Gilgeous-Alexander leads the way as Thunder crush Spurs 123-87

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the San Antonio Spurs 123-87 in the In-Season Tournament on Tuesday night, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 28 points and a career-high seven steals.

The game featured two of the league's top rookies, San Antonio's 7-foot-3 Victor Wembanyama and Oklahoma City's 7-foot-1 Chet Holmgren. Wembanyama finished with eight points on four of fifteen shots. He pulled down 14 rebounds and blocked two shots. Holmgren finished with nine points on three-for-ten shooting, seven rebounds, and three assists.

Oklahoma City set a Thunder record with 19 steals. The team scored 23 points off of San Antonio's 25 turnovers.

“I think it was a great team effort, really keying in on the game plan and overall, just going out and executing," Gilgeous-Alexander said.

Josh Giddey added 18 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists for the Thunder, who improved to 7-4 overall with their first In-Season Tournament victory in three tries.

San Antonio's Zach Collins and Julian Champagnie each had 13 points. The Spurs dropped their sixth consecutive game, dropping to 3-8 overall and 0-2 in the tournament.

Forward Kenrich Williams, who had been out with back spasms this season, returned to give the Thunder a boost. Early in the second quarter, he made his first shot, a 3-pointer. He then stole the ball from Wembanyama, setting up Cason Wallace for a fast-break dunk that put Oklahoma City up 33-28.

Later, on a lob from Wallace, Williams threw down an alley-oop dunk to put Oklahoma City up 39-33. Williams scored nine points in 15 minutes.

As the first half came to a close, the Spurs attempted a lob to Wembanyama in the post. The Thunder stole the ball and went on a fast break.

Giddey faked a behind-the-back pass to his right before throwing the ball over his left shoulder to Holmgren, who finished with a two-handed jam with 2.2 seconds left in the first half to give the Thunder a 58-48 lead at the break.

In the first half, Wembanyama had eight points on 4-for-11 shooting, while Holmgren had five points, three rebounds, and two assists.

In the third quarter, Holmgren's baseline dunk put the Thunder up 68-50, then Giddey's layup put the Thunder up by 20 and forced a Spurs timeout. Oklahoma City had a 40-point lead in the fourth quarter.

SportsLigue