San Antonio Spurs dethrone OKC Thunder to reach NBA Finals against NY Knicks
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Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs shows fans the Earvin "Magic" Johnson MVP Trophy after defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center.
Getty Images via AFP
WASHINGTON – The San Antonio Spurs, sparked by superstar Victor Wembanyama, are “hungry” for more as they advanced to the NBA Finals by dethroning defending champions Oklahoma City 111-103 on Saturday.
The victory meant they booked a championship showdown against the New York Knicks. They are in the title showdown for the first time since winning the franchise’s fifth championship in 2014.
The Spurs captured the best-of-seven Western Conference Finals 4-3 to reach the NBA Finals, which begin on Wednesday (Thursday morning, Singapore time) against the Knicks in San Antonio.
“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 2.24m center scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds, Julian Champagnie added 20 points including six three-pointers and Stephon Castle had 16 points for the Spurs, who led the winner-take-all contest almost the entire way.
NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 35 points.
“We have a good team, a great team. We had to stay the course and play a good game,” Champagnie said.
“We were passing the ball. We were playing as a team. We come out here and play together. We never knew if we were going to get this far but when you’ve got the greatest player in the world things happen.”
That was a nod to Wembanyama, the Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference Finals and the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
“It doesn’t mean anything for me other than the fact we are a team,” Wembanyama added of his series MVP award. “I got this for all of us and all the fans right here.”
Of his teammates, he added: “They don’t even know how much I love them. They are just incredible. Everybody stepped up tonight.”
“Wemby” was emotional at the finish, laughing and crying and hugging teammates over reaching his first NBA Finals. “Realising that some part of the childhood dream was going to come true,” the 22-year-old Frenchman said of his reaction.
The win sets up an NBA Finals repeat of this season’s NBA Cup final, which the Knicks won with a 124-113 defeat of San Antonio last December in Las Vegas.
“Back in October we knew we had a chance to be pretty good,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.
“There’s a lot being talked about, words like competitiveness, resolve, togetherness, execution – and they had to go out and execute and they did.” AFP, REUTERS
