{"id":468911,"date":"2026-05-31T08:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T08:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/468911\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T08:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T08:49:09","slug":"wembanyamas-spurs-dethrone-thunder-to-reach-nba-finals-against-knicks-basketball-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/468911\/","title":{"rendered":"Wembanyama\u2019s Spurs dethrone Thunder to reach NBA Finals against Knicks | Basketball News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published On 31 May 202631 May 2026<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Spurs, sparked by superstar Victor Wembanyama, have advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014 by dethroning the defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, 111-103, to book a championship showdown against the New York Knicks.<\/p>\n

The Spurs captured the best-of-seven Western Conference finals 4-3 on Saturday and reached the NBA Finals, which begin on Wednesday against the Knicks in San Antonio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThough we\u2019re still hungry for one more, this feeling is, I can\u2019t explain it, it\u2019s so powerful,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cWe want four more. We\u2019re not done. Go Spurs go.\u201d<\/p>\n

French 7-foot-4-inch (224cm) centre Wembanyama 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a good team, a great team,\u201d Champagnie said. \u201cWe had to stay the course and play a good game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were passing the ball. We were playing as a team. We come out here and play together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never knew if we were going to get this far, but when you\u2019ve got the greatest player in the world, things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was a nod to Wembanyama, the Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference finals and the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean anything for me other than the fact we are a team,\u201d Wembanyama said of his series MVP award. \u201cI got this for all of us and all the fans right here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OKLAHOMAWembanyama was emotional after securing his first appearance in the NBA Finals [Zach Beeker\/Getty Images via AFP]<\/p>\n

Of his teammates, Wembanyama added, \u201cThey don\u2019t even know how much I love them. They are just incredible. Everybody stepped up tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWemby\u201d dominated in his first playoff game seven and was emotional at the finish, laughing, crying and hugging teammates over reaching his first NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cRealising that some part of the childhood dream was going to come true,\u201d the 22-year-old Frenchman said of his reaction.<\/p>\n

The win sets up an NBA Finals repeat of this season\u2019s NBA Cup final, which the Knicks won with a 124-113 defeat of San Antonio last December in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of physicality, hit first, and rebounding,\u201d Champagnie said of the Knicks. \u201cIt will be a nice challenge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell hangs on the rim after a dunk [Tony Gutierrez\/AP]<\/p>\n

NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 35 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was brilliant. He had a great game,\u201d Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. \u201cHe delivered. It was a really big-time game for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would have been one of the stories of the game if we had been able to figure out a way to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daigneault said the challenge to repeat was not among the things that led to the defeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can be proud of effort and progress and the level we played \u2026 and we can also be really disappointed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFelt like we could have won the series. We were right there. There\u2019s nobody we don\u2019t think we can\u2019t beat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we had enough to win, but credit San Antonio \u2013 they\u2019re the ones who did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OklahomaOklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shoots [Nate Billings\/AP]<\/p>\n

A Spurs squad with only one player who had been in a game seven before overcame a more experienced Thunder squad that won the title in a game seven last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in October, we knew we had a chance to be pretty good,\u201d Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot being talked about, words like competitiveness, resolve, togetherness, execution \u2013 who gives a damn about the word experience?<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had to go out and execute, and they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wembanyama hit two three-pointers in a 17-9 run to start the fourth quarter that lifted the Spurs ahead 97-86 with eight minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cWemby\u201d was whistled for his fifth foul seconds later and went to the bench, boosting Thunder hopes in the dying minutes while Gilgeous-Alexander tried to rally the reigning champions, only to fall short at the finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published On 31 May 202631 May 2026 The San Antonio Spurs, sparked by superstar Victor Wembanyama, have advanced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4290,85,46,43,2224,105,1032,1156],"class_list":["post-468911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-basketball","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}