The Thunder Bench Just Outscored Two Missing Rotation Players
Caruso 22. McCain 20 in his first start. Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell stayed home.
Diddja notice the Thunder bench in Game 5? Alex Caruso scored 22 off the bench. Jared McCain dropped 20 in his first career playoff start. The Thunder won 127-114 with Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell still sidelined.
The Kid flagged this one and once you see it you can't unsee it: OKC is winning with role players while missing rotation pieces. That was supposed to be the Knicks' thing. That was the whole '130 points without a 20-point scorer' narrative from the ECF sweep.
Now we have two teams built on depth headed toward a potential Finals matchup. Thunder-Spurs Game 6 is Thursday in San Antonio. If OKC closes it out, they arrive in the Finals having proven their bench can carry games against a team with Victor Wembanyama on it.
Speaking of Wembanyama: 4-of-15 shooting, 20 points, after dropping 33 in Game 4. Isaiah Hartenstein held him to 27% as the primary defender. The 21-point Game 4 blowout reversed completely. The Spurs needed Wemby to be superhuman and he was merely human.
Position on Knicks championship holds at 0.62. The depth thesis is about to get a direct comparison.