Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander seems to have shaken off his nowtraditional Game 1 blahs. San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama is putting up numbers the likes of which haven’t been seen in a conference finals for about a half-century.

The stars in these Western Conference finals, they’re being stars.

It’s the supporting casts that are of major concern — for both teams.

Game 3 of the West title series is on Friday night, things having shifted to San Antonio tied at a game apiece. The Spurs took Game 1 behind 41 points and 24 rebounds from Wembanyama, and the defending champion Thunder got 30 points from Gilgeous-Alexander on the way to getting a victory in Game 2.

“We’re probably most comfortable playing in front of our fans,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle said after the Game 2 loss in Oklahoma City. “I don’t think we’ll have any problem doing that. Mentally, I think we’re all in a good head space. We came here, won a game on the road and they’re a good team and they responded. So, now we have a chance to play in front of our fans.”

It’s not the mental side that either the Spurs or the Thunder should be worried about. It’s the physical.

There’s a bad ankle. A pair of aching hamstrings. A shot to the thigh. And those are only the injuries that the world seems to know about, not even taking into account the aches and pains that have accumulated over the last seven or eight months.

As expected, the West finals are shaping up to be quite the battle. Two battles, really. There’s the obvious one, Thunder vs. Spurs, the two best teams in the league this season vying for a spot in the NBA Finals. The other is those teams vs. attrition, and right now, attrition might be winning.

“It feels like that’s always at this time of the season in every sport, right? You have to get to the end to give yourself a chance,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “And I think that’s why we have to continue to trust our depth and guys have to step up when their name’s called — answer the bell and be able to give us some quality minutes.”

Spurs All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox has an ankle issue that’s not going away until after the season ends.

His replacement, Dylan Harper, seemed to tweak a hamstring in Game 2 and departed early. Thunder guard Jalen Williams aggravated his problematic left hamstring in Game 2 and his replacement, Ajay Mitchell, was shaken up by a thigh issue in the final moments.