{"id":1738,"date":"2026-05-27T05:36:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T05:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1738"},"modified":"2026-05-27T05:36:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T05:36:44","slug":"sparked-by-alex-caruso-the-thunder-bench-steps-up-again-in-game-5-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1738","title":{"rendered":"Sparked by Alex Caruso, the Thunder bench steps up again in Game 5 win"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) celebrates his three-point basket against the San Antonio Spurs in the second half of Game 5 in the Western Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series, Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Alex Caruso sparked another big effort from the bench Tuesday night. And he\u2019s a big reason the Thunder are on the verge of returning to the NBA Finals.<\/p>

Read more Victor Wembanyama held to series-low 20 points, Spurs fall in Game 5 of West finals to Thunder<\/a><\/p>\n

Caruso scored 22 points and was 4 of 8 on 3-pointers to help Oklahoma City \u2014 down two starters \u2014 to a 127-114 victory over San Antonio in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have good players on our bench. They\u2019ve got good players on their bench,\u201d Caruso said. \u201cSo, we know that\u2019s an area of the game where you can try to find some positive plus-minus time for that group.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bench rotation wasn\u2019t the same for the Thunder in Game 5; Jared McCain moved into the starting lineup and scored 20 points. McCain scored 24 of Oklahoma City\u2019s 76 bench points in a 123-108 win in Game 3 at San Antonio.<\/p>

Read more Texas Democrats reject House candidate who called for imprisoning Zionists<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, Oklahoma City got eight points off the bench from Kenrich Williams, who made both 3s he attempted, and seven points from Cason Wallace. The Thunder outscored the Spurs by 29 points in Wallace\u2019s 31 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve just gone a good job, whoever it\u2019s been \u2014 and it\u2019s been a lot of different people during the series, a couple of guys that have been consistently there,\u201d said Caruso, who added six assists. That group, I think … has just done a great job of competing through those minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

After five games, the Thunder bench is outscoring San Antonio\u2019s reserves 257-127.<\/p>

Read more Biden sues Justice Department to block release of audio recordings<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/nba<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex Caruso sparked another big effort from the bench and he\u2019s a big reason the Oklahoma City Thunder are on the verge of returning to the NBA Finals<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nSparked by Alex Caruso, the Thunder bench steps up again in Game 5 win - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1738\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sparked by Alex Caruso, the Thunder bench steps up again in Game 5 win - 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