Winners, losers from NBA playoffs: Thunder storm back to take Game 3

The Other Jaylin Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder had to play without fifth-year forward Jalen Williams in Game 3. Fortunately, they still had fifth-year forward Jaylin Williams to pick up the slack.

After the Spurs took a 15-0 run to start the game, OKC rallied in part thanks to Williams sinking threes on back-to-back possessions. He made four three-pointers and was the Thunder's leading scorer in the first half, with 14 points and two steals. The "other" Jaylin Williams scored 18 points and went 5-for-6 from three-point range.

Mark Daigneault, Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder coach spent much of the regular season tinkering with his lineups, using bench players in a myriad of combinations and rotating through, well, rotation players. He acted quickly in Game 3.

The Thunder got 76 points from their bench, and Daigneault didn't hesitate to sit starters Ajay Mitchell, Isaiah Hartenstein and Lugentz Dort, who played only 17, 21 and 23 minutes, respectively. It was a confident, calm coaching performance that helped turn a 15-point early deficit into a 15-point win.

Losers

Victor Wembanyama's fouls

Wemby picked up three first-half fouls, all of them on bad plays — but not necessarily bad calls. Credit Mark Daigneault for challenging an out-of-bounds call to get a foul on Wemby. Blame Wemby for picking up an offensive foul with 0.1 seconds to go in the first quarter.

Wembaynama also left his feet to contest a three-point shot from Caruso in the third quarter, who stepped in to draw a two-shot foul. But does Wemby really need to sell out to the shot of a player a foot shorter than him? With the Spurs at +4 with Wembanyama on the floor and at -19 with him on the bench, fouls are huge, especially when the whistles seemed to curb Wembanyama's aggressiveness.

Keldon Johnson, San Antonio Spurs

Keldon Johnson won Sixth Man of the Year this season and averaged 13.2 points and 5.4 rebounds. In Friday's Game 3, he had five points in 12 minutes — and five fouls. Johnson has been a spark off the bench for the Spurs all season, but in Game 3, the Thunder snuffed him out on both ends.

Daryl Morey, Ex-Philadelphia 76ers

Daryl Morey and the Philadelphia 76ers parted ways this month, so perhaps this is kicking an analytically-oriented man when he's down. However, Jared McCain scored 24 points in OKC's win over the Spurs, more than any player except Wembanyama and two-time MVP SGA.

The Thunder picked up McCain from the Sixers in exchange for three second-round picks and their own pick this season — the very last pick in the first round. The Sixers will be picking at No. 30, which will give them an outside chance of finding a player half as good as McCain has been in this series.