Houston (AFP) – Victor Wembanyama scored 33 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs in a 103-82 rout of Oklahoma City on Sunday and level the NBA Western Conference finals at two games each. The 22-year-old French 7-foot-4 (2.24m) center shot 11-of-22 from the floor, 3-of-7 from three-point range, and added eight rebounds, five assists, three blocked shots, and two steals in 31 minutes for the Spurs.
“I need to find ways to impact the game in many areas,” said Wembanyama. “I have a lot of responsibilities but I’m here for it. All of us, we’re going to have to do things we didn’t sign up for.” Host San Antonio pulled level 2-2 in the best-of-seven playoff series with game five on Tuesday in Oklahoma City and game six back in San Antonio on Thursday.
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“This was our first deficit in the playoff series. We just responded,” Wembanyama said. “It was nothing amazing. It wasn’t magic. We just did what we needed to do. The series is far from over.” Wembanyama knows what the Spurs must do to win the NBA title. “We’ve got six more wins before we can rest,” he said. The Spurs seek their first trip to the NBA Finals since winning the crown in 2014 while the Thunder hope to become the NBA’s first back-to-back champions since Golden State in 2017-2018.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Wembanyama was aggressive to try and keep San Antonio from falling into a 3-1 series hole. “Our competitive response all year has been pretty good and he has been at the forefront of that,” Johnson said. “Tonight he felt an obligation to set a tone for us in a variety of ways. The aggressiveness was a reflection of that… I think he wants that responsibility. He’s built for it.”
The Thunder had been unbeaten on the road in this year’s playoffs but were foiled in a bid to reach 6-0 by a strong Spurs defensive effort. “Any time we can turn defense into offense, turnovers, and rebounding, that’s when we’re at our best,” Johnson said. “We can get out and run and play and get out in pace. Our activity was great tonight and we’re going to need to get better at it as the series moves on.”
The Spurs stretched their lead as large as 25 points while the Thunder were only ahead by a single point. “I’m not going to get into details but in general, being more disciplined and just trusting the game plan even more,” Wembanyama said of the secret behind the Spurs’ defensive effort. The NBA Defensive Player of the Year also cited coming together defensively as the Spurs forced 17 turnovers and made 11 steals. “That’s super important,” said Wembanyama. “We’ve got good individual defenders and when we connect, we’re able to hold teams to low-scoring numbers.”
NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 19 points. Oklahoma City won an NBA-best 64 games this season with the Spurs second on 62 victories.
– ‘Not messing around’ – Wembanyama sank a half-court shot at the buzzer — the longest made basket of his career — to give the Spurs a 50-38 halftime lead and himself 22 first-half points. “I was just thinking shoot to score,” Wembanyama said. “I wasn’t messing around.”
The Spurs opened the third quarter with a 15-5 run to seize their biggest lead to that point at 65-43, and Oklahoma City could not catch San Antonio from there. “We needed that momentum going into the second half,” San Antonio’s Devin Vassell said of the half-court “Wemby” hoop. Vassell and Stephon Castle each scored 13 points for the Spurs while De’Aaron Fox added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
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