So let\u2019s eliminate 46 minutes or so from the middle of the game and just limit ourselves to the very beginning and the very end. Because those were the two parts that best illuminated Wembanyama\u2019s unique talent<\/a>, and how quickly he is threatening to take over the entire league.<\/p>\n First, the start. Nobody seems to be talking about this, but two minutes into the game, something amazing happened: The Thunder sent Alex Caruso to the scorer\u2019s table to replace Isaiah Hartenstein. Hartenstein, if you\u2019ll recall, was the Thunder\u2019s key free-agent acquisition in the summer of 2024, a player who helped turn them into NBA champions. By my metrics, he is a $32 million player who rates as one of the league\u2019s top 15 centers.<\/p>\n Against Wembanyama, two minutes into the first game of this series, the 64-win, defending champion Thunder realized that one of their elite performers was unplayable. Hartenstein can do a lot of things, but he can\u2019t space the floor, and \u2014 as the Minnesota Timberwolves and Portland Trail Blazers already found out \u2014 that is basically fatal for a big man playing against Wembanyama, who will just sit in the paint and destroy an entire offense by himself.<\/p>\n It took them two minutes Monday night, but the Thunder knew this was probably the case even before the game started.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was pretty clear that that was the plan going in,\u201d Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said, \u201cwas to get (Hartenstein) staggered pretty quickly, to get Caruso in there. And we kind of predetermined that. I didn\u2019t know how quick I would do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Hartenstein didn\u2019t play one second on offense against Wembanyama the rest of the game. The Thunder only played him when backup center Luke Kornet checked in \u2014 a total of 10 minutes the rest of the night \u2014 because those were the only stretches that permitted Hartenstein to be a normal center. The Thunder started the second half with Cason Wallace in Hartenstein\u2019s place, and\u00a0 that may be how they\u2019ll start Game 2 as well.<\/p>\n That decision, more than anything, underscores what a game-changing force the Spurs\u2019 7-foot-4 prodigy already has become: An Oklahoma City team that seemed on the brink of a dynasty, one that started this year 24-1, was left scrambling for answers. The Thunder, who are 71-14 against the rest of the league, lost to the Spurs for the fifth time in six tries.<\/p>\n As the night wore on, the Thunder\u2019s game of lineup wack-a-mole was almost as fascinating as Wembanyama\u2019s highlight reel. Daigneault spent two-thirds of the game plugging holes in otherwise impervious lineups that only became exposed by a player of Wembanyama\u2019s level.<\/p>\n To wit: With Hartenstein out of the mix, rebounding, which he was brought in to fix, was suddenly a problem. San Antonio finished with a 36.8 percent offensive rebound rate, compared to just 21 percent for the Thunder, per NBA.com<\/a>. With Wembanyama in the middle and San Antonio\u2019s athletic guards pressuring up on the perimeter, the dribble drives that are the basis of the Thunder offense dried up. MVP winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> shot just 7 of 23 and had only four points at halftime, while slashing sophomore Ajay Mitchell produced only four points in his 34 minutes. The Thunder shot a ghastly 11-of-31<\/a> in the paint with Wembanyama on the floor.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a testament to their depth, resilience and the awesomeness of Caruso that the Thunder were in the game anyway, and in position to win it at the end of the first overtime. Daigneault finally found a four-guard lineup that mostly worked and drew up two beautiful late ATOs to isolate Gilgeous-Alexander and get him to the rim. By the start of overtime, the body blows from Caruso and company seem to have exhausted Wembanyama.<\/p>\n Which allows us to fast forward 46 minutes to the other notable stretch: the end of the first overtime.<\/p>\n In a rarity, this wasn\u2019t a moment in which Wembanyama awed with his physical tools. Instead, the play that left onlookers in wonder \u2014 and his own teammates cackling in amazement in the locker room afterward \u2014 was a display of his sheer audacity.<\/p>\n Down three. Twenty-eight seconds left. Almost 30 feet from the hoop, and already 43 minutes into his night \u2014 more than he\u2019d ever played in an NBA game.<\/p>\n Wembanyama was absolutely gassed by the end of the first overtime. And yet somehow, at that exact moment, the chill Buddhist turned into the Shaolin Sniper, nailing a deep transition 3 to tie the game and stun the Thunder crowd \u2014 and his own teammates.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018No way he shot that!\u2019\u201d Keldon Johnson said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had no legs!\u201d Carter Bryant said.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew it was going in,\u201d Stephon Castle said.<\/p>\n \u201cI was stunned a little bit,\u201d Dylan Harper said. \u201cBut once the ball went up, I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s going in.\u2019 It\u2019s just who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n This, in a nutshell, is why Wembanyama is such a problem. He has as much talent as any player in the last quarter-century, but he also has a zest for greatness that emerges, win or lose, in these moments. It shows in the otherwise polite and considerate Frenchman\u2019s inappropriate delight in humiliating Chet Holmgren on the court, it shows when he\u2019s trying to embarrass his fellow All-Stars into playing a real game and it shows when the tallest player on the court is making hustle plays after playing 40-plus minutes.<\/p>\n
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