The San Antonio Spurs, powered by superstar Victor Wembanyama, advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014 by defeating the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103, setting up a championship series against the New York Knicks.

The Spurs captured the best-of-seven Western Conference finals 4-3 on Saturday and will host the Knicks in Game 1 on Wednesday in San Antonio. Wembanyama scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds, Julian Champagnie added 20 points (including six three-pointers), and Stephon Castle contributed 16 points for the Spurs, who led the decisive game almost the entire way.

“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.”

The 22-year-old French center dominated in his first playoff Game 7 and was emotional at the finish, laughing, crying and hugging teammates. “Realising that some part of the childhood dream was going to come true,” he said of his reaction.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson praised his team’s execution: “Back in October, we knew we had a chance to be pretty good. 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.”

The Finals will be a rematch of this season’s NBA Cup final, which the Knicks won 124-113 in December. Champagnie said: “A lot of physicality, hit first, and rebounding. It will be a nice challenge for us.”

Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led all scorers with 35 points, but it was not enough as the Spurs held on. Thunder coach Mark Daigneault admitted: “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.”

Source: www.aljazeera.com