I love what my life is right now.”
- J-Will Thrills: Williams had already set a new Playoff career-high by halftime, leading the Thunder back into the game with 14 points before the break
- AC’s 60-Plus: Caruso has followed up his Game 1 Playoff career-high (31 pts) with back-to-back 15+ point games, making him OKC’s second leading scorer (63 total pts) in the series
“Caruso, J-Will, they came in and made a splash right away, and really saved our group,” said SGA. “They were special tonight.”
Alex Slitz/NBAE via Getty Images
OKC has totaled 183 bench points through the first three games of this series, the most in the first three games of a Conference Finals in NBA history.
- Give & Take: In addition to boasting the overall leading scorer of these Playoffs in Shai (28.5 ppg), the Thunder also have eight players averaging 8+ points, and seven players averaging at least one steal
- The Result: That gives OKC the Playoffs’ highest-scoring offense (120.9 ppg) alongside the 2nd-highest average of steals per game (10.6)
- The Potential: It’s a pace that would make the Thunder the first team to average 120+ ppg and 10+ spg in any Playoff run since steals were first tracked in 1973-74
3. THE NUMBERS FUELING NEW YORK’S RECORD 9-WIN PLAYOFF STREAK
Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
Nine in a row.
Two hundred twenty Playoff wins into their storied history, the Knicks have strung together nine straight in the same year for the first time.
Tonight in Game 3 (8 ET, ABC), they’ll aim to extend the franchise record to 10 in a row.
These Knicks haven’t lost since April 23. And they haven’t just won, they’ve dominated.
- Up 200: New York hasn’t scored less than 108 points in any game during the streak, outscoring opponents by a combined 212 points
- That’s the highest point differential over a nine-game span in NBA history, regular season included
- Eight of the nine wins have come by double-digits, four of which were 25+ point blowouts. The third win of the streak was the Knicks’ Playoff record 51-point takedown of the Hawks
- Stingy NY: New York has held its opponents under 100 points in six of the nine wins. Philly’s 114-point Game 4 of the East Semis was the only instance of the other side scoring over 104
Take a closer look into the offensive and defensive numbers that have made New York’s improbable nine-game run possible.
- Splashing & Stopping: The Knicks have been dominant on both ends of the floor, ranking 1st in scoring (122.3 ppg & 53.6 FG%) while holding opponents to just 98.9 ppg and 29.3 3P% (both 1st) during the streak
- Offensive Package: In addition to the shooting and scoring highs, New York ranks 1st in offensive rating (124.5), 3P% (41.0%), paint points (55.6 ppg), assists (27.9 apg) and assist points created (67.0 ppg) during the nine wins
- And it’s not just Jalen Brunson’s iso game or Karl-Anthony Towns in the post. The Knicks rank 3rd in cutting/alley-oop attempts (4.9/g), converting those at a dominant rate of 81.8 FG%
“[Offensively] it’s an advantage for us, learning how to play differently,” Brunson said of New York’s scoring styles. “We’ve just got to continue to be open to figure out how we can win the next game.”
- Defensive Foundation: The offense has soared on the strength of the defense behind it, with New York flexing the top defensive rating (100.6) during their run
- “[It’s] our defense that has always been special in these Playoffs, and is what carried us in these Playoffs,” Karl-Anthony Towns said after Game 2
- Doubles, Traps: The Knicks lead all defenses in double teams per game (13.9) and rank 2nd (125) behind the Spurs (134) in total double teams during their win streak
- Knicks teammates account for three of the top-5 most frequent double team defender combinations during the streak, with KAT participating in 29 of the traps to lead all Playoff defenders
Heading to Cleveland, they’ll now try to go up 3-0 against a Cavs team that’s excelled with its back to the wall, Jamal Collier of ESPN writes.
4. CLIMB TIME AGAIN FOR SPIDA’S CAVS, DOWN 0-2 AT HOME
Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
Down 0-2 in the Playoffs and fighting to get back to the bright lights of Madison Square Garden.
Tonight in Game 3, the Cavaliers will look to Donovan Mitchell’s leadership to flip a second straight series this postseason.
And as NBA.com’s Shaun Powell writes, if he can pull it off, it would be a partial dream come true for Spida:
“It must be stressed that the Cavs were wobbly twice before in this postseason, when they were forced into a Game 7 against Toronto in the first round, then fell behind 2-0 to the top-seeded Pistons in the semis and needed another Game 7 win.
‘It’s 2-0. They did their job,’ Mitchell said, this time of the Knicks. ‘They protected home court. That simple. This isn’t our first time facing adversity … we’re ready to go for Game 3.’
‘I’m happy because we didn’t let the Game 1 (collapse) affect our mental.’
Truth be told, Mitchell is now dreaming like the kid from the New York suburbs all over again, the kid whose mom drove him to Harlem on weekends to seek the top competition in AAU, a strategy that paid off.”
That teenaged Donovan Mitchell wanted to one day play in the Garden, home of the Knicks.
This adult Donovan Mitchell wants that, too — for this series to return to the Garden for a Game 5.” | Read More
5. WEMBY, CHET LEAD ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM SELECTIONS
Bigs put their best feet forward defensively this season across the NBA, and were well-represented in Friday’s unveilingof the 2025-26 Kia All-Defensive Teams.
Three 7-footers landed on the All-Defensive First Team, where Kia Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama was the sole unanimous selection. Fellow rim protectors in the Thunder’s Chet Holmgren and Wolves’ Rudy Gobert joined him.
Filling out the first five were the Pistons’ Ausar Thompson and Celtics’ Derrick White. Here’s how they stood out defensively this season.
Victor Wembanyama, Spurs: Returning to the First Team after being included in his rookie season of 2023-24, Wembanyama led the NBA in blocked shots (197, 3.1 bpg) for a third consecutive season and took home his first Hakeem Olajuwon DPOY Trophy.
Chet Holmgren, Thunder: A finalist for DPOY, Holmgren anchored the league’s top defense (106.5 DefRtg) to earn his first All-Defensive First Team selection. Holmgren led the league this season with the lowest defended field goal percentage (48.9) within 6 feet of the basket, among players facing at least 200 shots there.
Ausar Thompson, Pistons: Also among the DPOY finalists, Thompson earned his first All-Defensive First Team selection as one of just three players to swipe over 140 steals this season (146). That’s the most steals in a season by a Piston since Ben Wallace in 2005-06.
Rudy Gobert, Wolves: A defining member of the All-Defensive Team over the past decade, Gobert has been named to the First Team in eight of the last 10 years. Gobert’s 124 blocks were 5th-best in the league this season, in his tenth season with over 120 swats.
Derrick White, Celtics: Making the First Team for the first time, following Second Team selections in 2023 and 2024, White was one of two players in 2025-26 with 80+ steals and 80+ blocks. The other, Scottie Barnes, led the Second Team in voting points.
The All-Defensive Second Team includes Toronto’s Barnes, OKC’s Cason Wallace, Miami’s Bam Adebayo, New York’s OG Anunoby, and Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels.
What’s Next: 2025-26 All-NBA Teams will be unveiled Sunday (7 ET, NBC/Peacock) prior to Thunder-Spurs, Game 4. The 2025-26 Kia NBA Coach of the Year will be announced Tuesday.
