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The San Antonio Spurs delivered a 40-20 performance in the NBA’s conference finals with a double-overtime victory over the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
D Match-ups between the first and second seeds In the Western Conference, Wembanyama, this season’s Defensive Player of the Year, is up against the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row.
And the best-of-seven series got off to a thrilling start Monday as San Antonio had chances to win it late in regulation time, and then Oklahoma City in overtime, before the Spurs prevailed 122-115.
Wembanyama’s alley-oop dunk with 22 seconds left in the second period of overtime put the Spurs ahead by six, and the France forward finished with 41 points and 24 rebounds.
At 22 years and 134 days, he is the youngest player in NBA history to reach 40 points and 20 rebounds in a playoff game, joining Wilt Chamberlain (1960) as the only players to make their conference finals debut.
“He has a rare willingness to step into every moment that’s in front of him,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said of the 2023 first overall draft pick.
“I think he’s shown in different situations in his three years that he’s going to attack those moments. He’s got some rare God-given ability.”
San Antonio rookie guard Dylan Harper had 24 points and 11 rebounds as the Thunder suffered their first loss of the playoffs in a loss to the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers in the previous two rounds.
Alex Caruso led the top seed with 31 points off the bench, while Jalen Williams had 26 and Gilgeous-Alexander claimed 24 points and 12 assists.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who received his MVP award before the game. “We have to be better, especially me.”
There are also two games Wednesday in Oklahoma City, where the New York Knicks open the Eastern Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.
