In the decisive seventh game of the Western Conference finals, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 away from home and advanced to the grand finals where the New York Knicks await them.
San Antonio will open the NBA Finals against New York Knicks at home on Wednesday.
The teams have met in the Finals once before, with San Antonio winning the 1999 NBA Championship in five games. It was the first of five titles for the Spurs. The last time they won the title was in 2014, when they beat the Miami Heat in five games.
The Spurs led most of the game, but the Thunder’s basketball players struggled constantly fought reduce the backlog by double digits. And when Victor Wembanyama left the game with five fouls just under seven minutes from time, Spurs could have been in trouble.
Hartenstein’s steal put the Thunder in the transition with a chance to reduce the gap to four points. But Luke Kornet, who entered the game in place of Wembanyama, blocked Hartenstein’s shot, then Stephon Castle used the rebound for a basket and a 99-91 advantage. After that block, Julian Champagnie hit his sixth 3-pointer of the game to extend the lead to 11 points.
It thunders reduced to six points just over two minutes to go, but Oklahoma City went 0-4 for the rest of the game, trying to close the gap even further.
Victor Wembanyamawho was named the Western Conference Finals Most Valuable Player, finished the game with 22 points and seven rebounds. Julian Champagnie added 20 points, Stephon Castle had 16 and De’Aaron Fox had 15.
Oklahoma was not helped by the 35 points of the season’s MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who added nine assists and three steals. Cason Wallace scored 17 points, returning to the starting lineup.
NBA playoffs
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Final, seventh game:
Oklahoma City Thunder – San Antonio Spurs 103-111
(San Antonio advances to finals 4-3 in four-game winning streak)
(Hina | Photo: San Antonio Spurs)
