Victor Wembanyama’s epic night helped San Antonio Spurs take down the Oklahoma City Thunder after double-overtime in game one of the Western Conference Finals on Monday night.
Wembanyama scored 41 points and grabbed 24 rebounds while leading the San Antonio Spurs to a sensational 122-115 win over hosts Thunder on Monday.
The loss was the first of the play-offs for the Thunder, who had swept the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers to open the postseason.
Dylan Harper added 24 points, going eight of 20 from the floor, including one for seven from three-point range, and seven for seven from the line, and had 11 rebounds, six assists, and seven steals.
“The message would be that we as a team are ready to go into any environment, in any place, against anybody,” Wembanyama said. “And even though we’ve still got a lot to learn, our effort should be over anybody else’s. And tonight, we were relentless.”
A 41-point, 24-rebound playoff game. Only a few people in the history of basketball had done that – Wilt Chamberlain eight times, Hakeem Olajuwon twice, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once, Charles Barkley once.
“The best player in the world,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle announced in a postgame interview on NBC.
“He’s competitive. If you’re a competitor and you see another competitor get rewarded with what you want. If that’s motivation, we all get motivated by different things,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “As a competitive person, that would be my approach and perspective.”
The Spurs entered half-time up 51-44 but they were outscored by seven points in the second half and the teams finished regulation tied at 101.
Wembanyama shot three of three from the field and three for three from the line on the way to their nine points in double-overtime – including hitting a turnaround jumper to put the Spurs on top with 11.5 seconds to go.
The Spurs made 27 free throws compared to the Thunder 16. The Spurs out-rebounded the Thunder by 21 (61 to 40).
“I think Wembanyama’s a great player with high impact obviously, and when you play against those players it’s kind of an acquired thing,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “You’re learning as you go. We’ve gone through that with other great players.”
“I’ve still got a lot to learn,” Wembanyama said. “And I want to get that trophy many times in my career.”
Asked whether he’s the best player? “The world is eight bn people,” Wembanyama said. “That’s eight bn opinions.”
Alex Caruso led the Thunder with 31 points, two steals and two blocks. The Thunder also got 26 points and seven rebounds from Jalen Williams.
Game two is on Wednesday in Oklahoma City.
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