The Spurs defeated the Thunder, 118-91, in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals to tie the series at 3-3 and force a Game 7.
SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Spurs coach Mitch Johnson was matter-of-fact when he stated Victor Wembanyama would need to take more than 15 shots and score more than 20 points for the Spurs to win Game 6 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Wembanyama checked both of those boxes Thursday – in the first half as the Spurs established their presence in this wildly oscillating series.
Wembanyama is a major reason the Spurs defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-91 in Game 6 Thursday and a big reason there is a Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals.
The young star wasn’t the only reason though. The Spurs’ guards were tremendous, including Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, San Antonio’s defense pressured the Thunder into a poor offensive effort and hot 3-point shooting to start the game propelled the Spurs to the cusp of a Western Conference championship.
Game 7 is Saturday in Oklahoma City (8 ET, NBC/Peacock), and the winner gets a best-of-7 against the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.
The Thunder are the defending champions, and the Spurs are trying to get back to The Finals for the first time since winning it all in 2014.
“I know there’ll be a lot of added attention, a lot of eyes watching,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “It’ll be a hostile environment, but we’ve been saying this for a long time. We’ve had a lot of firsts. This one will be a little bit more important or higher stakes than all the others.”
Here are four takeaways from Game 6:
1. Wembanyama delivers big-time response
Wembanyama dominated, but maybe not quite the way it was expected. He established the tone with his outside shooting rather than his finishing skills at the rim. He made three 3-pointers in the opening quarter, including two in the first 86 seconds.
He finished with 28 points (12 on 4-for-9 from 3-point range), 10 rebounds, three blocks, two steals and two assists – all marked improvements over his 20-point, six-rebound effort in Game 5.
“Probably from my perspective, it was just his will and intent on leaving his imprints on the game,” Johnson said, adding, “His passion and desire for being right where he is and at the forefront of it all and to take the responsibility and the role and the burden of what he does, I don’t know what else to say.
“He is comfortable with that regardless of the outcome and what that may look like. And I think that’s maybe his biggest growth this year of not waiting for it to be perfect or necessarily to know what to do all the time but attack the moment and have the right approach and live with the results.”
Victor Wembanyama puts up 28 points & 10 rebounds in a Game 6 win to keep the Spurs season alive.
A trend has emerged. If Wembanyama is in the neighborhood of a 30-10 double-double with a few blocks, the Spurs will win.
After not talking with reporters after a loss in Game 5, Wembanyama was not particularly effusive after a victory in Game 6 especially about his own performance. But he mentioned the word “trust” multiple times.
“Trusted the game, trusted the basketball gods,” he said.
2. 3-ball makes a difference for Spurs
The Spurs started the game with a three made 3-pointers, made five of their first 10 3s and were 8-for-13 from that range after Wembanyama’s third triple of the quarter put the Spurs up 33-22.
The Spurs finished the first half 11-for-25 on 3s and outscored the Thunder 33-18 from that range in the opening two quarters. They started the third with a 3-pointer and ended up 15-for-41 on 3s.
The Spurs love to generate offense with the pass – Gregg Popovich’s influence for sure – and they had 14 assists on their 15 3-pointers. San Antonio’s ball movement found open shooters.
The Thunder made 10 3-pointers and shot just 25% from that distance. Oklahoma City’s starters were just 3-for-18 on 3-pointers, including 1-for-9 from Lu Dort and 0-for-4 from Jaylin Williams. Alex Caruso entered the game with 18 made 3s and shooting 58.1% but was 1-for-3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed his five 3-point attempts, and the Thunder were 0-for-8 on 3s in the third quarter when the Spurs pulled away.
“They were the aggressors, start to finish,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They played harder than us, made more shots, were in attack mode and we were on our heels.”
3. Spurs shut down Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder
There were moments – late in the second quarter and early in the third – where the Thunder were close enough to make a game of it. Though San Antonio led start to finish, the Thunder were down 58-53 and 65-60. It was 72-64, and the Thunder had a chance to cut into the lead. But after Isaiah Hartenstein missed a shot, the Spurs went on a 20-0 run for a 92-64 lead with 1:16 left in the third.
“At halftime, we felt pretty good,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault. “We were able to get it to a manageable spot. … We had a chance to turn the game, but you have to turn the game. You can’t wait for the game to turn. They obviously threw a great punch in the third.”
During that run, the Thunder missed 13 consecutive shots.
“Attention was on the defensive end,” Castle said. “I don’t think scoring against him has been a problem for us. I think just our self-inflicted mistakes, like turnovers and allowing them to get offensive rebounds and easy buckets is what slows us down. When we’re focused on defense and we’re getting stops and being able to get out of run and get easy looks, it makes the game pretty simple for us.”
Gilgeous-Alexander had 15 points on 33.3% shooting from the field, and in a sign that his teammates weren’t making shots, he had just four assists and the Spurs outscored the Thunder by 28 points in Gilgeous-Alexander’s 28 minutes.
Thunder forward Jalen Williams returned to the series for the first time since re-aggravating his left hamstring in Game 2. He logged 10 minutes and scored one point.
4. Spurs guards thrive offensively
After Wembanyama, the Spurs rely on wings with size – some of whom are considered guards like the 6-foot-6 Castle, the 6-foot-5 Devin Vassell and 6-foot-5 Dylan Harper.
Here’s what they did in Game 6:
- Castle scored 16 points and delivered nine assists.
- Harper had 18 points, six rebounds and four assists.
- Vassell had 12 points (4-for-7 on 3s)
- Guard De’Aaron Fox had a deceiving line in the box score: 1-for-9 from the field, 0-for-3 on 3-pointers, five points, seven assists and five rebounds but was a plus-17.
Harper is one of five rookies in NBA history to have at least 200 points, 70 rebounds, 50 assists and 20 steals in a single postseason, joining Jayson Tatum, Manu Ginobili, Magic Johnson and Alvan Adams.
“When he plays with confidence, I don’t think there’s anybody his age that’s that good,” Castle said of Harper. “He’s been a big part of our team all year, so we need him. When he plays like that, we’re pretty hard to beat.”
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Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at jzillgitt@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.
