Posted on 05/30/2026 9:47:28 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The defending champs have been dethroned.
Facing a hostile crowd in Oklahoma City, the San Antonio Spurs showed no sign of nerves, using a balanced attack, excellent 3-point shooting and a stingy defense to pull out a 111-103 victory in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals Saturday night.
The Spurs now advance to the NBA Finals for a chance to win their sixth NBA championship — and the first since 2014. They’ll have to get past the New York Knicks to do so, with Game 1 set for Wednesday in San Antonio.
Victor Wembanyama, named the Western Conference finals MVP, had 22 points and seven rebounds, but the Spurs received contributions up and down their roster. De’Aaron Fox had perhaps his best game of the series, consistently hitting big shots to stop Thunder runs. He finished with 15 points, five assists and three steals.
Julian Champagnie scored 20 points and added six rebounds. Luke Kornet sparked a crucial four-point turnaround late in the game with a chasedown block of Oklahoma City’s Isaiah Hartenstein. Keldon Johnson hit a pair of huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with 11 points.
OKC’s two-time reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led all scorers with 35 points and also had nine assists, but it wasn’t enough to counter the varied Spurs attack.
Here are the takeaways from Saturday night’s Game 7.
You become Wemby.
Luke Kornet checked in for just two defensive possessions, looking like a Wemby on both of them. When Wembanyama came back in, Julian Champagnie missed him standing all alone under the hoop. Then, Dylan Harper came flying in for the putback, just like Wemby would.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I find it interesting. Will watch the US games. At least highlights of some others. Way back in the day actually was at the game in Ohio when the US beat Mexico.
Do think FIFA is corrupt. Doesn’t take away from my interest in some of the games.
RE: Not a fan of fouls and flopping, but OKC was to be preferred here.
I don’t know, even the great SGA of Oklahoma has been accused of flopping a lot to draw fouls. How do you explain the average of 10 foul shots he gets?
That was nothing compared to Wemby’s elbow to Holmgrens face. That should have been a flagrant 2; at least.
The last NBA championship for the Spurs was in 2014 and for the Knicks 1973. 1973 was also the same year the Indiana Pacers won their second (and last) ABA championship and have not won since that time. The other longer NBA championship droughts include:
1970-Buffalo Braves/San Diego-Los Angeles Clippers-never have won a championship.
1968-Phoenix Suns-never have won a championship.
1958-St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks
1951-Rochester-Cincinnati Royals/Omaha-Kansas City-Sacramento Kings. (the longest in the NBA and 3rd longest overall in the four major league pro sports in North America.)
If the NBA doesn’t get the foul situation, especially calling every touch by a no-name a foul, while allowing SGA and LeBrewski to flop? They are asking for collapse.
I guess it wasn’t rigged by the referees for OKC after all.
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