The Oklahoma City Thunder cruised through the first two rounds of the playoffs with little challenge and without a loss.
But they didn’t face anything like Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.
A Spurs team that beat the Thunder four times in five regular-season games smothered OKC’s normally potent offense for most of regulation Monday night, then held on in a 122-115 double-overtime thriller to secure Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
Wembanyama posted a monster game with 41 points, 24 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks while playing 49 minutes, the most of his basketball career. And he wasn’t out of gas at the end.
Wembanyama pulled up for a fearless deep 3 in the final minute of the first overtime to send the game to the second extra session after the Thunder had stolen momentum.
He then dominated the second overtime to ensure San Antonio would not leave Game 1 without a win. He iced the win with a late and-1 dunk over his personal rival, Chet Holmgren.
That dunk countered Holmgren’s late block in regulation of a would-be game-winner from Wembanyama that sent the game to overtime.
Ultimately Holmgren’s block just delayed the inevitable as Wembanyama ensured the Spurs would not leave Game 1 without a win.
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He closed out the game with another dunk and a late block to put the finishing touches on the wild victory. On the heels of a season in which he broke out to match and perhaps even exceed the enormous expectations in the NBA, this was his best performance yet.
And the Thunder’s effort to secure a second straight NBA championship is officially on notice.
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Wembanyama’s effort Monday night put him in elite company. Per Stathead, his 40-20 effort is the seventh in NBA history in the conference finals or beyond, putting him alongside Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Charles Barkley, Moses Malone, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O’Neal.
He’s also the youngest player to post 40-20 in playoff history and the first Spur to do so since David Robinson. He did it all on a night when he watched commissioner Adam Silver hand the MVP trophy to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pregame.
