OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) 鈥� is not going to get any shorter before Game 2 of the Western Conference finals. He’s not going to get less skilled, and the San Antonio Spurs surely aren’t going to become less confident, either.
That means have to get a little smarter.
It took historic efforts 鈥� namely from Wembanyama and a 24-point, seven-steal gem from rookie Dylan Harper 鈥� for the Spurs to grab the double-overtime thriller that was Game 1 on Monday. Game 2 is Wednesday, and it’s the Thunder who have to answer.
鈥淵ou’ve just got to be aggressive, just be smart, I think, more than anything,鈥� Thunder guard and two-time said of facing the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama. 鈥淗e obviously is very big at the rim, but we still found cracks in (the defense) at times. We’ve just got to be willing to work possessions and make sure we get the best shot each time down.鈥�
In other words, the Thunder have some learning to do.
And that’s a bit ironic, because that’s been the Spurs’ mantra.
out an hour or so before Game 1, meaning the Spurs were rolling out the youngest starting five in NBA conference finals history 鈥� a 20-year-old in Harper, a 21-year-old in Stephon Castle, a 22-year-old in Wembanyama, a 24-year-old in Julian Champagnie and a 25-year-old in Devin Vassell. Most of those guys should still be in college, so maybe the various 鈥渨e’re learning鈥� claims that Wembanyama often offers are both accurate and fitting.
鈥淲e want to win everything, and we have the chance to. We have people above us in the organization that know how to do that,鈥� Wembanyama said. 鈥淎nd, so far, it looks like they鈥檝e put the right people together to give us a chance 鈥� because right now, we’ve got a chance. We still got a lot to do, lot to learn, lot of trials to go through that we don鈥檛 even know of, but we have a chance.鈥�
Without question, the masterminds of the Spurs 鈥� the and R.C. Buford, the newer wave in general manager Brian Wright and coach Mitch Johnson 鈥� know what they’re doing. There are banners swaying in San Antonio as proof.
Same goes in Oklahoma City; the Thunder proved last year, by winning a title, that they know what they’re doing. And when Game 1 was over, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault 鈥� as per his nature 鈥� was calm and cool.
鈥淚鈥檓 never going to discredit an opponent when they come in here and win like that,鈥� Daigneault said. 鈥淏ut we have a lot of runway to improve. We have a lot of players that can play better. We collectively can play with more intentionality on both ends of the floor, certainly on the offensive end of the floor. We can play better collectively.鈥�
No matter what happens Wednesday, Daigneault will likely say the same thing after Game 2 as well.
鈥淕ame 2 is going to end and then we’ll need to be a better team in Game 3,鈥� Daigneault said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how these work.鈥�
The Spurs have reasons to feel good, obviously: They’re up 1-0, and they hope they can get Fox back for Game 2. The Thunder, who got in the series opener, might not have reasons to feel good but they shouldn’t be in panic mode either: It’s highly unlikely that Gilgeous-Alexander (7 for 23 in Game 1) struggles that much from the field again anytime soon, and the minus-21 rebound differential 鈥� the team’s worst since November 2024 鈥� can be easily addressed.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what this time of year is about,鈥� Gilgeous-Alexander said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the highest level of basketball and you鈥檙e going to find out exactly what type of player you are, what type of competitor you are and exactly what you need to get better at.鈥�
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