Castle Delivers Dunk of the Postseason, Edwards Steps Up in Sun’s First Win

Stephon Castle

The physicality over the first two games of the Western Conference Finals has been relentless. Every player scratching and clawing on each possession, fighting for loose balls and making tough shots. On Wednesday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder bounced back against the San Antonio Spurs to take Game 2, 122-113 to even up the series at 1-1.

At times, Stephon Castle has delivered through the aggressive play, just ask Isaiah Harenstein. But other times, Castle has looked overwhelmed and out of sorts. Castle scored 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting and dished out eight assists. However, he also committed nine turnovers in Game 2 after coughing it up a career-high eleven times in Game 1 of the series.

For the third straight game, Castle accounted for double-digit points in the first quarter after scoring eight points with one assist on a Luke Kornet dunk midway through the opening frame. After turning it over three times to open the second quarter, resulting into five Thunder points, Castle, perhaps took some anger out on Isaiah Hartenstein:

Later in the quarter, Castle knocked down a pair of buckets to give him 16 points, though he also had five turnovers heading into halftime as the Thunder took a 62-51 lead into the break. 

The former Husky guard only scored one bucket in the third quarter, but it cut the Spurs deficit to just two.

During the Western Conference Finals, the Spurs have been battling a few backcourt injuries. Starting Point Guard De’Aaron Fox missed his second straight game with an ankle injury and rookie sensation Guard Dylan Harper suffered a leg injury with just under five minutes left in the third quarter in Game 2. Leaving Castle, to be the lead guard in the fourth quarter.

The 2024 Big East Rookie of the Year started the quarter with back-to-back layups to cut the Spurs deficit to 96-92. Then, Castle found Harrison Barnes wide open in the corner for a three-pointer and cut the Thunder lead to 99-97. Oklahoma CIty responded with a 13-0 run to extend their lead to 110-97 with 6:38 to play. 

However, the Spurs fought back, thanks in large part to Castle knocking down his lone three-pointer of the night and assisting on three more triples, along with a Victor Wembanyama layup. Just like that, San Antonio had cut the deficit to 118-113 with 1:25 left.

But the Spurs had a chance to cut the deficit to one possession before Castle was called for a backcourt violation with 61 seconds remaining after dribbling the ball on the halfcourt line. It was his ninth and final turnover of the night, and those miscues led to 13 Thunder points.

After the game, Castle was asked about his 20 combined turnovers over the first two games of the series, "I think it's more personal on my end, just really speeding myself up, not allowing our screeners to get hits, it's putting me in a position where I have to play fast, or my screener might get an offensive foul, so I put us at a disadvantage to start the game with those," Castle said. "I mean, some of it comes with fatigue, but at this point of the season, that's really no excuse."

The series will shift to San Antonio where Game 3 will be played on Friday night at 8:30pm ET on NBC/Peacock.

Paige Bueckers/Azzi Fudd

For the second straight game, Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd both scored in double figures, and for the second straight game, the Dallas Wings came away with a victory, this time defeating the Chicago Sky, 99-89, on Wednesday night. 

Bueckers finished with a team-high 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including 1-of-3 from three and 1-of-1 from the free throw line in 33 minutes of action. While Fudd for the second straight game recorded 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including a pair of triples in career-high 28 minutes.

Bueckers is shooting a whopping 11-19 (57.8%) from three over the first five games ot the season.

Aaliyah Edwards vs Stefanie Dolson

The Connecticut Sun finally figured out a way to get in the win column after taking down the Seattle Storm 80-78 late Wednesday night. Aaliyah Edwards scored 12 points (all in the second half), with her biggest basket of the game came with just 31.9 seconds left in fourth quarter to cut the Sun’s deficit to 78-77. In the ensuing possession, Edwards grabbed a defensive rebound which lead to Kennedy Burke scoring the game-winning layup to lift the Sun to their first victory of the season.

Stefanie Dolson scored three points and blocked a pair of shots for the Storm.

Olivia Nelson-Ododa did not suit up for the Connecticut Sun for a third straight game due to an ankle injury.

Kia Nurse (Toronto Tempo)

• TUESDAY: 0 points (0-2 FG, 0-2 3-FG), 2 rebounds in season-high 2 rebounds. The Tempo won at the Phoenix Mercury 98-90.

Serah Williams (Portland Fire)

• WEDNESDAY: Career-high 6 points (3-5 FG), 2 rebounds in career-high 12 minutes. Fire lost to the Indiana Fever 90-73.

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