Wemby Leads Spurs To NBA Finals After Defeating OKC
An Emotional Victor Wembanyama Leads Spurs To NBA Finals After Defeating OKC Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder will not have a chance to repeat as NBA champions after losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals.
OKC had homecourt advantage, but simply playing at Paycom Arena wouldn’t be enough to get the win, and it was apparent early.
San Antonio set the tone early when Victor Wembanyama had a monster dunk on Chet Holmgren in the opening minutes, and at one time, they were up 11 in the first quarter.
Heading into the second quarter, they were up 32-25, where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander caught fire and dropped 13 points. It got them close, ending the first half 56-53.
OKC continued to hang around in the third quarter when momentum looked like it might flip for a bit when Alex Caruso’s three-pointer, paired with SGA sinking two free throws, put them up 63-60.
But Julian Champagnie would hit one of several big threes to tie it up, and that would be the last lead OKC had.
They’d get within two points around 11 minutes left in the game, and six around the two-minute mark. But the closing minutes were marked with a Dylan Harper three-pointer and De’Aaron Fox fouling SGA. The 111-103 victory was solidified by a dunk from Devin Vessell, officially naming the Spurs as Western Conference champions.
No sooner than the blaring final buzzer, Wemby was overcome with emotion and embraced his teammates one by one before expressing how much the Finals berth meant to him.
“This feeling, I can’t explain it,” Wembanyama said. “It’s so powerful.”
On the Thunder’s side of things, its core three weren’t up to par with Jalen Williams being benched with a hamstring injury, and no-show Chet Holmgren only managing four points. Gilgeous-Alexander did perform well with 35 points, but even he gave the Spurs credit.
“They were just the better team tonight from start to finish. Every time we tried to take control of the game, it felt like they had an answer. A lot of times it felt like tough shot-making. They played better tonight, and they deserved to win the game.”
Wemby’s already looking to the Finals.
“We want four more,” Wembanyama said. “We’re not done.”
He added, “I want to win so bad, it’s like my life depends on it.”
The 2026 NBA Finals tip off on June 3 between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks.
See social media’s reaction to the latest postseason action below.
An Emotional Victor Wembanyama Leads Spurs To NBA Finals After Defeating OKC Thunder was originally published on cassiuslife.com
