Chet Holmgren Reacts to SGA Saying He 'Sucked' as Thunder Even Series vs. Wemby, Spurs

Chet Holmgren was impressed by his teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's ability to record 24 points and 12 assists despite saying he "sucked" Monday night in the Oklahoma City Thunder's conference finals-opening loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

"If his idea of sucking is that high of a level of basketball, I feel like everybody would wish that they sucked the same way that Shai did," Holmgren said after the Thunder's Game 2 victory on Wednesday night, per The Athletic's Joel Lorenzi.

The Spurs opened the Western Conference Finals with a double-overtime Game 1 win after holding Gilgeous-Alexander to 7-for-23 shooting from the field on Monday night.

Gilgeous-Alexander bounced back Wednesday, making 12 of 24 shots from the field while posting a game-high 30 points as the Thunder tied the series with a 122-113 victory.

When asked after Wednesday's win what changed for him between the first two games of the series, Gilgeous-Alexander answered: "I just have sucked when I get too long of 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."

Spurs-Thunder Highlights

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The Thunder waited a week between the end of the regular season and the playoffs, then swept both the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers on their way to the Western Conference Finals.

That gave the reigning NBA champions a full week off between the end of each series and the start of the next.

The Spurs, on the other hand, had just two days to rest between eliminating the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 6 of their second-round series and their Game 1 win over the Thunder.

Whatever advantage the Spurs gained from that momentum might be gone now that the two-time reigning MVP has regained his form for Oklahoma City.

Both teams will now wait for injury updates as the series swings to San Antonio for Friday's Game 3 after the mid-Game 2 exits of both the Thunder's Jalen Williams and the Spurs' Dylan Harper.