Bismack Biyombo Hits Jared McCain After Game 5 Foul Sequence

bismack biyombo’s face shot on Jared McCain in Game 5 turned a late stretch into the series’ sharpest flashpoint. San Antonio’s hard fouls, first from Mason Plumlee and then from Biyombo, made Tuesday night feel bigger than the box score and pushed Oklahoma City toward a response.

Plumlee’s Elbow, Biyombo’s Hit

Plumlee opened the sequence by giving McCain an elbow in the back shortly after entering the game in Game 5. Biyombo followed later with the play that drew the most attention, hitting McCain in the face on a drive.

McCain went to the floor, and it looked like the back of his head bounced off the wood. By the time he reached the line, the exchange had already moved from a hard foul to a direct conversation between the two players.

McCain and Biyombo

McCain asked Biyombo, “Why’d you do that man” at the free-throw line. Biyombo answered, “I got another one for you too.”

That exchange gave the scene a sharper edge than a routine foul sequence. The Thunder-Spurs series was described as suddenly a lot more interesting after Game 5, and this was the moment that drove that reaction.

Thunder Response

The discussion now turns to whether Oklahoma City answers physically. The Thunder almost have to retaliate because of the clip and the reaction to Victor Wembanyama, and the target would almost certainly be Wembanyama.

Isaiah Hartenstein is the logical player to respond, but the Thunder cannot afford to lose him. Jaylin Williams is another option to teach Wembanyama a lesson, though Oklahoma City is also lacking a powerful big man without the injured Thomas Sorber.

The league no longer uses enforcers the way it did in the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals, when Robert Parish took out Bill Laimbeer after Laimbeer had given Parish and Larry Bird cheap shots. That leaves the Thunder weighing whether to answer with contact of their own or keep the series moving without giving up a key interior piece.