Victor Wembanyama made his return to the San Antonio Spurs after battling an injury and gave them a boost in their semifinal game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Victor Wembanyama grabbed the ball after a missed Thunder shot in the final moments and squeezed it and screamed in delight. Spurs defeated the defending NBA Champion Thunder 111-109 on Saturday night. This was just the second loss for Oklahoma this season in 26 games.
Now, the Spurs are headed to the NBA Cup Championship game against the New York Knicks.
“This is not a typical regular-season game,” Wembanyama said. “We knew if that if we lose, we’re out. And you know, some people are built for these moments. Some aren’t. But we definitely are.”
Wembanyama returned to the team after a 12-game absence caused by a left calf strain. Victor finished the game with 22 points and nine rebounds in just 21 minutes on the field. He was coming off the bench for the first time in his NBA Career. This was due to his injury. There won’t be many matches where he doesn’t start. He wondered after the game if someone could win both MVP and Sixth Man in the same season.
“It is one of 82, but to your point, there are always circumstances and contexts,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “And that doesn’t mean that everybody quantifies them the same, but I do think that our guys have been excited about the Cup. I think our guys are excited to play really good teams. … When you play the Oklahoma City Thunder, you’re getting the league’s best. And we are a competitive group and we want to continue to challenge ourselves to continue to get better. There’s no better way to do that but to play the best.”
Wembanyama scored in the lane with 2:32 left to put the Spurs up for good. After that, he finished off the game by going four for six in the last 78 seconds.