Justin Martinez

"There are so many people in my life who sacrificed for me to just play this game I love." The name on the back of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's jersey is the longest in league history, but it still isn't long enough. There are so many other people he represents every time he steps on the court. So many who helped him win a second straight MVP award on Sunday. oklahoman.com/story/sports/n…

Ajay Mitchell has been ruled out for Game 5 vs. San Antonio. Jalen Williams is listed as questionable. oklahoman.com/story/sports/n…

#Spurs have a clean injury report ahead of Game 5 on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City. Fox and Harper have done a good job fighting through their ailments, or as Mitch Johnson put it recently: "They're competing their ass off and they're not 100%."

Ajay Mitchell remains out for Game 5 vs. San Antonio due to a right soleus strain. Jalen Williams is still questionable due to left hamstring strain injury management. Third straight game on the injury report for Williams meant OKC had to provide a more detailed description.

Also asked Shai about Chet’s ability to bounce back from a performance that doesn’t meet his standards: “Chet doesn’t care about anything besides winning. He’s going to do whatever it takes to win. That’s his biggest skill and his biggest strength. No ego. No agenda. No thing besides trying to go out there and win. I have no doubt in my mind that Chet will go out there and give the game his all and put his full effort in.”

Here’s Shai’s full response to the question I asked him about Chet, since this is getting clipped out of context. Sometimes it takes a second for a guy to give a good answer without giving up too much of the game plan, which is what happened here.

Here’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander after OKC’s Game 4 road loss to San Antonio

Here’s Chet Holmgren after OKC’s Game 4 road loss to San Antonio

Here’s Mark Daigneault after OKC’s Game 4 road loss to San Antonio

Asked Shai Gilgeous-Alexander what he can do to help get Chet Holmgren more involved offensively: "Chet is an easy target to find, so probably just finding him more in the dunker or when he's spacing. Just put him in better positions to use his strengths as an offensive talent. I don't know exactly what that looks like because I just got done playing. But watching film, we'll find ways, for sure."

Asked Chet Holmgren about the standard he holds himself to and how he feels he has played this series: "No matter what I do out there, I always expect more from myself and expect better. I can see a lot of opportunities in the game where I have to be better and take advantage. I'm going to do everything I can to do that."

Mark Daigneault on how OKC can create some offense without Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell: “We can. I thought we left a lot to be desired on that end of the floor tonight. We didn’t have the sharpness, force or precision necessary to crack them. And they were really good defensively with just their energy and their physicality. As you know, coming in, you know they’re down and they’re at home. You can kind of expect that, but it’s different when you’re out there. So credit them. They outplayed us tonight. But the group we have can play a lot better than we played tonight as well.”

OKC suffered a 103-82 road loss to San Antonio in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. Here are three quick takeaways, from the absence of some key Thunder shot creators to a rare loss in the turnover battle: oklahoman.com/story/sports/n…

Fewest points (82) the Thunder has scored in a playoff game since Game 5 against the Rockets in the bubble. Sixth-lowest total in Thunder playoff history.

Final: Spurs 103, Thunder 82 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 19 points and 7 assists Chet Holmgren: 10 points and 9 boards Isaiah Hartenstein: 12 points and 7 boards San Antonio has tied the Western Conference finals series at 2-2. Game 5 is at 7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday in OKC.

Just a brutal shooting night for OKC, which has gone 30.1% from the field and 12.9% from deep. Some of that is the absence of Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell. Some of that is San Antonio's superb defense. But some of that is also just good looks not dropping.

End of the third quarter: Spurs 78, Thunder 60 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 19 points and 7 assists Isaiah Hartenstein: 12 points and 7 rebounds Chet Holmgren: 8 points and 8 rebounds OKC is shooting 32.4% from the field and 17.4% from deep.

Devin Vassell gets the steal, and Dylan Harper throws the lob to Stephon Castle. San Antonio now has a 65-43 lead with 7:17 left in the third quarter. Everything is going right for the Spurs, who are on a 15-2 run.

Stephon Castle gets up there, man. He nearly took the roof off this place with that putback dunk attempt before he got fouled.

Lu Dort picked up his fourth foul with 11:30 left in the third quarter. Aaron Wiggins replaced him.

OKC is missing the shot creation of Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell. And while its best bet for some easy buckets would be scoring off of turnovers, San Antonio has only turned it over five times so far.