Washington (United States) (AFP) – The San Antonio Spurs, sparked by superstar Victor Wembanyama, advanced to the NBA Finals by dethroning defending champion Oklahoma City 111-103 on Saturday, booking a championship showdown against New York. The Spurs captured the best-of-seven Western Conference finals 4-3 to reach the NBA Finals, which begin on Wednesday against the Knicks in San Antonio.
“Though we’re still hungry for one more, this feeling is, I can’t explain it, it’s so powerful,” Wembanyama said. “We want four more. We’re not done. Go Spurs go.” French 7-foot-4 (2.24m) center Wembanyama scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds, Julian Champagnie added 20 points including six three-pointers, and Stephon Castle had 16 points for the Spurs, who led the winner-take-all contest almost the entire way.
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“We had a good team, a great team,” Champagnie said. “We had to stay the course and play a good game. We were passing the ball. We were playing as a team. We come out here and play together. We never knew if we were going to get this far but when you’ve got the greatest player in the world, things happen.” That was a nod to Wembanyama, the Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference finals and the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
“It doesn’t mean anything for me other than the fact we are a team,” Wembanyama said of his series MVP award. “I got this for all of us and all the fans right here.” Of his teammates, Wembanyama added, “They don’t even know how much I love them. They are just incredible. Everybody stepped up tonight.”
“Wemby” dominated in his first playoff game seven and was emotional at the finish, laughing and crying and hugging teammates over reaching his first NBA Finals. “Realizing that some part of the childhood dream was going to come true,” the 22-year-old Frenchman said of his reaction.
The win sets up an NBA Finals repeat of this season’s NBA Cup final, which the Knicks won with a 124-113 defeat of San Antonio last December in Las Vegas. “A lot of physicality, hit first, and rebounding,” Champagnie said of the Knicks. “It will be a nice challenge for us.”
NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 35 points. “He was brilliant. He had a great game,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “He delivered. It was a really big-time game for him. That would have been one of the stories of the game if we had been able to figure out a way to win it.”
Daigneault said the challenge to repeat was not among the things that led to the defeat. “You can be proud of effort and progress and the level we played…and we can also be really disappointed,” he said. “Felt like we could have won the series. We were right there. There’s nobody we don’t think we can’t beat. I thought we had enough to win but credit San Antonio — they’re the ones who did.”
– Forget experience – A Spurs squad with only one player that had been in a game seven before overcame a more experienced Thunder squad that won the title in a game seven last year. “Back in October we knew we had a chance to be pretty good,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “There’s a lot being talked about, words like competitiveness, resolve, togetherness, execution — who gives a damn about the word experience? They had to go out and execute and they did.”
Wembanyama hit two three-pointers in a 17-9 run to start the fourth quarter that lifted the Spurs ahead 97-86 with eight minutes remaining. “Wemby” was whistled for his fifth foul seconds later and went to the bench, boosting Thunder hopes in the dying minutes while Gilgeous-Alexander tried to rally the reigning champions only to fall short at the finish.
© 2024 AFP
