Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder rallied tonight in a must-win Game 2 at home and came away with a 122-113 victory to tie their Western Conference Finals series against the Spurs at 1-1.
In the final minute, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander nailed the dagger midrange shot to push the Thunder’s lead to seven points, before Alex Caruso hit the last shot when the game was already out of the Spurs’ realistic reach. The Canadian star turned around after hitting the midrange jumpshot and yelled at someone.
“Calm the f— down!” he coldly said in a moment that subsequently went viral. After the game, Gilgeous-Alexander confirmed that he specifically said that to Jared McCain, who was on the floor to replace the injured Ajay Mitchell at the time.
SGA said that he was just telling Jared McCain to calm down because he was yelling while Shai was shooting. pic.twitter.com/kiWWKD42gz
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) May 21, 2026
During the postgame press conference, a reporter asked Gilgeous-Alexander if he was telling his whole bench to calm down after the dagger shot.
“No, Jared [McCain] was yelling at me while I was shooting, and I was just like, ‘Bro, I’m shooting. Like, don’t distract me.’ So yeah, that’s all. I was literally just telling Jared to calm down, but that’s what great shooters do. Let you know when they’re open. So, yeah, we hashed it out. We’re good,” the reigning MVP admitted.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander found his rhythm on offense tonight and had 30 points, nine assists, four rebounds, and two blocks while shooting 12-24 from the field (50.0 FG%). This was a significantly better game for him than Game 1, where he shot 30.4% from the floor (7-23) in a 24-point game.
“No, I just have sucked when I get too long a break. I don’t think it’s anything other than that. I don’t know. I guess I’ve got to do a better job with my breaks, especially during the playoffs. I don’t know if it’s anything other than that, to be honest,” said Gilgeous-Alexander on whether he changed anything between Game 1 and 2.
While there were conversations that it was Victor Wembanyama who altered Gilgeous-Alexander’s shots in Game 1, the reigning MVP feels it was just rust from the break they had between the second-round series against the Lakers, whom they swept in four games, to the beginning of the conference finals.
If Game 1 was Wembanyama’s revenge for missing out on the MVP award, Game 2 was just the Thunder’s simple reminder to keep calm and have faith in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Even though the series is level now, the Thunder have a tougher stretch of upcoming games as they head on the road to San Antonio. They will need to get at least one win in the next two games to regain home-court advantage. Game 3 is scheduled for the day after tomorrow, May 22. It will be interesting to see if the reigning MVP can replicate his clutch performance on the road in this series.
