The Spurs win a heavyweight battle in Game 7, taking down the No. 1 seeded Thunder to advance to the NBA Finals.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Youth and playoff inexperience in a conference finals Game 7 on the road against the defending champions were not detriments for the San Antonio Spurs.
Nope, not at all.
It helps to have a unique 7-foot-4 forward-center by the name of Victor Wembanyama. It helps to have players such as Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Keldon Johnson, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle who shunned convention and soared. It helps to have a young coach in Mitch Johnson who pulled this together quicker than anticipated.
Playing more like veterans who have been through this before, the young Spurs – a majority of their key players are 25 years old and younger – advanced to the NBA Finals with a 111-103 victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder Saturday in Game 7 of a grueling, make-each-possession-count Western Conference Finals.
“The players did what they’ve been doing all year, and they met the biggest moment that’s been in front of them up to this point and there’s some pretty cool memories I’ll take away from that,” Johnson said.
The Spurs have arrived and will play the New York Knicks in the Finals, rekindling memories of the 1999 Finals between the franchises.
After six consecutive seasons of missing the playoffs, the Spurs are back in the Finals for the first time since 2014 – and in the Finals for the first time without Gregg Popovich as coach and the first time without Tim Duncan on the roster.
San Antonio’s victory ensures the NBA will have a different champion for the eighth consecutive year, the longest streak in league history.
Game 1 of the NBA Finals is Wednesday in San Antonio (8:30 ET, ABC).
1. Wembanyama propels Spurs to NBA Finals
Wembanyama, 22, had his games where he dominated and had his games where he struggled in this series. However, when the Spurs absolutely needed him, he delivered, whether that was 41 points and 24 rebounds in Game 1 or 22 points and seven rebounds in Game 7.
He earned the Earvin “Magic” Johnson Trophy as the MVP of the Western Conference Finals. For the series, he averaged 27.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.7 blocks and 1.4 steals and shot 48.1% from the field, 40% on 3-pointers and 89.5% on free throws.
For a player who thrives offensively in the paint, it was his 3-point shot that helped the Spurs return from a 3-2 deficit and win the series. He was 4-for-9 on 3s in Game 6 and 3-for-5 in Game 7.
He was a force defensively, too, with 15 blocks, and his paint presence deterred several Thunder players from attempting shots. Thunder center-forward Chet Holmgren, who was an All-NBA selection this season, attempted just two shots and scored four points.
The Spurs were plus-62 with Wembanyama on the court and became the first player in league history to have at least 15 made 3s and 15 blocks in a playoff series.
He was visibly emotional about San Antonio’s opportunity to win a championship.
“Winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy is a childhood dream,” Wembanyama said, “and having a real shot at it, having a chance, a tangible chance at winning it, I’m realizing a dream. It’s a lifetime chance. You never know when it’s going to happen again. The day we win it, speaking for myself, it’s going to be an amazing day of the realization of a dream. It’s hard to bring to words. It’s almost like the meaning of my life.”
He added: “You work all these hours. It’s four years type of emotions. I want that. I want to win so bad. It’s like my life depends on it. … This is the best basketball on the planet that’s being played right now. And the crazy thing is, maybe I’m crazy for that, but I want to do that 15, 20 more times. Let’s hope it doesn’t become an addiction. Maybe it is already.”
2. San Antonio’s youth plus some experience wins the day
It was a collective effort for the Spurs with seven players reaching double figures in points, five players with at least six rebounds, four players with at least three assists, two players with at least two steals.
“People won’t talk about as much the habits, the character, the togetherness, the competitive response, the things we talk about in these media sessions every single day,” Johnson said. “And this team has now been pretty damn consistent for a long time, for over 100 games for the most part. And so I’ll take those things with the experience that we’ve gone through.”
- Julian Champagnie, 22, made six 3-pointers, scored 20 points and collected six rebounds.
- Devin Vassell, 25, had 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
- Stephon Castle, 21, contributed 16 points, six rebounds and six assists.
- Dylan Harper, 20, finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
- De’Aaron Fox, 28, scored 15 points, delivered five assists and stole the ball three times. He was one Spurs player who had Game 7 experience and helped keep a young group steady.
- Keldon Johnson, 26, had 11 points and scored eight points, including consecutive 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to stiff-arm the Thunder.
They all had significant impacts on the game with big plays and effort.
The Spurs got huge late-game performances from Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle and Keldon Johnson.
But the play the Spurs wanted to talk about most was Luke Kornet’s block on Isaiah Hartenstein’s dunk attempt with 6:31 left in the fourth quarter. Had he made it, the Thunder would’ve trailed 97-93. Instead, Kornet’s block led to a Castle bucket followed by a Thunder turnover and a Champagnie 3-pointer for a 102-91 Spurs lead with 5:33 to play.
“I’ve never seen Luke run that fast,” Champagnie said. “I’ve seen him run on the court and just run-run, but I’m talking about he was hauling, man. But that was a huge play. That’s a momentum play. They get that dunk, the crowd gets into it, guys start to feel good and you never know what happens. That was the biggest play of the game honestly. It took all the life out of the building.”
3. Gilgeous-Alexnder’s offense not enough for Thunder
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning two-time Kia MVP, almost single-handedly willed the Thunder to a victory. He had 35 points, nine assists, four rebounds and three steals.
“Obviously, he was brilliant,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault.
For nearly four quarters, he was the only Thunder starter in double figures. Cason Wallace finished with 17 points, but Lu Dort had just three points and Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein combined for just 11 points and nine rebounds as San Antonio’s starters outscored the Thunder’s 84-66.
Highlights From Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 35-point performance in Game 7 of the West Finals.
It was a tough offensive series for the Thunder and Gilgeous-Alexander. Oklahoma City shot 42.6% from the field and 34.4% on 3-pointers and started Game 7 3-for-13 on 3-pointers. Gilgeous-Alexander had his most efficient scoring performance in Game 7, but for the series, he shot 40.9% from the field and 28.6% on 3s – both significantly lower than his season averages. San Antonio has the size, strength and defensive ability to focus on him and make other player players beat them.
4. What’s next for Thunder who were slowed by injuries?
The series started with the Spurs fighting nagging injuries. It ended with the Spurs healthier, and the Thunder hampered by injuries to forward Jalen Williams and guard Ajay Mitchell, two of Oklahoma City’s top offensive creators. Williams (left hamstring injury) missed 10 of the Thunder’s 15 playoff games, including four of five games in the conference finals, and Mitchell (strained right calf) missed the final four games.
While the Thunder weathered their absences in some games, they were not able to overcome those injuries in a seven-game conference finals.
“Who you have available always changes the decisions you make,” Daigneault said. “But as it relates to Ajay and Dub (Jalen Williams), we have not been an excuse team ever and we’re not going to start now.”
Where do the Thunder go from here? They’re going to be good again next season, and while improvements are necessary, they should guard against overreacting to this series loss. It’s difficult to fully evaluate the end of their season given the injuries.
However, it’s also clear Oklahoma City needs to take a look at how they will combat Wembanyama and the Spurs for the next several seasons.
To be a 64-win team, to have the net rating we did, overcome some of the adversities we did in the season, it’s something we’re incredibly proud of. It’s something we can build on,” Daigneault said. “When you have a team that’s together for a long time, you have to grow from every experience including the tough ones. …
“We felt like we could have won the series obviously. We were right there in the game and in the series. There’s nobody that we don’t think we can beat, respectfully. And so obviously we’re going to be disappointed with the outcome, but you don’t have to choose one or the other. You can be proud of the progress you made this season and then some of the successes and you can also be disappointed.”
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Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at jzillgitt@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.
