Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs strike early in Game 6 and keep up the pressure to force Game 7 against OKC.
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Win or go home.
Do or die.
The best two words in sports:
Game 7.
The San Antonio Spurs vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder in the series finale of the Western Conference Finals.
A back-to-back Kia MVP. A unanimous Kia Defensive Player of the Year. A handful of All-NBA players and 2026 NBA All-Stars. There are All-Rookie selections. The 2023-24 Coach of the Year. The third-place finisher for this year’s coaching award. Former rookies of the year.
The past, present and future are converging in a vortex of playoff excitement and intensity with the defending champion Thunder and the rising Spurs.
“Who doesn’t want to play in a Game 7?” said Spurs guard Stephon Castle.
Spurs rookie Dylan Harper said: “Definitely the biggest game of my life for sure.”
And the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the 2025 NBA Finals MVP, offered: “Biggest game of my career. Yep, it’s the biggest game. It’s the next game, and if I lose, my season’s over.”
It’s an elimination game and closeout game for both teams, and the winner faces the New York Knicks in the Finals.
No one should be surprised that two 60-win teams are going the distance in a series, but how they got to this point is a little unusual. Outside of double overtime in Game 1, the outcomes of the next five games weren’t really in doubt. The margin of victory in the past four games was at least 13 points, including a 21-point difference in Game 4 and a 27-point margin in Game 6.
Here are three things to watch – plus a bonus item – in Saturday’s Game 7 (8 ET, NBC/Peacock):
1. Gilgeous-Alexander needs MVP performance for Thunder
The Spurs have defenders who are physical, have size and strength and are committed to defense. That combination has been difficult for Gilgeous-Alexander. Whether it’s Castle, Harper, Devin Vassell, Carter Bryant, De’Aaron Fox or occasionally even Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs’ game plan from the outset of this series has been focused on limiting Gilgeous-Alexander.
In Game 6, Gilgeous-Alexander had 15 points on 6-for-18 shooting. He missed his five 3-point attempts and shot three free throws, and the Thunder were outscored by 28 points in his 28 minutes on the court.
If the Spurs needed Wembanyama to play better than he did in Game 5 to win Game 6, the Thunder need a much better Gilgeous-Alexander in Game 7 if they want to a chance at a second consecutive championship.
The Spurs have hounded, pestered and muscled Gilgeous-Alexander into 37.9% shooting from the field, 26.1% on 3-pointers and 3.2 turnovers per game – the shooting numbers way below his season averages and his turnovers one more per game than he averaged during the regular season.
“A lot of the shots that I’m shooting, I’ve shot plenty of times before and they feel good,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They’re just not going in. It’s too late to abandon my work and abandon my game and who I am this late in the season. I’ve got to trust it and live or die by it.”
Daigneault doesn’t want to put too much pressure on one player, and of course, it’s a team game.
“It’s not one guy, his shots, anything like that,” Daigneault said.
Assists aren’t always in his control because they rely on teammates making shots, but the Thunder are at their best when Gilgeous-Alexander is scoring, compiling assists and getting to the free throw line.
2. Is it Wembanyama’s time for a trip to the Finals?
Victor Wembanyama puts up 28 points & 10 rebounds in a Game 6 win to keep the Spurs season alive.
It’s rare for a 22-year-old in his third season to lead a team to the Finals. But it’s obvious now: Wembanyama is rare.
Now, he hasn’t been perfect, and it’s hard to achieve that the way these two teams play defense. But that’s what Spurs coach Mitch Johnson likes about Wembanyama’s approach this season.
“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,” Johnson said.
In Game 6, Wembanyama answered his Game 5 shortcomings with 28 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks, two steals and two assists. Can the Spurs get another game like that from him in this series?
It’s his first Game 7, it’s on the road and the Wembanyama storyline adds more intrigue.
3. Game 7 intangibles: Experience and homecourt advantage
The Thunder played in two Game 7s last season and won both – beating the Denver Nuggets in the conference semifinals and the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals. There is institutional knowledge.
“We’ve had a lot of experiences to this point,” Daigneault said. “And the one thing that we’ve learned more than anything is every game has a new life. Every game is earned if you want to win it. Game 7 will be no different. This is obviously a quality opponent. We have to play obviously a lot better than we did (in Game 6) and we understand that from a number of experiences.”
Being at home guarantees nothing. In 159 Game 7s in playoff history, the home team has won 117 times (73.6%). However, there has been at least one Game 7 road winner in each of the past 11 seasons, including two this season.
On the injury front, the Thunder have ruled out Ajay Mitchell (right calf strain) and Jalen Williams (left hamstring strain) for Game 7. Williams played in Game 6 after missing three previous games, and it was clear he’s not close to 100%.
“Anything can happen in a Game 7,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s win or go home. It being in your building is nice, but it doesn’t really mean anything. You have to go out there and be the better basketball team or else your season’s done and that’s what it comes down to. Now it’s going to be nice having our fans behind us and cheering us, but if we’re not better, our season will be over.”
This is the first Game 7 for most of San Antonio’s key players, including Wembanyama, Castle, Vassell, Harper, Julian Champagnie, Keldon Johnson and Bryant. The Spurs have downplayed their lack of experience both in action and words.
“There’s been a lot of legendary Game 7s,” Harper said. “I feel like we’re a group that wants to be a part of that. We want to be part of that kind of history of Game 7. We’re going to go out there and swing no matter what. We’re just going to leave it all on the table.”
4. Bonus item! X-factors are Harper and Caruso
After the 20-year-old Harper, the No. 2 pick in the 2025 Draft, had 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting, including 2-for-3 on 3-pointers, six rebounds and four assists in Game 6, Castle said, “When he plays with confidence, I don’t think there’s anybody his age that’s that good. I mean, 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.”
He, too, has been up and down in the series – just 18 points combined in Games 3-5 while slowed by a hamstring injury.
Said Johnson: “When he’s switched on mentally and aggressive, he’s pretty damn good. He’s got all the talent in the world and makeup to do whatever he wants. He’s capable of those nights when he’s in the right place between the ears. He’s a 20-year-old kid in the conference finals playing against a defending champ. He’s not 100% healthy and he’s doing a hell of a job. I’d say it’s probably a strain mentally, emotionally and physically.”
Alex Caruso sets a new postseason NBA record for the most 3PM off the bench in a single conference finals.
For the Thunder, pay attention to Alex Caruso. He’s averaging 15.3 points and shooting 54.9% from the field and 55.9% on 3-pointers. In Oklahoma City’s three victories in the series, he’s averaging 18 points, 4.0 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 2.0 steals. He’s a disruptor defensively and a stabilizer offensively.
“He has the most championships on this team, first and foremost,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “He’s played in the biggest games on this team. That experience, you can’t recreate and can’t manufacture. Either go do it or don’t. AC isn’t some uber-talented guy. He’s not some guy who’s 6-7 with a 7-3 wingspan and shoots lights out.
“But he’s one of if not the best competitors in the NBA, night in and night out. He wears that hat for this group all season long, and it’s on TV every night now, so the world’s getting to see it. He’s huge for us.”
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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.
