Victor Wembanyama took 15 shots and made four of them Tuesday night, and the Oklahoma City Thunder used that quieter night to beat the San Antonio Spurs 127-114 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. The Spurs’ star finished with 20 points, his lowest total of the series, as San Antonio’s chance to push the defending champions to the brink slipped away.
Wembanyama also had six rebounds and went 12 of 12 from the free-throw line, but he missed all five of his 3-point attempts and went 4 of 9 on shots in the paint. Mitch Johnson was direct after the loss, saying Wembanyama has to take more than 15 shots and score more than 20 points if the Spurs are going to keep up at this stage. For a player who had already delivered a 41-point, 24-rebound double-overtime win in Game 1 and a 33-point, eight-rebound, three-block performance in Game 4, it was a sharp turn.
The Spurs still had chances to make it a game. They trailed by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, then cut the Thunder lead to eight with 7:02 left in the fourth. Stephon Castle led San Antonio with 24 points, and De’Aaron Fox scored nine on 4-of-15 shooting, but the late push never turned into a real threat. Wembanyama played 49 minutes in Game 1, then 37, 39 and 31 minutes over the next three games, a heavy load that underscored how much San Antonio had leaned on him all series.
That dependence was the tension in plain sight. Castle said the Thunder sent so many bodies toward Wembanyama, and that it was hard because the 7-foot-4 center often wants to make the right play. He added that Wembanyama is the Spurs’ best player and that the team needs him to be aggressive because it opens shots for everyone else. Fox agreed the big man got to the free-throw line and that his aggression was there, but said he simply did not make shots. On a night when the Spurs needed the same force that carried them through Games 1 and 4, Wembanyama never quite found it.
He left without taking questions after the game, which is unusual for him and fit the mood of a series that had asked San Antonio to survive on his excellence every night. The bigger question now is whether the Spurs can build a second scoring path around him next season, or whether another playoff run will again hinge on Wembanyama being superhuman from the opening tip.
