Victor Wembanyama scored 33 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a dominant 103-82 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, tying the NBA Western Conference Finals at two games apiece.
The 22-year-old French 7-foot-4 center shot 11-of-22 from the field and 3-of-7 from three-point range, adding eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks, and two steals in 31 minutes.
“I need to find ways to impact the game in many areas,” Wembanyama said. “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.”
The Spurs evened the best-of-seven series at 2-2, with Game Five set for Tuesday in Oklahoma City and Game Six back in San Antonio on Thursday.
“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.”
San Antonio seeks its first NBA Finals appearance since winning the championship in 2014, while Oklahoma City aims to become the first back-to-back champion since Golden State in 2017-2018.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson credited Wembanyama's aggressiveness for preventing a 3-1 series deficit. “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 Thunder had been undefeated on the road in this year's playoffs but were stifled by a strong Spurs defensive effort.
“Any time we can turn defence into offence, turnovers and rebounding, that’s when we’re at our best,” Johnson said. “Our activity was great tonight, and we’re going to need to get better at it as the series moves on.”
The Spurs led by as many as 25 points, while the Thunder only held a one-point lead.
“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 defensive key. The NBA Defensive Player of the Year also emphasized defensive cohesion: “That’s super important. 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 at 62 victories.
Wembanyama sank a half-court shot at the buzzer to give the Spurs a 50-38 halftime lead and himself 22 first-half points. “I was just thinking shoot to score,” he said. “I wasn’t messing around.”
The Spurs opened the third quarter with a 15-5 run to seize a 65-43 lead, and Oklahoma City never recovered.
“We needed that momentum going into the second half,” San Antonio’s Devin Vassell said of the half-court heave. Vassell and Stephon Castle each scored 13 points, while De’Aaron Fox added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Source: www.aljazeera.com