After playing a career-high 48-plus minutes in Monday night’s epic 122-115 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder to open the Western Conference finals, San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama wasn’t worried about keeping anything in the tank.
“Yes, it takes a toll,” Wembanyama said. “We can rest in July.”
There’s certainly no time to rest now, as Wembanyama and the Spurs take on the Thunder in Game 2 Wednesday in Oklahoma City.
Wembanyama produced a masterpiece in Game 1 with 41 points, 24 rebounds and three blocks.
The Thunder are used to this, dropping the first game in two of their series during last season’s run to the NBA title.
“It’s a long series,” Oklahoma City’s Luguentz Dort said. “We’re not going to be perfect. Obviously we’ve been in this situation before and we were able to turn the page and finish the next game with a 0-0 mentality, just go out there and try to win the game.”
The Thunder bounced back to beat Denver by 43 points in Game 2 of their second-round series last season after dropping the opener, then beat Indiana by 16 in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Oklahoma City won both series in seven games.
“The best thing about this team and where the problem-solving comes from is the humility,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “Everybody looks in the mirror first. No one’s pointing fingers. Everybody’s just thinking about how they can get better, how they can help the team and we work together on it. It’s never perfect.”
For Oklahoma City, beyond slowing down Wembanyama’s offense, a big key to turning things around is getting more out of Chet Holmgren and bringing back Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s efficiency.
Holmgren was just 2 for 7 for eight points Monday after shooting 60% from the field and averaging 18.6 points per game in the first two rounds.
Daigneault said the shift in Game 1 was more indicative of the offensive struggles overall than Holmgren in particular.
“I think the general attacks in the offense will benefit everybody, put everybody at advantages, including him,” Daigneault said. “He’s been very effective and I think it’s been downstream of us running a good offense. It’s not like we’ve been pushing buttons for him. … I think if we play better collectively, he’ll be more involved and we’ll be able to get more cracks offensively.”
Gilgeous-Alexander finished the game strong but was just 7 of 23 from the field.
San Antonio rookie Dylan Harper was elevated into the starting lineup thanks to the absence of De’Aaron Fox, who missed Game 1 with an ankle injury.
On Tuesday, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said he had “no idea” if Fox would be available for Game 2.
Fox was a major key for the Spurs’ regular-season success against Oklahoma City, helping San Antonio limit turnovers.
The Thunder scored 28 points off San Antonio’s 23 turnovers in Game 1, though Harper had 24 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals and six assists.
Harper said he’s ready for Game 2, regardless of whether he’s starting or coming off the bench.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Harper said. “I think this is kind of where I’m supposed to be and just keep on taking step after step.”
