Friday night's Game 3 certainly had the energy of a road tilt for the OKC Thunder, as they were met with obscenities and overall disdain from a raucous Spurs fanbase out in San Antonio.
Those in attendance at the Frost Bank Center on Friday night made it a point to specifically try to get into the head of superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, as they relentlessly booed and chanted things like "flopper" in his direction.
Unfortunately for them, such efforts ultimately proved futile, as Oklahoma City managed to grind its way back from an early 15-point deficit to pull out a commanding 123-108 win.
After pouring in 26 points and 12 assists during his 36 minutes of action, Gilgeous-Alexander shared a message with the vocal Spurs fans from the night, revealing one simple yet important fact about their heckling: "It does nothing."
"It doesn't fuel me, it doesn't discourage me. It's part of the game. It's nothing. I've been dealing with it for a long time. I don't really hear it, I'm just focused on what's going on on the court," Gilgeous-Alexander said.
Such remarks aren't merely hyperbole, but, rather, a quiet truth that spans back to the regular season, where, during his lone showing out in San Antonio on December 23, he found himself pouring in a whopping 33 points on an incredibly efficient 63.6 percent shooting from the floor while enduring the wrath of a similarly rambunctious Spurs crowd.
Needless to say, those who attended Game 3 once again learned first-hand why Shai's known as Mr. "My whole life is consistent."
SGA never seems to be phased, regardless of what's being thrown his way.
Thunder bench once again proves to be a real difference-maker in Game 3
Though star players like SGA generally seem to receive the lion's share of attention for a job well done, Thunder fans should be more than aware at this point that this team's bench unit has been one of, if not the, main driving forces in Oklahoma City taking a 2-1 series lead in the Western Conference Finals.
This shouldn't come as all that great a shock to anyone.
After all, throughout the entire regular season, many members of OKC's bench unit were regularly praised as being good enough to serve as regular starters on rival title-hopefuls, and their entire reserve collection has ranked first in points per game and net rating since the start of the playoffs.
Friday night, however, this second unit managed to bring their dominance to an entirely new level.
Behind Alex Caruso (15 points) and his steady shooting stroke from distance and Jared McCain's (24 points) continued coming-out party this postseason, the Thunder bench was responsible for a ridiculous 76 total points, which are the most in a conference finals or Finals game since starters first started being tracked in 1971, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon's findings.
Needless to say, San Antonio's 23 bench points proved no match and, in the end, served as one of the primary reasons for the club's 15-point demise out on their home turf and, more importantly, for them now falling behind in this best-of-seven series.
Add us as a preferred source on Google