Shai Gilgeous-Alexander thanked his Oklahoma City Thunder team-mates for "holding it down" after he made a slow start to their Game 5 win over the San Antonio Spurs.

The Thunder now hold a 3-2 lead over the Spurs in the Western Conference finals, after a 127-114 win on Tuesday.

It was a victory that put the reigning NBA champions on the cusp of returning to the NBA Finals – for a meeting with the New York Knicks – as they are now just one win away.

Gilgeous-Alexander had 32 points and nine assists, though he committed three turnovers and missed his first four shots from the field as he got off to a poor start.

However, Oklahoma City had stayed in the game despite that, and with just 31.2 seconds remaining of the first quarter, the back-to-back MVP's first bucket tied the score.

"I always say we're a team out there," said Gilgeous-Alexander. "We don't get this far.

"I don't have this individual success, this team doesn't have the success without all 15 guys in the locker room. We proved it.

"If it was four or five me's out there, we would've been down 20 after the first quarter. But the guys were great to start the game.

"I probably should never start like that again and give us a better chance to win a ballgame, but the guys held it down."

Got it done in Game 5 pic.twitter.com/Dfqz7TYrEr

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) May 27, 2026

Alex Caruso scored 22 points off the bench, also getting six assists and three steals, while Jared McCain scored 20 as a surprise addition to the Thunder's starting line-up.

During Caruso's 28 minutes on the court, the Thunder outscored the Spurs by 18 points.

"It's going to take more than just Shai to beat [the Spurs], to beat any team at this point," Caruso said.

"He's No. 1 on the scouting report every game we've played since I've been here. Might get up into like 40 [points], but we're not getting an easy 40, 50.

"He's going to get somewhere 25 to 35 and work hard for it. There's a bunch of other points and other plays to be made through the game for the team to make.

"And it's just about being confident in each other and going out there and playing."