Wembanyama, Spurs send the West finals back to Oklahoma City for Game 7, routing the Thunder 118-91

Dylan Harper had 18 points, Stephon Castle added 17 and Devin Vassell had 12 points and two thunderous blocks for San Antonio.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was limited to a team-high 15 points on 6-for-18 shooting for defending champion Oklahoma City.

“I just think all of our focus and attention was on the defensive end,” Castle said. “I don’t think scoring against them has been a problem for us. I think just our self-infliced mistakes, like turnovers and allowing them to get offensive rebounds and easy buckets is what slows us down.”

The Thunder were scoreless for eight minutes in the third as the Spurs ran off 22 straight points to make it 92-64 with 56 seconds left in the quarter.

“I don’t know that it was necessarily anything we did wrong,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. “I thought we were ready to play. I felt confident going into the game, and I felt confident at halftime. It had the makings of a road win if we could be the team that threw the punch in the third and they were the team that did that.”

The average margin of victory has been 15.3 points, with the Spurs winning by an average of 18.3 points.

Wembanyama has been at the forefront of all three victories.

The 7-foot-4 star joined Hall of Famers David Robinson and Tim Duncan as the only players in franchise history with five games of 25 points and 10 rebounds in a single postseason.

Wembanyama made his first two shots — both 3-pointers — and blocked Gilgeous-Alexander’s layup in the first 1:27 as San Antonio took a 9-2 lead.

“I think we were consistent and we did what we needed to do,” Wembanyama said. “Trusted the game, trusted the basketball gods.”

Wembanyama had 11 points, five rebounds an assist and a block in the opening quarter.

The series remained physical and contentious, with the Thunder’s Chet Holmgren jawing with and bumping into Vassell after the Spurs’ wing blocked the 7-footer’s dunk attempt in the second quarter.

Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams returned after reinjuring his hamstring in Game 2 and missing the next three games. Williams was limited to one point on 0-for-1 shooting in 10 minutes.

Holmgren had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Raul Dominguez, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Wembanyama, Spurs send the West finals back to Oklahoma City for Game 7, routing the Thunder 118-91

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