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We needed all seven of this best of seven in the Western Conference. Thunder and Spurs has been a hooper delight. Sunday did not disappoint. Both squads came in dressed in all black, ready for a funeral. One team would end up going home in this do or die matchup. Early first quarter, OKC down for Chad Hong. Floater does not go. That would end the Chad Hong portion of this here highlight. You ain't going to see a whole lot more of him other than him getting posterized. Speaking of on the other end, Wimby all over Chad Homegr. This is how you get things going if you are the Spurs. Wimby puts him on a poster. San Antonio goes up six with that bucket. We are just getting started halfway through the first. Stefan Castle
is going to help his man Devin Bell out off the backboard. May have wanted to get that counted as an assist. We're not really going to actually delve into that. OKC this post. He's a first time trailing at the end of the first quarter at home. We move to the second quarter where SGA took over. Off the handoff, hits the three. Cuts it down to a eight-point game. A little later, working in the mid-range, splitting the defenders. Straight to the rack he goes to flush that home. It's a six-point lead for the Spurs. Under four minutes left in the half. SGA with the jumper. It's a two-point game. And a few minutes later, he's dropping dimes. Blue Dort top side
three is catch. We're tied at 49. Next OKC possession, Jaylen Williams the bucket and their very first lead of the game for OKC. SGA in the second quarter scored or assisted on 18 of the Thunder's 28 points. Thunder up two there. 10 seconds left though. It's Wimby with an unbelievable fadeaway. The big fella has the Spurs up three at the break and they are eight and0 when leading at halftime this postseason. Third quarter action. SGA getting downhill but denied by Wimi. The alien was working but SGA was working harder at this point. He gets that one to go. OKC within three halfway through the third. Julian Champini wide open and cash. He had 20 points, was six
of 10 from three, and the Spurs are up eight there. Few possessions later, Wimby on the wing, a three of his own becomes the first player in NBA history with 15 threes and 15 blocks in a playoff series. This is the Western Conference Finals. You are getting the guys to show up that you absolutely need to, including Jaylen Williams with that three. OKC down three going into the fourth quarter. And in that final frame of regulation, we have more makers at chart. This felt like a dagger in the moment. Wimby styling on Jaylen Williams and hitting the three. But Wimby fouls Isaiah Hardenstein here would have to head to the bench after picking up his fifth foul. So halfway through the fourth quarter, who are you
going to lean on? The other half of French Vanilla. Luke Cornett with the block. And on the other end, Castle makes it a four-point swing. Cornette talked about that block post game. He has some thoughts. We're going to share them with you. In any case, few minutes later, Harper hitting the triple. Spurs up 12, but OKC would try to battle back. Kase Wallace three of his own to bring him within six. And still at that margin, under 20 seconds left. Wallace tries again. This one does not go. The Spurs take it to the other end of the court. Ain't no pleasantries being
exchanged, baby. We flushing this one home. The emotions start to pour out for all of the Spurs, especially that man Wimby. They win 111 to 103 and will take on the Knicks in the finals. So, let's hear from the alien. Winning the Larry O'Brien. It's a childhood dream and having the a real shot at it. having a chance, tangible chance at winning it, at realizing a dream, you know. It's a chance. It's a lifetime chance. You know, it's you never know when it's going to happen again.
But it's, you know, the day we win it. Speaking for myself, it's going to be a amazing day of like real realization of a dream, you know? It's it's hard to put into words. It's almost like the meaning of my life, you know. You work all these hours we put in. It's for these type of emotions. Like I want that. I want to win so bad. It's like my life depends on it. This team has now been pretty damn consistent for a long time for over 100 games for the most part. And so I'll take those things with the experience that we've gone through when you want to look back in terms of how we started the year, how we got to the cup on the road versus Denver in LA, what we did in the cup, playing these
guys around Christmas time a few times. Expectations. We've played in three playoff series without Victor, without Fox, multiple games. I don't know who has as much experience as we do this year in the season of 2025, 2026. What do you think this means for Pop and how important is it for you to have these moments for him? I can't answer that question. I don't know what it means for him. That's a guy who's got more experience as a coach than almost anybody and has been through so many things in his career and so many things right now as Elfe.
It's he goes through some things we can't even imagine. So I need to call him. I need to see him. I need to talk to him because is There's no way I can understand right now, you know, how he feels. Spurs, fourth team to beat a one seed on the road in games one and seven of the conference finals. 2018 Warriors over Houston did it as well as the 2005 Pistons over Miami. Plus, the O2 Lakers over the Kings. A good omen for Spurs fans. The West teams LA and Golden State went on to win the title. Let's hear from the previous title winners, the Thunder.
I feel like we were able to, you know, get to a lot of really good spots. Um, and, uh, you know, we moved the ball well and, uh, you know, found guys with advantages. Um, we just weren't able to convert enough of them into points. They were just a better team tonight from start to finish. Um, and then every time we try to like cut into it and take control of the game, it felt like they had an answer. Um, and if a lot of times it felt like it was like tough shotm, so hats off to them. They have the makeup for sure. Um, you don't beat us without the makeup and they beat us. So, they have the makeup to go get one. Um, and yeah, we just have to take it one day at a time from here on out. Try to get better this
summer and be a better team than we were this season and last season. And, um, yeah, try to get back over the hump. This year, loss ends a handful of Thunder postseason streaks. It's the first time losing consecutive games in over two full calendar years. And the first game, seven home loss in Thunder history, but eighth consecutive season. We will have a different champion, extending the longest streak in NBA history. We now welcome in Stephen A. Smith. Stephen A. The Spurs win game seven, advancing to their first NBA finals since 2014. What did you see from this team down the stretch?
A lot of poise, a lot of courage, big- time shots uh from shot makers that you wouldn't expect to operate in the game seven considering their youth. Wimama big time shots. Uh Dearon Fox, a big time shot. Shampy coming off the bench to give you 20 actually started. I mean, you just look at what they was doing here. He's had 20 points. He showed up and delivered. Uh Dylan Harper showed up and delivered. It was just a collective effort. Seven players scoring in double figures for the San Antonio Spurs. They didn't sit down, sit around and play the role of spectator as Victor Wimyama did his thing. No, they knew he would need help and they stepped up and they delivered in the game seven. It helped
that Jaylen Williams and obviously AJ Mitchell wasn't available for the Oklahoma City Thunder, but in the end in the game seven on the road considering the youth that exist on this San Antonio Spurs team, you got to give them a boatload of credit for doing what they did tonight. They really, really looked good. They stepped up and they showed that they were made for the moment and you got to give them their props. It was really impressive for the Thunder that their depth got tested and unfortunately they fall on the losing side of this here equation. Their chance at repeating ends in the conference finals for them. So what was different about this year's postseason run for OKC?
Well, the fact of the matter is you didn't have Jaylen Williams, Jay Dub, the backcourt mate of Shay Gilas Alexander for pretty much all of these playoffs. He really only played in about three games. He wasn't really I'm talking about this entire postseason. He wasn't that effective. Shay Gil just shows up. He gives you 35 and he has virtually no help. Alex Guso only hit three or 14 shots and Chad Homegrren was such a no-show uh that they sent an APB out for him during the game. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened. It was an awful noshow on his part to just attempt about a couple of shots for the game.
Knowing that Victor Wimbeyama, a nemesis on a prep level for this man, was out there doing his thing. It is a real indictment against Chad Hong and the no-show that he was in tonight's game. And as a result, it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Oklahoma City Thunder, you know, rife with picks from now through 2032. I believe it's like 13 first round picks and 16 second round picks. They have as draft capital at their disposal. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they were looking in a different direction, looking to move Chad Hogan to get somebody that can help offensively on that front line because Victor Wimbeyama is not going anywhere for the foreseeable future. He's going to be
around a long time and if you want to capture another championship in Oklahoma City, you got to deal with that man. Thunder trying to get back to the final first trying to get there for the first time in 12 years. Pick to Kelvin Johnson. Fakes that three. got another lob and the champs are on the ropes in the fourth quarter. Alexander turned to the elbow for two. Thunder trying to keep their season alive. HARD stack block by Portette. It's Wendy's West. The Spurs are going to the NBA final. We want four more. We're not done. Go Spurs go. Joined now by De'aran Fox. Dear, first of all, congratulations on the win. This one a closer contest than a few others in the series. What was it like closing
out the game in the fourth quarter of game seven and knowing you guys are Western Conference champs? Uh it feels great. Um this is just another stepping stone to the ultimate goal that we want, but uh we're going to enjoy it tonight and tomorrow. Got to start thinking about the Knicks. You talk about the ultimate goal. When you arrived in San Antonio, the goal was to compete for championships. You're now heading to your very first career NBA finals. What does this moment mean for you personally? It's great. I think uh I mean, I've been through so much in my career and uh being able to come here and kind of immediately uh compete for a championship. I mean, we knew that we had the talent and you know, everybody
talk about do we have the experience? You know, obviously Mitch was the first year coach. Uh does he have the experience? All these things, but I think uh be right in and the uh in the organization built a great coaching staff. They put together a great group of guys, talented group of guys. Um, and I think we show resilience, especially having to come here uh for a game seven, probably the loudest, one of the loudest arenas that I've played in my life. Um, and coming through with a win. Uh, it feels great being able to go to the finals. You got a lot of talent, but also a lot of youth, as you mentioned, Mitch, a first year coach, a lot of youth on this team. This is one of the youngest teams
in the association. as a veteran and that veteran presence in the locker room. How do you kind of navigate keeping everyone together through these moments, whether it's a game seven on the road or a long journey to get to this place where you're at now? Uh just trying to keep guys calm. I mean, we have a bunch of pit bulls and bulldogs back there uh that are just ready to go. And a lot of times my job is to just make sure we're stable because um you know, a game can get out of control and out of hand obviously quickly. Um, but I think that's my job whenever I'm in there, especially with uh Dylan and Steph. Like they have the utmost talent, they have the size, they have the athleticism. Sometimes they
just got to be calmed down and they're able to do their job. When you say talent, size, and athleticism, I can't not think about WebM's dunk on Chet in this game. You were right there. I got to know what your perception of that moment was. I mean, that was early on. I think that's one of the things that kind of set the tone. you know, we're not always trying to go around guys. Sometimes you got to be able to go through somebody's chest and he did that. I think like the first three minutes of the game and that set the tone for the game and we tried to ride that wave throughout it.
Now, the game obviously just ended, but of course, as you mentioned, Spurs going on to face the Knicks in the NBA finals. You guys are hosting game one in front of your home crowd. What are your early anticipations of this series? Oh, I think it's going to be rocking. Uh, it's funny enough, I've actually been to a Spurs uh, finals game when they played Miami in 13 or 14, one of those years. Um, so I kind of know I know that it's going to be loud and um, this city has been, you know, waiting to
be back at the top of the mountain. So, we're trying to get there. Swipe is back. Dear Fox, thanks so much for taking the time and congratulations again. Thank you. The Spurs are the second youngest team to reach the finals. San Antonio's average age is 25 years and 20 days. Only the 1977 Blazers were younger then, but wouldn't you know it, they were old enough to win the chip. So, let's talk about the young boys on the San Anton side with Big Perk joining us here on Sports Center. Uh, Wimby, we've run out of adjectives, bro. Puts
up 22. Uh, leads the Spurs to a whim. What are we What else can we say about the alien at this point now that he's led this team to the finals? I mean, Wimby is the best thing that happened to the NBA since LeBron James in 2003. Real talk. And he checked all the boxes. Number one, he's box office, so he's going to put butts in the seats. He's the ultimate he's the ultimate competitor on both ends of the floor. And what a beautiful performance throughout the whole course of this conference finals and the playoffs to get his team to the NBA finals. I can't speak on his leadership enough, on what
he's brought to the table, embodying the rest of his young squad, being a true leader, and trusting his teammates. The Spur the Spurs on the road in a tough environment. They had seven guys in double figures tonight. And when you look at what Wina did after the game, you saw his emotions. he wanted. We heard him talk about how he want to participate in the dunk contest, how he want to win the MVP, how he made the Allstar game great again, and now all of a sudden, we're watching this young man embrace everything about the league and especially headed to the NBA Finals for his first time.
It's an asension unlike any other. Quite frankly, we heard Darren Fox say earlier that he set the tone in this game by putting Chad on a per and potentially on the back of a milk carton by games end. So SJA gives you 35. You don't get a whole lot from anybody else. Where do we assign blame? I guess when it comes to the Thunder side of this equation. Hey Chad home, Greg, we're talking about a guy that was a first time allstar this year and made third team allNBA and was a complete no-show. Not just in game seven, all throughout all the throughout the course of this series. And Whimby straight up not only pumped him, but he took his heart. He snatched his soul.
Chad Homegr was scared to compete. And now Sam Prey, he have real business decisions to make when it comes to Chad Homegrid. This is not an overreaction. This is facts. Win bea is not going anywhere. He's going to be here. With that being said, you got to find somebody that's going to be that dude. Especially if you don't know, you know, at times injuries happen. We saw Jay Dub being out, but you got to go find a guy like Aianis Takoupo that's going to come in and move the needle and be able to go toe-to-toe at some capacity with Win
Byber because Chad Homegr ain't it. Giannis on the Thunder is insane, but it feels like that's the measure you're going to have to go when you got the alien on the other side of this equation when you meet him in the Western Conference Finals. Perk, we appreciate it as always, bro.
