Victor Wembanyama scored 28 points with 10 rebounds to lift the San Antonio Spurs to a 118-91 home win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals yesterday (Philippine time).
The teams will play one last time in Game 7 in Oklahoma on Sunday, May 31.
After the Thunder’s 127-114 win in Game 5 on Wednesday, May 27, when Wembanyama had 20 points and six rebounds, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said his team needed more from its superstar.
It didn’t take long for Wembanyama to show a difference from Game 5, with two three-pointers and a block in the game’s first 90 seconds as San Antonio jumped in front early and never trailed.
The Spurs led by 15 early in the second quarter, but the Thunder closed the deficit to five just before halftime before going into the break trailing by seven.
San Antonio ratcheted up its defense late in the third and put together a 20-0 run to put the game away by the end of the third quarter.
The Thunder missed 14 consecutive shots, going nearly eight minutes between points.
Oklahoma scored just 13 third-quarter points, its fewest in a quarter this season.
With the game out of reach after three quarters, Oklahoma coach Mark Daigneault sat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren in the fourth quarter.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with just a team-high 15 points on 6-of-18 shooting.
It was Gilgeous-Alexander’s lowest-scoring output since he scored 14 in Game 3 of last season’s Western Conference finals against Minnesota.
Dylan Harper scored 18 points off the bench for San Antonio while Stephon Castle added 17 points and nine assists with just one turnover.
While the Thunder’s bench has dominated the Spurs’ for much of the series, San Antonio’s reserves outscored Oklahoma’s 46-38 in Game 6.
The Spurs got going early with a barrage from beyond the arc.
San Antonio hit eight first-quarter three-pointers, three from Wembanyama.
The Thunder were just 1-of-6 from beyond the arc in the first.
Oklahoma’s Jalen Williams returned after missing the last three games with a hamstring strain, but played just 10 minutes, coming off the bench for the first time since December 10, 2022, during his rookie season.
Williams scored one point. (Field Level Media / Reuters)